General Assembly President underlines crucial role of global governance

General Assembly President Joseph Deiss today highlighted the key role of the United Nations in global governance, which he said is vital for solving challenges that cannot be overcome by countries acting alone.

This year, the theme of the high-level General Debate focused on reaffirming the UN’s central part in global governance, with Mr. Deiss warning at the start of last month’s event that there was “a danger that the United Nations could be marginalized as other actors emerge on the international scene.”

Today, the official stressed in a press briefing that global governance is different from global government.

“We are not heading towards something like a world parliament,” he said. “Global governance is a way of organizing decision-making in a world of sovereign States with national parliaments.”

The concept, Mr. Deiss underlined, is not an attempt to obstruct States’ sovereignty, but rather is based on the principle of consensus.

He noted that many world leaders who took the podium during the high-level Assembly debate expressed support for global governance, which was mentioned more than 100 times over the course of the six-day event.

The official noted that the Assembly will hold an informal meeting this afternoon on next month’s so-called Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, to “create an interface” between that body and the UN.

Another important issue mentioned by Mr. Deiss today was reform of the Security Council, which he said is “crucial to reaffirm the central role of the UN in global governance.”

Reform of the Council, he said, is “not outreaching,” but rather an internal improvement in “core business of our Organization – peace and security.”

At today’s press conference, the Assembly President also cited several upcoming meetings, including gatherings on HIV/AIDS and on communicable diseases, both slated to be held next year.

Next week, he will begin a five-day visit to Japan at the invitation of the Asian nation’s Government. He plans to meet with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and other officials, as well as leaders of the Diet, the country’s bicameral legislature.

On 27 October, Mr. Deiss will attend the opening ceremony of the high-level segment of the tenth conference of parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya.