UNITED NATIONS — Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Tuesday that capitalism faces inevitable defeat and called for the overhaul of “undemocratic and unjust” global decision-making bodies.
In a speech on the second day of a U.N. anti-poverty summit, the Iranian leader blamed capitalism and transnational corporations for “the suffering of countless women, men and children in so many countries.”
More than 140 presidents, prime ministers and kings are attending the three-day summit, which started Monday to assess and spur on achievement of U.N. targets set by world leaders in 2000. The plan called for an intensive global campaign to ease poverty, disease and inequalities between rich and poor by 2015.
Ahmadinejad, however, never mentioned the Millennium Development Goals in his speech to the 192-member General Assembly.
While Ahmadinejad didn’t single out any country, he said world leaders, thinkers and global reformers should “spare no effort” to make practical plans for a new world order - overhaul of international economic and political institutions.
“It is my firm belief that in the new millennium, we need to revert to the divine mindset ... based on the justice-seeking nature of mankind, and on the monotheistic worldview,” the Iranian leader said in a brief speech intertwining philosophy and religion with the current state of the world.
Ahmadinejad proposed that the United Nations name the coming 10 years “the decade for the joint global governance.”
Soon afterward, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, head of the world’s fourth-largest economic power, took an opposite tack.
Stressing that “the primary responsibility for development lies with the governments of the developing countries,” she said the key to economic prosperity was good governance and a flourishing capitalist economy.
“The countries themselves must promote the development of a market economy ... for without self-sustaining economic growth developing countries will find the road out of poverty and hunger too steep to travel,” Merkel said.
The German leader said international assistance can’t substitute for domestic resources, warned that “development aid cannot continue indefinitely” and declared that “support for good governance is as important as aid itself.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the world is “on track” to cut extreme poverty by half, the No. 1 goal, though some critics say it’s mainly because of the big strides in China and India. Many recent reports show that the world’s poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have made little progress in eradicating poverty.
And in Africa, Asia and Latin America there also has been a lack of progress in meeting other key goals: reducing mother and child deaths, increasing the number of people with access to basic sanitation and promoting women’s equality. Ban is expected to launch a new initiative today to spur action on improving the wellbeing of women and children.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad did not mention Iran’s nuclear program or the four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions over Tehran’s refusal to prove it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran claims it is only working on nuclear power to generate electricity.
The subject may be raised again Thursday when the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting begins.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised the sanctions issue in his speech, saying U.N. sanctions were not intended to harm ordinary civilians. He voiced “serious concern” at additional sanctions imposed by individual countries. The criticism appeared aimed at the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, all of whom have imposed their own much tougher sanctions on Tehran.
At events on the sidelines of the summit, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a program to address chronic malnutrition blamed for 3.5 million maternal and child deaths a year. The program, co-sponsored by the Irish government, focuses on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, during which nutrition is critical to mental and physical development.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 09/22/2010