UN needs radical reforms — Indian President
The Indian President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has called for a radical reform of the administrative and financial architecture of the United Nations (UN) to actively involve developing countries.
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He said although the UN was established to unite all countries after the Second World War in 1945, it could not serve the purpose of the world community today because it had undergone extreme changes.
Mr Mukherjee, who was addressing students of the University of Ghana, Legon, last Monday as part of his visit to the country, said only a few countries were taking decisions on behalf of the world body, in spite of the fact that the UN was also made up of many countries in the developing world.
“It is sad that there is no effective role in this world body. Therefore, we are asking for radical reforms of the international architecture in the administrative structure and in the financial architecture in the United Nations, particularly but most importantly in developing countries,” he said.
Mr Mukherjee stated that although it was through the support of India and the entire African continent that the UN was developed, those countries had no place in the formal membership of the Security Council.
“Outdated structures cannot resolve the problems of today. Positive transformation cannot be brought about by archaic systems and concepts. The United Nations, established in the wake of the Second World War, cannot effectively respond to the rapidly evolving international challenges that we face today.
“It is imperative that the organs of the United Nations keep pace with the changing times. A country of India’s size and civilisation depth cannot be watching from the sidelines as the Security Council dispenses solutions to global issues.
“The continent of Africa of over a billion people cannot be a bystander while its fate is defined. Reform of and change in the United Nations is inevitable and the youth should be at the vanguard of this call for change,” he said.
Increased slots for training
Mr Mukherjee, who had earlier unveiled a statue of Mahatma Ghandi, referred to as the Father of India, at the precincts of the Balme Library of the University of Ghana, announced an increase in the slots for training of Ghanaian government and semi-government officials every year in India from 250 to 300 under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme and full-time undergraduate, masters and doctoral programmes from 20 to 40 under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship scheme.
He said a recognition of Ghana’s immense human resource potential had informed the increase and urged the students to take advantage of the scholarships and training opportunities announced by India last year at the India Africa Forum Summit, which is a platform aimed at increasing India’s developmental cooperation in Africa.
“The capacity-building dimension of India-Africa relations has been vastly expanded to include research in various fields such as agriculture, bio-technology and other subjects of relevance to your country,” he stated.
Mr Mukherjee commended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for coordinating the Pan-African e-network programme and the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence for imparting ICT skills to the youth and announced an additional initial grant of US$1 million to the centre.
Paradigm shift
While commending Ghana for its democratic credentials, its rapid progress in realising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), social and religious harmony, as well as its role in the integration of ECOWAS, he called for a paradigm shift in India-Ghana relations, while building on their mutual goodwill.
“We need to define a new positive and create a brighter, innovative and updated narrative of India-Ghana relations,” he said.
Giving a clue as to what had brought about India’s transformation, Mr Mukherjee said it was not an overnight phenomenon but that it had come about as a result of the toil and sacrifices of leaders who were strengthened by hundreds of thousands of students and scholars.
“It is their innovations, discoveries, rock-solid determination, self-belief and, more importantly, a burning desire to serve the nation which have contributed to India’s success.
“Independent India, after 1947, refused to simply replicate what the developed countries were doing, nor did we follow blindly the models of development that might have been successful elsewhere.
“We recognised that natural and financial resources were only one side of the coin of development; but the other side is the quality of human resource that alone can transform natural resources into prosperity and happiness of the people,” he stated.
Centre of Asian Studies
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, said the university was in the process of establishing a Centre for Asian Studies that would be a reference point for policies on Asian economies and afford Indian scholars an opportunity to gain new ideas and work with Ghanaian policies.
“In view of our interest in broadening our relationships with institutions in Asia, we have, as a university, agreed to set up a new Centre for Asian Studies which will begin its work on August 1, this year,” he announced.
He was of the belief that the centre would produce the knowledge required for developing foreign policies towards India and all other Asian economies.
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