UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday urged Asian and African leaders to back his push to reform the UN, saying the developing world could benefit from plans to increase development aid and boost the world body's role in protecting human rights.
"The time has come for action -- for concrete, measurable steps, leading to a quantum leap in resources for development," Annan told more than 40 heads of state at the opening of the summit of Asian and African nations.
"The developing world also stands to benefit enormously from major steps on security and human rights," he said. "Your peoples pay the highest price for inaction in the face of massive violations of human rights and for the strains placed on the UN's peacekeeping, peace-building and human rights machinery."
The two-day summit draws together presidents, prime ministers and kings. In all, 80 nations were represented at the 50th anniversary of the first Asia-Africa conference that gave birth to the Non-aligned Movement, which tried to steer a neutral course during the Cold War.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the summit by calling on Asia and Africa to cooperate more closely, and looked forward to a time when "our people would live in comfort and dignity, free from fear of violence and all be free from the clutches of poverty."
Yudhoyono, head of the world's most populous Muslim nation, said the two regions must do more to fight corruption, protect human rights and prepare themselves to compete in a global economy.
Leaders are today expected to endorse a document calling for more cooperation in fighting terrorism and poverty, and improved economic cooperation between the two diverse continents.
The declaration also calls endorses proposed UN reforms, including greater decision-making for developing countries.
Annan's plan also calls for developed countries to provide US$0.70 in development assistance to the Third World for every US$100 of gross national income.
Annan also has said that the UN needs a new, permanent human rights body with greater authority, possibly on a par with the powerful Security Council, to combat abuses around the world.
In a related development, South and North Korea held their highest-level meeting in five years yesterday to discuss regional problems on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
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