-term capacity-building road map in consultation with the United Nations. It also stressed the need for predictable, flexible and sustainable resources for African Union-led peacekeeping operations and pledged to consider all options to strengthen funding, while at the same time reiterating that regional organizations had a responsibility to secure their own resources through contributions by their members and support from donors.
Minute of Silence
The council began the meeting with a statement by Security Council President ZHANG YESUI (China) expressing the Council’s condolences for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and by observing a minute of silence.
Statement by Secretary General
BAN KI-MOON, Secretary-General of the United Nations, stressed that the current crises faced by the United Nations could only be met through partnership at all levels. Over the past two days, he and the heads of regional and subregional organizations had had a very fruitful retreat, but were only beginning to realize what cooperation between all of them could accomplish. “We can and must go farther still”, he said, in pursuing more effective peacekeeping and Peacebuilding strategies.
Mr. Ban briefly summed up current cooperation with the African Union and subregional organizations in Africa, as well as the wide-ranging partnerships in Europe, South America, the Middle East, and Asia and the Pacific. On all those many fronts, he said, the aim was flexibility and making use of each partner’s comparative advantage.
At the retreat, he said, it was agreed that, in particular, coordination and communication between respective Secretariats needed to be strengthened and that peacekeeping deployments needed to strike the right balance between flexibility and efficiency, among other conclusions. Recognizing that the test of better coordination would be an improvement of the situation for people on the ground, he looked forward to building the ties between organizations as part of the search for a better world.
Statements
AMR MOUSSA, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, said the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations worked within Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, but more effective cooperation between United Nations programmes, agencies and funds with regional organizations was also required. Chapter VIII cooperation could benefit from lessons learned to remedy shortfalls. In that regard, it was also important to focus on training and to increase advocacy. Chapter VIII interpretation should be reviewed, in that regard. The concept of international actions changed throughout the years and the Council should, therefore, address new questions that threatened the world, such as climate change. The international system needed a leader -- the Council -- to ensure respect for the Charter and the principles of international law.
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