T

he United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged cooperation between developing and developed countries and “south-to-south” interaction in pursuing a balanced economy and harmonious development across the world.

“There should be a chorus of cooperation between the developing and developed world and when it comes to development assistance, the south-to-south flow is very important,” he told The Jakarta Post during his recent visit to Jakarta.

Ban noted a changing concept in development assistance that used to flow from north to south; developed to developing. This was changing, instead the south-to-south flow had become very important, he said.

He called on the growing emerging world powers to play a greater role. “Indonesia, along with China, Brazil, India and Turkey can play a very important role. They all provide south-to-south economic
cooperation.”

The UN has underlined the need to strengthen integration and balance among the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainable development. “Those are the three pillars. If we lack any one of those three pillars, we won’t be able to realize a balanced economy and harmonious development in the world.”

The UN chief sees sustainable development as his top priority during his second term as head of the UN.

“I have made it the number one priority of my second term [as UN secretary-general] and it is widely supported.”

In the run up to the Rio+20 meeting, Ban said the conference would be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the international community to address all global issues in a more comprehensive, broader and integrated manner.

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) will take place in Brazil on June 20-22 to mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSDD) in Johannesburg.

The conference is aimed at securing a renewed political commitment to sustainable development and will focus on two themes; the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication and the institutional framework for sustainable development.

“The green economy will be one of the issues to be discussed at the Rio+20 summit meeting. I believe every country should have some policy space to address and realize green economy pacts where the low-carbon economy, inclusive development dialogue, equality issues can be addressed. This is the venue where all issues; climate change, food crisis, energy issues will be discussed at the same time,” Ban said.

In this aspect, he added, energy would be a cross-cutting issue. Energy can provide the most important tools in addressing those issues. The UN is aiming for sustainable energy-for-all, in which the world tries to achieve universal access to energy by all seven billion people by 2030.

“So, 18 years from now, if we achieve sustainable energy-for-all, it will be much easier for us to address climate change.”