FM named to UN panel

By Chung Min-uck

Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Sung-hwan was appointed to a high-level United Nations panel promoting new global development agendas, according to the foreign ministry, Wednesday.

The panel, appointed Tuesday, consists of 26 members, and will advise U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on shaping the development agendas of the 193 U.N. member states that will replace the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), anti-poverty and sustainable development targets that the U.N. originally established in 2000.

“I look forward to the panel’s recommendations on a global post-2015 agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries and with the fight against poverty and sustainable development at its core,” said Ban in a statement released by the U.N. “I have asked the high-level panel to prepare a bold yet practical development vision to present to member states next year.”

The panel is to hold its first meeting in September and is expected to submit a report to the secretary-general in the first half of 2013.

It is co-chaired by Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The remaining 23 advisers include private and public sector leaders such as Kim, former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, former German President Horst Kohler and Betty Maina, chief executive of Kenya’s Association of Manufacturers, one of the country’s leading business associations with some 700 members.

“Kim was included in the list due to South Korea’s unprecedented experience of achieving successful development and hosting of the G20 summit in 2010 and the Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011,” said a foreign ministry official. “Kim will actively share his experience with other members for the U.N.’s new development targets.”