Primakov on UN reform

The first session of a high-level group dealing with threats, challenges and changes, established by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, has ended outside New York.

The commission headed by ex-premier of Thailand Anand Panyarachun worked in a closed regime and discussed a possible reform of the organisation and new elements of collective response to international security threats.

"We can't tell journalists or representatives of the authorities of our countries the details of the discussions since we are individual members of the commission," said member of the high-level group, former premier and foreign minister of Russia Yevgeny Primakov.

According to him, the unilateral actions of the USA and Britain in Iraq were a challenge to the present world order and pushed the UN to take stock of the threats.

The United Nations should have the opportunity to neutralise the emerging threats, from international terrorism included, Yevgeny Primakov told Russian journalists. This can be done proceeding from the UN Charter which is not always used to the full, Primakov believes. More than that, additional mechanisms of the organisation's structure should be studied, because otherwise it will not become an alternative to unilateral actions we faced recently.

Primakov opined that to counter new threats, the UN should have a military mechanism, which has not been developed yet, and react to new threats in cooperation with regional organisations. The main thing is that the threat should be assessed jointly, Primakov said. According to him, this is something the entire world, the USA included, wants.

The next meeting of the High-Level Group will take place in Geneva on February 13-15. Primakov reported that the commission should submit its recommendations to Kofi Annan by August 2004.