28/9/2007
Netherlands PM Calls on UN To Streamline its Operations

The United Nations would have more success in helping the world’s poorest countries if its many agencies and programmes pooled their resources into a single plan rather than competing for funds and attention, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands told national leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly this week.

Jan Peter Balkenende said it was time for the Member States of the UN to invest less time and energy in adopting resolutions and more in strengthening confidence and relations between poor and rich States.

“People and resources are scarce. We can only spend each euro once. If we want to achieve our common aims, like the Millennium Development Goals, we need to coordinate our efforts.”  Mr. Balkenende said that all too often “

we have planted a forest of UN flags in various countries” to represent the work of individual agencies and programmes. “We need a more unified approach in order to help the poorest developing countries more. We can work far more efficiently if we pool our resources in a single programme in each country," he said.
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