People should be part of decision making: Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon underlined the importance of people's participation in decision making at a global conference here Monday.

"States should involve citizens in decision making, especially in setting priorities," he said while addressing the third annual Government Summit, adding, "There have already been successful examples of this around the world, from e-government to youth mobilisation in Europe."

Ban emphasised on universal standards like equal application of law to all and equal access to justice.

"People respect those governments that punish criminals and politicians for the crimes," the UN chief said.

He also stressed the need for an agreement in Paris in December this year to avoid the effects of climate change, which he called "one of the worst disasters ever faced".

Jordan's Queen Rania, on the other hand, in a message to the summit, condemned the brutal killing of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh by the Islamic State (IS) militants.

"Extremism is alien to our values. It has no place among us, nor in the future we aspire for," she said.

"The Muslim is the man they murdered. The one who observed the pillars of his faith, who honoured his parents and served his country," she stated.

"We are in a race against time to adopt policies that address the priorities which confront us today -- most importantly, to eliminate the ideology of hate and terrorism, not just militarily, but ideologically as well."

Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, said that in the post-crisis world of today, "the future can only be solved by governments, working in close cooperation with businesses".

"The economic future over the next few years will be characterised by low growth... governments need to treat private business as a true partner," he said.

He noted that the world would see "uberisation" of the economies. According to him, this was a completely new "tsunami force" driven by the internet that would change every single industry.

"I am referring not only (to) taxis, but the demand for an app to speak to each of our needs, including our public needs from governments. We will see the uberisation of the economy," Schwab said.

"Robots, drones and AI (artificial intelligence) will be critical in the future... The biggest impact on us... is the research in biology, which we are already making great progress in, for example in Switzerland, every second baby is expected to live longer than 100 years," Schwab noted.