UN agenda should ensure developed nations' accountability: India

An agenda that is equally relevant as well as applicable to both the developing and developed countries has been demanded

With the UN working on an ambitious post-2015 development agenda, India has said it must be built around universality of issues and should ensure that developed countries are made accountable for their specific actions and commitments.

"In our view, there is no contradiction between the principle of differentiation and the notion of universality. Both complement each other and a balance of both is well captured in the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asoke Kumar Mukerji said during the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Post-2015 Development Agenda here yesterday.

He said the universality demands an agenda that is equally relevant as well as applicable to both the developing and developed countries.

"Unlike in the past, this time the developed countries will also be called into account for their specific actions and commitments," Mukerji said, adding that the ambitious global agenda must also be built around universality of issues and differentiation in action.

He said, "For India the primary touchstone for the Post-2015 Development Agenda is that it is an agenda for growth and development. We want an agenda that can propel sustained and inclusive economic growth in all countries, particularly developing countries."

Outlining India's key suggestions, Mukerji said the post-2015 development agenda must adhere to the test of multilateralism and there must be shift from the Millennium Development Goals model of addressing the symptoms of lack of development, to a new model that addresses drivers of development and growth.

"We need to bear in mind that this is an agenda for international cooperation. It should go beyond merely identifying global problems and providing policy prescriptions, and aim at genuine collaboration by pooling efforts of different countries and stakeholders in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities, to solve those problems," he said.

The international community must keep its sights on the centrality of the political, economic, moral and ethical imperative of ending poverty, Mukerji said.