'Pakistan played constructive role in UN reform process'

A senior Pakistani official has disputed Pakistan's portrayal in a newspaper editorial as one of the developing nations obstructing UN reforms, saying that the country had made a "significant contribution" in the process.
"Pakistan has played a useful and constructive role," Mansoor Suhail, press minister at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations said in a letter published in the New York Times on Sunday.
He was responding to the Times' editorial, which among other elements said, "The less-developed countries led by Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan and South Africa are reluctant to yield the influence over management and personnel issues that comes with detailed control over UN spending".
"Your editorial unfairly tends to stereotype developing countries as blockers of United Nations reform," the Pakistani official added.
While singling out the developing countries for blame, independent observers here pointed out that the editorial completely passed over the US-led threats to impose spending cap if certain demands were not met, a move that would have thrown the UN in a serious financial crisis.
In his letter, Suhail said: "For a vast majority of the United Nations membership, progress on development resolution and implementation of agreed development commitments is a matter of the highest priority."
"As co-head of the mandate review process, Pakistan, along with Canada, has made a significant contribution towards advancing the process despite major disagreements among the membership."
"On management reforms, Pakistan and other members of Group of 77 recognise the need for managerial discretion for the secretary general. But we believe that delegation of authority must be accompanied by robust accountability mechanisms."
"Pakistan supports an efficient, accountable and effective United Nations Secretariat and is committed to carrying out all reform decisions adopted by the World Summit last September".
Independent observers also took note of the fact that The Times' editorial ignored Pakistan's support to modernisation of UN's ICT infrastructure and introduction of modern accounting and resource planning systems.