16
Sep
MIKTA countries choose Geneva to explain their global agenda Geneva, Switzerland, 31 August 2014: Composed of Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea,Turkey, and Australia, this new grouping of countries (MIKTA) gathered at Diplo Foundation to discuss multilateral perspectives. They intend to play a bigger role in the diverse issues addressed in International Geneva such as health, humanitarian affairs, trade, and UN reform.Geneva is proving once again it is a global centre for change, and the perfect platform for new international initiatives.Gathered on 29 August, Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia, in partnership with Diplo Foundation, organised an academic debate on their recently developed cooperation scheme called MIKTA.The concept of MIKTA was coined a year ago in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2013, with a consequent joint communiqué signed in Mexico City in April 2014.
MIKTA countries represent a total population of over 500 million people, a GDP of US$5.6 billion and US$1.5trillion in trade. They represent open economies, which have strong domestic markets, moderate inflation, and populations with rising purchasing power.The choice of Geneva as a hub to pilot this promising multilateral initiative is perfectly in line with MIKTA’s aspirations.
Jorge Lomónaco, Ambassador of Mexico to the UN in Geneva, welcomed the 80 participants to this Geneva gathering by calling MIKTA ‘an informal platform which should be building,not blocking’. MIKTA, he reminded the audience, is based on a common interest in strengthening multilateralism by supporting worldwide efforts for stability and prosperity, facilitating pragmatic and creative solutions to regional and international challenges, and implementing the needed reforms in global governance structures.
Dr Jovan Kurbalija, Director of Diplo Foundation, who moderated discussion, built on Ambassador Lomónaco’s reference to MIKTA countries as ‘bridges’ while Professor Raymond Saner of the Universityof Basel laid the data and scientific basis for discussion on MIKTA in trade and development. Quick‘data mining’ on MIKTA has shown some interesting insights.
Most MIKTA countries depend heavily on services (around 60%). Service-dependence makes MIKTA more dependent on stable and predictable global relations. Ambassador Toni Frisch, former Head of Humanitarian Aid of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, had a very persuasive presentation on a possible role of MIKTA in the humanitarian field and Dr Petru Dumitriu, lecturer at Diplo and Ambassador of the Council of Europe to the UN, described MIKTA as an example minilateralism defined as ‘bringing to the same table the smallest possible number of countries needed to have the largest possible impact on solving a particular problem.’All the panelists agreed on the fact that Geneva’s policy and academic communities offer a unique springboard to MIKTA’s ambitions.The photo gallery and speakers’ bios are available at this link.
Source: http://www.diplomacy.edu/sites/default/files/Press%20release_MIKTA.pdf