NewsWhore
09-26-2007, 03:00 PM
President Leonel Fernandez and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso are waging an intense lobbying campaign for the votes of Latin American, African and Middle Eastern nations during their participation in the UN General Assembly, as reported in El Caribe. Yesterday, Fernandez met with ministers from the Rio Group and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He also met with the presidents of Senegal, Mauritania, Nigeria, Morocco, Honduras and El Salvador.
The DR needs to be nominated by its regional caucus, Latin America and the Caribbean (that regularly has two seats on the Council), and then approved by the UN General Assembly. The Dominican Republic, one of the original signatories of the United Nations Charter, has never sat on the Security Council.
President Leonel Fernandez is in New York on the last leg of his 13-day visit to the United States.
Over the last few months, the Dominican government has spent millions on its campaign for a two-year seat on the 15-nation UN Security Council. President Leonel Fernandez has attended world summits as part of this campaign, and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso has traveled the world to meet with anyone who might vote for the DR. Costa Rica is the other contender for the seat, and the Central American country has already held the position. The election for the seat will take place on 16 October in New York and the position becomes available on 1 January.
The prestigious seat makes it possible for a country to take part more actively in world affairs, boosting its diplomatic importance, as well as a way of bringing a country's foreign policy priorities (for instance the plight of neighboring Haiti) to the attention of the world community. Nevertheless, there can be a high financial cost attached to it, also, according to a June 2006 study released by two Harvard University economists.
According to the study by economists Ilyana Kuziemko and Eric Werker, there may or may not be benefits to be had.
"We find that a country's US aid increases by 59% and its UN aid by 8% when it rotates onto the council," indicate the economists. "This effect increases during years in which key diplomatic events take place (when members' votes should be especially valuable) and the timing of the effect closely tracks a country's election to, and exit from, the council. Finally, the UN results appear to be driven by UNICEF, an organization over which the US has historically exerted great control."
Nevertheless, the same study explains that, "there are several reasons to doubt that countries systematically get more aid while on the council" and concludes that "because non-permanent members of the Council do not have veto power, they may not be worth bribing at all".
www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-029.pdf (http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-029.pdf)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
The DR needs to be nominated by its regional caucus, Latin America and the Caribbean (that regularly has two seats on the Council), and then approved by the UN General Assembly. The Dominican Republic, one of the original signatories of the United Nations Charter, has never sat on the Security Council.
President Leonel Fernandez is in New York on the last leg of his 13-day visit to the United States.
Over the last few months, the Dominican government has spent millions on its campaign for a two-year seat on the 15-nation UN Security Council. President Leonel Fernandez has attended world summits as part of this campaign, and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso has traveled the world to meet with anyone who might vote for the DR. Costa Rica is the other contender for the seat, and the Central American country has already held the position. The election for the seat will take place on 16 October in New York and the position becomes available on 1 January.
The prestigious seat makes it possible for a country to take part more actively in world affairs, boosting its diplomatic importance, as well as a way of bringing a country's foreign policy priorities (for instance the plight of neighboring Haiti) to the attention of the world community. Nevertheless, there can be a high financial cost attached to it, also, according to a June 2006 study released by two Harvard University economists.
According to the study by economists Ilyana Kuziemko and Eric Werker, there may or may not be benefits to be had.
"We find that a country's US aid increases by 59% and its UN aid by 8% when it rotates onto the council," indicate the economists. "This effect increases during years in which key diplomatic events take place (when members' votes should be especially valuable) and the timing of the effect closely tracks a country's election to, and exit from, the council. Finally, the UN results appear to be driven by UNICEF, an organization over which the US has historically exerted great control."
Nevertheless, the same study explains that, "there are several reasons to doubt that countries systematically get more aid while on the council" and concludes that "because non-permanent members of the Council do not have veto power, they may not be worth bribing at all".
www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-029.pdf (http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-029.pdf)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)