Trust essential for new World Order, Mancham declares |04 May 2015

In 2014 Henry Kissinger who was US secretary of state (from 1973-1977) defined  World Order as “a set of commonly accepted rules that define the limit of permissible action and a balance of power that enforces restraint where rules break down, preventing one political unit from subjugating all others”.

Today's world,  however,  seems to be experiencing the blurring of those limits, with world powers entering a conflict rhetoric unheard since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It is against this background that the Nizami Ganjavi International Center last week (April 28-30), in association with Le Club de Madrid,  hosted the 3rd Baku Forum on the theme ‘Building trust in the emerging world order’ at the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Seychelles’ founding President Sir James R. Mancham was one of the ninety leading figures in global politics invited to take part in this game changing event to debate the current trends in international relations and human security.

The meeting provided a space for current and former presidents,  prime ministers, ministers, leading scholars and experts to assess the current state of the world and the most pressing threats to international security and to peace and to elaborate concrete steps for today's leadership to overcome these divisions.

The meeting was opened by His Excellency Hillam Alliev,  the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 28 following which special messages were read from Angela Merkel,  Chancellor of Germany;  from David Cameroon, Prime Minister  of the UK; from Boutros Boutros Ghali, former secretary general of the United Nations and Henry Kissinger before the welcoming address by Vaira Vika-Freiberga who was President of Latvia between 1999 and 2007 and who is today the current President of Le Club de Madrid and co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center.

Also taking part in this major gathering of world leaders were Rossen  Plevniev, President of Bulgaria; George Ivanov, President of Macedonia;  Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta;  Jean Chrétien, former PM of Canada;  Abdullah Gul, former President of Turkey; Olusegun Obasongo,  former President of Nigeria; George Papandreou, former PM of Greece; Am Moussa,  former secretary general of the Arab League; Danielo Turk, former President of Slovenia;

 Alexander Likhotal,  President of Green Cross International of Moscow;  Peter Stoyanov, former President of Bulgaria;  Vaclav Klaus, former President of Czech Republic;  Amin Gemayel, former President of Lebanon; Bertie Ahern, former Prime Minister of Ireland; Mikhail Saakashvili,  former President of Georgia; David Merkel, assistant secretary general of European and Eurasian Affairs of the US Department of State; Michel Fouchet, member of the Council of Foreign Affairs of Paris and Novruz Mammadov, head of the international affairs department of Azerbaijan's President Office.

Intense discussions during the two-day gathering resolved around the need of a declaration for enhanced trust in the world order.

Discussions were held on the subjects of :

•  Interfaith dialogue as a tool for trust building;

• Energy security as a tool for cooperation in peace;

• The role of women in peace leadership which was led by such leading women activists as Ambassador Farifda Allaghi, representative of Libya to the European Union; Katherina Yushenko,  First Lady of Ukraine (from 2005-2010); Jaroslava Germanova, current deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; Linda Lanzilotta, current Vice-President of the Senate of Italy who was Minister of Regional Affaires and Local Communities; and Broukuha Marguerite, a leading member of the Parliament of Ghana.

Perhaps the most important focus of the conference evolved around the subject of the conflict within Ukraine resulting into increased tensions prevaling between the West and Russia which has resulted into a growing Cold War situation.  The session which was facilitated by Aleksandar Kwasniewski who was President of Poland between 1995 to 2005 was addressed by three former Presidents of Ukraine - Leonid Kravchuk, (1991-1994); Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) and Viktor Yushenko (2005-2010).  These former presidents addressed the issues that are important to ensure a continued  stable, strong and united Ukraine all alleging the violations of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia's military intervention, its annexation of Crimea and its active support to the rebel forces within Ukraine.
 
It is during this session that Mr Mancham made a forceful intervention stating that he fully supported the view of facilitator Aleksandar Kwasniewski that the Ukraine problem was not merely an internal problem nor a regional problem but an international one.

Mr Mancham said that everything had to do with the lack of trust between the big powers in today's unhappy state of the world.  Nato is active within Europe because Russia is not trusted.  Russia itself feels threatened because it is encircled by Nato bases.  All these, Mr Mancham said, are happening because the policy of ‘Might is Right’ has taken over from the policy of ‘Right is Might’ which sees ever increasing defense budgets at the expense of human resources  development.

The wold, Mr Mancham said, should be grateful that the leadership in Azerbaijan today is supporting this 3rd Global Baku forum focusing on the need to build trust in a New World Order.  

“The confrontation that we are witnessing today between Russia and the West is not only a geopolitical military conflict but one rooted in economic principles, political culture and norms for international cooperation that we assumed would constitute the new World Order which emerged at the end of the Cold War,” he stated.