MADRID, April 8: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday expressed confidence that the historic efforts undertaken by the UN high-level panel on system-wide coherence would promote the lofty objectives of a more peaceful and developed world by improving the world body’s efficiency in matters ranging from development and humanitarian assistance to the environment.

At the conclusion of the panel’s two-day meetings in Segovia near Madrid, Mr Aziz said the work of the panel would go a long way in improving effectiveness of the United Nations and discharging its responsibilities in development, humanitarian assistance and environment-related issues.

Mr Aziz was one of three co-chairmen of the panel constituted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to improve the efficiency of the world body.

Mr Aziz, along with his co-chairperson the prime minister of Norway and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, had intensive interaction with heads of all the UN agencies and the multilateral institutions in Segovia during the last 48 hours.

Besides the heads of all UN organisations, the meeting was attended by heads of the World Bank, IMF and other important institutions.

The prime minister said the meeting of the panel in Spain provided a single platform for exhaustive discussions on UN reforms and improving efficiency of different institutions.

Mr Aziz, referring to the meeting held in Spain and earlier in the UN headquarters in New York, was confident that the exercise would benefit the UN tremendously and make its working more coherent and effective.

He said the outcome of the process, set in motion by the panel, would benefit all the stake-holders - donors, the recipients and the UN organisations.

Referring to the importance of the work of the panel, he said the donors would provide more money to the reformed United Nations.

He said that developing countries would be beneficiaries and would get better and quality assistance. —APP