UNITED NATIONS, June 6: Pakistan on the behalf of Group of 77 (developing countries) plus China has asked the G-8 summit of world’s most richest and powerful countries to take “concrete and practical” steps to enhance the global partnership for development, noting that “development is a best contribution to peace.”

In a message to the leaders attending the summit in Heilgendam, Germany, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram, who is also the Chairman of G-77, reiterates “we believe that multilateral cooperation is a cornerstone of world peace and development.”

He said the UN was the apex of multi-lateralism, adding that “nothing should be done to undermine its pluralism and its diversity.” He said the UN should remain the main deliberative body to decide on economic matters.

Mr Akram stressed the need for making globalisation inclusive and equitable, bearing in mind the conditions of developing countries, as the process, he said, had created serious and growing imbalances.

He called for “urgently” developing an intergovernmental consensus for the establishment of monitoring mechanisms based on specific benchmarks and targets for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015.

Mr Akram called on the rich countries to reduce the huge subsidies and support to agriculture as it threatened food security for the poorest.