Hardeep Singh Puri Appointed As Secretary General of ICM
Hardeep Singh Puri Appointed As Secretary General of ICM
Hardeep Singh Puri has been appointed as the Secretary General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism. He was the former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. ICM or the Independent Commission on Multilateralism was launched by the International Peace Institute to enhance the recognition of policy proposals for the improvement of the multilateral system's capacity to respond to challenges in and across the world.
The former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd is to be the chairperson of the ICM while Co-chairpersons will be Norway's Foreign Minister, Borge Brende as well as Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. The commission will be funded by the governments of Canada and Norway. It will be an all inclusive programme lasting for a duration of two years.
ICM has been launched by an international think tank and it aims to identify policies that will promote multilateralism and the further evolution of the multilateral system. The IPI or International Peace Institute will now be under the guidance of its Senior Advisor, Secretary General to the commission, Hardeep Singh Puri according to the statement issued by the organisation.
The commission will also complete its tenure in 2 years during which it will work to identify the problems and obstacles in the path of the development and growth of the multilateral system. Changing geo-political damages have necessitated the establishment of the ICM to review and assess what strategies the multilateral system can take to counter challenges that exist as well as ones that are coming about.
The UN was formed around seven decades ago for dealing with challenges such as health epidemics, war, international conflicts and more. Alone, it has struggled against a lot of counter challenges and coping with the changing geo political map of the world has been the biggest challenge of all. With new organisations such as ICM lending a helping hand, things may change for the better and this can have a lot of positive repercussions for the world.
“There is now an urgent need to independently review the current multilateral system and to make it fit for purpose,” a statement issued by the organisation said. The Commission will be composed of a 3 tier structure with an advisory council of eminent people meeting at least once a year for providing advice and guidance for the commission.
A ministerial level board will also meet every 6 months and each of the ministers will be serving in his or her personal capacity. Alongside, an ambassadorial level board too will meet twice a year. The ambassadors will also serve in their personal capacity. The work of the commission will be overseen by the Chairperson as well as the Co-chairs while the Secretariat will be the IPI which will provide support alongside.
A working group will also support the functioning of the 3 tier structure. The final report of the commission will be crafted by the IPI along with the chair and Co-chairs as well as the secretary general of the commission with feedback and inputs from all levels.
