U.N. meeting adopts finance reform call

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A United Nations meeting on the global economic crisis adopted proposals on Friday for reforming the world financial system, but the United States said the world body had no authority to order changes.

After months of negotiations, over 140 members of the U.N. General Assembly approved by consensus a 15-page resolution that is short on specifics but includes a call for increased U.N. involvement in global economic policy-making.

"Today, we have set forth our global consensus on the responses to this crisis, prioritized required actions and defined a clear role for the United Nations," it said.

"We are doing so in the interest of all nations in order to achieve a more inclusive, equitable, balanced, development-oriented and sustainable economic development to help overcome poverty and inequality," the resolution said.

As expected, a member of the U.S. delegation read a statement distancing the United States from parts of the resolution, including provisions on reforming financial bodies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"Our strong view is that the U.N. does not have the expertise or the mandate to serve as a forum for meaningful dialogue or to provide direction on issues such as reserve systems (and) the international financial institutions," U.S. envoy John Sammis told the meeting.

Among other things, the draft calls for increased representation of developing countries and better gender balance at the IMF and World Bank.

The resolution says some countries have called for a "more efficient reserve system" and urges further study of the possibility of replacing the U.S. dollar with the IMF's Special Drawing Rights as the top reserve unit. Both Russia and China have voiced support for the idea of using SDRs for reserves.