- * As Permanent Rep Urges Nigeria's Delegation To Work For Common Vision.
By Cecilia Ologunagba (Agency Reporter)
Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Tijiani Muhammad-Bande, said Nigeria will continue to champion global tax cooperation discourse at the ongoing 78th session of UN General Assembly (UNGA).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian delegation had, during the 77th session of UNGA, presented a historic resolution entitled “Promotion of Inclusive and effective International Tax Cooperation at the United Nations’’.
The resolution laid the foundation for the creation of a new system of international tax cooperation that should be universal in scope and approach.
With this, member states agreed for the first time to have a convention on tax cooperation and to annually discuss global tax issues and review progress.
The motion, submitted for consideration by Nigeria on behalf of 54-member African Group of States, was adopted by consensus after some discussions on a failed amendment.
Muhammad-Bande told NAN in New York that the resolution was important in the context of financing for development, noting that the element of taxation wad connected to illicit flows.
“All the conversations are continuing; the resolution on taxation itself, we are just at the beginning of the process, now that it has been mandated that something be done. What will happen now is to sit down and see what can be done to ensure that such a convention or treaty is arrived at.
“That will be a lot of negotiations; countries, blocs, coalitions, but by and large, globally, it is understood that it is important to have a binding document relating to taxation that looks at the interest of all parts of the world at the same time.
“So, this is important. Nigeria will continue to champion its course not only on Africa, but also developing countries. Again, Nigeria is not just talking about this. We are part of a global community. And we want justice and operations of countries in the context of the Charter of the United Nations, which we are all members.”
Apart from this resolution, the envoy said that Africa states did well by bringing issues that were important to them alongside developing countries at the 77th Session of the General Assembly.
According to him, the Assembly is not just about developing or developed countries. “It is about humanity as issues on human rights, climate change and post COVID-19 recovery have always been on the table for discussion,” he said,
Muhammad-Bande told NAN that it had been very difficult for countries, especially in the South, to recover from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The envoy said that it was difficult to recover faster from COVID-19 because of indebtedness of some countries which had made it difficult for them to finance development.
“The Assembly has understood this repeatedly through the steps of production. The assembly, through resolutions and also through statements and the actions of the Secretary General, willl continue to have instability in those countries.’’
In addition, the assembly would continue to have more discussions concerning how to work more closely with financial institutions and global financial institutions and banks,” he added.
He said that there would be more talks to work with financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give a bit of space for countries that were highly indebted, to survive.
Muhammad-Bande also told NAN that Nigeria would join other UN Member States in discussing other global issues from terrorism, climate issues, to issues of economic development.
The Nigerian envoy said the country would also join in the discussion on technology and the impact of technology on societies and the question of inequalities around the world within and between nations.
The envoy said the session was convened under the shadow of Europe’s first major war since World War II – the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – which unleased a global food crisis and opened cracks among powers in a way not seen since the Cold War.
“Most of the discussions went well; the main problem obviously has been the unfortunate situation of the war in Ukraine, which has, in a way, impacted on some of the negotiations. By and large, the President and members of the Assembly did well to continue to focus on important things, regardless.
“There are lots of discussions which were successfully held concerning developing countries, concerning climate actions, concerning inequalities,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the 77th session, which held between Sept. 13, 2022 and Dec. 30, 2022, adopted 240 resolutions and 29 decisions, many of which are of interest to Nigeria.
Some of the resolutions are “assistance of refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa; the right to privacy in the digital age; trafficking in women and girls, among others.
The Nigerian delegation also drafted and coordinated resolutions on behalf of the G77 and China entitled “Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat illicit Financial Flows and strengthen good practices on Assets return to foster Sustainable Development, and International Trade and Development”.
The General Assembly is the main policy making and representative organ of the United Nations.
It is composed of representatives of the 193 Member States and other entitles which meet in sessions dedicated to discussions on current issues of critical importance to the international community.
Meanwhile, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has urged the Nigeria’s delegation at the ongoing 78th session of UN General to work for the good of the county and vision of the session.
The correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 78th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Sept. 6, with the inauguration of a new President, Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago.
Muhammad-Bande told NAN in New York that Nigeria, an important member of the global body, deserved that respect, noting that the delegation should work to continue to justify this trust.
The envoy urged the delegation to work effectively for the good of the country and shun any form of distraction.
He said the Nigerian delegation had always made its stand known on the issues discussed at the gathering.
“We are effective, we are very clear as to where we stand on global issues and all actions relating to the 78th session must work within that vision. We negotiate; we go into agreement or disagreement on the basis of that parameter,’’ Muhammad-Bande said.
Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu will arrive New York on Sunday for the high-level meetings to join other world leaders to contribute to ddiscussions on global peace, development and justice.
High-level political forum on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit will hold on Monday Sept. 18, while the high level General Debate will hold from Tuesday, Sept. 19 to Friday, Sept. 29.
President Tinubu will address the Assembly on Tuesday, Sept 19. He further told NAN that Tinubu would lead the Nigerian delegation to participate at the highest-level mandated events and the key events at the gathering.
In addition, he said that the President would also be attending some bilateral meetings as collated by the mission. According to him, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be attending some meetings.
“Obviously, some will clash but the position of Nigeria is to take bilateral when it can. We will take bilateral whenever we can because it’s an opportunity to strengthen our relationships financially culturally, economically, even legally, for both countries, and globally. For instance, we got new requests when the President was in India for G20 summit.
“Some countries will want to also interact with the new president, that is natural but throughout, Nigeria is an important country. Nigeria is an important country because we have a lot to give to the world. We have a lot to learn from the world and there is a lot of expectations from Nigeria as a very important country,’’ the envoy said.
He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over some stories reported by a session of the media, describing Nigeria as inconsequential, saying the country was significant, in spite of its challenges.
According to him, no country is free from challenges.
“Nigeria is working hard to address its challenges, especially challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic,” he declared.
He said Nigeria, along the global community living in Post- COVID era, had not fully recovered from it and that a lot of people didn’t understand this fact.
“For instance, the supply chain, people just used to think is a small matter, but it has affected the global community and it still affects even a strong country such as the U.S. Although, the U.S. is in a better position than many countries to address some of these things because they have a stronger economy. I think the future is brighter; two years ago, we could not have UNGA because of COVID-19, but we are emerging out of it,’’ he said.
The theme of the General Assembly, including the general debate, will be rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity, accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all. (source: NAN). NNL.
