FM urges Obama to embrace 'new multilateralism'

FM urges Obama to embrace 'new multilateralism'

Sunday November 23rd, 2008.


LONDON (AFP) - Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on the next US administration to embrace a "new multilateralism," saying the election of Barack Obama will allow the "world to lay new foundations."



In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech referring back to then prime minister Tony Blair's doctrine of liberal interventionism, he said on Friday the world must learn the lessons of the Iraq and Afghanistan war.


"In 1999, Tony Blair, in his Chicago speech, defined what became known as the doctrine of liberal interventionism," he said, according to the text of his speech released in advance.


"Much of this rationale remains valid. But to restore belief in the efficacy of intervention we must learn the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan. We must work differently," he added.


Under Blair, Britain was US President George W. Bush's main ally in the so-called "war on terror" which followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.


Blair's successor Gordon Brown is seeking to reposition London as Obama prepares to take office on January 20, following his defeat of Republican rival John McCain in the November 4 presidential election.


Miliband noted a new report by the US National Intelligence Council which says that "by 2025, the US will find itself as one of a number of important actors on the world, albeit still the most powerful one."


The rise of India and China among others as global powers will change the global balance of power, he said.


"In January, the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president offers the chance for the world to lay new foundations," he said.


And he said: "No problem can be solved without the US, but few can be solved by the US alone. It is out of pragmatism as well as principle that we need a new multilateralism," he said.


"For a new multilateralism, we need a new bargain. The US must be prepared to share power and act in collaboration. But China, India, Europe, Brazil and Russia must be prepared to take on more responsibility as global players."


Miliband, noting that Obama had recently travelled to the Balkans, China and the Middle East, evoked the worldwide sense of anticipation ahead of his inauguration.


"No-one is starry eyed. But everywhere there is at minimum curiosity and in most places nervous hope," he said.


But he warned: "The new multilateralism is technically difficult but politically simple.


"We either tackle shared risks together, with shared power, or we don't tackle them at all. And the modern case for multilateralism is that without it, not just order but also freedom is under threat."