Cameron reassures business over immigration cap
Prime minister tells CBI government will adopt a flexible approach that will not impeded them from attracting the ‘best talent from around the world’
David Cameron today sought to reassure Britain’s business leaders that the coalition will not block them from recruiting highly skilled staff from around the world when a permanent cap on non-EU immigration is introduced next year.
Amid fears among leading British businesses that the cap will put them at a competitive disadvantage, the prime minister told the Confederation of British Industry that he would adopt a flexible approach.
In a speech to the CBI annual conference, Cameron said: “Let me give you this assurance. As we control our borders and bring immigration to a manageable level, we will not impede you from attracting the best talent from around the world.”
The prime minister’s remarks were his strongest hint to date that the government will heed the concerns of business as ministers finalise plans for a permanent cap on non-EU immigration that is due to be introduced next April. The government, which introduced a temporary limit of 24,000 skilled non-EU workers in July, wants to reduce net immigration to the tens of thousands.
The CBI, which has warned that the temporary cap is already harming British business and is restricting the supply of skilled science researchers, welcomed the prime minister’s remarks. Richard Lambert, the director general of the CBI, said: “The prime minister demonstrated a real passion for business and an understanding that only business will create growth … He also made clear that access to finance and immigration would not be barriers to future growth.”
Downing Street said after the prime minister’s speech: “We all know business have been talking about this issue. That is precisely why we wanted to have this period of consultation – to get the policy right. We were always very clear that we would try to implement that cap in a way that does not impede businesses from attracting the best talent to the UK. The objective is to bring net immigration down to the levels seen in the past – so tens of thousands. But we have not said anything more detailed about precisely how this is going to operate. We will do so in due course.”
The prime minister’s remarks about immigration came as he set out a series of initiatives to boost economic growth less than a week after George Osborne outlined the most drastic fiscal retrenchment in a generation with £81bn of spending cuts by 2015. Cameron, who assured his audience that he had protected the science budget in cash terms, announced:
– The first ever UK national infrastructure plan to “update and modernise” Britain’s infrastructure by unlocking £200bn of public and private investment. Cameron, who told his audience that the chancellor had announced an additional £8.6bn in capital spending over the next four years, outlined a series of projects. These include the new high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, Crossrail in the capital, the Thames Gateway bridge and the Mersey Gateway bridge.
– A £200m investment over the next four years in “technology and innovation centres”. Based on the German Fraunhofer Institutes, which have been instrumental in developing the MP3 licence, these are designed to improve links between universities and business.
– A boost to competition by merging the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission to create a “much tougher and streamlined competition regime”.
– A £69m investment to encourage private sector investment in offshore wind projects. Cameron said: “We need thousands of offshore turbines in the next decade and beyond – each one as tall as the Gherkin [the Swiss Re skyscraper in London]. Manufacturing these needs large factories which have to be on the coast. Yet neither the factories nor these large port sites currently exist. And that, understandably, is putting off private investors. So we’re stepping in.”
The prime minister dismissed criticisms from Labour that his government had adopted a hands-off approach to boosting growth. “I won’t engage in some sterile debate between laissez faire and hands-on government. The question isn’t ‘Should government be involved?’ because it is involved. It taxes. It regulates. It invests.
“The real question is: what is the right kind of involvement? … My approach is clear: British business should have no more vocal champion than the British government and that’s why I have put the promotion of British commerce and international trade at the heart of our foreign and economic policy.”
Vince Cable, the business secretary, will use his speech to the CBI this afternoon to warn bankers against awarding themselves generous bonuses. “Of course, there is no point in engaging in a sterile public exchange of insults,” he will say. “But no one listening to the chancellor’s statement last week will be under any doubt of the government’s collective determination to ensure that banks act in the interests of the wider economy – and that in the new year they don’t engage in another self-indulgent bonus round.”
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, warned that the coalition was risking growth by cutting the deficit so quickly. The coalition plans to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, in contrast to Labour, which would have halved the deficit over four years.
“I do fear that the path the government is pursuing is a gamble with growth and jobs,” Miliband told the CBI. “They have a programme which will lead to the disappearance of a million private and public sector jobs but no credible plan to replace them.
“And their refusal to accept that a deficit reduction plan has to be sensitive to changing economic circumstances needlessly makes the British economy a hostage to fortune. Time will tell whether they turn out to be right.” Economic policy Immigration and asylum Confederation of British Industry (CBI) David Cameron Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Coalition Government Freezes BBC License Fee For 6 Years
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – The British coalition government froze on Tuesday the license fee of British Broadcasting Company for six years. In exchange, the publicly-owned broadcasting company will be responsible for the funding of its World Service.
The TV license will be kept at $218.25 (145.50 pounds) a year until 2016. In turn BBC will pay for the $408 million (272 million pounds) yearly upkeep of World Service, currently being funded by the Foreign Office. BBC also agreed with coalition government ministers to pick the tab for the Welsh language channel S4C , which costs $153 million (102 million pounds) yearly.
Other agreements under the deal would have the BBC shoulder $225 million (150 million pounds) a year to provider superfast broadband connection to rural communities and another $37.50 million (25 million pounds) to fund BBC Monitoring, which tracks and reports activities of mass media worldwide.
BBC was initially asked by the government to also pay for the free TV licenses of Britons over 75 years old, which would cost the broadcasting firm $834 million (556 million pounds) yearly, but the proposed was shelved. The cost, which is expected to escalate as Britain’s population turns grey, is currently shouldered by the Department of Work and Pensions.
The freeze on the license fee, according to experts, is equivalent to a 16 percent reduction of the company’s fees in real terms. The license fees provide $5.4 billion (3.6 billion pounds) to BBC’s coffers yearly.
While the discussions for the license fees – which normally takes two years to negotiate – is seen as a victory for the license fee payers, experts said the deal also provided BBC long-term security while acceding to the coalition government’s spending cuts in its bid to reduce Britain’s budget deficit.
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Britain Outlines Serious Military Cutbacks
London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Britain is considering slashing its armed forces as well as scrapping a flagship aircraft carrier as part of an overall public sector cut. Prime Minister David Cameron disclosed his government’s plan to layoff a total of 17,000 service personnel from British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy in next five years.
However, he said that proposed cuts would not affect Britain’s level of support for forces in war-hit Afghanistan.
Cameron further said that Royal Navy’s flagship HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier as well as Britain’s fleet of Harrier jets would also be scrapped immediately as part of an 8 percent cut to its $58 billion Defense Ministry budget.
The premier said that he wanted to retain and renew the Trident nuclear deterrent, hence, delayed any decision on it until 2016. Speaking to parliamentarians at the House of Commons, Cameron said that his government had received around $60 billion of debts in inheritance in the defense budget when it assumed power six months ago.
The prime minister said that his government could not go on like this. “Britain has traditionally punched above its weight in the world and we should have no less ambition for our country in the decades to come. But we need to be more thoughtful, more strategic, and more coordinated in the way we advance our interests and protect our national security and that is what this review sets out to achieve,” he added.
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Report: Tougher Job Competition In Britain
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – An analysis of vacancies posted from July to September and the number of applicants indicate tougher completion for jobs in Britain. According to the study by an online jobs board, the number of job applicants for all vacancies posted was 18, which is a 22-month high.
By occupation, office administration jobs attracted the largest number of applicants with 40 for every vacant position. Customer services had 31 applicants and retail 25 applicants.
John Salt, director of totaljobs.com, explained that while the number of unemployed is rather stagnant, job seekers have become more aggressive in their quest for employment, applying for vacancies in sectors they skipped before. That caused the boost in the number of job applicants for every vacant post.
Salt said the retail, customer service, property and travel sectors have registered the largest increase in job vacancies posted. He said this trend shows the start of a recovery within the labor sector.
A straw poll by a leading British daily confirmed Salt’s observation. The newspaper said signs of recovery are unmistakable, but it would take one to two years before large-scale recruitment campaigns return.
Among the sectors where an increasing number of job openings have been observed by the daily are engineering, law, media and marketing. However, it will be a wait-and-see game for public sector employers until the coalition government releases the result of its spending review on Wednesday.
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Is Hillary Clinton planning to run for president in 2016
According to Britain’s The Daily Telegraph, former President Bill Clinton has been laying the foundations for the Secretary of State’s try in 2016, by campaigning for Democratic politicians who helped his wife Hillary run for the president’s office against President Obama two years ago.
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British Government To Abolish 177 Agencies
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – As part of massive spending cuts, the British coalition government will abolish 177 agencies funded by taxpayers.
According to reports, the list of the agencies, known as quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, or “quangos,” to be cut include the Audit Commission, U.K. Film Council, the Commission for Integrated Transport, the School Food Trust and the Sustainable Development Commission.
The list includes 50 bodies within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and 30 agencies within the Department of Health such as the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the Health Protection Agency and the Commission for Rural Communities.
The government is still studying the fate of another 94 more quangos such as the British Council, BBC World Service, the Competition Commission and the Office for Fair Trading.
Outside the 177 agencies, four will be privatized, 350 got a second lease of life and 129 will be merged, such as the English Heritage, the National Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Fund, which will become a single heritage unit.
The move will lead to more Britons joining the ranks of unemployed. The quangos – which reached 1,000 agencies during the Labor-led government – have under their payroll thousands of workers and cost British taxpayers $97.5 billion (65 billion pounds) a year to run.
The abolition of quangos was an election promise of the Tories. Prime Minister David Cameron defended the cuts as vital to reduce Britain’s budget deficit and for democratic accountability.
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Obama urges support for peace drive
Barack Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Nick Clegg are among the world leaders in New York for the United Nations general assembly. Follow live updates here
4.47pm:
Ian Black, the Guardian’s Middle East editor, has this analysis of Obama’s comments on the Middle East.
Obama is being carefully even-handed in praising Mahmoud Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu for their courage. But he is not pulling his punches on the key issue of extending the settlement moratorium – the real test of Bibi’s intentions. Abbas has hinted to Jewish leaders in the US that he will not pull out of the talks, as he has repeatedly threatened, even if the freeze is not renewed.
But there is still a real risk of collapse if that does happen. That would be a grave blow to American prestige, apart from a blow to fragile hopes that this relaunched peace process might just go somewhere. The president’s talk of “responsibility” and “deeds” to support pledges is directed at Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies who have signalled readiness for “normalisation” with Israel in their Arab peace initiative but so far done very little about it.
I liked his biblical line about Jews and Arabs not being “strangers in a strange land”. And the phrase about Israel being the “historic homeland of the Jewish people” reflects Netanyahu’s position – which is widely seen as intended to head off Palestinian demands to allow refugees to exercise their “right of return”.
It’s worth noting that there’s no explicit mention of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza and opposes talks with Israel, but a there is clear restatement of the US/Israeli strategic position: “The courage of a man like President Abbas – who stands up for his people in front of the world under very difficult circumstances – is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children.”
His final segment is the vision thing – holding out hope that this time next year there will be a new member of the UN – “an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel”. You never know.
3.51pm: The White House has put the Middle East part of Obama’s speech on its website. Here’s the last two paragraphs.
The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution. And we can come back here next year, as we have for the last sixty years, and make long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate. And we can waste more time carrying forward an argument that will not help a single Israeli or Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.
Or, we can say that this time will be different – that this time we will not let terror, or turbulence, or posturing, or petty politics stand in the way. This time, we will think not of ourselves, but of the young girl in Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams, or the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the nightmare of rocket fire. This time, we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that lie at the heart of three great religions that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should reach for what’s best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations – an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.
3.41pm: Here is the top line from AP’s story on Obama’s speech.
Exhorting world leaders to push past years of cynicism and pessimism, President Barack Obama challenged the countries of the United Nations on Thursday to unite around peace efforts that he said could achieve agreement within a year to create an independent Palestine and a secure Israel. Obama, in a speech to the UN general assembly, urged fellow world leaders to press forward with renewed determination in the quest for Middle East peace, an effort that he acknowledged has encountered “few peaks and many valleys.” Without an agreement, he said, “more blood will be shed” and “this Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences, instead of our common humanity”.
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East editor, writes : “Mr Obama’s speech reads more like a plea to keep negotiations going than a blueprint to the future. Ever since he took office he has expressed his commitment to making peace in the Middle East … He refers to the direct talks that are going on between the Palestinians and Israelis. So far they are all the Obama administration has to show for a year-and-a-half of hard work. There’s a real chance though that they may fail soon over the question of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
3.31pm: He’s winding up now. Next year, he says, he will come to the UN in a world where Iraq is governed neither by a tyrant nor foreign power, to what he hopes will be peace in the Middle East, and to a world where the “cloud of recession has given way to the light of renewal.” He finishes to applause. The top line is Obama appealing for Israel to extend its moratorium on settlements and for Arab countries to weigh in to support the US peace effort.
3.22pm: Obama is now moving on to broader themes, emphasising the importance of human rights. “History is on the side of liberty,” he says, adding that democracy is the system that delivers for people. This is classic American rhetoric, the kind that comes from any American leader, whether Democratic or Republican. He praises those who stand up for liberty, from Poles who supported the Solidarity movement to Americans who marched for civil rights. He wants an expansion of civil and open society and says democracy can take root anywhere. He praises representative government in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. I wonder what the Chinese prime minister is thinking. “All of us must answer to our people,” says Obama.
3.15pm: On the specifics, Obama says the moratorium on Israeli settlements should be extended and that the talks should go on until they are completed. Efforts to chip away Israel’s legitimacy, he says, will be resisted by the US. He praises the courage of the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and contrasts it with those who fire rockets at Israel. He says the world can have an agreement that will lead to the creation of a new Palestinian state next year. First applause of his speech.
3.06pm: He says the US is waging a more effective fight against a-Qaida and winding down the war in Iraq. Now he is talking about his plans to get rid the world of nuclear weapons. On Iran, he says it must be held accountable if it doesn’t meet its responsibilities. “The door remains open to diplomacy should it choose to walk through it,” he says.
On climate change, Obama says major industrialised countries committed to reduce their emissions at Copenhagen. He is skipping across a lot of subjects, Haiti and Pakistan. Now on to his main pitch – Middle East peace. He says extremists on both sides will try to disrupt such efforts and that there is much pessimism on whether the differences can be bridged. But what is the alternative, he asks. “Each of us must choose the path of peace,” he says.
3.03pm: Obama is in the building and at the podium. He’s talking about the world we’re trying to build. No greater focus than to rescue the economy from catastrophe. “We are reforming global finance so this can never happen again,” he says.
2.57pm: While we’re waiting for Obama, the White House website has these excerpts from his speech. As mentioned below, he will be making a push for his Middle East peace plan.
“Peace must be made by Israelis and Palestinians, but each of us has a responsibility to do our part as well. Those of us who are friends of Israel must understand that true security for the Jewish state requires an independent Palestine – one that allows the Palestinian people to live with dignity and opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful means – including genuine reconciliation with a secure Israel.
2.48pm: Oh dear, Obama is late – apparently he can’t get into the general assembly (it must be all that refurbishment going on). So the Swiss president has to fill in until the main act shows up. The president of the Swiss confederation is Doris Leuthart, who has the unenviable task of being Obama’s impromptu warm-up act.
2.44pm: A contentious note from the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim. He condemns longstanding “illegitimate embargoes” against Cuba and, in another poke at the US, condemns the invasion of Iraq. Brazil, a growing regional power, calls for more African representation in the world’s top economic decision making bodies such as the G20. There are now lots of swipes at the richer countries on issues ranging from world trade – the faltering Doha round – to climate change. He calls for reform of the UN security council – no more discussions behind closed doors by the five big powers: the US, China, Britain, Russia and France. He also thinks that a deal on Iranian uranium enrichment is possible. “The world cannot resist the risk of another conflict like Iraq,” he says.
2.24pm: Ed Pilkington, our man in New York, has just sent me this.
So the 65th session of the UN general assembly is now officially open. For the past couple of hours diplomats from around the world have been streaming into the UN building on the banks of the East river in Manhattan, filling up the assembly chamber at the start of two days of addresses. This is the fourth UN general assembly – or UNGA as it is snappily called – that I’ve attended and by now the format is quite familiar.
It starts every year, as it has just now, with a speech from the secretary general of the UN. Critics would say that this year the international shindig begins with its lowest point. The current incumbent, Ban Ki-moon, has been roundly accused since he took up the job in 2007 of being a limp leader, unable to cajole warring parties around the world into any consensus. To be fair, he’s now delivering an adequate enough address, full of noble words in both English and French. He’s said that the world at the moment is full of the “language of hate” coming from “those who insist on their way or no way. From this uncertainty and confusion we seek a moral compass and at the UN we seek a proper path towards mutual responsibility and a destiny we share”.
Being unfair, Ban’s speech is mere window dressing for what we are all really waiting for – Barack Obama to take the stage. But not yet! First there has to be a few more pro forma speeches that will open the general debate. Obama, who will presumably be speaking about the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear programme, is not likely to be up for another 45 minutes.
This is going to be a particularly trying UNGA for everybody involved – diplomats, their supporting officials and an army of journalists from around the globe. The UN building is undergoing a complete overhaul. Not before time – the striking modernist concrete and glass box at 45th Street had fallen into a miserable state. But the result is that the normal flow of events is disjointed, with delegates being redirected in baffling directions to avoid parts of the complex reduced to a building site. None of that chaos will come across on television, but being here, believe me, it’s pretty exhausting!
Oh, and here comes Michelle Obama. She’s just arrived in the UN building accompanied by about five officials and has swept into an inner area of the complex where the US delegation will be holed up.
2.19pm: Winding up his remarks, Ban says UN reforms of the past few years are bearing fruit and urges world leaders to work together for the common good. Joseph Deiss, the Swiss president of this year’s general assembly, now has the floor. The delegates are probably waiting impatiently for the main act, Obama.
2.07pm: A pan of the room shows quite a few empty seats. Not surprising, as Ban is hardly the world’s most riveting speaker. He says the world has to meet the commitments made to poor countries in the millennium development goals. He is going through a long list of challenges: empowering women, climate change, nuclear disarmament. Now he is speaking in French. “I believe the next few years will be decisive,” he says about nuclear proliferation. He has now reverted to English and mentions the natural disasters in Haiti and Pakistan.
1.58pm: Of the world leaders, the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, will speak first, followed by Obama. The other big hitter this morning will be the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao. Ahmadinejad will speak in the afternoon.
Loud gavel, general assembly proceedings are off. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, welcomes delegates to the opening session of the 65th general assembly debate. “This is the time for pulling together, the time to put the shoulder to the wheel,” Ban says.
1.54pm: Who made the longest ever speech at the UN? It was the Indian UN envoy, Krishna Menon, who hogged the floor for eight hours, as he spoke about Kashmir. For other such nuggets, read Joshua Keating’s Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a UN Speech on the Foreign Policy website.
Also on Foreign Policy is this piece by veteran UN observer, Colum Lynch, who looks back on past US presidential speeches at the UN.
US presidential statements, while usually filled with tedious platitudes and lofty proposals that never materialise, occasionally rise above the mundane. From John F Kennedy’s cold war spats with the Soviets to George W Bush’s challenge to Saddam Hussein, speeches have helped give a broader perspective on US foreign-policy goals while illustrating the periodic back and forth of Washington’s political pendulum.
1.27pm: So what did the MDG jamboree that just ended yesterday accomplish? Here is the – not very upbeat – assessment from the Guardian’s economics editor , Larry Elliott.
So, to sum up, there has been a substantial shock to countries that lacked the resources of the social safety nets which provide buffers in the west. There are grotesque levels of inequality. There has been a marked increase in food prices, which threatens hunger and malnutrition. And international economic co-operation is starting to fray as a second leg to the global downturn becomes a real possibility. All in all, a toxic cocktail, in which the most lethal ingredient is likely to be spiralling food prices.
This should give policymakers pause for thought as they leave New York in the usual fug of self-satisfaction and complacency. As was noted recently by Dylan Grice, an economist at Societe Generale, the poor harvest of 1788 helped create the conditions for the French revolution a year later, while the Russian revolution began with starving workers protesting about bread.
1.19pm: While we wait for Barack Obama to take the stage – world leaders are streaming into the UN building at the moment – here’s a clip of Nick Clegg’s UN debut at the MDG summit yesterday.
1.06pm: The UN is moving seamlessly from its millennium development goals (MDG) summit , which ended yesterday, to its annual general assembly session, when world leaders hobnob in bilateral meetings as well as making speeches in the marbled halls of the UN.
The White House is already putting out snippets of what Obama will say when he takes to the podium at 2pm. Obama will urge countries that have pledged support for the Palestinians to meet their obligations and to “stop trying to tear Israel down.”
“Many in this hall count themselves as friends of the Palestinians. But these pledges must now be supported by deeds,” he will say, according to excerpts from the speech.
This will be Obama’s second speech at the UN in two days. Yesterday at the MDG summit, he said the US would do its part to help lift millions out of poverty.
Obama will also meet privately with leaders of China, Japan, Colombia, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. He will host south-east Asian leaders – who are increasingly turning to the US in the face of an assertive China – and attend a meeting aimed at preventing renewed civil war in Sudan.
In a piece of bad timing from Obama’s point of view, a new book by Bob Woodward of Watergate firm paints a picture of strife between the White House and top US generals over the unpopular war in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Israel is under pressure after a UN panel of human rights experts last night accused it of war crimes in its assault on a ship attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in May.
You can see and hear all the speeches live from the UN’s live webcast . Our man in New York, Ed Pilkington, will be prowling the UN’s corridors, while I will keep a watch on proceedings from here.
You can send comments to me at mark.tran@guardian.co.uk or post below. United Nations Mark Tran guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Obama urges support for peace drive
Barack Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Nick Clegg are among the world leaders in New York for the United Nations general assembly. Follow live updates here
4.47pm:
Ian Black, the Guardian’s Middle East editor, has this analysis of Obama’s comments on the Middle East.
Obama is being carefully even-handed in praising Mahmoud Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu for their courage. But he is not pulling his punches on the key issue of extending the settlement moratorium – the real test of Bibi’s intentions. Abbas has hinted to Jewish leaders in the US that he will not pull out of the talks, as he has repeatedly threatened, even if the freeze is not renewed.
But there is still a real risk of collapse if that does happen. That would be a grave blow to American prestige, apart from a blow to fragile hopes that this relaunched peace process might just go somewhere. The president’s talk of “responsibility” and “deeds” to support pledges is directed at Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies who have signalled readiness for “normalisation” with Israel in their Arab peace initiative but so far done very little about it.
I liked his biblical line about Jews and Arabs not being “strangers in a strange land”. And the phrase about Israel being the “historic homeland of the Jewish people” reflects Netanyahu’s position – which is widely seen as intended to head off Palestinian demands to allow refugees to exercise their “right of return”.
It’s worth noting that there’s no explicit mention of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza and opposes talks with Israel, but a there is clear restatement of the US/Israeli strategic position: “The courage of a man like President Abbas – who stands up for his people in front of the world under very difficult circumstances – is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children.”
His final segment is the vision thing – holding out hope that this time next year there will be a new member of the UN – “an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel”. You never know.
3.51pm: The White House has put the Middle East part of Obama’s speech on its website. Here’s the last two paragraphs.
The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution. And we can come back here next year, as we have for the last sixty years, and make long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate. And we can waste more time carrying forward an argument that will not help a single Israeli or Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.
Or, we can say that this time will be different – that this time we will not let terror, or turbulence, or posturing, or petty politics stand in the way. This time, we will think not of ourselves, but of the young girl in Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams, or the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the nightmare of rocket fire. This time, we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that lie at the heart of three great religions that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should reach for what’s best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations – an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.
3.41pm: Here is the top line from AP’s story on Obama’s speech.
Exhorting world leaders to push past years of cynicism and pessimism, President Barack Obama challenged the countries of the United Nations on Thursday to unite around peace efforts that he said could achieve agreement within a year to create an independent Palestine and a secure Israel. Obama, in a speech to the UN general assembly, urged fellow world leaders to press forward with renewed determination in the quest for Middle East peace, an effort that he acknowledged has encountered “few peaks and many valleys.” Without an agreement, he said, “more blood will be shed” and “this Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences, instead of our common humanity”.
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East editor, writes : “Mr Obama’s speech reads more like a plea to keep negotiations going than a blueprint to the future. Ever since he took office he has expressed his commitment to making peace in the Middle East … He refers to the direct talks that are going on between the Palestinians and Israelis. So far they are all the Obama administration has to show for a year-and-a-half of hard work. There’s a real chance though that they may fail soon over the question of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
3.31pm: He’s winding up now. Next year, he says, he will come to the UN in a world where Iraq is governed neither by a tyrant nor foreign power, to what he hopes will be peace in the Middle East, and to a world where the “cloud of recession has given way to the light of renewal.” He finishes to applause. The top line is Obama appealing for Israel to extend its moratorium on settlements and for Arab countries to weigh in to support the US peace effort.
3.22pm: Obama is now moving on to broader themes, emphasising the importance of human rights. “History is on the side of liberty,” he says, adding that democracy is the system that delivers for people. This is classic American rhetoric, the kind that comes from any American leader, whether Democratic or Republican. He praises those who stand up for liberty, from Poles who supported the Solidarity movement to Americans who marched for civil rights. He wants an expansion of civil and open society and says democracy can take root anywhere. He praises representative government in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. I wonder what the Chinese prime minister is thinking. “All of us must answer to our people,” says Obama.
3.15pm: On the specifics, Obama says the moratorium on Israeli settlements should be extended and that the talks should go on until they are completed. Efforts to chip away Israel’s legitimacy, he says, will be resisted by the US. He praises the courage of the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and contrasts it with those who fire rockets at Israel. He says the world can have an agreement that will lead to the creation of a new Palestinian state next year. First applause of his speech.
3.06pm: He says the US is waging a more effective fight against a-Qaida and winding down the war in Iraq. Now he is talking about his plans to get rid the world of nuclear weapons. On Iran, he says it must be held accountable if it doesn’t meet its responsibilities. “The door remains open to diplomacy should it choose to walk through it,” he says.
On climate change, Obama says major industrialised countries committed to reduce their emissions at Copenhagen. He is skipping across a lot of subjects, Haiti and Pakistan. Now on to his main pitch – Middle East peace. He says extremists on both sides will try to disrupt such efforts and that there is much pessimism on whether the differences can be bridged. But what is the alternative, he asks. “Each of us must choose the path of peace,” he says.
3.03pm: Obama is in the building and at the podium. He’s talking about the world we’re trying to build. No greater focus than to rescue the economy from catastrophe. “We are reforming global finance so this can never happen again,” he says.
2.57pm: While we’re waiting for Obama, the White House website has these excerpts from his speech. As mentioned below, he will be making a push for his Middle East peace plan.
“Peace must be made by Israelis and Palestinians, but each of us has a responsibility to do our part as well. Those of us who are friends of Israel must understand that true security for the Jewish state requires an independent Palestine – one that allows the Palestinian people to live with dignity and opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful means – including genuine reconciliation with a secure Israel.
2.48pm: Oh dear, Obama is late – apparently he can’t get into the general assembly (it must be all that refurbishment going on). So the Swiss president has to fill in until the main act shows up. The president of the Swiss confederation is Doris Leuthart, who has the unenviable task of being Obama’s impromptu warm-up act.
2.44pm: A contentious note from the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim. He condemns longstanding “illegitimate embargoes” against Cuba and, in another poke at the US, condemns the invasion of Iraq. Brazil, a growing regional power, calls for more African representation in the world’s top economic decision making bodies such as the G20. There are now lots of swipes at the richer countries on issues ranging from world trade – the faltering Doha round – to climate change. He calls for reform of the UN security council – no more discussions behind closed doors by the five big powers: the US, China, Britain, Russia and France. He also thinks that a deal on Iranian uranium enrichment is possible. “The world cannot resist the risk of another conflict like Iraq,” he says.
2.24pm: Ed Pilkington, our man in New York, has just sent me this.
So the 65th session of the UN general assembly is now officially open. For the past couple of hours diplomats from around the world have been streaming into the UN building on the banks of the East river in Manhattan, filling up the assembly chamber at the start of two days of addresses. This is the fourth UN general assembly – or UNGA as it is snappily called – that I’ve attended and by now the format is quite familiar.
It starts every year, as it has just now, with a speech from the secretary general of the UN. Critics would say that this year the international shindig begins with its lowest point. The current incumbent, Ban Ki-moon, has been roundly accused since he took up the job in 2007 of being a limp leader, unable to cajole warring parties around the world into any consensus. To be fair, he’s now delivering an adequate enough address, full of noble words in both English and French. He’s said that the world at the moment is full of the “language of hate” coming from “those who insist on their way or no way. From this uncertainty and confusion we seek a moral compass and at the UN we seek a proper path towards mutual responsibility and a destiny we share”.
Being unfair, Ban’s speech is mere window dressing for what we are all really waiting for – Barack Obama to take the stage. But not yet! First there has to be a few more pro forma speeches that will open the general debate. Obama, who will presumably be speaking about the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear programme, is not likely to be up for another 45 minutes.
This is going to be a particularly trying UNGA for everybody involved – diplomats, their supporting officials and an army of journalists from around the globe. The UN building is undergoing a complete overhaul. Not before time – the striking modernist concrete and glass box at 45th Street had fallen into a miserable state. But the result is that the normal flow of events is disjointed, with delegates being redirected in baffling directions to avoid parts of the complex reduced to a building site. None of that chaos will come across on television, but being here, believe me, it’s pretty exhausting!
Oh, and here comes Michelle Obama. She’s just arrived in the UN building accompanied by about five officials and has swept into an inner area of the complex where the US delegation will be holed up.
2.19pm: Winding up his remarks, Ban says UN reforms of the past few years are bearing fruit and urges world leaders to work together for the common good. Joseph Deiss, the Swiss president of this year’s general assembly, now has the floor. The delegates are probably waiting impatiently for the main act, Obama.
2.07pm: A pan of the room shows quite a few empty seats. Not surprising, as Ban is hardly the world’s most riveting speaker. He says the world has to meet the commitments made to poor countries in the millennium development goals. He is going through a long list of challenges: empowering women, climate change, nuclear disarmament. Now he is speaking in French. “I believe the next few years will be decisive,” he says about nuclear proliferation. He has now reverted to English and mentions the natural disasters in Haiti and Pakistan.
1.58pm: Of the world leaders, the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, will speak first, followed by Obama. The other big hitter this morning will be the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao. Ahmadinejad will speak in the afternoon.
Loud gavel, general assembly proceedings are off. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, welcomes delegates to the opening session of the 65th general assembly debate. “This is the time for pulling together, the time to put the shoulder to the wheel,” Ban says.
1.54pm: Who made the longest ever speech at the UN? It was the Indian UN envoy, Krishna Menon, who hogged the floor for eight hours, as he spoke about Kashmir. For other such nuggets, read Joshua Keating’s Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a UN Speech on the Foreign Policy website.
Also on Foreign Policy is this piece by veteran UN observer, Colum Lynch, who looks back on past US presidential speeches at the UN.
US presidential statements, while usually filled with tedious platitudes and lofty proposals that never materialise, occasionally rise above the mundane. From John F Kennedy’s cold war spats with the Soviets to George W Bush’s challenge to Saddam Hussein, speeches have helped give a broader perspective on US foreign-policy goals while illustrating the periodic back and forth of Washington’s political pendulum.
1.27pm: So what did the MDG jamboree that just ended yesterday accomplish? Here is the – not very upbeat – assessment from the Guardian’s economics editor , Larry Elliott.
So, to sum up, there has been a substantial shock to countries that lacked the resources of the social safety nets which provide buffers in the west. There are grotesque levels of inequality. There has been a marked increase in food prices, which threatens hunger and malnutrition. And international economic co-operation is starting to fray as a second leg to the global downturn becomes a real possibility. All in all, a toxic cocktail, in which the most lethal ingredient is likely to be spiralling food prices.
This should give policymakers pause for thought as they leave New York in the usual fug of self-satisfaction and complacency. As was noted recently by Dylan Grice, an economist at Societe Generale, the poor harvest of 1788 helped create the conditions for the French revolution a year later, while the Russian revolution began with starving workers protesting about bread.
1.19pm: While we wait for Barack Obama to take the stage – world leaders are streaming into the UN building at the moment – here’s a clip of Nick Clegg’s UN debut at the MDG summit yesterday.
1.06pm: The UN is moving seamlessly from its millennium development goals (MDG) summit , which ended yesterday, to its annual general assembly session, when world leaders hobnob in bilateral meetings as well as making speeches in the marbled halls of the UN.
The White House is already putting out snippets of what Obama will say when he takes to the podium at 2pm. Obama will urge countries that have pledged support for the Palestinians to meet their obligations and to “stop trying to tear Israel down.”
“Many in this hall count themselves as friends of the Palestinians. But these pledges must now be supported by deeds,” he will say, according to excerpts from the speech.
This will be Obama’s second speech at the UN in two days. Yesterday at the MDG summit, he said the US would do its part to help lift millions out of poverty.
Obama will also meet privately with leaders of China, Japan, Colombia, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. He will host south-east Asian leaders – who are increasingly turning to the US in the face of an assertive China – and attend a meeting aimed at preventing renewed civil war in Sudan.
In a piece of bad timing from Obama’s point of view, a new book by Bob Woodward of Watergate firm paints a picture of strife between the White House and top US generals over the unpopular war in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Israel is under pressure after a UN panel of human rights experts last night accused it of war crimes in its assault on a ship attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in May.
You can see and hear all the speeches live from the UN’s live webcast . Our man in New York, Ed Pilkington, will be prowling the UN’s corridors, while I will keep a watch on proceedings from here.
You can send comments to me at mark.tran@guardian.co.uk or post below. United Nations Mark Tran guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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British Industry Protests Immigration Caps For Skilled Workers
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British business leaders are complaining about the government’s immigration cap for workers because it limits their ability to hire people who have skills they cannot find locally.
Because of the restrictions, work visas issued for high-skilled non-European Union migrants from June 2010 to April 2011 will have an allocation of 24,100, which is down by 1,300 visas compared to the previous year.
Leading the call for changes in the immigration policy is General Electric. GE National Executive for North Europe Mark Elborne blamed the policy for failure to hire a stem cell research expert from India and gas turbine engineers from outside the European Union.
Elborne claimed the immigration policy also makes the U.K. a less attractive investment option amid the global battle for capital. He added that GE, which is into different business interests such as energy, aviation, technology, health, media and finance, has global customers and a global supply chain, so he sees no reason why the government should not allow the company to go global in hiring workers as Britain faces a talent shortage, ironically amid high unemployment rates.
Other than GE, British banks have complained that because of the visa restrictions they could employ just six non-EU nationals.
GE’s call has the support of at least one British official. Business Secretary Vince Cable went against the coalition government’s stand and aired his support to ease the country’s immigration policy. Industry leaders support Cable’s stand.
The spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said the government is designing a permanent cap to ensure the country attracts the brightest and best talents in the world, but denied the current policy is causing a major damage to the British economy.
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Bank Of England Governor Backs Coalition Government Budget Cuts
Manchester, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has thrown his full support to the British coalition government’s massive budget cuts. In a speech at the Trades Union Congress on Wednesday, King warned industry groups planning massive strikes to protest public sector reforms and job cuts could cripple the next generation unless changes are made now.
King said the budget cuts must be implemented to address the deficit, which has become unsustainable for Britain’s finances. The governor warned that unless the budget gap is significantly reduced in the next five years, market reaction to Britain’s increasing sovereign debt could change from a benign to a malignant wound on the country’s economic growth.
King stressed it does not make sense to place at risk policies that would could cause long-term interest rates to increase, which would make investment and mortgage costs more expensive.
Britain’s budget deficit is forecast to reach $223.5 billion (149 billion pounds) this year. It is the largest peacetime deficit in the UK’s history and the biggest in Europe by a nation as a percentage of its gross domestic product.
The governor acknowledged TUC members and businesses are entitled to be angry at Britain’s weak economy. However, he warned, “Legitimate anger will not produce change unless its energy is harnessed to a cool analysis of what happened and why.”
King admitted the next few years would be tough for Britons. “There is considerable uncertainty about the prospects for both the United States and the euro area – our most important export markets. Business and consumer confidence at home has weakened recently, and it will be some time before our banking sector is able to finance a recovery on the usual terms. The transition to a better balanced economy will be difficult,” King warned.
He said the current generation owes it to the next one to take this time to initiate reforms that will decrease the chances of another crisis or at least make it less damaging. “But the prize of restoring and maintaining economic stability – and a return to sustained rises in employment and living standards – will be worth the effort,” King promised.
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