“MIKTA - a New Partnership for better Global Governance”
Seminar at KNDA International Conference Hall, Seoul
Co-Hosts: IFANS of KNDA, Embassy of Mexico in Seoul
August 28, 2014
Speech by H.E Ambassador Bill Paterson PSM, Ambassador of Australia to
the Republic of Korea
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I wish to thank President Shin Bong-kil of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and
National Security (IFANS) for hosting this session and for his remarks.
I will be talking about the role of our grouping in improving global governance.
But before I do that I will make some more general comments on how Australia
views MIKTA and why it is important to us.
Let’s be honest - “MIKTA” is not the most elegant acronym. There are sceptics
about the new grouping. Indeed an Australian professor visiting Seoul told me
only yesterday MIKTA was “an ugly acronym in search of a role.”
But more important is what MIKTA can achieve, I hope to convince you this
afternoon that it is a promising addition to our international lexicon.
MIKTA remains a work in progress.
But we are not looking for an ambitious new grouping – it has already offered a
good opportunity for our foreign ministers to talk about common challenges and
build better links.
As Ambassador Shin said at the recent MIKTA academic seminar in Mexico
City, MIKTA is still in a formative stage – our first priority is to strengthen the
connections and habits of consultation between us. We are now looking for
modest and concrete ways to work together.
MIKTA stands apart from the historically based or geographic groupings of
countries we are more familiar with.
But it is of no less value.
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After all we need to look for creative solutions given the slow progress many
multilateral institutions are making, while we are all familiar with the many
global and regional threats which threaten the international rules based order we
rely on.
In the face of ineffectiveness or minimal progress, we need to think beyond
existing paradigms.
For Australia there are good previous examples of creative solutions to global
challenges, including the establishment of APEC, the Australia Group on
chemical weapons and the Cairns Group of agricultural free traders.
But we should not get ahead of ourselves; it is not – and is not intended to be - a
substitute for existing important formal groupings such as the East Asia Summit.
Neither does it have a specific issue of focus. It is capable of allowing discussion
by our ministers of a range of issues.
And a day long meeting that Mexico hosted earlier this year allowed for just
such a fruitful exchange between our ministers on issues ranging from cyber
security to North Asia.
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The five countries – Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia – are
diverse in many respects: we have different histories; sit in different parts of the
globe; and we are at different points on the development spectrum.
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This is a good thing – diversity brings depth and a broader focus.
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Especially where we also have crucial things in common: we are similar sized
economies (12, 14, 15, 16 and 17th largest); we share core values, including
support for democracy and open trade and economic policies.
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It is no coincidence that our economies are in the top 20 and growing –
democratic values and open trade and economic policies are the key.
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We also often find ourselves pushing for similar objectives internationally –
again no coincidence when we reflect on the values we share.
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And the fact that we are also all countries that have a capacity to exercise
effective diplomacy and sufficient capability to implement agreed programs or
courses of action.
We are active participants in our regions, including in regional groupings.
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We have strong networks and ties across both the developed and developing
world.
And we have a strong voice in many of the world’s leading forums by virtue of
our membership of the G20, WTO and, periodically, the United Nations Security
Council.
Australia and Korea are currently working closely together as non-permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council. And at any one time one or
more MIKTA countries are likely to be in the Security Council, providing
another reason for us to develop habits of consultation.
For Australia, this confluence of interests and capacities is why MIKTA makes
sense.
These countries are in the top 20 in terms of their economic weight and global
influence – meaning we do have the capacity to influence, working together
What are our goals?
First, we want to buttress our bilateral ties with the MIKTA countries; to ensure
that those ties are commensurate with the significance of these states as dynamic
economies and regional powers.
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Our Foreign Ministers have met twice and will soon meet a third time.
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Following those discussions we are working in some modest but practical ways.
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We are considering an increase in student exchanges between our countries.
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That is because student exchanges not only benefit the individuals involved –
who gain valuable knowledge, new perspectives and life-long friendships – they
also benefit our countries by creating a cohort of future leaders who have a good
understanding of our countries.
We’re also looking at ways to increase knowledge and personnel exchanges
between our governments.
Australia, for example, has considerable expertise in medical research,
investment and asset management, resource exploitation, urban water
technologies and international education.
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Second, we want to explore how we might work more closely with the other
MIKTA countries on our shared interests - to draw on our diversity to bridge
differences to some of the issues we, and the international community face.
We see three broad areas where we could seek to cooperate in this way, but over
time we will identify more. They are: development issues; economic and trade
issues; and global governance.
On development, we think MIKTA countries can draw on their experiences as
both aid donors and recipients to provide a unique perspective on how best to
structure a post-2015 development agenda.
Australia’s largest development cooperation relationship is with Indonesia, and
as fellow MIKTA countries, we can draw on this experience in improving aid
effectiveness in our own countries and elsewhere.
Australia will host a seminar between MIKTA development officials on 2
September in Perth to exchange views to explore new ways of cooperating to
help shape a renewed global partnership.
On economic and trade issues, there is potential for MIKTA countries to be
powerful advocates for the benefits of open economic policies.
Policies that support the free flow of trade and investment are the key to
boosting global prosperity.
As the growth path of our economies demonstrates, we have all individually
benefited from openness to trade and investment, but we have also been active in
promoting these approaches both in our regions.
To conclude let me talk about the topic I mentioned at the start of these remarks,
global governance.
We see a particular role for MIKTA as advocate for the importance of
maintaining strong and effective multilateral mechanisms
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and as bridge builders: working with others to build consensus and break
through logjams where they occur.
We don’t come at this with ready made solutions, but have already shown how
we can speak out together – as we did in a statement on the shooting down of the
MH17.
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Global governance, and the effectiveness of the multilateral institutions that
underpin it, matter a great deal to us.
These institutions relate to the rules-based international order upon which we
rely for our prosperity and security. Upholding these norms individually and as a
group can serve to cement them as the acceptable standards of international
behavior – and as an antidote to challenges to this in the international order such
as we are seeing in several parts of the world at present.
But as the difficulties experienced in the Doha Round of trade talks
demonstrates, achieving progress through multilateral institutions is challenging.
Our UN ambassadors in New York and Geneva have met a number of times to
discuss what contribution MIKTA can make to strengthening global governance.
There are no magic bullets (as we say) – but we will keep looking for ways to
help.
We also heard some very interesting ideas a few weeks back on improving
global governance from a group of MIKTA academics - including three
Australians - who met in Mexico City.
Our foreign ministers will be considering some of our ideas when they next meet
in the margins of the UNGA Leaders’ Week in New York in September.
Finally, I’ve spoken a lot about what MIKTA is, and what we hope it will do. It
is worth spending a bit of time talking about what it is not.
As it should be clear from what we have been discussing, MIKTA is not a
‘bloc’. It is not a faction or group within the G20. We do not aim to agree joint
positions on issues in international forums that we are a part of, including the
G20. Our goal is to engage in consultation and dialogue – which may help us
break through logjams.
MIKTA is not exclusive. We want to be open and engage with others about what
we are doing, both other governments and civil society more broadly; hence
seminars like this one today.
And MIKTA is not a formal body. Rather, it is built around informal, flexible
interactions between ministers and officials from MIKTA countries.
What we do have, however, is a coordinating country for MITKA each year
whose role it is to act as a focal point and host meetings of MIKTA ministers.
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Mexico has done an outstanding job as the inaugural coordinator this year.
We very much look forward to working with the next coordinator from
September – the ROK and our MIKTA colleagues in the year ahead.
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MIKTA is a new type of grouping – of a small although not exclusive group of
countries that are of real importance and influence.
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Our journey with MIKTA is just beginning, but we’re very pleased to be taking
this journey with Mexico, Indonesia, Korea and Turkey.