The Four Nations Initiative (4NI) is a cooperation project started in 2005 as an initiative by

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Sweden and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The initiative was created to contribute to the efforts to reform governance and management systems and structures of the

UN Secretariat The United Nations Secretariat (french: link=no, Secrétariat des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN's executive arm. The secretariat has an important role in setting the a ...

, departing from the perspective of the UN Member States. The Four Nations Initiative, active from early 2006 until October 2007, consists of a steering committee with representatives from all four countries, and a secretariat based in Stockholm. UN Secretariat reform is an important topic and was high on the agenda during the tenure of Secretary-General

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

. There have been many reform efforts, notably the Secretary-General's reports ''Investing in the United Nations'' and ''Mandating and delivering'', both from March 2006, and the ''Comprehensive review of governance and oversight in the UN'', June 2006. The Four Nations Initiative differs from the above-mentioned reform initiatives by being driven by Member States themselves. It is also characterised by its focus on a consultations process trying to create as large as possible scope for consensus before actually submitting reform proposals. The Initiative plans to submit final proposals by September 2007 but a preliminary report is already available on the 4NI website (''Towards a Compact - report of preliminary proposals by the Steering Committee of the Four Nations Initiative'').

References

*''Brief Introduction to the Four Nations Initiative'', 2006, Information paper by the 4NI Secretariat *''Comprehensive review of governance and oversight in the UN'', 2006, Report of the Steering Committee on governance and oversight, UN Document A/60/883.Add.1-6 *''Investing in the United Nations'', 2006, Report of the Secretary-General, UN Document A/60/692 *''Mandating and delivering'', 2006, Report of the Secretary-General, UN Document A/60/733 *''Towards a Compact'', 2007, Report of preliminary proposals by the Steering Committee of the Four Nations Initiative
'32 Specific Proposals to Make the UN Function Better
- An interview with Ambassador Bengt Säve-Söderbergh of Sweden on the recently issued report from the Four Nations

External links

UN reform website

Center for UN Reform
- Independent policy research organization offering documentation and in-depth analysis on ongoing reform processes {{United Nations United Nations Secretariat United Nations reform