UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. diplomats pressed the United States on Thursday to be open to compromise or risk sinking a plan for broad U.N. reform that world leaders are supposed to approve at a world summit in New York next month.
The calls for flexibility came after the United States suggested the latest 39-page draft of the document be shaved down to three pages or negotiated from scratch, line by line, less than three weeks before the start of the September 14-16 gathering of more than 170 world leaders.
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The United States last week submitted more than 500 proposed amendments to the draft document that diplomats have been negotiating for six months, causing some envoys to panic that agreement might not be reached.
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The U.S. proposals would eliminate reference to the Millennium Development Goals approved by world leaders five years ago that set deadlines for reducing extreme poverty, battling AIDS and raising education levels around the world.
The U.S. amendments also oppose further action on climate change or increasing foreign aid and urge nuclear powers to speed nuclear disarmament.
Envoys urge US to be flexible on U.N. summit plan
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