Academics, political and business leaders called on the United Nations to reform and play the leading role in combatting terrorism. The annual Forum 2000 event was started in 1997 by Czech President Vaclav Havel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, aiming to identify key global issues and prevent the escalation of religious, cultural or ethnic conflict, AP reported. The U.N., the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund «have diminished as forces in solving local and international problems by the absence of equitable and effective reform,» a document adopted at the end of the conference said. French presidential candidate Segolene Royal, Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi of Iran, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz were among the keynote speakers. «Exclusive, narrowly designed fora such as the G-8 Group, cannot replace global and universal institutions like the United Nations,» the document said. «In combatting terrorism which is the scourge that threatens all nations, the United Nations should play the leading role,» it concluded.
