Tapping diversity as source of unity

In 2013, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia came together and established an innovative partnership they decided to call Mikta — an acronym of the names of its five member countries.

Mikta was not formed as a contestant to other similar regional alliances.

It was based on an initiative to promote and strengthen multilateralism during a period in history when humanity as a whole has come to face various cross-regional challenges.

TERRORISM
Mikta member countries have met in annual official gatherings and engaged in cooperation concerning issues of worldwide significance.

As members of the United Nations, G20 and World Trade Organisation, these countries work together not only to consolidate multilateral platforms, but also to enhance their capacity to find common solutions to global problems.

For this year, Mikta agreed to focus its activities on seven key areas, including the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

The members reiterated their collective resolve to enhance efforts against this global scourge.

GROWTH

They launched an interfaith and intercultural dialogue mechanism to share best practices in promoting understanding and respect among multifaith and multicultural societies.

On economic cooperation, they emphasized innovation for sustainable growth.

On energy, they underlined the need to improve access to energy, its modernisation and management.

They renewed their commitment to implementing Agenda 2030, with a special focus on the refugee crisis as an imminent threat against sustainable development and global stability.

MIGRATION

They pledged to take further action to bring a real change in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, while underlining the need for responsibility-sharing and addressing the root causes of irregular migration.

They agreed to promote gender equality, peacekeeping, good governance and democracy through concerted action among Mikta countries and across the world.

In essence, what makes Mikta an original endeavour is the fact that each of the five countries represents diverse cultures and regions, and come from different historical backgrounds.

What unites us as Mikta, however, is our commitment to the common values of democracy, open economies and international cooperation.

TRADE
Our countries are the 15th, 16th, 11th, 17th, and 13th largest economies in the world, with robust growth rates and a significant level of economic outreach.

The combined GDP of Mikta totals $5.4 billion.

We are important traders globally, contributing to slightly less than 10 per cent of the world’s merchandise trade.

Our countries consider regional ownership as key, providing yet another basis for our cooperation.

RELATIONS
These common values inspire many of the ongoing regional cooperation projects in East Africa, to which Kenya makes unique and generous contributions.

Furthermore, these values shed light on the potential of strengthening existing cordial ties between Mikta countries and Kenya, as well as forming new bonds between Mikta itself and Africa’s supranational institutions.

It is once again these common values that have informed the embassies of Mikta countries in Nairobi in their decision to hold a film festival from October 2 to 6 at the United States International University.

CULTURE

The festival was organised mainly for the benefit of the student community in Nairobi to demonstrate Mikta group’s willingness to deepen their ties with Kenya and the wider region through cultural dialogue and artistic creativity.

We hope that the festival was a good reminder of how democracy, progress and internationalism thrive when diversity is respected and translated into oneness even after various differences.

Like Mikta, Kenya is a homeland of diverse identities, values and opinions, yet with a shared commitment to building a prosperous future for its people and the region at large.

VALUES

For its part, Mikta aspires to serve as a bridgehead between developed and developing countries to promote global governance and complement the efforts of regionalism.

As such, we, the representatives of Mikta countries, see a huge convergence between Kenya’s development priorities and the areas where Mikta can create an added value.

We will remain engaged with Kenya in taking forward our shared positive agenda.

*More information about Mikta can be found at http://www.mikta.org

Mr Erasmo Roberto Martinez Martinez is the ambassador of Mexico, Mr Soehardjono Sastromiharjo, ambassador of Indonesia, Mr Kwon Young-dae, ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Ms Deniz Eke, ambassador of Turkey, and Mr Quinton Devlin, the chargé d’affaires of Australia in Nairobi.