We believe that supporting an effective system for multilateral co-operation, based on international law, is the best way to maximise our influence in the world and solve the global problems before us.

The world in the 21st Century is faced with a range of global challenges:

• the globalisation of the economy;
• the threat of climate change;
• the long struggle against international terrorism;
• the need to protect millions from violence and conflict and to face up to the international consequences of poverty and inequality.

These challenges all point in one direction - to the urgent necessity for global co-operation. None of them can be solved without us finding new ways of working more closely together.

The Government has therefore prioritised stepping up our efforts to promote the reform of international institutions, including the UN, to better meet the opportunities and challenges of our globalised world in the 21st century.

The Prime Minister's speeches on international institutional reform (IIR) set out the UK’s vision:

• Boston in April 2008,
• New Delhi in January 2008; and
• at the Mansion House in November 2007.