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12 May 2011
‘HERE IN ISTANBUL, AS CHAPTER CLOSES ON BRUSSELS, WE HAVE OPPORTUNITY
TO REWRITE FATE OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES,’ CONFERENCE HEARS
Speakers Seek to Address ‘Unfinished Brussels Agenda’,
Appeal for New Action Programme Grounded in Policy, Not Charity
With negotiators edging towards consensus on the outcome of the United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, speakers today used the
gathering’s penultimate plenary session to press for a 10-year action plan
grounded in sound policies that ensured delivery on past pledges for development
assistance and brought down the barriers blocking their paths to economic
growth.
“The mixed results of the Brussels Programme of Action have been the
defining story for the least developed countries over the past decade,” said
Indonesia’s representative, referring to the previous strategy on behalf of the
world’s poorest countries, agreed at a European Union-hosted conference in 2001.
She said that, even as they worked actively with development partners to
overcome structural obstacles, the least developed countries — burdened as they
were with fragile economic and political environments — had been largely unable
to persuade businesses, markets, and investors to take up the cause of their
development.
“Here in Istanbul, as we close the chapter on the Brussels [action plan],
we have an opportunity to rewrite the fate of the least developed countries,”
she said, urging a path that strengthened those nations’ ownership over their
own development. They were in the best position to determine the most optimal
means for their growth, and she added national-level action would remain the
cornerstone of the success of the least developed countries.
Kenya’s representative, hoping that the Conference would help create a
“united front” for dealing with the great challenges facing the least developed
countries — many of which were shared by his own nation — and come up with
viable actions to remediate them. The Millennium Developed Goals should be
embraced as the blueprint for such efforts. He urged delegations to adopt a
new, dynamic and proactive approach to meeting the challenges, and added that
the least developed countries themselves should improve their governance and
regulatory frameworks, and agricultural systems, and identify opportunities.
Many of the more than 40 speakers today acknowledged that the structural
challenges the least developed countries faced were daunting, and many outlined
their hopes for an Istanbul programme of action, which, among other things,
prioritized the objective for those nations and their development partners to
strengthen productive capacities over the next 10 years. Others said every
effort should be made to ensure that the Istanbul outcome set out initiatives
that helped bridge the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
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Many delegations also emphasized that the new action plan must reflect the
important role equitable trade and market access played in driving economic
growth, and said duty- and quota-free market access should be ensured for
exports from the least developed countries. Today’s meeting also heard repeated
calls for concluding the long-deadlocked Doha Development Round of international
trade negotiations.
“We strongly believe that the new action programme must bridge the gap
between the poor and the rich, address the unfinished Brussels agenda, and bring
about more equitable global growth and prosperity,” said the Special Envoy to
the President of Kiribati. That could occur only through political commitment
at the national level, enhanced partnerships between the least developed
countries and their development partners, strengthened coordination among the
developed countries and a scaling up of resources.
The success of the new programme of action, said the Vice Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, would depend on the poorest countries being
allowed to develop independent policies that reflected their own priorities and
were not hindered by external conditions. European countries ignored the need
for such national leadership, he maintained, expressing deep concern for
developed countries’ failure to meet their commitments.
South-South cooperation was rising to the challenge and was crucial, but
should not replace the activities of developed countries, which had the greatest
responsibility for the development of poor countries. He highlighted the
possibility of a new development model, based on solidarity and equality, and
proposed the creation of a United Nations-backed development council for that
purpose.
From the viewpoint of a major donor, Canada’s representative said the
challenge in the years ahead would be to translate the commitments made at
Istanbul into concrete and coordinated action — with focus, efficiency and
accountability for real results for the least developed countries. “Much work
remains to be done, and we can only achieve our objectives by using all the
tools at our disposal, including North-South partnerships, South-South and
triangular cooperation,” he said, also calling for enhanced engagement of the
private sector, civil society, parliamentarians and philanthropists.
On the way forward, he said that since development over the past decade
had become increasingly linked to other policy areas and global initiatives,
achieving development objectives now depended on success in tackling a wide
array of policy challenges in a coherent and integrated manner. Further, while
donor Governments still had a responsibility to contribute through providing
official development assistance (ODA), they now had many other powerful tools at
their disposal, including ensuring market access and domestic economic policies
that favoured developing country exports.
Earlier in the meeting, the Conference adopted a resolution on
“credentials of representatives to the Forth United Nations Conference on the
Least Developed Countries”, contained in the report of its Credentials Committee
(document A/CONF.219/5).
Represented at the ministerial level today were the Republic of Korea, New
Zealand, Cameroon, Germany, India, Czech Republic, Viet Nam, Brazil, Romania,
Thailand, and Italy.
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Also speaking today were the representatives of the Philippines,
Singapore, Moldova, Cambodia, Kuwait, Spain, Japan, Haiti, Pakistan, Cuba,
Panama, Dominican Republic, Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritania and Israel.
Statements were made by the Permanent Observer of the Holy See and the
Minister of Planning and Administrative Development of the Palestinian
Authority.
Representatives from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nations Environmental
Programme (UNEP) also made statements.
Representatives of the Black Sea Economic Corporation, the Organization of
the Islamic Conference (OIC), the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) also spoke.
The plenary of the Fourth United Nations Conference for Least Developed
Countries will resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 13 May.
Background
The Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
continued for its fourth day today in Istanbul, Turkey. (For background, see
Press Release DEV/2877 of 5 May.)
Statements
MIN DONG-SEOK, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic
of Korea, noted that his country had transformed itself from a recipient to
donor country within the lifetime of many Koreans, with he himself remembering
as a child drinking milk provided by the United Nations and United States. The
Korean Government and people worked hard, making good use of assistance, to see
the economy grow over 800-fold. Capacity-building played a pivotal role. A
serious lack of resources, technology and domestic capital had long blocked
development, however, so the only abundant resource was the Korean people.
Human resource development, therefore, was key.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, he said, an export-led high growth rate
revealed a pressing need to build economic and social infrastructure. Foreign
aid was used during this period for the building of hospitals, power plants,
communications networks and highways. Spurred by the “can-do” attitude of the
people, the Government was firmly committed to implementing “five-year” plans,
which identified national priorities and directed aid to them. His country’s
development experience showed the importance of targeting development resources
towards enhancing productive capacity. Agricultural capacity was the first
focus, turning afterwards to the full range of manufacturing, with effective
trade promotion policies.
“Aid,” he emphasized, “should be used as a catalyst to complement and
leverage other development resources, including trade, private investment and
domestic resources.” He underlined, however, that the Korean model was not
something that could or should be repeated by every country. In order to be
successful, it was important to capitalize on the uniqueness of the national
situation as well as changes in the global environment. He affirmed that
development cooperation with least developed countries was a priority of his
country, and that aid devoted to that purpose was increasing, along with plans
for greater market access and targeted interventions at the international level.
His country was also responding to climate change, expanding support for food
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security and, in late November of this year, it would host a high-level forum on
aid effectiveness in the port city of Busan. He looked forward to building a
new kind of inclusive development partnership there.
AMANDA ELLIS, Deputy Secretary for International Development, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, said that as a small South Pacific
nation, her country recognized that the least developed countries continued to
face particular challenges. Addressing them required the international
community’s full support, including through a multi-stakeholder approach that
brought together Governments, civil society and the private sector. Such an
approach was one way to apply innovative solutions to issues on the
international development agenda. Five of the least developed countries were
located in the South Pacific and all of them had to deal with, among other
things, a high dependence on remittances, narrow economy bases and the adverse
impacts of climate change.
She said that more than half of New Zealand’s aid was directed to its
neighbours in the Pacific, but that did not mean that her country was ignoring
development needs in the rest of the world. New Zealand provided substantial
assistance in South Asia and in Afghanistan, and spearheaded smaller initiatives
in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In addition, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan,
Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Cambodia were among New Zealand’s
development partners. She was pleased to announce that her Government would be
providing NZ$2.5 million for a number of multilateral trust funds and programmes
aimed at enhancing economic development in small States, many of which were
among the least developed.
As for the work at hand, she said the Istanbul programme had an ambitious
goal of graduating half those countries by 2020. That could only be achieved
with the strong commitment and support of the international community, as well
as concerted efforts by the Governments and peoples of the least developed
countries themselves to mobilize domestic resources and invest in human capital
and good governance. Graduation from least developed country status, which
should be celebrated as a sign of progress for the concerned country,
unfortunately and understandably raised concerns about the costs of losing
preferential treatment and assistance. In that regard, New Zealand welcomed the
proposed creation of a working group to study and strengthen ways to smooth the
transition process.
YAOUBA ABDOULAYE, Delegate Minister for the Economy, Planning and Regional
Development of Cameroon, said the Conference was being held at a time of myriad
crises around the world, and therefore was a prime opportunity to consider
strategies to assist the least developed countries. Those nations were
disproportionately impacted by the financial downturn, climate change, and high
food prices, among others. All nations must work together in such times, he
said, adding that: “Over and above our discrepancies and differences, we are
all responsible for maintaining essential global goods, such as human rights,
sustainable environments, peace and stability.”
He went on to say that the 2001 Brussels Programme of Action had fallen
short of expectations because of weak mobilization of international resources
and the inability of many least developing countries to fully harness the
potential for their own development. Cameroon, despite its rich natural
resource base and broad range of exports, had been a victim of the various
shocks that had occurred over the past decade, including alterations in global
trade terms and climate change. Nevertheless, through the Government’s
foresightedness and the people’s determination, “we were able to salvage our
development and our republican institutions were maintained”. Cameroon had also
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been able to strengthen its administrative institutions, ensure the rule of law
and promote basic freedoms. It had also sought to bolster the participation of
civil society at all levels, while strengthening cooperation with multilateral
and bilateral development partners.
Continuing, he said Cameroon had also introduced free health care for
children under six, and recruited 25,000 youth in public administration
services, not only to train those young people, but to bolster the institutions
in which they worked. Cameroon was determined to graduate from the least
developed category and to share its experiences with other least developed
countries. He hoped that the Istanbul action plan, among other things, would
truly and explicitly take on board the specificities of least developed
countries, especially landlocked or conflict-affected nations.
FRIEDEL EGGELMEYER, Director-General of the Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development of Germany, supporting the goal of halving the
number of least developed countries by 2020, said: “We need to make a point of
setting the bar high. Otherwise we will achieve too little.” The key to
reaching that goal lay within the countries themselves, with the fundamental
prerequisites for sustainable development, namely, peace and security, good
governance, rule of law and respect for human rights. Education also was
essential. That was why Germany was pursuing a new balance between supporting
and challenging its partners. “We are increasingly calling for good governance
as a condition for our support, not as a result,” he said.
External assistance was important, but the mobilization of resources was
important as well, he said. “Each country is responsible for tapping its own
potential,” he added, pledging that Germany would support countries in tapping
their potential to the fullest, notwithstanding the need to consolidate its
federal budget. The country was currently working with 24 poorest countries
through bilateral country programmes and with another five as part of regional
programmes, having doubled financial contributions and being the second largest
contributor of funds for climate change adaptation. Germany wanted to be
judged, however, not by the amount of funds it contributed, but by the results
of its cooperation. Better cooperation with donors and the private sector, free
access to trade, and Aid for Trade programmes were key parts of that strategy.
S.M. KRISHNA, External Affairs Minister of India, said that: “Supporting
the LDCs [least developed countries] goes far beyond the moral argument; it is
an economic imperative and a political necessity”. Those countries were facing
tremendous challenges, but they had come to Istanbul with high expectations. He
was hopeful that those expectations would be fulfilled. Indeed, the Istanbul
programme of action was comprehensive. It now needed to be backed by the
highest political commitment and a genuine international partnership. He,
therefore, urged all stakeholders to pledge their maximum support. He promised
that India would do “all it can and more”.
He welcomed steps taken by poor countries to undertake major initiatives
to attract foreign direct investment and promote private enterprise to boost
growth, as well as the multi-stakeholder approach of the Conference to involve
parliamentarians, the private sector and civil society. India’s solidarity with
the least developed countries had been nurtured through a shared history and
common development deficits, and it remained fully committed to those countries’
needs, having extended capacity-building and economic assistance in key sectors,
as well as duty- and quota-free preferential trade treatment. Credit facilities
for their benefit had also been established, and India’s private sector had
invested more than $35 billion. “The Istanbul programme was an opportunity to
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give to the least developed countries what they rightfully deserved.
make the most of it,” he concluded.
Let us
VLADIMIR GALUSKA, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Czech Republic, said that the major task of the coming period would be to
implement the action programme created at this Conference to promote the
inclusive and sustainable economic growth of the least developed countries. His
country was supporting the achievement of the Millennium Goals, and prioritized
development work in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Cambodia, Angola, Zambia and other
countries, many of which were in the United Nations least developed category.
Noting that the environment, water treatment, health, social services,
good governance and agriculture were among the priority areas of Czech
development cooperation, he stressed that a holistic world partnership was
needed to make the most difference at the local level, where, in turn, ownership
was crucial. “If we can each step up our efforts, we can make it.” In
conclusion, he underlined the importance of good governance and human rights in
all development endeavors.
DOAN XUAN HUNG, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, describing
his country’s economic expansion of the past 25 years along with its activities
in poverty reduction and participation at the regional and international level,
stressed that all developing countries required support and assistance, but what
made the difference was the striving within each country’s economy, building on
its indigenous resources, taking strong actions to remedy inherent weaknesses
and maximizing the use of assistance. “The higher the efficacy of aid
utilization is, the more the spin-off effects it has on development and the less
aid-reliant LDCs become,” he said.
To raise his country’s competitiveness, he said his Government had placed
high priority on infrastructure development, improvement of legal frameworks,
administrative reform and, most importantly, the training of human resources.
As a new member of the World Trade Organization, his country also believed in
the importance of a strong, equitable trade system that worked globally, as the
rise of regionalism eroded preferential treatment for poor countries. For that
reason, it was crucial for the Doha Round of international trade talks to be
completed.
Equally important, he said, was development cooperation within regions, to
narrow the development gap among countries, regions and subregions and to better
face the development obstacles, such as natural disasters, climate change and
diseases. The most important support by major economies to the development of
the poorest countries was the establishment of infrastructure for global trade
and investment growth. Viet Nam, he pledged, would do whatever it could to work
with others in the interest of common development.
VERA LUCIA BARROUIN CRIVANO MACHADO, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political
Affairs of Brazil, said the international community must learn from the
disappointments of the past and commit to do more, and better, in the future.
To that end, much remained to be done to fulfil the pressing needs of nearly one
fourth of the United Nations membership, which was currently characterized as
least developed. While many of those countries had made significant strides
during the Brussels implementation decade, the global crisis sparked by the
meltdown of large banks and financial institutions in the developed world had
taken its toll.
She urged the international community to prioritize — and scale up
assistance for — sectors such as agriculture and trade. It was also necessary
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to consider establishing humanitarian food stocks, consistent with the
guidelines set out by the World Trade Organization, to alleviate or head off
food shortages. “This very real problem cannot serve, however, as a pretext for
maintaining trade distorting policies that prevented the development of
agriculture or disrupting markets in the developing and least developed
countries,” she said.
Turning to Brazil’s technical cooperation with other developing countries,
she said her Government’s programmes in that regard were based on the country’s
own experiences and adapted to the specific needs of partner nations. “We
listen to the demands of our partners. We assist them in achieving their
objectives and finding their own solutions,” she said, adding that that
principle had led to the establishment of horizontal partnerships and the
promotion of autonomy and self-reliance. Last year alone, the Brazilian
Cooperation Agency had carried out more than 300 short-, medium-, and long-term
initiatives in 38 countries, including 22 least developed nations.
Finally, she recalled that Brazil was set to host the June 2012 United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which aimed to ensure balanced
integration of economic growth, social development and environmental protection.
As the least developed countries were most affected by climate change, Brazil
invited all such nations to Rio de Janeiro for that conference at the highest
level to ensure that their priorities were duly reflected in the outcome
document.
DORU COSTEA, Secretary of State of Romania, said his Government strongly
supported the European Union’s commitment to collectively meeting the target of
0.15 to 0.20 per cent of gross national income for the least developed
countries, and reaffirmed the need for other donors, including emerging
economies, to match those commitments. Romania had become a donor in 2007 and
had prioritized official development assistance (ODA) for such sectors as
poverty eradication, the rule of law, good governance, health and education and
climate change.
He said that Romania was also an active promoter of effective
multilateralism, and supported the pivotal role of the United Nations in global
governance. Nearly one third of Romania’s ODA had been channeled through
multilateral organizations and United Nations agencies, including the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Finally, he said
that to be successful, the outcome of the Istanbul Conference must take due
notice of current global challenges and contribute to the creation of a
favourable environment for sustainable development and for renewing the
partnership between the least developed countries and donors.
PEDRO CHAN (Philippines), aligning his statement with that made earlier in
the Conference by Argentina on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries
and China, said it was incumbent upon all members of that Group to assist fellow
developing nations, not only by actively advocating their priorities at
conferences and meetings such as this, but also by providing them with direct
assistance through South-South and triangular cooperation. He recalled that the
third ministerial meeting of the Group of 77, held in Manila in 1976, had
stressed the promotion of technology transfer and the fostering of economic
cooperation among all developing countries.
He said the Philippines believed that, today, not enough was being done to
significantly improve the economic, social and environmental conditions in the
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least developed countries. With that in mind, his delegation was participating
in several side events during the Conference to describe how its past and future
initiatives might be of value to those countries. It planned to discuss such
strategies as cooperating with UN Women, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). It would also
be discussing the benefits of public-private partnerships, drawing on its
experience participating in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
international public-private partnership centres initiative.
In conclusion, he said that the future of the least developed countries
would be decided by the discussion in Istanbul this week. The Economic and
Social Council’s Committee for Development Policy was itself looking at ways the
international community could improve its relations with and become more
responsive to the need of those countries. “Our goal should be to make [that
Committee] irrelevant, by ensuring that all least developed countries are
eventually confident enough to graduate […] seize their future, and rise with
the tide of sustainable progress,” he said.
VIJAVAT ISARABHAKDI, Director-General of the Department of International
Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, said that, as a
middle-income country, Thailand advocates international cooperation for least
developed countries as part of the eighth Millennium Development Goal — the
global partnership for development. Its past experience showed the importance
of such partnership, and it had engaged with poor countries in all corners of
the globe, providing nearly $60 million to cooperation programmes in 2009 alone.
Priority was given to the neighbouring countries of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar,
co-members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
In particular, he said, his country supported the development of
transportation and connectivity infrastructure in least developed nations, as
that would provide them with greater market access, attract investment, generate
employment and stimulate tourism. In terms of policy, Thailand believed that
sustainable development must begin with the people, through programmes owned by
them and which encouraged them to stand on their own. It also believed that the
current ODA to the poorest countries must be increased, and he called for
developed countries to increase it to the 0.7 per cent target. Finally,
Thailand remained committed to South-South and triangular cooperation, and hoped
to become a “regional centre of excellence”, offering knowledge, experience and
best practices.
ELISABETTA BELLONI, Director-General for Development Cooperation at the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Italy, said “to ensure resilient growth of the
LDCs, with a view to achieving the final objective of their graduation, we need,
from now on, to be more ambitious and call for a collective and coordinated
effort from all stakeholders.” All developing countries had to be seen not as
problems, but as centres of future economic growth. Their potential was
enormous. “Traditional and emerging donors, as well as other public and private
stakeholders, must rally together,” to help realize that potential through a
holistic approach. She, therefore, welcomed the activities of the Group of
Twenty (G-20) in the field of development, in an overarching context that could
not be limited to South-South cooperation.
She said that all sources of financing for development had their role,
including international aid, domestic resource mobilization, debt relief,
innovative financing, remittances and private-sector investment. At the same
time, good governance, financial regulation, programmes for decent employment
and social protection systems were extremely important. Sound and inclusive
national strategies required reliable statistics. Italy had joined
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international initiatives to offer assistance in that regard. She called for
the international community to be audacious in shaping a new consensus on aid
effectiveness at the high-level forum in Busan, meaning that all the policies,
relationships, activities and financial flows in and with partner countries had
to be geared towards development goals.
Italy, she said, would continue to work to combat volatility in food
prices and to enhance food security according to the L’Aquila Food Security
Initiative adopted during Italy’s presidency of the Group of Eight (G-8). It
also would continue its preferential trade rules for least developed countries,
and encourage the private sector to play a wide role in their sustainable
development. It would encourage creative financing and reducing the cost of
transferring remittances, and it would maintain the presence of Italian civil
society organizations in developing countries. It would also strive to develop
a more systematic way of delivering Italian aid.
VANU GOPALA MENON (Singapore) emphasized the importance of the development
of human capacity, particularly for a country such as his that was bereft of
natural resources. Only the people could fuel a country’s development from
within, which was why training formed a cornerstone of Singapore’s international
assistance programmes. The country had also developed mechanisms to transfer
knowledge in management, health care and other fields, allowing the countries
themselves to tailor that help to their needs. So far, tens of thousands of
managers had been trained. Regional cooperation, in particular, played a vital
role, as the experience of ASEAN showed. Overall, Singapore played a major role
in the development efforts of the region.
He said his country also contributed training and capacity-building to
poor countries outside the region, through close cooperation with international
organizations. He hoped that through the Istanbul Conference, the international
community would gain greater knowledge of the development needs of least
developed countries and come up with effective strategies for their advancement.
Singapore stood ready to support that important endeavor.
VICTOR MORARU (Moldova) said that as a landlocked country in economic
transition, his knew first-hand how difficult it was to enhance the capacity to
participate effectively in the globalized world economy without consistent
external financial support. It learned that success was possible only through
concerted and joint efforts with development partners. That experience had led
to close cooperation in recent years with other landlocked developing countries,
which included a significant group of least developed countries, suffering from
isolation from world markets and extreme dependency on a primary commodity.
Regarding the proposed Istanbul action programme, he said it was a wellbalanced and focused document, based on international targets, actions by poor
countries themselves and support measures from development partners, including
emerging economies, which he agreed should provide an increased share of
assistance. Full implementation of the programme would greatly assist the least
developed countries in their endeavours to overcome existing structural
challenges. That, however, required political will and smart polices based on
good governance. He urged all stakeholders to fully utilize the monitoring and
review mechanisms built into the programme to ensure that the Istanbul
Conference, unlike its predecessors, marked a real turning point in the everyday
lives of poor people in the least developed countries.
LEONIDAS CHRYSANTHOPOULOS, Secretary General of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization (BSEC), said that today’s threats and challenges
differed markedly from those of the past, when the concept of security only
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meant preventing conflict between States. The international community now faced
new security threats, including threats to human security, which required urgent
attention. Such threats included, among others, infectious diseases,
environmental degradation, proliferation of nuclear weapons, human trafficking,
transnational organized crime and climate change. Against that backdrop, he
called for enhanced support to improve governance, the fight against corruption,
the rule of law and social equity, not only in the least developed countries,
but also worldwide.
Specifically, he said corruption endangered economic and social
development, justice, democracy and the rule of law. Joint international
efforts to tackle corruption had led to the creation of international treaties
and mechanisms. He was pleased to note that BSEC Ministers of Interior had last
month adopted a joint declaration on regional efforts to prevent and combat
corruption. That document had paved the way for a relevant action plan, which
would, among other things, facilitate development of a network of national
bodies mandated to enforce anti-corruption measures, with a view to exchanging
information and sharing best practices.
TEMIR PORRAS PONCELEON, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela,
said that the world financial system continued to oppress hundreds of millions
of people in developing countries. For that reason, developing countries should
not be inserted into the current failed model, but into a new model based on
justice and solidarity. The renewed neo-liberal offensive, which put the weight
of crises on the shoulders on the poorest, had led to an alarming increase in
public sovereign debt throughout the world and to an ongoing food crisis. The
modest progress achieved by the least developed countries before those crises
struck must be recovered. The Member States of the United Nations had made a
clear commitment to helping those countries escape their vicious cycle of
extreme poverty, but instead, it had increased.
He said that the success of the new programme of action would depend on
the poorest countries being allowed to develop independent policies in
accordance with their own conditions, without external conditionalities and with
prior knowledge of outside funding. European countries took no account of the
need for such national leadership, he maintained, expressing deep concern for
the failure of developed countries’ to meet their commitments. South-South
cooperation was rising to the challenge, however, including those arrangements
in which Venezuela participated, such as the Petrocaribe mechanism for oil
access and Caribbean initiatives to assist Haiti.
Such initiatives were crucial, he stressed, but they should not replace
those of developed countries, which had the greatest responsibility for the
development of poor countries. He reaffirmed the principle of shared but
differentiated responsibilities. A new development model based on solidarity
and equality was possible and his Government was committed to bringing it about,
he said, citing the statements of his President. He proposed a development
council at the United Nations for that purpose, which could help end the misery
of the least developed countries.
CHHIT KIM YEAT (Cambodia) said that to meet international development
goals economic growth and pro-poor policies were needed, along with governance
reforms, attention to areas that could generate employment and investment in
sectors such as health and education that built human capacity. In addition,
developed countries should fulfil their ODA commitments and give more serious
consideration to debt relief. In conformity with the Brussels Programme of
Action, his country had instituted policies meant to build a society free from
hunger, disease, inequality, vulnerability and exclusion. Governance had
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improved, but more work was needed, in cooperation with the private sector, to
build a healthy and dynamic, but well-regulated, environment for business.
Particularly important, he said, was robust improvement in the
agricultural sector, which provided livelihoods for 80 per cent of his country’s
population. As a post-conflict least developed country, Cambodia still faced
enormous challenges that were beyond its control, including effects from the
financial crisis and climate change. He pledged his Government’s continued
commitment to developing the country, and once again expressed his profound
gratitude to the international community for helping rebuild Cambodia to achieve
sustainable development and lasting peace.
ABDULLAH A. A. Al-DUWAIT (Kuwait) said the least developed countries
suffered from weak economies, poor infrastructure and vulnerability to external
economic shocks and natural disasters. As many of them were landlocked or small
island States, they were disproportionately susceptible to the impacts of
climate change. The international community had last gathered to address the
challenges facing the least developed countries in Brussels in 2001, he noted.
In light of emerging challenges and converging crises, he urged
negotiators to revise the action plan adopted in Brussels, noting that that had
renewed development partnerships, lifted tariffs and trade barriers, alleviated
debt burdens, increased ODA, and enhanced productive capacities. The Government
of Kuwait was committed to establishing international partnerships for
development, as called for in the Millennium Declaration.
To that end, the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, since its
inception some 40 years ago, had provided some $15 billion in loans to finance
development projects in developing and least developed countries. Kuwait’s
efforts sought to alleviate vulnerabilities and promote sustainable development.
The Government had created the Decent Life Fund and supplied it with
$100 million to provide basic necessities and increase agricultural production
for developing countries in the region and beyond. As Kuwait had doubled the
amount of its development assistance, it would call on other delegations,
especially from the developed countries, to do the same.
CRISTOBAL GONZALEZ-ALLER (Spain) urged all those gathered in Istanbul to
make a special effort to ensure that the internationally-agreed development
goals, especially those set out in the outcomes of the major United Nations
conferences and meetings, were fully implemented. Spain believed that a serious
effort must be made to increase ODA, particularly before 2015, and Africa should
be a priority in that regard. Spain had scaled up its development
interventions, and at the same time, had strengthened its decades-long
development partnership with Haiti, “the least developed of the least developed
countries”.
“We should be able to implement a realistic programme of action adjusted
to priorities identified by the countries themselves,” he said, calling also for
a focus on, among other things, public-private partnerships and transparency in
aid delivery. But, those efforts would not succeed without strengthened
participation from private-sector actors, especially those from emerging
economies and other developing nations. Triangular cooperation would play a
vital role in that effort. There was a connection between growth in the least
developed countries and the protection of human rights, peace consolidation and
the rule of law. Finally, he called on the international community to give the
least developed countries the opportunity to play a greater role in building
their economies.
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SHIGEKI SUMI (Japan) expressing gratitude for the friendship extended to
his country after the earthquake, said Japan would become “more marvelous” in
return. It would undertake “post-quake diplomacy” and faithfully implement its
international commitments. Japan promoted assistance aimed at poverty reduction
through economic growth, a strategy which had proved correct.
He said the time had come for such success to extend to the least
developed countries, and he urged the international community to support the new
paradigm being established by those nations to improve productive capacity.
Strongly supporting the Peacebuilding Commission, Japan also would extend
assistance to promote poverty reduction through sustained, inclusive and
equitable growth. Japan supported least developed countries through the United
Nations Trust Fund for Human Security, and would fulfil its commitment made last
year to substantively help achieve the Millennium Development Goals related to
health and education. Cooperation in the area of disaster management was also
important, and Japan was supporting reconstruction work in Haiti.
Elsewhere, Japan would also strongly support Africa’s development, he
said, noting that in 2008, it had pledged to double ODA to Africa to
$1.8 billion by 2012. Total ODA disbursed to the continent last year had
reached a provisional $2.05 billion, exceeding the target. The Government also
supported trade in landlocked countries and promoted triangular cooperation by
assisting emerging countries with the willingness and capacity to support the
poorest nations. Urging a successful conclusion to the Doha Round, he
underlined the importance of Aid for Trade and both duty- and quota-free
treatment of least developed country exports.
RICHARD ONYONKA (Kenya) expressed hope that the Conference would help form
a united front for dealing with the great challenges facing the least developed
countries — many of which were shared by his own nation — and come up with
viable actions to remediate them. The Millennium Developed Goals should be
embraced as the blueprint for those efforts. Kenya was proud to be on track to
meet some of them, but fairness must be achieved everywhere. The extreme
imbalance between rich and poor must be addressed. He urged Conference
participants to adopt a new, dynamic and proactive approach to meeting the
challenges. The least developed countries themselves should improve their
governance and regulatory frameworks, and agricultural systems, and identify
opportunities.
He called for a reform of the international trade system and an increase
in South-South cooperation, with a sharing of experience and technology. Poor
countries must ensure that all their citizens benefited from their economic
growth. They also should accept the rule of law as the norm and eradicate
corruption. The social infrastructure also should be improved. Global
cooperation was critical in all those endeavours, so the international community
must make sure that its interventions added value in all cases.
RETATA RIMON NIKUATA (Kiribati) said that over the past decade, her
country had made some notable progress in areas such as access to primary and
secondary education, child immunization, reproductive health, and increased
participation of women in decision-making. Kiribati’s national development
strategies had integrated the objectives set out in the Brussels action plan and
other international agreements, such as the Millennium Development Goals. Yet,
despite her country’s progress, “more needs to be done and we are fully
committed to doing it”, she said.
However, she acknowledged, Kiribati’s national efforts to improve the
general social and economic conditions of its people were severely hampered by
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myriad factors, including its tiny population, which was dispersed across
several low-lying atolls, and its increasing vulnerability to external threats
such as climate change. Kiribati was also heavily dependent on imported food
products from Asia and, as such, had been hard-hit by the recent sharp rise in
food and commodity prices. The Government was committed to increasing local
food production to ease the country’s reliance on imports; however, changing
values and lifestyles had undermined local food producers. Appropriate
strategies were under way to address that.
“As a front-line State most vulnerable to external shocks, natural
disasters and climate change, our progress in implementing the Brussels
Programme of Action and achieving the [Millennium Development Goals] has been
understandably slow,” she said. While there might be some criticism inside and
outside the country of what some had called “unsustainable economic policies”,
the Government had undertaken a course of reforms. Going forward, it was
necessary to make tough decisions and sacrifices to address the challenges of
all the least developed countries. “We strongly believe that the new action
programme must bridge the gap between the poor and the rich, address the
unfinished Brussels agenda, and bring about more equitable global growth and
prosperity.” That could occur only through political commitment at the national
level, enhanced partnerships between the least developed countries and their
development partners, strengthened coordination among the developed countries
and a scaling up of resources.
LÉO MÉRORÈS (Haiti) said human solidarity was not just an intellectual
approach, but a reality that had been seen following the 2010 earthquake in his
country, when the international community had travelled to Haiti’s assistance to
save lives and help victims. Expressing gratitude to those who had “come from
near and far” to assist in difficult circumstances, he especially thanked the
troop-contributing countries that had worked for Haiti’s stability.
He said that while Haiti was not entirely ready to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, some progress had been made. The long and difficult
electoral process was reaching its end and the President was transmitting his
powers to the President-elect. The help of external partners, as well as that
of African and Asian least developed countries, had been indispensable for
Haiti, which now required new commitments and new development partners,
especially in the context of South-South cooperation.
Free access to markets for all least developed country products was
essential, he said. At the same time, ODA practices must be reconsidered, as
such aid should be assigned to infrastructure and education, among other areas.
It also should be based on least developed country priorities and not subjected
to political or strategic calculations. Further, debt relief must be granted on
a continuous basis. Haiti’s President-elect, following meetings with the
Bretton Woods institutions, said countries could not rely on donations alone to
rebuild.
Continuing, he said least developed countries had been the first to suffer
the consequences of climate change. The countries directly impacted required
additional funds, and Governments must be legally bound to reduce their
greenhouse gas emissions on the basis of shared but differentiated
responsibilities. The goal of seeing half of the 48 least developed countries
emerge from that category in 2021 could be attained if pledges were respected.
ADNAN KHAN (Pakistan) called it very disturbing that the ranks of the
least developed had swelled to 48, adding that the notion that poverty in those
countries was perpetual was fundamentally flawed. He said that the knowledge
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and technology to eradicate poverty was available, but the political will to act
and the determination to follow up on commitments was needed. In that context,
his country offered its sincere support to poor countries in their efforts to
attain sustained economic growth and development. Happily, the outcome of the
Istanbul Conference’s deliberations had reflected reality well and stressed the
centrality of investment in productive capacities, social sectors, a diversified
industrial export base and agricultural capabilities.
He said that while countries had the primary responsibility for their
development, they needed enhanced and predictable international support for that
purpose, and developed countries must take the lead in that effort. ODA
commitments must be met, the sectoral composition of aid must be rebalanced, and
non-tariff barriers to trade must be removed. Addressing inadequacies in debt
relief and concluding the Doha Development Round at an early date were also
important steps. Optimum use also should be made of development cooperation
from the South. His country, despite its resource limitations, had been
offering assistance in education, training and technical assistance to many
least developed countries, and been enhancing trade and investment relations
with them as well. It already had offered duty-free access to some. He pledged
his country’s continued work with the poorest countries, in line with the
principles underpinning the United Nations Charter.
JORGE QUESADA CONCEPCION (Cuba) said that poverty was a result of the
current unfair global economic order, which was counter to economic, moral and
environmental logic and perpetuated a vicious cycle. A new, just economic
architecture should be developed, including a new trade system. Whatever
development aid was currently given was funneled into a few countries, ignoring
many of the poorest, and those who received aid were subjected to conditions.
Meeting ODA obligations was imperative, and investment should be subjected to
national priorities. The granting of duty- and quota-free access still had not
been sufficient.
He said that Cuba, despite being subjected to a blockade, still had been
able to extensively assist the poorest countries, particularly in the health and
education sectors. However, South-South cooperation could not substitute for
the fulfilment of the commitments of the developed countries, which had a strong
historical obligation to redress extreme poverty. Unfortunately, instead, some
developed countries spent billions on arms. Generosity, rather than unbounded
selfishness, was required.
PABLO ANTONIO THALASSINÓS (Panama), endorsing the statement by the Group
of 77 and China, as well as that of the Rio Group, said progress over the last
decade had been reversed and turning that trend around required international
support. It was particularly important for science and technology,
infrastructure, human capacity and food security to be ensured for least
developed countries. Businesses and countries with the highest development
levels also must increase their investments in job-creating sectors.
Stressing that every country must be the leader of its own development, he
agreed that international cooperation, under the principle of shared but
differentiated responsibilities, was of the highest moral imperative.
Investments in education must be made to compensate for children’s lack of
inclusion in that system.
To see the graduation of half of those countries on the least developed
countries’ list, it was vital that Governments comply with the Monterrey
Consensus and Doha Declaration to allot 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product
(GDP) to ODA. The growing importance of triangular and South-South cooperation
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also must be recognized, with the understanding that it did not replace NorthSouth cooperation. In that context, he said Panama had offered to host the first
regional exposition on South-South cooperation.
In sum, he said all least developed countries had worked hard to overcome
their structural challenges, and for the Istanbul action plan to achieve its
vision, genuine will was needed by Governments, international bodies and nongovernmental organizations. Istanbul also should lay fertile ground for least
developed countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
FEDERICO ALBERTO CUELLO CAMILO (Dominican Republic) said “how a society
treats its neediest is the best measure of its human qualities.” Tasks remained
for the international community to address least developed country needs. The
Dominican Republic had participated in the Conference’s Preparatory Committee
seeking conditions for strengthening poor countries’ productive capacities and
hoping to realize promised market access opportunities.
He said that such tasks were particularly relevant for Haiti, which lacked
equal opportunities in both its rural areas and city slums, resulting in
criminality and continued protests. The dissolution of the army two decades ago
had allowed criminal networks to emerge, whose activities had accelerated after
the 2010 earthquake. No amount of foreign aid could compensate for the absence
of domestic capital sources, even if it was delivered in promised quantities or
within agreed deadlines.
Supporting the Istanbul action plan, he said it bound States to the
accelerated, sustained and equitable growth of least developed countries. It
addressed their concerns with responses initially presented by those nations
themselves. In their final form, those responses reflected the wealth of
contributions by delegations participating in negotiations. With that, he
voiced hope that in 10 years, results would be more positively evaluated and
Haiti’s graduation confirmed.
SILVANO M. TOMASI, Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the
United Nations, said the development paradigm for the least developed countries
for the past decade had been ineffective. The growth that many of those
countries had experienced since 2000 had stagnated and the number of poor and
vulnerable people worldwide had increased by some 3 million per year between
2002 and 2007. Against that background, the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) had last year proposed a new international development
architecture that called for more comprehensive measures to address the
challenges those countries faced.
He said that the Holy See supported that new approach and would focus its
interventions on what he called the pillars of integral development. That
principle, drawn from the teachings of Pope Paul VI, emphasized that development
could not be limited to economic growth. Rather, it must be “complete” — or
“integral” — in that it promoted the good of all individuals and communities.
Over the past 40 years, as the global community had called ever more urgently
for a “comprehensive and inclusive approach” to development, the framework for
such integral development, based on Catholic social theory, had also begun to
take shape. It was based on human dignity, promotion and protection of human
rights, care of creation, and participation at the community level. With such
principles in mind, he said the Holy See looked forward to agreement on a new
programme of action for least developed countries over the coming decade and
urged all actors to support those nations’ efforts to achieve full development.
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ALI JARBAWI, Minister of Planning and Administrative Development of the
Palestinian Authority, said that the current turmoil in North Africa and the
Middle East were another indication that the aspirations of all people should be
met. That certainly included the aspirations of the people of the least
developed countries. For that to happen, the principles of international
solidarity, good governance, empowerment of women and the fight against poverty
must be universally applied.
During the past three years, he said, Palestine had achieved great
progress in establishing good governance institutions and social, economic and
security structures. The plan for 2008 to 2010 had established priorities based
on the Palestinian vision and partnerships. Palestinians had their
implementation responsibilities and had worked hard, achieving much with the
assistance of the international community. The rule of law and the private
sector had been improved, laws and regulations had been adopted to encourage
foreign investment and the economy had grown over 8 per cent. More progress
could be achieved if the situation was appropriate.
He described extensive progress in the educational, health, transport and
energy sectors, but cautioned that Palestinian success was not complete.
Palestinians were still under Israeli occupation. Permission for all activities
had to be obtained from Israeli authorities and many parts of the Territory were
isolated. The Gaza Strip had been under a blockade and had suffered a war and
needed to be completely rebuilt. In spite of such obstacles, the Palestinian
Authority had achieved much progress, but Palestinians needed to achieve true
development in the form of self-determination.
ELHADJ GLEY (Tunisia) said the young peoples’ revolution that took place
in his country would enable it to rise to the economic ranks it deserved. The
situation was being stabilized and normalized, with a view to establishing
democratic elections next July. Investment and export recovery had begun and he
was confident of Tunisia’s prospects with a more favourable climate for the
private sector. “We are betting on economic growth above 7 per cent,” he said,
while also cautioning that Tunisia was facing large challenges and regional
disequilibrium.
He went on to say that human development was at the heart of South-South
cooperation, especially towards Tunisia’s African brothers, and the growing
efficiency of that cooperation had been included in his country’s foreign
policy. That commitment would be enhanced by support from developed countries
in a triangulation, with mobilization of additional resources for the global
South.
Further, he said, insecurity had economic root causes, and development
must be placed at the heart of current and future challenges. It was essential
to find the means to promote a shared development and to draw lessons from the
Brussels action plan for a new decade-long programme that included commitments
to bring least developed countries into middle-income status. Information and
communications technologies — which constituted 11 per cent of Tunisia’s GDP —
had an important role to play in Africa.
NAHARI AGUSTINI (Indonesia) said the mixed results of the Brussels
Programme of Action had been the “defining story” for the least developed
countries over the past decade. Even as they worked actively with development
partners to overcome structural obstacles, those countries — burdened as they
were with fragile economic and political environments — had been largely unable
to persuade businesses, markets, and investors to take up the cause of their
development.
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“Here in Istanbul, as we close the chapter on the Brussels [action plan],
we have an opportunity to rewrite the fate of the least developed countries,”
she said, expressing her delegation’s hope that a new strategy would finally put
those countries on a path towards completing their journey to graduation from
the least developed category. She acknowledged that the structural challenges
were enormous and that the Istanbul outcome must, among other things, support
regional, as well as global, initiatives for the development of those countries.
It must also prioritize the objective for those nations and their development
partners to strengthen productive capacities over the next 10 years.
She urged a path that strengthened the least developed nations’ ownership
of their own development, especially as they were in the best position to
determine the most optimal means for their growth. Indeed, national-level
action remained the cornerstone of their success. She also called for further
exploration of innovative financing mechanisms and enhanced partnerships. Trade
was also critical and duty- and quota-free market access should be prioritized,
as should the speedy conclusion of the long-stalled Doha Round of talks. While
Indonesia had also been affected by the recent global crises, it had not wavered
in its support to the least developed countries. Her delegation hoped the
Istanbul outcome would generate strong momentum and concrete actions towards
strengthening the global development partnership. “This time, we can make a
difference, and it is up to us to seize this opportunity,” she said.
DOCTOR MASHABANE (South Africa), aligning with the Group of 77 and China,
said States agreed that work must be undertaken to streamline development
cooperation in line with the priority actions identified in the proposed
Istanbul action plan, including those aimed at building productive capacity,
ensuring food security and reducing vulnerability to climate change and external
shocks. The “monumental” task of graduating half of the 48 poorest countries
was a test of the highest magnitude, and his Government was committed to seeing
fellow Africans liberated from poverty.
In addition, he said, South Africa was committed to economic development
through regional and international cooperation, and it would continue to
advocate for the global North to be more responsive to developing country needs.
His Government also would continue to support least developed country growth as
part of the G-20 agenda and lobby those member nations to improve outreach with
non-Group members, with a view to ensuring that the G-20 agenda remained
relevant to those who stood to benefit from its initiatives.
ABDERRAHIM OULD HADRAMI (Mauritania), noting the severe challenges facing
the least developed countries, said that the importance Mauritania placed on the
Conference was shown by the wide representation of the country in Istanbul.
Mauritania had established extensive programmes corresponding to the Brussels
Programme of Action, based on acceleration of growth, stabilization of the
macroeconomic framework, better utilization of natural resources, development of
human resources and many other areas. However, the economy was still faced with
huge challenges, including widespread poverty and vulnerability to shocks, which
required the assistance of the international community. Much remained to be
done to strengthen productive capacity.
He said that debt relief and resolution of the Doha trade talks were also
very much needed. The new plan of action should shelter least developed
countries from external shocks. The implementation of that plan required
monitoring and strong solidarity from the international community, with adequate
resources and partnerships.
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VINCENT RIGBY (Canada) said the challenge in the years ahead would be to
translate the commitments of the Istanbul programme into concrete and
coordinated action — with focus, efficiency and accountability for real results
for the least developed countries. “Much work remains to be done, and we can
only achieve our objectives by using all the tools at our disposal, including
North-South partnerships, South-South and triangular cooperation,” he said, also
calling for the enhanced engagement of the private sector, civil society,
parliamentarians and philanthropic actors.
Highlighting some aspects of Canada’s contributions to the betterment of
the least developed countries, he noted, among other things, that his Government
had and would continue to deliver on its international pledges and, in that
regard, had last year exceeded its commitment to double its international
assistance, making Canada the eighth largest OECD Development Assistance
Committee donor. Canada had also met its commitment to double aid to Africa,
where two thirds of the least developed countries were located, from 2003-2004
levels to $2.1 billion in 2008-09. “We continue to meet that commitment,” he
added.
On the way forward, he said it would be important for all stakeholders to
be aware of, and adapt to, the changing landscape of international development
in 2011 as compared to when the previous work plan had been launched ten years
ago. In particular, he said that globalization must be mainstreamed into
development. “We can no longer speak about ‘development’ as a discrete topic,
addressed only by aid agencies and partner governments,” he said, stressing that
development over the past ten years had become increasingly linked to other
policy areas and international initiatives.
Moreover, the international community’s achievement of development
objectives was dependent on its success in tackling a wide array of policy
challenges in a coherent and integrated approach. Also, while donor Governments
still had a responsibility to contribute to development through the provision of
ODA, they now had many other powerful tools at their disposal. Those included,
for example: ensuring market access and domestic economic policies take into
account the effect on developing country exports; supporting their private
sectors to invest responsibly in developing countries; providing technical
assistance and capacity building; and working with foundations and other private
actors, new donors, and civil society organizations.
BENJAMIN ABILEAH (Israel), noting the many references to Israel in the
Palestinian representative’s speech, recalled that his country had coordinated
many training sessions for Palestinian professionals over the past 15 years.
Given the challenges least developed countries faced in meeting the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015, he said: “We must now pull together and increase our
investment so that the largest number of LDCs can meet these milestones.” Since
1958, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation had striven to
share its development experience and transfer both know-how and technology
adapted to nations’ specific needs, notably through training.
Citing food security, health and education as fields vital for overcoming
poverty, he said failure in any of those sectors would negatively influence
various aspects of development, whereas improving women’s empowerment and
community development would strengthen advances in other areas. Only
harmonization of all development fields could ensure the effectiveness of the
development agenda.
With that in mind, Israel sought to provide capacity-building at the
country level, which was the most effective way for Israel to contribute to
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projects in least developed countries, he said. Israel viewed partnerships as
the best way to offer its skills and resources and, for decades, had worked in
areas such as agriculture and rural development, where it had a comparative
advantage. It stood ready to work with least developed countries on local and
regional projects.
Finally, small- and medium-sized enterprises and women’s empowerment were
vital to economic advancement, he said, adding that those enterprises required
Government assistance in the form of training and microcredit. To enable
women’s productivity, for the good of national economies and family incomes,
there was much work to do; that aspect must be included in the 2011-2020 action
programme.
HAMEED OPELOYERU, Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) said that his organization’s participation in the
current Conference was part of the global responsibility to preserve world peace
and encourage collective economic prosperity and social welfare. The
organization was exploring ways to scale up partnership with the United Nations
system, sharing best practices and reviewing strategies to create the
international synergies needed for the implementation of the Istanbul programme
of action. The OIC’s own programme of action already addressed the twin issues
of poverty eradication and building productive capacity, with two new funds, in
addition to already existing educational programmes, resulting in a wide range
of interventions in strategic areas, many in cooperation with international and
regional partners.
Joint action in the future, he said, should be based on national
ownership, and the OIC sought to ensure that development strategies were
comprehensive, home-grown and aimed at strengthening the absorptive capacities
of the economies of recipient countries. International partnership should also
enhance coordination and exchange best practices for the most efficient use of
available resources. Multilevel support and foreign direct investment should be
encouraged, in addition to fulfilment of ODA and other aid obligations. To
encourage responsible investment in agriculture and food production in land-rich
countries, he endorsed the elaboration of guidelines on good land governance.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference was committed to far-reaching
monetary reforms, including the introduction of new culture-friendly financial
products. He renewed his organization’s commitment to contribute to the success
of the Conference.
ACHILLE BASSILEKIN III (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States)
said that Group comprised 40 of the least developed countries. Noting that per
capita income in those nations had dropped over the last decade and that
progress towards their structural transformation had been “lackluster”, he said
technologies required for such change had not been forthcoming. Events in the
Middle East and Northern Africa, triggered, in part, by suppressed freedoms,
called for bold new approaches to mainstreaming youth and job creation into the
development equation.
He said that the Group’s partnership with the European Union was focused
on reducing and eradicating poverty, as well as integrating member States into
the world economy. Its poorest members had been accorded special treatment to
help them overcome economic and social difficulties. Agriculture, food security
and rural development must be properly addressed, while countries, notably in
Africa, must be supported to achieve food self-sufficiency. He also underlined
the need for policy coherence in the treatment of poor nations at the
multilateral, regional and bilateral levels when negotiating trade and related
agreements.
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SAFIYE CAGAR, Director, Information, Executive Board, and Resource
Mobilization Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), speaking on
behalf of her Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin, said that much progress
had been made in population issues in the least developed countries in the past
decade, but there were still many challenges. There was an urgent need to
promote equity and integrate vulnerable people. Young people, making up a large
percentage of the population of those countries, were a powerful force for
development if they grew up healthy and became empowered. She pledged that her
agency would work hard towards that goal. Reproductive health and gender
equality also paid off in development dividends. Support to those areas was not
charity, but an investment in the world’s collective future.
ALI MCHUMO, Managing Director of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC),
said that from 2001 to 2010, in support of the Brussels action plan, the Fund
had approved 62 regular projects and 65 smaller ones, with a value of nearly
$190 million covering commodities of economic interest to least developed
countries and aimed at enhancing incomes of small-holder producers through
increases in productivity, diversification, value-addition, increased access to
markets, capacity-building and risk management. The benefits of those projects
came, not through large expenditure, but through modest spending on effective
measures to address particular problems affecting commodity production and
marketing.
He said that in the larger international strategy, it was necessary to
reduce the high dependency of poor countries on a few commodities. However,
commodities and agriculture had suffered from continued neglect since the 1980s,
at both national and international levels. It was now heartening to note that
more attention was being focused on commodity issues. Commodity-sector
stakeholders still required more consistent and predictable financial support to
respond to opportunities in the commodity sector and to make their economies
viable and sustainable. For that reason, it was important for least developed
countries to use this Conference to secure sustained commitments to
international cooperation, leveraging the inherent power of the commodity sector
for development.
JOSÉ MANUEL SALAZAR-XIRINACHS, International Labour Organization (ILO),
said less than 10 per cent of the economically active population in least
developed countries had access to social protection. The young were
increasingly migrating across borders and continents in search of decent work.
Of more concern was that growth in those nations was led mostly by commodity
exports, which neither accelerated structural transformation nor deepened the
diversification of the economic base.
He urged thinking of ways to turn lessons learned from the worst global
economic crisis ever into a forward-looking agenda for the coming decade,
explaining that it also should target job creation and encourage structural
diversification and redistribution. Of particular relevance to the poorest
nations were policies that supported investment and productivity in agriculture,
and the urban informal economy, as well as social protections. Policy dialogue
was key, as the diversity of national conditions and cultures mattered.
BAKARY KANTE, Director of Environmental Law and Conventions, United
Nations Environment Programme, said that to lift more people out of poverty and
find decent jobs for the 1.3 billion young people under- or unemployed, growth
must become more intelligent on the planet, whose population was expected to
rise to an estimated 10 billion in 2050.
(more)
LDC Conference Plenary
7th & 8th Meetings (AM & PM)
- 21 -
LDC/ISTANBUL/10
12 May 2011
Recalling that UNEP’s report, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to
Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, concluded that jobs and growth
could be catalyzed while keeping humanity’s footprint within ecological
boundaries, he said it also made clear that such work was as much a developing
as a developed country agenda. Further, the “Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity” initiative found that, not only was $4.5 trillion in natural
capital being lost annually, but that goods and services represented by such
systems amounted to close to 90 per cent of the GDP of the poor.
Those findings showed that least developed countries were rich in the
kinds of natural resources that other economies had damaged, degraded or “simply
used up”; resources that would be increasingly sought in a resource-constrained
world, he said. Meanwhile, many least developed countries were in the early
stages of industrialization and energy access and ODA that promoted clean and
renewable energy systems, for example, would allow them to “leapfrog a dirty
development path”. The Istanbul action plan could be a critical tool in
assisting poor nations onto a “fast runway” for sustainable development.
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