Date :
To :
07 July 2006
Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director
cc:
Xinggen Wang, Regional Representative for Asia, PD/RIAAS
Sigrid Kaag, Chief of Staff, OED
Cecilia Lotse, Regional Director, ROSA
Alan Court, Director PD
Ado Vaher, Director, Office of UN Affairs and External Relations
The purpose of this luncheon is to discuss further G-77 concerns and interests as well as perspectives on aspects of UN reform and the upcoming ECOSOC session.
Information about the Visitor
Mr. Nirupam Sen has been the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations since
June 16, 2004. Prior to being appointed, Nirupam Sen had been India's High Commissioner to Sri
Lanka, and Ambassador to Bulgaria and Norway.
Talking Points
1.
Inform him that UNICEF values India’s important role in the UN, and seek his view on UN reform and G77 concerns and prospects on the issue. There were divergent views during discussions on harmonized programme approval process at UNICEF Board and on Secretary
General’s report on “Investing in the United Nations” in the Fifth Committee, and the High
Level Panel consultation in Islamabad in May.
2.
You may wish to ask his views on the selection of next Secretary General, as India has nominated Mr. Shashi Tharoor as its candidate for the Secretary-General's post.
3.
Seek his view on the newly created Peace Building Commission. Share with him that
UNICEF places its great hope for the Commission as its work closely linked with UNICEF field operation and service delivery. UNICEF will second a staff member to the Commission.
4.
Congratulate India for its progress towards the achievement of MDGs, but highlight that there are areas, such as poverty reduction, maternal mortality reduction and HIV/AIDS, where extra efforts are needed. UNICEF is pleased to support the government to make further progress in these areas.

Background
Talking point 1: UN reform: India has been one of the leading countries in the G77 resisting some of the management reforms. At June UNICEF Board, the harmonized programme approach was discussed, but experienced divergent views among members of the Board, resulting in non-adoption of this document. The G77 rarely discusses among its members on items reviewed at UNICEF Board, but this time they did it as the subject was very much linked with the
UN reform more broadly. In the Fifth Committee in April, the SG’s report on “Investing the
United Nations: for a stronger Organization worldwide” – Mr. Annan’s vision for a fundamental overhaul of the United Nations Secretariat – was lengthily discussed, and failed to reach a consensus decision between G77 and European Union. G77 tabled its own draft Resolution and was voted with 108 countries in favour, 50 against, and 3 abstained, after a failure to reach consensus during their informal discussions. In Islamabad , the SG's High Level Panel on System
Coherence held a two-day consultation on “One UN” with Pakistan, donors, and representatives from six Asian countries in May. India, along with China and Indonesia expressed that they would like to see "an incremental approach that would build confidence and learn from experience", making clear that the Panel would struggle to form recommendations that would result meaningful reforms and yet acceptable to developing countries.
Talking point 2: Next Secretary General: India has now nominated Mr. Shashi Tharoor as its candidate for the next Secretary-General's post. So far there are three other declared candidates from Asia: Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai; South Korean Foreign Minister Ban
Ki-Moon; and former U.N. under secretary-general for disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala, from
Sri Lanka.
India has indicated that its selection criteria for the top U.N. post includes four components: the candidate should have: "impeccable credentials; the broadest possible acceptability among the
U.N. member nations; should be committed to U.N. reforms; and must be committed to the interests of developing countries."
While the U.N. Charter does not spell out the selection process in clear terms, the U.N. General
Assembly resolution 51/241 of 1997 states that attention should be paid to regional rotation and gender equality. According to rotation, the next SG would come from Asia. Many Asian countries support the rotation. However, Eastern European nations are now saying that they should be given a shot at the top U.N. spot, as no one from that bloc of nations has ever held it before; unlike Asia, Latin America, Africa and Western Europe.
Talking point 3: Peace-Building Commission: India is a member of the Peace-Building
Commission, which UNICEF has great hopes for. Established by GA Resolution 60/180 on
December 20 th , 2005, the Organizational Committee is made up of 31 member countries: The
Peace-Building Commission will marshal resources at the disposal of the international community to advise and propose integrated strategies for post-conflict recovery, focusing attention on reconstruction, institution-building and sustainable development, in countries emerging from conflict.
Talking point 4: MDGs in India: India has potential to achieve several MDGs. However, further acceleration will be needed to achieve success in:

Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger . Despite progress in reducing the overall incidence of poverty in the nineties, 35% of the population still lives on less than $1 per day.
(target is 22% by 2015). The prevalence of underweight children has declined noticeably

(From approximately 54% in 1993 to 47% in 1999), but remains very high.
Goal 4. Reduce child mortality. India will be able to reach the goal of approximately 42 deaths per 1,000 live births with more effort. Indicators show a reduction of infant mortality

rate from approximately 80 in 1990 to approximately 62 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003.
Under-five mortality rates also indicate a continuing downward trend but more effort will be
 needed to reach the target of 41 deaths per 1,000 live births. (down from 120 in 1990).
Goal 5. Improve maternal health . In 1990, the estimated maternal mortality rate was approximately 570 deaths per 100,000 live births. Despite the reduction in 1995 to 440, the upward trend of increased deaths will make this goal difficult to achieve. Rates of maternal
 mortality escalated to over 540 as of 2000.
Goal 6. Reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015 . India will need to concentrate efforts in this area as prevalence rates increased from 0.8 per cent in 2001 to 0.9 per cent in 2003.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is the new coalition in power (since 2004 election) led by the Congress Party and includes leftist parties. The diversity of the coalition may constrain policy-making. Stability of the coalition and therefore the duration of their term in office are also uncertain.

The economy of India is the fourth-largest in the world as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), with a GDP of US $3.36 trillion. When measured in USD exchange-rate terms, it is the tenth largest in the world, with a GDP of US $691.87 billion (2004).

India was the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP growth rate of above 8% in 2003-04, and 8.1% at the end of the first quarter of 2005-2006. Growth in the
Indian economy has steadily increased since 1979, averaging 5.7% per year in the 23-year growth record. The economy has an excellent average GDP growth of 6.8% since 1994.

The ambitious 10 th Five Year Plan started in 2003, but the current rate of progress of many indicators is not sufficient to meet many of the child related National Development Targets by 2007, and the MDGs by 2015. Significant progress has been made, such as the near eradication of polio, an increase in literacy rates and a dramatic increase in the enrolment of both boys and girls in primary school. However, challenges in areas such as inequalities,
HIV/AIDS, and natural disasters continue to be enormous.
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