DRAFT REAFFIRMING ROLE OF UNCTAD AS FOCAL POINT FOR INTEGRATED TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCED IN SECOND COMMITTEE

16 November 1995

Press Release
GA/EF/2709

DRAFT REAFFIRMING ROLE OF UNCTAD AS FOCAL POINT FOR INTEGRATED TREATMENT OF DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCED IN SECOND COMMITTEE

19951116 Other Drafts Deal with UNCTAD IX, Coercive Economic Measures, Transit Problems, World Food Summit, Convention to Combat Desertification

The General Assembly would reaffirm the role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as the focal point for integrated treatment of development within the United Nations system and stress that the creation of the World Trade Organization has reinforced the need for UNCTAD as a policy-oriented forum with a strong development perspective, under the provisions of one of six draft resolutions introduced in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon.

Sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China along with the Non-Aligned Movement, that draft would have the Assembly deplore attempts to bypass or undermine multilaterally agreed measures of trade liberalization and the use of environmental and social concerns for protectionist purposes.

By another draft resolution, also sponsored by the Group of 77, the Assembly would decide to convene the ninth session of UNCTAD (UNCTAD IX) in South Africa, from 27 April to 11 May 1996. Speaking after the text's introduction, the representative of South Africa, on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said it would be an honour to host UNCTAD IX on African soil. The Conference would be a timely forum for addressing a number of issues which were central to the trade and development debate. He urged Member States to participate in it at the highest possible level.

Other trade and development drafts introduced this afternoon by the representative of the Philippines, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, would have the Assembly urge the international community to adopt effective measures to eliminate the use by some developed countries of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries; and call upon both the land-locked developing countries and their transit neighbours to implement measures to strengthen further their cooperative and collaborative efforts in dealing with their transit problems.

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By other drafts introduced, the Assembly would welcome the decision of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to convene a World Food Summit in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996; and decide that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the Convention to Combat Desertification should continue to prepare for the first session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and should convene two sessions in 1996 for that purpose.

Also this afternoon, the Committee continued discussion of several reports addressing, in the context of development, issues such as business, poverty, women and human resources.

Statements were made by the representatives of Burkina Faso, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Japan, Malta, Togo, Belarus, Qatar, Australia, Panama (on behalf of the Rio Group), Thailand, Nepal and Egypt. Representatives of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) also spoke.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 17 November, to continue its consideration of issues of business, poverty, women and human resources in the context of development, which are being taken up under the general heading of sustainable development and international economic cooperation.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this afternoon to continue consideration of a series of reports under the general heading of sustainable development and international economic cooperation. The reports address issues related to women in development, human resources development, business and development, eradication of poverty and food and sustainable agricultural development.

The Committee is also scheduled to hear the introduction of draft resolutions on several issues, including trade, agricultural development, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development recommendations, desertification and drought, economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC) and United Nations operational activities for development.

A report of the Secretary-General on effective mobilization and integration of women in development discusses gender issues in macroeconomic policy-making and development planning (document A/50/399). Another report (document A/50/330 and Corr.1) states that the United Nations system should continue to move towards greater specificity in its definitions and conceptualization of human resource development as the keystone to empowerment in sustainable social development. Two reports concern international cooperation for the eradication of poverty in developing countries (documents A/50/396 and A/50/551), and include a draft programme for the observance of the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty (1996). Also before the Committee is the report of the United Nations Panel on Opportunity and Participation (document A/50/501 and Add.1) and a report of the Secretary- General on business and development (A/50/417). (For background information, see Press Release GA/EF/2708, issued this morning.)

A draft resolution sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, along with the Non-Aligned Movement (document A/C.2/50/L.17) on international trade and development would have the Assembly endorse the provisional agenda for UNCTAD IX, as approved by the Trade and Development Board. It would deplore any attempt to bypass or undermine multilaterally agreed measures of trade liberalization, through resort to unilateral actions, over and above those agreed to in the Uruguay Round, and would deplore the use of environmental and social concerns for protectionist purposes.

By the 15-operative-paragraph draft, the Assembly would also reaffirm the role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as the focal point within the United Nations for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues in the areas of trade, finance, technology, investment, services and sustainable development. In that context, it would stress that the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has reinforced the need for UNCTAD as a policy-oriented forum with a strong development perspective.

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The Assembly would decide to enable UNCTAD to discharge its mandate fully, through the provision of adequate financial resources, making it a more effective instrument for promoting development as well as addressing trade- related development concerns of the developing countries. The UNCTAD would be requested and the WTO invited, in accordance with their respective mandates, to address trade and environment matters comprehensively and to submit, in collaboration with the Commission on Sustainable Development, a report on the matter to the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council in 1997. The Secretary-General would be requested to establish a trust fund to ensure full and effective participation of developing countries in UNCTAD IX. Donor countries and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would be called upon to make contributions.

A draft resolution sponsored by the Philippines, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, (document A/C.2/50/L.18) would have the Assembly urge the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use by some developed countries of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries which were not authorized by relevant organs of the United Nations or were inconsistent with the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations, as a means of forcibly imposing the will of one State on another.

The Secretary-General would be requested to assign to the Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis of the Secretariat, in cooperation with UNCTAD, the task of continuing to monitor the imposition of those measures and to prepare possible methodologies or criteria for evaluating their impact on the affected countries, including on their trade and development.

Another draft resolution concerns specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of land-locked developing countries (document A/C.2/50/L.19) the Assembly would call upon both the land-locked developing countries and their transit neighbours, in the spirit of South-South cooperation, including bilateral cooperation, to implement measures to strengthen further their cooperative and collaborative efforts in dealing with their transit problems.

Also by the draft, donor countries and multilateral institutions would be called upon to provide land-locked and transit developing countries with appropriate technical and financial assistance for the maintenance and improvement of their transport, storage and transit-related facilities. The Secretary-General would be requested to convene in 1997 another meeting of governmental experts from land-locked and transit developing countries and donor countries to review progress in the development of transit systems.

The draft is sponsored by the Kyrgyz Republic, Philippines (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China) and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

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By a draft also to be introduced by the Philippines on behalf of the Group of 77 (document A/C.2/50/L.20) the Assembly, welcoming with appreciation the offer made by South Africa to host UNCTAD IX, would decide to convene the ninth session in Midrand, Gauteng Province, South Africa, from 27 April to 11 May 1996, to be preceded by a one-day meeting of senior officials in the same place on 26 April 1996. The crucial importance of UNCTAD in advancing the dialogue on international economic cooperation for trade and development would be stressed and the need to achieve through the session a constructive and action-oriented outcome would be affirmed. Member States would be urged to take appropriate steps to ensure adequate preparations at all levels and within the framework of the permanent machinery of UNCTAD for the purpose of facilitating a positive and action-oriented outcome.

By another Group of 77 draft resolution (document A/C.2/50/L.21), the Assembly would welcome the decision of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to convene a World Food Summit in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996 at the level of heads of State or government. It would invite the international community to make substantial contributions to a trust Fund established by the FAO in order to facilitate the preparations for and the holding of the Summit.

Another Group of 77 draft resolution (A/C.2/50/L.22) concerns the international Convention to Combat Desertification. Under its provisions, the signing of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification by a number of countries would be welcomed. States that have not yet signed or ratified the Convention would be urged to do so to allow the Convention to enter into force as soon as possible.

By other provisions of the draft, the Assembly would decide that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee should continue to prepare for the first session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and, for that purpose, it should convene two sessions in 1996, each of up to two weeks' duration, the eighth session to be held at Geneva from 5 to 16 February and the ninth session in New York from 3 to 13 September. Another two sessions would be convened in 1997, each of up to two weeks' duration, the tenth session to be held in New York from 6 to 17 January and the eleventh session in April, the exact dates and venue of which to be determined at a later stage.

The Assembly would recommend that, upon the entry into force of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties would be convened in the second and third weeks of June 1997 or, alternatively, the second and third weeks of August 1997, the exact dates and venue of which to be determined at a later stage. It would decide that the work of the Negotiating Committee and the interim secretariat should continue to be funded through existing United

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Nations budgetary resources, without negatively affecting its programmed activities, and through voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund established for that purpose.

Introduction of Drafts

ENRIQUE A. MANALO (Philippines), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, introduced the draft resolutions on international trade and development; unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries; specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of land-locked developing countries; UNCTAD IX; the World Food Summit; and the international Convention to Combat Desertification.

Statements

PAUL ROBERT TIENDREBEOGO (Burkina Faso) said planning for development had to take women into account from the very beginning. However, available data showed otherwise. That must be reversed. In Burkina Faso women made up more than half of the population, yet they held only inferior positions in society. Only 20 per cent of administrative positions were held by women. There was a need to revise legislation among other measures. Efforts to educate women were focused on tapping their creativity.

Stressing his country's commitment to eradicating poverty, he said centres had been set up in coordination with the United Nations system and also non-governmental organizations with the aim of developing the country's human resources.

NOELEEN HEYZER, Director of UNIFEM, said the key area of the Fund's work included sustainable livelihoods with a focus on women and enterprise development and natural resource management. UNIFEM's work in the area of women's political empowerment would concentrate on strengthening their role in governance and decision-making at all levels, human rights and violence against women, peace-building and conflict prevention. It would support women's organizations to increase leadership opportunities for decision-making and advocacy for women.

UNIFEM looked forward to providing technical support to the resident coordinator system and bringing country-level experience to bear on relevant aspects of the work of the United Nations system at the global level, she said. To do that, the Fund would work in partnership with national governments to assist in preparing national action plans and in the implementation and monitoring of the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Women's Conference.

She said UNIFEM would continue to build partnerships with other United Nations agencies so that fresh approaches and new knowledge could be

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introduced. The Fund would be the resource for gender-sensitive development within the United Nations system. The full and effective implementation of the Beijing Platform would require financial resources and the Fund would need to double its resources of $12 million.

YANG YANYI (China) said the State could play an important role in creating a favourable environment for enterprise development through regulation and control of the economy with various policy measures to maintain macroeconomic stability. The State could also formulate rational industrial policies to provide correct guidance for investment flows, management and environmental cost effectiveness of enterprises as well as provide financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

She said China had consistently maintained that countries should be allowed to choose their own paths of economic development and forms of enterprise ownership in the light of their national conditions. Large, medium-sized and small enterprises were flourishing in China, playing an ever more important role in the country's economic development.

Practice had shown, she continued, that an effective way to eradicate poverty lay in developmental production and construction as well as expanded productive employment. Increased investment in human resources development and an improvement in literacy, education and scientific levels were also important. The status of women should be improved, and international cooperation strengthened. The developed countries should assume more obligations for the eradication of poverty worldwide by endeavouring to improve the terms of trade in favour of the developing countries, reducing the latter's debt burden, stabilizing prices of primary products and increasing official development assistance.

China was ready to further its cooperation with the United Nations and other international organizations in poverty alleviation and the attainment of sustainable development, she said.

WI SOK YON (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said that in order to integrate women in development, importance should be given first to the formulation of national policies on the basis of the Beijing Platform of Action. A favourable climate was also required for the implementation of the Platform at the national, regional and international levels and for practical measures to fully mobilize the financial resources needed for the resolution of issues relating to women in development. The developed countries and international financial institutions should do their part, including the implementation of financial commitments. Measures should also be taken to enhance the role of the United Nations system in the implementation of the Platform.

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He said the Economic and Social Council should review the functions of the Commission on the Status of Women to enable it to monitor and coordinate the implementation of the Platform. The international community should urgently resolve the issue of poverty, which was at the root of social instability and environmental degradation.

VLADIMIR PAVLOV (Bulgaria) said private companies played an increasingly active role in his country's economy and that a non-governmental public organization was one of the new emerging structures. They faced difficulties, including financing. There was no stable or solid legislation to help beginners or encourage those who took great personal risks. Private companies needed reliable business information, consultancy and managerial services and access to markets as well as business orders from governments.

He said Bulgaria was an example of the negative fall-out from the inadequate United Nations response to regional crises. The private sector in Bulgaria believed that United Nations Member States should aid countries which had specific economic problems directly resulting from the strict application of economic sanctions. The losses of the Bulgarian private sector as a result of the applications of sanctions amounted to an estimated $3 billion.

REZAUL KARIM (Bangladesh) said his Government was providing utmost priority to poverty eradication and had adopted far-reaching measures to that end. It fully realized that priority attention must be given to agriculture, health, education and family welfare sectors in order to spur growth on a wider front, and budget allocations for those fields had dramatically increased in recent years. Now, more than 30 per cent of the annual development budget was allocated to the social sectors.

His Government was helping to establish labour-intensive small industries in rural areas and encouraging both private and public efforts to provide credit on very concessional terms to the landless and marginal farmers, he said. Many local non-governmental organizations, including the Grameen Bank, had focused on providing loans to landless and destitute women in the villages who had successfully set up cottage industries or small businesses to earn a living. Bulgaria was particularly careful in its development strategy to cater to the special needs of women and the girl child. Structural adjustment programmes should be reoriented, taking into account their negative impact on the poor.

YUTAKA YOSHINO (Japan) said his country had launched an initiative on women in development, focusing on improving educational standards, health, and participation in economic and social activities. It had given $1 million each to the UNDP and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for that purpose. It had also recently increased its funding of UNIFEM to

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$1.5 million this year. As a country with limited natural resources, Japan had made investment in human resources an important part of its own development process and, through its international development cooperation, had advocated similar action by other countries.

He said private individuals and corporations should be engaging in every level of economic activity. The government could take such measures as market liberalization and deregulation, investment promotion, human resources and entrepreneurship development and the enhancement of economic and social infrastructure.

WALTER BALZAN (Malta), noting that 1996 was the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, said that, during the coming year, the international community had to ensure that the awareness generated on that vital issue was translated into effective and concrete measures. In addressing the issues of poverty and human resources it was important to highlight the role of women in the development process. Sustainable development could not be achieved without the involvement and integration of more than half of the world's population. In Beijing, governments had expressed their determination to promote people-centred sustainable development through the provision of basic education and primary health care for girls and women.

Policies should take into account women's social, economic and political empowerment to play a lead role in building women's leadership capacities, he said. Women were normally the worst hit by the effects of poverty. Their full access to the management of economic resources was a necessary tool to ensure sustainable development. Policies and decisions which directly or indirectly affected communities in general, and women in particular, were enhanced by the effective participation of women.

AWESSO SIMWABA (Togo) stressed his deep interest in the issue of poverty eradication -- an issue that had been a major concern in the last five years in United Nations development-related conferences. He paid tribute to those conferences and their decisions, but said the commitments made by the international community had not, however, led to results, citing the Programme of Action for the least developed countries as an example. New impetus must be given to international cooperation, and an agenda for development should take that into account.

His country was implementing several programmes aimed at eradicating poverty, including job-creation, he said. The solution to the problem of poverty required effective implementation of decisions adopted by United Nations conferences. The international community must mobilize more financial resources to that end, as even a well-coordinated strategy would lead to nothing unless funds were available to implement it.

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ALFATIH HAMAD, a representative of UNESCO, said the agency endeavoured to mobilize the various components of civil society to enhance, essentially through education, action aimed at alleviating poverty. An outstanding model of such innovative partnership was its cooperation with the GRAMEEN Bank of Bangladesh for the purpose of improving educational opportunities for about 2 million women members of the bank. The bank had also demonstrated its readiness to participate in a basic education programme directly related to economic activities in Bangladesh to be called "life-oriented education". The programme sought to build local capacity for the development and delivery of education and information programmes. UNESCO intended to use the experience gained to promote similar ventures elsewhere.

He said UNESCO had also established a management of social transformations programme to act as a clearing-house for policies and strategies on combating social exclusion and marginalization. UNESCO's governing body was convinced that alongside its education-for-all activities, designed to promote social development, the agency could also very significantly contribute to the United Nations system's action in that field through its intellectual inputs, and that ventures such as the social transformation programme could have a significant impact on the process.

ALEXEI A. MOJOUKHOV (Belarus) reviewed the priorities of his Government in reforming the country's economy, including restructuring of its basic sectors and privatization. Favourable conditions for foreign direct investment were being established. The keystone of that restructuring was market reform. The development of entrepreneurship was considered essential as the country's economy opened to the world. Since the early 1990s foreign enterprises had been operating in Belarus and they now totalled 700 companies.

Beginning in 1992, Belarus had started reforms towards a mixed-type economy, he said, and a legal basis for economic reforms was being established. After the 1993 adoption of the first programme for privatization, much had been accomplished. The key element of the programme now in place was structural reform designed to make internal conditions more dynamic. Despite huge difficulties, significant progress had been achieved, and 30 to 40 per cent inflation had dropped to between 2 and 3 per cent. In addition, the foreign debt was being serviced. Commenting on the report of the Secretary-General on entrepreneurship, he said assistance to countries in transition had not been fully carried out by the United Nations system, as requested by the Assembly.

ABDULLA THAMER AL-THANI (Qatar) said the eradication of poverty was a major challenge facing the international community, as many countries were going backwards. Africa in particular suffered from poverty while facing the problems of a reduction in official development assistance (ODA) and low- commodity prices. The debt burden of developing countries and least developed countries in particular contributed to poverty by bleeding resources which

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should be used for development. United Nations development-related conferences, including the Social Summit, had adopted many decisions relating to the eradication of poverty.

Sustainable development strategies should aim towards the eradication of poverty, he said. The Copenhagen Programme of Action had recommended to the Assembly the launching of the first United Nations decade on the eradication of poverty. The resolutions, strategies and policies recommended and adopted by various conferences should be translated into action by States and by the United Nations agencies. Qatar was providing assistance to those in need of social security in the country. There were training centres and workshops for women.

KATHY WONG (Australia) said gender perspectives should be integrated into the work of the inter-agency task forces that would follow up the recent world conferences. Australia encouraged United Nations funds and agencies to review and revise policies and procedures to meet the global priorities identified in the Platform of Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women. One of the challenges for the donor community was to use the Platform as a guide to the priority issues that needed to be incorporated in planning and implementing development activities.

Australia had supported the work of UNIFEM in developing three training manuals under the Pacific Mainstream Project, she stated, and the manuals would become a valuable resource for community workers and planners in imparting knowledge on gender-sensitive and gender-responsive planning.

TERESA PRADA de MESA, a representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that agency promoted technical programmes for human resource development that introduced new working patterns and skills to disadvantaged workers as well as active labour market policies to create a more flexible work force. In addition, the ILO believed it was necessary to reform certain established institutions which might handicap efforts to keep up with the rapid changes in technology and the realities of international economic dependence.

She said the creation of high quality jobs was a key to the eradication of poverty and that job creation today was essentially the responsibility of the private sector. That was why any employment policies should involve the main actors in the labour market -- employers and workers. The State should guarantee the fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as a legal, economic and social framework which promoted enterprise and job creation in equitable conditions.

NATALIA ROYO (Panama) spoke also on behalf of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, all members of the Rio Group. She drew attention to

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the feminization of poverty. Access to credit was difficult to get for women, she said. Women in Latin America faced unequal opportunities. Latin America had prepared for the Beijing Conference with the support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

As indicated in the Beijing Platform for Action, women had enormous potential to contribute to the development process, but that was being impaired by discrimination, she continued. More substantial resources should be channelled to the training of women, and small-scale entrepreneurship of women should be fostered. Women should also have access to appropriate technology. The concept of sustainable development made no sense at all if societies did not succeed in efforts to achieve equality between women and men.

KARN CHIRANOND (Thailand) said his country's strategy for development now incorporated spiritual and ethical development and involved strong family foundations and Buddhist principles. A majority of State-owned enterprises were being reformed, and opportunities had been opened up for private enterprise. Private participation from overseas was welcomed in sophisticated projects requiring large investments and higher technology. The Government was also actively promoting small and medium-sized enterprises as it believed that they were well suited to play an important role in providing employment opportunities.

He said coordination at the country level of United Nations agencies should be strengthened to better accommodate the needs of developing countries, particularly in poverty eradication.

VINOD KUMAR SHRESTHA (Nepal) said the majority of the people in least developed countries lived below the poverty line -- as many as 60 to 70 per cent of the total population in some countries. Those persons were virtually trapped in the vicious circle of poverty. An attack on poverty could be launched from two directions. The first would be to ensure the trickle down of the spread effect of the growth of the economy as a whole to ensure that its fruit would reach down to the poor, and the second was to create income generating opportunities for the target group of the poor.

Based on his country's experience, he said, one of the effective ways to attack poverty was to encourage small and micro-enterprises through entrepreneurship development programmes and micro-financing projects. Special attention needed to be given to women because they tended to be the most vulnerable members of the poor families and had to bear most of the burden of poverty. Some of the programmes launched in South Asian countries had been found quite successful in improving collateral financing to poor women that helped them not only to improve the situation of their family but also to raise their status in society.

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NERMIN WAFIK (Egypt) said some regarded development as more important in material than in human ways, but that was not the case of Egypt, which had always promoted human development. The Human Development Report of UNDP was important because it focused on changing human development. Many developed countries had high rates of unemployment, which raised questions about their development models and was a factor to be taken into account by developing countries.

Egypt had given absolute priority to investment in education and health, including the establishment of a minister for family planning, she said. She stressed the importance given by her country to human development strategies which took environmental and cultural aspects into account. A stable cultural basis was the only basis for government stability and balance. Development which ignored the importance of cultural factors subjected society to alienation and discord and thus failed to achieve its goals in an acceptable time frame. A firm commitment to improve human resources meant that governmental policies should serve society.

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