REPORTED IMPROVEMENT IN ECONOMIES OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES A 'MYTH', DJIBOUTI TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Press Release
GA/9121

REPORTED IMPROVEMENT IN ECONOMIES OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES A 'MYTH', DJIBOUTI TELLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

View Supported by Cambodia; Bangladesh Concerned over Global Water Supplies; Azerbaijan, Comoros, Palau, Gabon also Speak

The idea that the developing countries were doing better was a myth, the representative of Djibouti, Roble Olhaye, told the General Assembly this morning as it continued its general debate. It had been reported that the average income in 70 developing countries had fallen below the level recorded decades before and Africa, with half of its people living in poverty, had suffered greatly due to economic stagnation. Clearly, the vast majority had received only minimal benefit from the unprecedented global economic growth, he said.

Voicing similar concerns, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, said the notion of competition in international trade was unrealistic from the outset, for countries with mammoth foreign debt burdens. Vital decisions which shaped the world economy were well outside the control of the vast majority of nations, particularly those in the third world.

Addressing environmental concerns of developing countries, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Abdus Samad Azad, said that 3 billion people would be without adequate water by the year 2025. The availability of fresh water in adequate quantities was indispensable for the future of Bangladesh. To address the outstanding problems over sharing water from the Ganges River, his Government had entered into discussions with India. The goal was to ensure that the needs of the peoples of both countries might be met.

The Foreign Ministers of the Comoros and of Gabon also spoke, as did the representatives of Azerbaijan and Palau.

The Assembly will reconvene at 3 p.m. today to continue its debate.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to continue its general debate, hearing statements by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Comoros and Gabon. The representatives of Djibouti, Azerbaijan and Palau were also to speak.

Statements

ROBLE OLHAYE (Djibouti) said that although the United Nations was facing bankruptcy and confronting the threat to either "reform or perish", remarkably there was an air of business as usual pervading the current Assembly session. He said he wondered if, given the dire, life-threatening predicament facing the Organization, it revealed a measure of resignation, or the beginning of the end, or the enthusiastic hope for a new world order. Did that explain why so many opportunities to address the pressing problems of the day had not been realized? he asked.

He said the vast majority of mankind had received minimal benefit from unprecedented world-wide economic output. In the last decade, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), income levels in some 70 developing countries were less than in the 1960s or 1970s. The belief that the developing world was doing better was a myth. In truth, three fifths of the world lived in poverty, millions were forced to migrate each year and 15 per cent suffered from chronic hunger and malnutrition, as the level of world food production and reserves were declining in the face of population growth.

Much of that stagnation was in Africa, he said, with 50 per cent of its people living in poverty. For most countries on the continent, in spite of substantial efforts for reform, pluralization and structural adjustment, the situation was life-threatening. There were a few hopeful signs that the extent of Africa's predicament had begun to draw the critical attention it needed from the international community.

Overall, he said, the problems of degradation, poverty and underdevelopment must be seriously addressed if the frightening pace of global polarization was to be rectified. The conventional wisdom of today argued that the basic remedy to underdevelopment lay in embracing free and open market economies, stimulated by private capital. Towards that end, the bulk of the world was engaged in restructuring to fit that mould. But, with the resources needed for transitional development shrinking dramatically, particularly official development assistance (ODA), self-sufficiency had become a near-impossible task. Compounding that dilemma, while total private investment had indeed quadrupled since 1990 it had been only in ways which bypassed most developing countries and failed to address their problems.

ABDUS SAMAD AZAD, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, paid tribute to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for his "clarity of vision and purpose and a remarkable ability" as seen in his reports, 'Agenda for Peace' and

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'Agenda for Development'. He said Bangladesh identified with the aspirations and hopes of developing countries, particularly those belonging to the Non- Aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

He noted that the existence of friendly and good-neighbourly relations did not preclude the emergence of problems. The outstanding problem of his country with India -- over the sharing of the waters of the Ganges -- was well known. For Bangladesh, availability of fresh water in adequate volumes was indispensable; it had entered into discussions with India to ensure that the needs of both peoples may be met.

Beyond Bangladesh, he went on, water was an issue of primal significance. By the year 2025, according to the Economic and Social Council, more than 3 billion of the world's people would be "water stressed". In his opinion, problems related to water supplies had not received the attention they deserved.

He said the current decade was one of "democratic renewal" for Bangladesh. Three months before general elections were due, the Government would leave office and hand over to a neutral caretaker authority whose principal mandate would be to ensure free and fair general elections.

He said poverty was arguably the prime source of world disorder and needed to be addressed, inter alia, through sustained and enhanced flows of resources from the north to the countries of the south. Development initiatives of the 48 least developed countries were stunted by such problems as structural adjustment programmes and decline of an already low level of development resources. Debt relief thus far had remained grossly inadequate. The problems of those countries needed special consideration.

On Security Council reform, he said there was convergence that the overall membership should not exceed the low- or mid-20s. Whether expansion should cover only the non-permanent category, or whether a new semi-permanent category might be created, were questions to which answers were elusive. He welcomed the commitment of the United States to meet its financial obligations to the United Nations, and pay its arrears over a five-year period.

HASSAN A. HASSANOV, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said that while his country worked to achieve democratic reforms, every aspect of its daily life was affected by acts of Armenian aggression. Armenia's continued occupation of nearly 20 per cent of Azerbaijan, with its effects on towns and infrastructure, had inflicted enormous damage. Ethnic cleansing had been committed in the area occupied by Armenia, and more than a million people had been displaced or became refugees. Armenia, attempting to consolidate the gains it achieved through aggression, had refused to recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, none the less, believed that peaceful negotiations within the framework established by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were the only way to settle the conflict.

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He said efforts to speed up the peace process being directed by the OSCE Minsk Group included the withdrawal of Armenian forces from all occupied territory of Azerbaijan, including the Shusha and Lachin districts; the return of Azerbaijani citizens to the original place of residence, including to the Nagorny Karabakh region; and the enhancement of security for both the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations under the supervision of the OSCE.

Noting agreement among regional governments that the resolution of the conflict would contribute to regional stability and economic development, he said that the basic principles of a settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict could be elaborated at the forthcoming OSCE summit.

The Foreign Minister said Azerbaijan attached great importance to its integration into the global economy. Economic reforms and economic programmes were being carried out in coordination with the Bretton Woods institutions. To achieve its economic goals, Azerbaijan encouraged foreign investment, and worked to support the liberalization of foreign economic activities and national export.

UNG HUOT, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, said it had been five years since the signing of the peace accords for his country. The Cambodian people would always remember the sacrifices made by the international community for the cause of peace. The Government was only three years old but the rebuilding of Cambodia had proceeded apace. Nine months after the general elections the Government launched in February 1994, the National Programme for the Rehabilitation and the Development of Cambodia. At the same time, it was able to ensure political stability, improve security and engineer a rapid economic recovery as reflected by a 7.6 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP), inflation at 3.5 per cent, and a stable exchange rate of the national currency. Those figures combined with a liberal investment law were providing strong incentives for foreign direct investment.

He went on to say that the Government was profoundly conscious of the need to address problems linked with the Khmer Rouge through their reintegration into the national fold and through the long-term policy of development of rural areas. Military operations against them near the north- western border were designed to gradually reduce the nuisance they posed and to convince them of the opportunities to join the national community. National unity remained the target of the Government. The recent massive breakaway of core groups of the Khmer Rouge testified to the right approach of the Royal Government.

The achievements of the Government in a short period of time, he said, had given it the confidence to pursue efforts towards the declared aims of building a State governed by the rule of law, a market system that secured social benefits and a long-term and sustainable development of the national economy within the framework of a regional integration.

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Cambodia had submitted a request for full membership in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) by July 1997, with the recognition that the Association was a vehicle for peace, security, stability, shared opportunities and common prosperity in the region.

He spoke of the growing gap between the rich and poor countries, and said vital decisions determining the shape and nature of the world economy were well outside the control of the vast majority of nations, particularly those in the third world. The continuing trend towards a global economy, with the increasing free flow of capital throughout the world without reference to national borders, meant that fluctuations in the world economy had an almost immediate effect around the globe. Notions of competition were not realistic for countries which, from the outset, had a mammoth burden of debt, limited access to technology and populations ill-equipped to meet the challenges of the global economy. The United Nations must put development cooperation at the centre of its mandate, role and function.

He noted that Cambodia was the hardest-hit nation in the world with regard to land-mines. He paid tribute to all the generous donor countries which had come to assist in efforts to rid the country of that scourge. Banning them was easy, but international support was necessary to achieve their full eradication. Concrete measures should be taken as soon as possible to outlaw the production, exportation, utilization and sale of land-mines.

SAID OMAR SAID AHMED, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and External Trade of the Comoros, said the Security Council must be reformed to allow greater access to small- and medium-sized States. Other system-wide reforms of the Organization must continue.

He said the resurgence of violence in the Middle East had threatened the peace process. For that process to resume, Israeli troops must withdraw from all occupied Arab territory. Reviewing other areas of tension in the Middle East, he called upon Iraq to take actions which would assure peace and stability in the region. He said the situation in Somalia demonstrated the inability of the international community to find a solution to that country's lingering problems. Recent agreements reached by the parties in Liberia were positive, but whatever successes there had been in Africa should not overshadow the fact that the continent remained the theatre of conflict.

The global village was fraught with inequalities, he continued. Although the United Nations was the only institution which could lead the fights against poverty and underdevelopment, its agenda on development had not achieved the desired results. He spoke of "a series of tragedies" in the Comoros, including its invasion by mercenaries. The international community should resist the invasion of outside forces intended to destabilize a country.

He said the Comoros struggled under its large external debt burden and small island developing States, such as the Comoros, continued to be excluded from international trade. However, the foundation for political and economic reform was being laid in the Comoros. A programme of financial recovery had

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been put in place and efforts to establish a structural adjustment programme were under way. He appealed to the international community to provide special economic assistance to the Comoros.

DAVID ORRUKEUM (Palau), speaking on behalf of his country's President, Kuniwo Nakamura, said Palau's commitment against the creation and proliferation of nuclear weapons was long-standing and firmly resolute. When its constitution was adopted in 1978, Palau became the first country in the world to be a constitutionally mandated nuclear-free country. Protecting its citizens from those horrific weapons of destruction was the very heart and soul of its constitution.

While not every country would sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the fact that the world's five recognized nuclear Powers -- the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom -- had agreed to abide by its terms, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of other nations had also agreed to do so, gave the citizens of Palau and the citizens of every other nation hope that one day the world would be free from those catastrophic weapons of destruction.

Another primary concern of his nation, he added, was protection of the environment while providing sustainable economic development. It was a central issue for small island nations, and other developing countries. Actions must be taken at all levels of government, and in particular at the international level, to help every nation to achieve the goal of a human- centred sustainable development.

Developing countries must be provided with the necessary resources to enable them to implement decisions and recommendations of the United Nations international conferences. The most critically important role of the United Nations was to provide a forum for nations both large and small to discuss, debate, and reach agreements on how to best solve economic, social, cultural and other humanitarian problems. If a greater number of voices were invited to participate in the debates in the forum of the United Nations, better solutions would be found to the myriad global problems.

CASIMIR OYE MBA, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Gabon, said that the United Nations was a valuable tool in the service of a common ideal, an ideal which was being reflected in some positive achievements. The Organization must play a more assertive role in the emergence of a new world order. He felt that the permanent membership of the Council needed to be increased without making it too unwieldy. Africa should have one such seat, which would be rotated according to modalities to be determined.

He called for a renewed international system, to combat underdevelopment and disease, and foster harmony and development in a richly-diversified world. The international community must act on issues decisive for our future and give the United Nations the means to operate.

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He called for dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations between countries of the north and those of the south. Dialogue must also take its place in the Great Lakes region in Burundi, in Liberia, and in Somalia. He spoke of Chechnya and Bosnia. It was necessary to enhance the means available to the United Nations in the area of preventive diplomacy, he said, cautioning that the peace process in most conflicts was long. The international community must patiently encourage groups in conflict when they agreed to sit down "to dialogue".

The Minister welcomed the extension of the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as well as the African Pelindaba Treaty, and noted that he had, yesterday, signed the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on behalf of Gabon. He said various African countries were undergoing reform, but needed support for their programmes. The ways and means to handle these reforms -- despite many declarations -- were not often available to Africa. He cited the heavy debt burden and structural adjustment programmes which required painful demands on the people. New solutions for dealing with the debt were necessary. It used to be said, he observed, that to achieve peace, it was necessary to prepare for war. Things had changed, he said, and today, that would be "If you want peace, you need development". Economic progress had become the face of peace.

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