EVERY EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, SECRETARY-GENERAL PLEDGES AT MINISTERIAL MEETING
Press Release
SG/SM/6342
DEV/2168
EVERY EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, SECRETARY-GENERAL PLEDGES AT MINISTERIAL MEETING
19970930 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement delivered today at the Seventh Annual Ministerial Meeting of the Least- Developed Countries:This meeting is an occasion for sombre reflection. Over the past five decades, many parts of the world have made tremendous strides in social and economic development. Yet the least developed countries, a quarter of the United Nations membership, have been passed by. The robust engine of globalization rumbles on. Yet the least developed countries, so many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, languish behind, largely disconnected from economic processes in the rest of the world.
Least developed countries continue to face overlapping structural handicaps to development: economies are not diversified enough; sectors and activities are not sufficiently interlinked; physical, human and institutional infrastructures fall short; domestic resources are poor, internal markets small; the export base is narrow and dependent on a handful of commodities. This all adds to the heavy load on the uphill road towards development.
The external situation facing the least developed countries has not improved. The burden of external debt remains onerous; the levels of public finance have stagnated or declined; the surge in private capital flows has virtually ignored the least developed countries.
I am impressed that so many least developed countries have made strenuous efforts to reverse the economic decline, and have done so in the face of serious constraints. You have made steadfast attempts to promote growth and development. Many of you have done so even as you struggled with complex political tensions.
I salute your efforts and achievements. You have implemented policy reforms; you have built and strengthened institutions; you have mobilized human resources and advanced the role of women; you have worked to develop good governance.
Your efforts must be matched by stronger international support. International action should meet four broad objectives: a decisive reduction
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of the debt burden; a substantial increase in official development assistance; a significant improvement in external trading prospects; a further enhancement of the flow of foreign investment and technology.
It pains me that in recent years, the already meagre official development assistance allocated to least-developed countries has shrunk yet further. The developed countries' ratio of assistance to gross national product hit its lowest point so far in 1996. I will bring to bear all the pressure I can to help reverse this trend. To ease the debt burden, relief measures should be applied with dispatch, flexibility and maximum coverage.
For several decades, the United Nations system has been engaged in promoting the development of least developed countries at both policy and operational levels. Since its first session in 1964, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has worked to bring least- developed countries to the attention of the international community. Two United Nations conferences have adopted a series of national and international measures which formed the action programmes of the 1980s and 1990s. The UNCTAD has become the United Nations focal point in monitoring and reviewing their progress.
United Nations funds and programmes, regional economic commissions, specialized agencies -- all are engaged in the social and economic development of the least developed countries through technical, financial and humanitarian assistance.
The United Nations is also proud to have been associated with the peace processes in several African, Asian and Caribbean least developed countries beset by civil conflict.
But the United Nations will not rest there. It will make every effort to play a bigger role in improving the lot of the least developed countries. As we move towards the end of this decade, and towards a final review of the Programme of Action, every effort will be made to mobilize all available resources within the United Nations system.
Let me assure you: the ongoing reform of the United Nations has this major objective -- to enhance the United Nations capacity to meet the challenge of development. A reformed United Nations will free up resources for that challenge; it will benefit from greater unity of purpose, greater coherence of efforts; it will be able to act as a catalyst, helping to involve other actors in the development process.
The development of the least developed countries is an ethical imperative for the international community. It requires painstaking effort, commitment, resolve and forbearance on both sides. I renew this pledge on behalf of the United Nations: we will continue to walk beside you on your journey.
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