NEED FOR UN RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT WHICH ARE PREDICTABLE, NEUTRAL AND UNIVERSAL STRESSED BY SEVERAL SPEAKERS IN SECOND COMMITTEE

Press Release
GA/EF/2768

NEED FOR UN RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT WHICH ARE PREDICTABLE, NEUTRAL AND UNIVERSAL STRESSED BY SEVERAL SPEAKERS IN SECOND COMMITTEE

United Nations funds and programmes needed adequate, predictable and regular funding to support developing countries in managing their development processes, the representative of the United Republic of Tanzania told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning, as it began its consideration of operational activities for development.

Speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, he said current funding modality for core resources -- which are those not earmarked -- was not generating adequate funds to meet set targets, as well as new requirements arising from recent United Nations conferences. Operational activities should benefit the developing countries in accordance with their own policies and priorities for development.

The representative of Paraguay, speaking on behalf of the member countries of the Rio Group, said it was disconcerting that Latin America was considered a relatively developed region and that argument was being used to justify a decrease in the allocation of financial resources to that region by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Individual United Nations agencies should explore new ways to attract voluntary contributions to their core resources, including new sources such as non-governmental organizations, corporations and private individuals, the representative of the United States said. Developing countries must also create a supportive domestic policy environment for development. Good governance was a prerequisite for sustainable development.

The representative of Guyana said the United Nations, in cooperation with donor governments, aid agencies and major news networks, should resensitize taxpayers about the critical role of development. Such a campaign could also publicize the real costs and benefits of aid to developing countries and could lead to more assistance.

Speaking on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand's representative said the sharp decline in core resources of the United Nations funds and programmes and the increased reliance on non-core

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resources -- which are earmarked resources -- would jeopardize the multilateral, neutral and universal nature of development resources of the Organization. The ASEAN supported the Secretary-General's proposal on the establishment of an Office for Development Financing aimed at mobilizing new and additional resources for development activities, he added.

Statements were also made by the Russian Federation, Ghana, Tunisia, China, Algeria, Republic of Korea, Honduras and Mozambique, as well as by the observer for Switzerland. Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also addressed the Committee.

The Committee heard introductions of reports by Fred Haemmerli, Chief, Development Policy Cooperation Branch, Division for Economic and Social Council Support and Cooperation, Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Michael Sakbani, Principal Officer, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and Khalil Issa Othman, Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its consideration of operational activities for development.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to begin consideration, under the general heading "operational activities for development", of several reports relating to economic and technical cooperation among developing countries.

Among those documents is the report of the tenth session of High-level Committee on the Review of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (document A/52/39), held in New York from 5 to 9 May. The report contains three decisions adopted by the Committee and reviews progress made in implementing the 1978 Buenos Aires Plan of Action, including new directions for technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) and the overall framework for its promotion and application.

By one of its decisions, the High-level Committee recommended that during its fifty-third session the General Assembly should hold a meeting to mark the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and to mobilize further support for the implementation of the new directions strategy for TCDC. In that same decision, the Committee also called upon organizations of the United Nations system, particularly the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), to assist the developing countries to utilize TCDC for the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The High-level Committee, by another decision on the progress made in the implementation of the new directions strategy for TCDC, urged the United Nations development system to promote closer operational integration between TCDC and economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC), the report says. The Committee also called on developing and developed countries, the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to support fully the effective implementation of the TCDC framework. That would include support for innovative national, regional and interregional programmes, as well as expanded use of the TCDC modality in the operational activities for development of the United Nations system.

The Committee's decision on an overall framework for promoting and applying TCDC asked the Administrator of the UNDP to ensure that the Special Unit for TCDC was adequately staffed and equipped to carry out its responsibilities effectively. It stressed the need to mobilize additional financial resources to assist the Unit in implementing the new directions strategy. The Committee also asked the Executive Board of the UNDP to review the quality and impact of the TCDC modality on the implementation of its programme.

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A note by the Secretary-General transmits the comments of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) (document A/52/114-E/1997/46) on a report of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) entitled "review of financial resources allocated by the United Nations system to activities of non- governmental organizations" (document A/51/655-E/1996/105).

The ACC noted that the report was part of the ongoing policy-level discussions taking place within the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly on relations between the United Nations and NGOs, as well as the role of national NGOs in a country's economic and social development. That discussion was started in a previous report of the JIU titled "Working with non-governmental organizations: operational activities for development of the United Nations system with non-governmental organizations and governments at the grassroots and national levels".

The latest report examines the rules and procedures related to the allocation of funds from both regular budget and extrabudgetary sources for NGO activities that were implemented on behalf of the United Nations and its agencies. The general thrust of the report favoured an enhanced operational cooperation of the United Nations system with NGOs.

The Committee says the report provided useful information on the current status of NGO cooperation with the organizations of the United Nations system. Such information might serve as the basis for an inter-agency assessment of programme and operational issues to be undertaken by the Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions.

The ACC concurred, in principle, with the conclusions and recommendations of the JIU. It noted that many of the proposals contained in the report were already being progressively implemented by the United Nations and its agencies within their NGO policy guidelines.

The report contained the following recommendations:

-- United Nations and agencies working with NGOs should establish a transparent financial management procedure by compiling and maintaining a database on their activities with NGOs;

-- Full-time NGO liaison officers should be appointed by United Nations and its agencies to follow and coordinate the activities of NGOs;

-- United Nations operational organizations should consider establishing a budget line for NGO activities;

-- Operational organizations should establish their own policy guidelines in accordance with their mandates in addition to the Economic and Social Council framework for collaboration with NGOs;

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-- United Nations organizations should pay greater attention to accountability and exercise greater responsibility for resources from donors; and

-- United Nations organizations should give appropriate attention to the improvement of the mutual confidence between NGOs and Member States.

Shortcomings of the report that were identified by the ACC included its failure to take account of the broad variety of NGOs and their different roles, modes of operation and financial requirements; the narrowness of the report's focus; the incorrect assumption that all NGOs are socially committed and technically competent and that they have clearly identified clientele.

Another note by the Secretary-General transmits the comments of the ACC (document A/52/115-E/1997/47) on another JIU report entitled "Coordination of policy and programming frameworks for more effective development cooperation" (document A/51/636-E/1996/104). The substance of the report deals with funds and programmes of the United Nations development system, such as the UNDP, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) or the World Food Programme (WFP), that operate within specific country or inter-country frameworks. In its comments, the ACC agreed with the JIU Inspector that better coordination was an issue of great importance in an environment of scarce financial resources.

In addressing the issues related to coordination and harmonization of operational activities, the ACC said that the report could have addressed the larger issue of aid coordination in greater depth. Moreover, since the assistance provided from other multilateral and bilateral sources often exceeded the volume of the assistance provided through the United Nations system, the report also needed to address that question in greater depth.

While the report did provide an overview and some assessment of the roles and responsibilities of the various development partners involved and of the major instruments developed by the system, it essentially covered familiar ground. For example, the suggestion that the linkage between field realities and global actions could be tenuous and that the implementation of policy directives required persistent action at various levels was a well-known fact that was being addressed through extensive use of training workshops, seminars and other modalities to link all levels of the system.

The members of the ACC agreed with the report's emphasis on the lead role of governments, which had the primary responsibility for the coordination of all external inputs in support of national development. The report correctly identified the burden imposed on governments by the multiplicity of programming procedures as an area of particular concern to the United Nations system. In that context, the report also rightly observed that countries having greater needs for assistance, such as the least developed countries,

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were particularly affected by the variety of programming policies and procedures, which should be streamlined.

While the Committee agreed with the general thrust of the conclusions and recommendations and with the Inspector's view that more should be done to improve coordination of the development activities of the United Nations system, it also mentioned that the report suffered from a number of shortcomings that diminished its value. The ACC noted that the report covered issues in broad areas that had already received considerable attention by the United Nations system, in particular, through the triennial policy reviews of operational activities for development by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. The report's findings and recommendations were hardly new, and many could be found in earlier reports by various United Nations bodies and organizations.

The report did not take sufficient account of recent developments in the areas under consideration, according to the Committee. By moving in a general way among various levels -- the country, the region, the United Nations system, the intergovernmental process -- the report made insufficient distinctions among operational activities at those levels. Therefore, it sometimes offered an oversimplified analysis that led to conclusions and recommendations that either had been firmly rejected by governments outside operational realities or were already in the process of being implemented.

The annex to the Secretary-General's report on operational activities for development on the United Nations system (document A/52/431) provides updated figures on contributions to the UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and the WFP. It states that there was a reduction in contribution for 1996, and that trend was estimated to continue in 1997. During that same period, the shares of non- core resources in total funding of United Nations funds and programmes constituted almost half, except for the UNFPA, where it stood at about 20 per cent.

The report states that the current funding modality for core resources was not generating the contributions required to meet the established programme targets and new requirements arising from the recent cycle of United Nations conferences. Any new modality must command wide political support, for the decisions to contribute was clearly a political choice, which might be affected more by political considerations than the technical features of a funding modality.

An important feature of the current funding situation was that as core resources declined, there was a relatively rapid increase in non-core and earmarked resources, the report states, adding that the implication of that trend was assessed in the report of the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council (document E/1997/65/Add.1, sect. II). For both categories of contributions, a small number of donor contribute more than 90 per cent of the

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funds. In assessing the potential of new funding modalities, it might be useful to examine the rationale prompting some countries to favour non-core funding avenues. Such examination might help develop a more responsive mechanism and programme policies guiding core funding, bringing them into closer alignment with policies guiding non-core contributions.

Separate consideration was being given to the subject of new and innovative funding of global development requirements, involving a review of a variety of new sources, according to the report. The link of any new funding modality and new and innovative funding ideas might need to be clarified, particularly as it pertained to funding of operational activities for development.

Also before the Committee is the Secretary General's report on cooperation between the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (document A/52/400). The report contains information on specific measures planned and undertaken for the development of southern African by governments of member States and relevant Untied Nations organizations and bodies.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has assisted in the development of infrastructure linking small farmers to national and international markets, the report states. The Fund has also assisted small- scale resource management in marginal areas in the countries of the Community.

The World Bank continued to provide technical assistance in the development of power and energy resources and in the development of the Maputo Corridor project, a vital regional transportation link, according to the report. The World Bank would also provide direct investment lending to the concerned member countries and facilitate foreign direct investment through guarantees.

The report contains information on the actions taken by the following Member States: Austria, Ecuador, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Thailand. It also details action taken by, among others, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Monetary Fund (IMF), UNICEF, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and the Department of Public Information (DPI).

The Committee also has before it the Secretary-General's report on the state of South-South cooperation (document A/52/402) which was issued today. A summary of that report will be issued in this afternoon's Second Committee press release.

FRED HAEMMERLI, Chief, Development Policy Cooperation Branch, Division for Economic and Social Council Support and Cooperation, Department of

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Economic and Social Affairs, introduced the Secretary-General's report on funding modalities. He said the report provided the most recent figures on contributions to UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and WFP. According to the report, funding levels were at present well below those required to meet the programme and financial targets established by the Executive Boards of the funds and programmes.

Recognizing that the scope for exploring new funding modalities was relatively circumscribed, he said options such as negotiated, multi-year pledges were reviewed, and the Secretary-General believed that Member States should consider establishing a new system of core resources consisting of voluntary contributions and negotiated pledges appropriated in multi-year tranches. The proportion of non-core resources continued to increase and now constituted the greatest part of the funding of operational activities. There was a continuing decline in core resources.

Some steps would be needed at the level of the General Assembly if the goal of achieving predictable and assured contributions was to be reached, he said. Member States should examine why non-core resources appeared to be increasingly favoured by some countries. It might help evolve a more effective funding modality that met the concerns of Member States and broadened the base of contributions.

MICHAEL SAKBANI, Principal Officer, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), introduced the report of the Secretary-General on the state of South-South cooperation (document A/52/402). He said the world was currently experiencing an era of increased cooperation among regional, subregional and interregional groups. As long as cooperation efforts were open and flexible, they would contribute to the process of globalization. The content and nature of that cooperation was not the same as simple trade zones. The character of developing country cooperation was very much of the nature that contributed to the globalization of the world economy.

Regarding sectoral trade cooperation, he said the report showed that exports of developing countries expanded at a rate of 11.6 per cent, opposed to the 7.4 per cent world average. Trade and investment cooperation had been most successful in the Asian region and in Latin America, where policy reforms had helped to turn around the region's economic performance. In Africa and the Middle East, cooperation efforts had met difficulties, and there was a need for concrete policy action to address them. Economic cooperation among developing countries seemed to thrive in regions where countries were increasing their participation in the world economy. The process of liberalization also seemed to breathe life into South-South cooperation.

He also introduced the Secretary-General's report on cooperation between the United Nations and SADC (document A/52/400).

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KHALIL ISSA OTHMAN, Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), introduced three reports: "Review of Financial Resources Allocated by the United Nations System to Activities by Non-governmental Organizations"; "Coordination of Policy and Programming Frameworks for more Effective Development Cooperation"; and "Strengthening Field Representative of the United Nations System".

He said the first report supported the general thrust of enhanced cooperation of the United Nations system with non-governmental organizations and provided useful information on the current status of such cooperation. There was a general consensus on the need for better accounting and reporting procedures since accountability was an intrinsic prerequisite in technical and humanitarian cooperation programmes and projects. The second report raised questions about how to rationalize development cooperation strategies and tools of the donor community in each recipient country in order to produce more development dividends and facilitate the task of aid coordination and management by the host governments. The third report had one overarching message which was to have a more unified United Nations family in the field in support of the recipient/programme country with the most economical use of resources, both human and financial.

KATINDA E. KAMANDO (United Republic of Tanzania), speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said that with adequate, predictable and regular funding, the funds and programmes of the United Nations could play a unique and critical role in supporting developing countries to manage their own development processes. Yet, as the Secretary- General acknowledged in his report, the current funding modality for core resources was not generating adequate resources to meet the established targets and new requirements arising from the recent cycle of United Nations conferences. The fundamental characteristics of the operational activities of the United Nations, which should be maintained when evolving new funding modalities, were their universal, voluntary and grant nature, as well as their neutrality and multilateralism and ability to respond to the needs of the developing countries in a flexible manner. Operational activities ought to be carried out for the benefit of the developing countries and at their request and in accordance with their own policies and priorities for development.

The recipient government had the primary responsibility for coordinating, on the basis of national strategies and priorities, all types of external assistance in order to effectively integrate that assistance into its development process, he said. In that context, the Group of 77 and China welcomed the Secretary-General's reform proposals regarding the renewed examination of funding modalities for the operational activities for development. The Group was waiting for more detailed information regarding the concept of "burden sharing", as the recommendation would have unexpected financial implications on most of the Group of 77 countries, which were very

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often faced with difficulties in meeting their assessed contributions to the budgets of many international organizations to which they were members.

There was merit in the proposal to have a single United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) with common objectives and time-frame in order to attain better integration and coordination of technical assistance efforts by various funding organizations, he said. Yet that innovation should be tried on a pilot basis to establish its efficiency, similar to the country strategy note experiment under UNDP/UNFPA. The governments of developing countries must be closely consulted in the planning and elaboration of country programmes under those new institutional measures.

SHIRLEY HALL (United States) said her Government would continue to provide official development assistance as appropriate to the world's poorest countries. United Nations funds and programmes had received over a quarter billion dollars in voluntary contributions from the United States this year. The individual agencies should explore new ways to attract voluntary contributions to their core resources, including new sources such as non- governmental organizations, corporations and private individuals. For those resources to have the greatest impact, it was crucial that developing countries commit themselves to the creation of a supportive domestic policy environment for development activities. Good governance was a prerequisite for sustainable development.

Technical cooperation among developing countries was a means for countries to promote their own sustainable development, she said. TCDC programmes gave countries an opportunity to survey the wide range of experience in the international community and to select development models most suited to their goals and needs. Donors might assist, but the responsibility for finding appropriate partners, determining methods of cooperation, and establishing achievable and relevant goals lay with the developing countries themselves. The funds and programmes of the United Nations should continue to play a central role in the promotion and facilitation of technical cooperation among developing countries.

Her Government strongly supported the aims laid out in General Assembly resolutions 50/120, on the triennial policy review of United Nations operational activities for development, and 50/227, on restructuring of the Organization in the economic and social fields, with respect to reform of United Nations operational activities. Operational agencies must deliver resources efficiently and effectively to the people who really need them. There had been considerable progress to date towards the harmonization of budgets, programming and priority-setting for the development agencies. Individual agency efforts to reinvent themselves in response to an ever- changing environment must continue. In particular, the United Nations Capital Development Fund had undertaken good work to refine its delivery of micro- credit to those least able to draw on mainstream financing facilities.

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NIKOLAI TCHOULKOV (Russian Federation) said national capacity building was not only one of the key conditions for the economic and social development of recipient countries, but also a major prerequisite for achieving the sustainability of operational activities. His Government believed that good governance at the national and local levels and active involvement of civil society in the development processes were major elements of national capacity- building. Wider national execution of technical assistance projects was one of the effective instruments in attaining those goals. It was satisfying to note that United Nations operational funds and programmes continued to attach priority attention to the needs of the poorest countries. They were also trying to take into account in their activities the interest of other groups of countries, including the specific needs and requirements of the countries with economies in transition.

His Government supported the efforts of the United Nations funds and programmes to ensure the efficiency and quality of their programme activities, he said. Those efforts were aimed at increasing the confidence of donor countries and at providing incentives to increase their contributions to the core resources, including through cost-sharing arrangements and from non- governmental sources and the private sector. The implementation by the funds and programmes of management excellence reforms held a significant potential for improving the efficiency of operational activities. His Government particularly noted measures to improve the quality of the services provided, as well as those related to the decentralization of activities, strengthening of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

JACK WILMOT (Ghana) expressed concern about the decline of core resources which were prioritized towards low income countries and ensured the neutral and multilateral character of those activities. Inadequate resources would compel the development agencies to stretch their originally planned three-year programmes into longer time-frames, thereby threatening the effective implementation of poverty eradication and other important programmes of the agencies. Ghana stressed the importance of finding a funding mechanism that could ensure predictable, continuous and assured financing to enable the funds and programmes to fulfil their mandates.

On economic and technical cooperation among developing countries, he stressed the need for developing countries to formulate national policies, establish or strengthen national structures and focal points for such cooperation. The efforts of most developing countries were hampered by structural weaknesses, inadequate financial and human resources, insufficient awareness of the benefits and potential of TCDC and limited access to information. TCDC objectives could be better achieved within a wider framework of international development cooperation. Ghana urged more donors to support TCDC funding through triangular cooperation arrangements and called on regional and international financial institutions to support them.

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BERNARDINO HUGO SAGUIER CABALLERO (Paraguay), speaking on behalf of the member countries of the Rio Group, said it was disconcerting that the fact that Latin America was considered a relatively developed region was being used as an argument to justify a decrease in the apportionment of financial resources to that region by the UNDP. United Nations operational activities for development must be improved and strengthened. That required a substantial increase in resources which must occur in a predictable and continuous manner. It was necessary that developed countries increased official development assistance as well as contributions to United Nations operational activities for development.

The community of donor States must keep in mind the importance of fulfilling its financial obligations, he said. Voluntary contributions to the basic resources of the United Nations system were essential catalysts of financial and human resources for programmes related to cooperation for development. In addition, it was necessary to find new sources of financing for South-South cooperation and for triangular agreements. The "shared costs" mechanism constituted an important and valid instrument for the financing of development in Latin America.

South-South cooperation must never be a substitute for North-South cooperation but only a complement to it, he said. The Rio Group supported the results of the South-South Conference on Trade, Finance and Investment which took place in January in San Jose, Costa Rica. It also welcomed the idea of a South-South summit in the near future, as requested in the San Jose Declaration on South-South Cooperation.

RAFEEUDDIN AHMED, Associate Administrator of the UNDP, said UNDP continued to be a unique instrument for addressing, through operational activities, the needs identified by Member States for achieving sustainable development or people-centred sustainable development, as defined by the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, with the overriding goal of poverty eradication. UNDP took concrete measures in 1996 to promote poverty eradication in programme countries. More resources were assigned to the most needy countries. Nearly 90 per cent of core resources went to low income countries where 90 per cent of the world's poor lived.

At the country level, he said UNDP was improving the complementarity between its programmes and those of the other United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies by stressing initiatives targeted at sustainable livelihoods for the poor, particularly through assistance that provided them with access to productive assets, advancement of the legal rights and opportunities for women, sustaining the environmental resource base on which the poor depended and by increasing collaboration with other United Nations entities.

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ABDERRAZAK AZAIEZ (Tunisia) said international changes had affected the financing of the funds and programmes of the United Nations. Their resources were not predictable or reliable, which led to a situation that was disquieting for developing countries. Those operations assisted many nations in the South in managing development and they were appreciated for their neutrality and flexibility. The reform of operational activities was an ongoing process and it should give greater consistency to actions carried out by the United Nations system and better ensure better response to the national priorities of the beneficiary countries.

Capacity-building was at the centre of world concerns relating to development, he said, adding that it was also a key issue underpinning assistance for development, as States needed a bolstering capacity in the economic, human and social areas in order to achieve sustainable development. The recent major United Nations conferences had also stressed the crucial role of capacity-building in development.

The issue of increasing resources for operational activities for development was an important aspect in the reform of the United Nations, he said. Despite the efforts of the General Assembly to find ways to increase recourse and provide resources on continued and assured basis, consultations so far had not secured any results. Any new arrangement should receive broad political support. His Government hoped that during the upcoming triennial review of operational activities for development, agreements could be reached that would allow the funds and programmes to play their proper roles in United Nations development activities and to continue their work on a predictable basis.

YUAN SHAOFU (China) said the major problem in the development cooperation of the United Nations system was continuous decline in financial resources for development, its shortage and lack of predictability. An assured increase in development resources was critical to the success of the reform in development field. Stable and assured increase of the development resources was one of the prerequisites for the success of the reform. All countries, especially the traditional donor countries, should demonstrate political will and spirit of cooperation and support for the Secretary- General's reform proposals. The goal of development cooperation was mutual benefit, help and common development.

To achieve a predictable, sustained and stable growth of financial resources for development, he said the existing financing modality should be reformed. China believed that core resource was the basic resource for operational activities and should be guaranteed. Future core resource for operational activities should come mainly from the voluntary contributions of the developed countries. Negotiated contributions should aim at resolving the imbalance between those developed countries who had the ability but had not fully fulfilled their obligations and those who had increased their

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contributions in recent years so that the objective of burden-sharing among developed countries could be realized. Developing countries' share in total assessed contributions should be limited to within 5 per cent. The local costs that recipient countries incurred for the resident offices of the United Nations funds and programmes should also be included as part of assessed contributions.

ASDA JAYANAMA (Thailand), speaking on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the sharp decline in core resources of the United Nations funds and programmes and the increased reliance on non-core resources would jeopardize the multilateral, neutral and universal nature of development resources of the Organization. The Secretary-General's reform proposals provided solutions to those problems, and ASEAN supported his initiative on the establishment of an Office for Development Financing aimed at mobilizing new and additional resources for development activities. The recommendations on the new system of core resources, which consisted of voluntary contributions, negotiated and multi-year pledges, should also be welcomed. Yet, the funding modality should focus on core resources, and the notion of burden-sharing should be applied to traditional donors.

The operational aspect of South-South cooperation needed to be further utilized, he said. Sustained commitment and active participation of all concerned actors, governments, multilateral organizations and NGOs were needed to maximize the use of that mechanism. The conclusion of the tenth session of the High-Level Committee on the Review of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries in May provided further methods for achieving concrete outcomes for the enhancement of South-South cooperation. The ASEAN urged all actors concerned to implement fully the decisions adopted at that meeting, which included, among others, the need for further closer linkages on policy and operational aspects of TCDC and ECDC and the incorporation of TCDC and ECDC modalities into the operational activities for development of the United Nations system.

ZINEDDINE BIROUK (Algeria) said the international community lacked a clear political framework regarding operational activities for development. It was dangerous to be complacent indefinitely about the decline in official development assistance (ODA), as if it were something natural. That decline should be fought or it might harm United Nations operational activities for development. The funds and programmes could not base their activities on uncertainty, but a satisfying solution to that problem was nowhere to be seen. The fact that consultations on new modalities for financing had not succeeded was an issue for great concern.

The Secretary-General's report (document A/52/431) on modalities for the financing of development was short but instructive, he said. The reverse trend of a rapid increase in non-core resources was completely at odds with the framework of United Nations resolutions regarding operational activities

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for development, and it could lead to an implicit questioning of the financing of those activities. It was important to establish a harmonizing policy of core and other types of resources to avoid difficulties caused by the drop in ODA. The limits of any discussion of the subject had been laid down by the Assembly. The concerns and needs of the recipient countries should also be taken into account. It should be ensured that the funds and programmes functioned free from any outside influence and stayed in keeping with the relevant resolutions of the Assembly.

KERSTIN TRONE, Deputy Executive Director (Programme), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the UNFPA had reinforced its commitment to programme countries by trying to ensure that it actually contributed to capacity-building rather than funding activities which were sustainable only with outside support. The Fund had placed greater emphasis on reviewing national capacities to implement programmes, and in collaboration with its national counterparts, it had made an effort to identify and incorporate programme components that would contribute to enhancing the technical, managerial and administrative aspects of programme delivery.

She said the Fund was also in the process of revising its policies and guidelines in line with the global conferences and was streamlining its procedures to ensure timely assistance to countries. On the issue of financing for operational activities, she said the UNFPA had undertaken an analysis of the consequences of a shortfall from intergovernmental agreed levels. The results were striking, and the UNFPA was hopeful that they would lead to appropriate understanding of the needs from committed donors. The UNFPA was also working closely with its partners in trying to address how financing for operational activities could be provided on a sound and sustainable basis. The political will and the commitments of governments would ultimately determine the financing of development and secure a future for the global population.

ADO VAHER, Director, Office of United Nations Affairs and External Relations, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the reform process provided an unequalled opportunity to put the well-being of children in the forefront of United Nations activity. The UNICEF was deeply engaged in the job of transforming the Secretary-General's vision into an operational reality. With the full participation of its staff and the Executive Board, UNICEF had clarified accountabilities and overall interrelationships between headquarters and country and regional offices.

The area of capacity-building and national execution would require increasing attention and focus, he said. While those issues had long been cornerstones of UNICEF programmes of cooperation, through government and other national partnerships, there was more work to be done. As it continued to decentralize authority to the country offices, UNICEF would further integrate its programmes into domestic systems through partnership implementation. The

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UNICEF was making every effort to ensure that its services activities were sustainable in the long-term using national resources and worked for the enhancement and strengthening of national capacities.

The continuing decline of ODA had tragic implications for the future of hundreds of millions of the world's children, 650 million of whom remained trapped in poverty, he said. The future of development programmes and the success of reform measures would require more continuous, assured and predictable flows of funding for the United Nations Development Group entities (UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, WFP) and for other United Nations development agencies.

GEORGE TALBOT (Guyana) said the present decline in ODA should be reversed and the United Nations, in cooperation with donor governments, aid agencies and major news networks, should mount an information offensive to resensitize taxpayers to the critical role of development, the real costs and benefits of aid to developing countries and to encourage their support for more realistic levels of assistance. There should be a renewed voice given to the appeal for greater support for development.

At the national level, he also suggested that resident coordinators be given greater flexibility for the mobilization of resources, including cost- sharing, in support of United Nations funded programmes. In Guyana, resource mobilization would be an important part of the strategy for implementation of the next country-cooperation framework. Guyana's experience had led it to experiment with resource mobilization modules even at the project level in order to promote the sustainability of key interventions and the maximization of their impact at the national level. Resource mobilization through networking with other funding agencies offered some promise even within existing constraints.

DINO BETI, observer for Switzerland, said the development activities of the United Nations system were undergoing critical times. The Secretary- General had indicated that point very clearly in his latest report on financing modalities. The main funds and programmes were being called on to preform new tasks, including follow-ups to conferences, while the resources available to them had been stagnating or steadily declining for several years. The competition among various funds donors had become heightened and led to the pointless duplication of efforts which the international community could not afford. It was vital to have better cooperation among funds' donors, in general, and in the United Nations system, in particular, to have best possible results for development. The prevailing situation among United Nations operational activities for development could be rectified provided that the reforms of the Secretary-General were adopted and put into affect with rigour.

The upcoming triennial review of operational activities for development was of special importance, he said. That review would take stock of the

Second Committee - 16 - Press Release GA/EF/2768 12th Meeting (AM) 20 October 1997

results achieved in the last three years and provide a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the system. His Government looked forward to the appraisal of the impact of operational activities on capacity-building in the beneficiary countries. The review should also provide decision-making bodies with the necessary material on which to set clearer priorities and to better guide and supervise the activities in the upcoming years. Operational activities for development needed to rely on a broad and solid consensus in the international community.

EUY-TAEK KIM (Republic of Korea) said operational activities should be re-examined and improved to meet the challenges of a changing world economy. The Republic of Korea believed that capacity-building should continue to be a major priority of United Nations operational activities. His Government had promoted capacity-building in developing countries in its efforts to strengthen South-South cooperation.

In implementing TCDC, he said, special attention should be paid to the lack of financial resources to enhance and strengthen South-South cooperation, encouraging the active participation of the private sector in TCDC activities and focusing on the considerable potential for expanded trade and investment among developing countries.

NOEMI ESPINOZA MADRID (Honduras) said democracy and absolute poverty could not coexist. The work of local NGOs was key in building a fair and stable society. Her Government fully concurred with some of the statements contained in the documents before the Committee, including the coordination of policy and programming frameworks for more effective development cooperation (document A/51/636-E/1996/104); and the review of financial resources allocated by the United Nations to activities by NGOs (document A/51/655- E/1996/105). Those two reports indicated that in the institutional framework in which the United Nations operated, and given the well-known financial restrictions, the role played by NGOs was essential. The documents also highlighted the needs for an increase of resources for cooperation between the Organization and NGOs. Her Government also supported the recognition of importance of extending cooperation with NGOs beyond the financial sphere.

Honduras recognized the advantage of working with national NGOs, and their knowledge would help to shape activities that would lead to social and economic development, she said. The United Nations must work toward achieving the most efficient use of resources, in cooperation with national NGOs, that could assure a path towards lasting poverty eradication. The United Nations needed to directly cooperate with actors in civil society, if it was going to achieve its goals in the eradication of poverty.

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GAMILIEL MUNGUAMBE (Mozambique) said the SADC should be supported by the United Nations as a regional development model. The region had been able to implement projects which had helped regional integration drive. The region still faced widespread poverty, the menace of drought, and landmines.

Regarding operational activities for development, he said the United Nations system had an important role to play in promoting development activities in developing countries. While recognizing the importance of private flows in the development process, Mozambique believed that ODA continued to play a crucial role in development. Mozambique hoped that the introduction of the proposed new system of core resources would reverse the present decline in resources for operational activities.

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