TWO-DAY UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OPENS AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
DEV/2170
GA/9344
TWO-DAY UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OPENS AT HEADQUARTERS
19971104 Secretary-General Calls on International Community To Renew Commitment to Multilateral Development CooperationMember States this morning pledged contributions in support of the development activities of the United Nations system, as the annual two-day United Nations Pledging Conference for Development activities opened.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a statement read out on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai, called upon the international community to renew its commitment to multilateral development cooperation. Reviewing the activities of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Secretary-General told of the efforts of each agency to carry out valuable development programmes in the midst of shrinking of resources. While funding requirements had remained near $4.5 billion yearly, development assistance had dropped to an all-time low in 1996. Core resources were far from meeting funding requirements, with non- core resources now representing half of assistance available for development.
With aid levels plummeting, the mission of development agencies and the whole United Nations system were more urgent than ever before, he stressed. Emphasizing that development was the United Nations essential mission, he called on all countries to translate that commitment into action in order to reverse the decline in contributions.
Pledges were made this morning for activities of the UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and a number of United Nations trust funds. The total amount of pledges made or indicated this morning will be available tomorrow, 5 November, at the end of the Conference. Later in this press release pledges made today are listed in alphabetical order of countries making pledges.
Several countries contributed to other United Nations funds and programmes, including United Nations Research Institute for Social
1997 Pledging Conference - 1a - Press Release DEV/2170 1st Meeting (AM) GA/9344 4 November 1997
Development, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Pledges were made this morning by the representatives of the Netherlands, Germany, Myanmar, Egypt, Brazil, Ethiopia, Singapore, China, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Czech Republic, India, Benin, Lesotho, Mongolia, Cuba, Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Brunei Darussalam, Austria, Paraguay, Chile, Kuwait, Morocco, Belarus and Colombia. The representatives of the United States, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Ghana, Italy and the Republic of Korea also spoke.
At the outset of this morning's meeting, Jacob Botwe Wilmot (Ghana) was elected President of the Conference, and Svetlozar Panov (Bulgaria) was elected Vice-President.
The United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 5 November.
Statement of Secretary-General
Secretary-General KOFI ANNAN, in a statement was read out by NITIN DESAI, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said the 1997 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities was taking place at a critical juncture. In 1996, official development assistance (ODA) had dropped to its lowest level ever. The international community had a collective obligation to reaffirm its commitment to multilateral development cooperation. The combined total resources channelled through United Nations funds and programmes, comprising core and non-core resources, had remained relatively stable over the past four years at around $4.5 billion per year. But the funding through voluntary contributions was not generating enough core resources to meet agreed programme targets and requirements.
Non-core, earmarked resources made up more than half the total funds available for United Nations development cooperation, he said. Core contributions had declined and become unpredictable. For those reasons, the Secretary-General said he had recommended to Member States a new core resource system of voluntary contributions and negotiated pledges appropriated in multi-year tranches.
To make United Nations funds and programmes for development more efficient and effective, and to make them more responsive to the changing needs of countries, operational activities were undergoing significant reforms. The General Assembly had stressed on a number of occasions that the separate funds, programmes and specialized agencies must work together to
1997 Pledging Conference - 1b - Press Release DEV/2170 1st Meeting (AM) GA/9344 4 November 1997
integrate assistance into the development process of the recipient countries in a fully coordinated manner. The Secretary-General had therefore decided that the resident coordinator system led by the United Nations Development Group should continue. But, that system needs an adequate resource base to carry out the role envisaged for it in a meaningful way. The UNDP had embarked on an exciting new path of reform and change, he continued. The ultimate goal was to bring decision-making capacity and substantive functions closer to the programme countries UNDP served. The UNDP's mandate now focused on helping countries develop the capacity to achieve sustainable human development. Since 1992, the UNDP had also made significant progress in building a leaner and more accountable organization. Despite that significant progress, core resources had declined dramatically -- from just over $1.1 billion in 1992 to just under $848 million in 1996. Although non-traditional sources of funding were being tapped, Member States remained the primary source of core resources, he said. The responsibility to secure adequate and predictable levels of funding rested not only with those countries known as the traditional donors. It rested with all Member States. Population assistance was a development success stories, he continued. Three years after the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the UNFPA was working in partnership with governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society to implement the ICPD Programme of Action. Experience had shown that the ICPD goals could be met if adequate resources were made available. The financial target agreed to at Cairo called for a level of $17 billion by the year 2000. Approximately one-third, or $5.7 billion, was expected to come from the donor community. But it was estimated that donors were committing less than $2 billion to population. The UNFPA estimated its income for 1997 would be down approximately 8 to 10 per cent from its earlier projection. Through programmes in most developing countries, UNICEF served the world's most vulnerable populations: children and women, he said. The unprecedented number and scale of emergency situations in the past few years had commanded significant attention from governments and the public, as well as from UNICEF. But the bulk of UNICEF's efforts had been combating the "silent emergencies" facing children around the world -- the insidious combination of diseases, malnutrition and poverty -- through activities with a long-term perspective. With aid levels plummeting, the number of people trapped in absolute poverty continued to rise, he continued. The mission of UNICEF -- and that of the whole United Nations system -- was more urgent than ever before. Never had development aid -- especially multilateral aid -- been more needed globally. The United Nations development mission responded to the needs of the largest group of Member States. It was the United Nations essential mission. The Secretary-General called on all countries to translate that commitment into action: to reverse the decline in contributions.
Pledges Made
Algeria
UNDP $100,000 UNFPA $300,000 UN Central Emergency Revolving Fund $ 10,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $ 5,000
Austria
UNDP 125,800,000 schillings UNICEF 18,900,000 " UNFPA 6,102,000 " UNIFEM $60,000 UN Habitat 864,000 schillings UN Capital Development Fund 540,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 6,900,000 " INSTRAW $10,000 UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund 1,000,000 schillings UN Voluntary Fund on Disability 100,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $20,000 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights $20,000
Bangladesh
UNDP $300,000 UNDP (Local Office) 11,000,000 taka UNICEF $30,000 UNFPA $25,000 UNIFEM $1,000 UN Capital Development Fund $5,000 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development $2,600 UN Volunteers $1,250 UN Habitat $2,500 UN Drug Control Programme $1,000 UN Voluntary Fund on Disability $1,000 UNEP $2,550 UNIDO $2,240
Belarus
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UNDP $97,000 UNICEF $192,000
Benin
UNDP $4,500 UNICEF $3,500 UNFPA $2,500 UNEP $1,000 Trust Fund under the Authority of the Interim Secretariat of the Convention to Combat Desertification $1,000 FAO $3,000 UNHCR $1,500 LDCS $1,000
Brazil
UNDP $400,000 UNICEF $300,000 UNFPA $15,000 UNIFEM $25,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,000 UN Drug Control Programme $15,000 UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund $15,000 UNEP $20,000
Brunei Darussalam
UN Drug Control Programme $50,000
Chile
UNDP $650,000 UNDP local office $250,000 UNICEF $ 70,000 UNICEF local office $ 60,000 UNFPA $ 5,000 UN Habitat $ 5,000 INSTRAW $ 5,000 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $ 10,000 UNHCR $ 20,000
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China
UNDP $2,950,000 UNDP Office in China 2,500,000 Yuan UNICEF $1,100,000 UNICEF Office in China 500,000 Yuan UNIDO $250,000 350,000 Yuan UN Volunteers $30,000 UN Capital Development Fund $30,000 UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploratin $20,000 UN International Trade Centre $50,000
Trust Fund on International Investment/UNCTAD $20,000 General System of Preference/UNCTAD $10,000 UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs $20,000 UNITAR $10,000 UNHCR $250,000 UNWRA $60,000 UN Voluntary Fund on Disability $10,000 UNIFEM $30,000 INSTRAW $10,000 UN Secretariat for Convention to Combat Desertification $50,000 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species $50,000 UN Habitat $40,000 UN Habitat 150,000 Yuan UNEP $180,000
Colombia
UNDP $450,000 UNICEF $450,000 UNFPA $40,000 UN Habitat $12,000 UNEP $37,300 UN Sub-account for the International Decade for Indigenous Populations $1,000
Cuba
UNDP $1,352,754 +220,000 pesos UN Capital Development Fund 20,000 " UNIDO 20,000 "
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Czech Republic
UNDP 8,000,000 koruny UNICEF 4,000,000 " UNFPA 2,000,000 " UN Volunteers 1,000,000 " UN Habitat 2,000,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 500,000 " UNEP 3,000,000 "
Egypt
UNDP 598,310 Egyptian pounds UNICEF 300,000 " " UNFPA 350,000 " " UNIFEM 2,000 " " UNITAR 6,000 " " UN Habitat 20,000 " " UN Drug Control Programme 1,000 " "
Ethiopia
UNDP $144,928 + 60,000 birr UNICEF $49,277 UNFPA 30,000 birr
Germany
UNDP 100,000,000 deutsche mark UNICEF 11,000,000 " " UNFPA 2,000,000 " " UNIFEM 1,600,000 " " UN Volunteers 3,500,000 " " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 200,000 " " UN Drug Control Programme 1,174,000 " " UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa 166,000 " "
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Greece
UNICEF $200,000 UNIFEM $3,600 UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture $10,300 UN Habitat $16,000 UNITAR General Fund $6,000 UN Central Emergency Revolving Fund $9,000 INSTRAW $4,000 UN Youth Fund $3,000 UN Sub-account for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People under the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations $3,000 UN Disaster Relief Office $15,000 UNHCR $300,000
India
UNDP $4,500,000 UNICEF 31,000,000 rupees UNFPA 9,000,000 " UNIFEM 509,000 " UN Fund for Drug Control Programme $60,000 UN Volunteers $15,000 UN Habitat $100,000 UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa $2,000 INSTRAW 50,000 rupees UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund $3,000 UNEP $100,000 UNRWA 225,000 rupees
Indonesia
UNDP $1,155,000 UNICEF $315,000 UNFPA $170,000 UNIFEM $5,000 UN Habitat $14,000 UN Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration $10,000 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development $15,000
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Indonesia (continued)
UNITAR $ 4,000 UN Drug Control Programme $ 2,000 UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa $ 4,000 INSTRAW $ 5,000 UNEP $15,000
Kuwait
UNDP $570,000 UN Drug Control Programme $ 5,000 UNITAR General Fund $200,000
Lesotho
UNDP Local costs 360,000 maloti " Voluntary Contributions 105,655 " " Voluntary Contributions for Programme Costs $4,603 UNFPA 4,696 maloti UNIFEM 3,685 " UN Capital Development Fund 4,231 " UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development 3,354 " Account for Financing Plan of Action to Combat Desertification 2,200 " UN Volunteers 4,231 " UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa 4,400 " UNDP Special Measures for the Least Developed Countries 2,745 "
Luxembourg
UNDP 20,000,000 francs UNICEF 14,000,000 " UNFPA 14,000,000 " UNIFEM 14,000,000 " UN Habitat 2,000,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 2,000,000 " INSTRAW 600,000 " UNEP 1,000,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 800,000 "
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Mongolia
UNDP $17,000 UNICEF $10,000 UNFPA $ 4,000
Morocco
UNDP $1,750,000 UNICEF $75,000 UNFPA $8,000 UN Volunteers $5,000 UNRWA 228,000 dirhams UN Habitat $5,000 UN Direct Control Programme $3,000 UN Trust Fund for the Second Transport and Communications Decade in Africa $5,000 INSTRAW $2,000 UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund $2,000 UNEP $10,000 WFP $2,000
Myanmar
UNDP 1,080,000 kyats UNFPA 60,000 " UN Capital Development Fund $5,000
Netherlands
UNDP 165,000,000 guilders UNICEF 52,000,000 " UNFPA 87,500,000 " UNIFEM 6,400,000 " UN Capital Development Fund 15,000,000 " UN Volunteers 750,000 " UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 1,000,000 " UN Drug Control Programme 1,500,000 " INSTRAW 500,000 " UNEP 4,100,000 "
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Paraguay UNDP $60,000 UNICEF 6,000 UNFPA $27,000 UNIFEM $3,500 UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development $3,500 UN Volunteers $3,500 INSTRAW $5,000
Saudi Arabia UNDP $3,500,000 UNICEF $1,000,000 UNFPA $ 30,000 UN Drug Control Programme $ 50,000
Singapore UNDP $300,000 UNICEF $ 50,000 UNIFEM $ 40,000 UN Drug Control Programme $ 5,000
Turkey UNDP $770,000 UNICEF $130,000 UN Drug Control Programme $200,000 UNIFEM $ 12,500 UNFPA $108,000 INSTRAW $ 30,000 UNDP Study Programme $ 30,000 UNEP $100,000 UN Volunteers $ 50,000 UN Fund for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice $ 50,000
Ukraine UNDP $400,000
United Arab Emirates UNDP $300,000 UNICEF $100,000
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