UNDP-SPONSORED PRESS BRIEFING ON OECD DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION REPORT

Press Briefing

UNDP-SPONSORED PRESS BRIEFING ON OECD DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION REPORT

At a Headquarters press briefing sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this morning, James H, Michel, Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), gave a preview of the 1997 OECD Development Cooperation Report to be published on 11 February.

He said the report showed the changing role of development cooperation and why it remained an essential policy instrument in the context of broader policy coherence. It also showed the importance of efforts to make development a significant integral part of the international agenda and part of the inclusive vision for the coming century.

He said international cooperation had to be a partnership that respected and encouraged more local initiatives, local ownership and responsibility, and fostered capacities for greater self-reliance. Development aid should be an instrument in broader, coherent policies that helped countries participate in the global society of the twenty-first century and also helped people find their place and opportunities to participate in their national societies.

He said the basic goals of that development strategy was reduction of poverty by half by the year 2015; dramatic reduction of infant and child mortality; provision of universal primary education; access to reproductive health services, including family planning; gender equality; and implementation of sustainable development plans called for by the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Each country should have its own goals and strategies and should work through partnerships and international cooperation.

Mr. Michel said the 1997 OECD Development Cooperation Report also showed the measures being taken to carry out that development partnership strategy, and to make it a common framework of shared vision on the part of developing countries, as well as multilateral institutions. Dialogues were continuing with developing countries and with multilateral institutions to define the best practices, identify problems, share information and monitor developments.

The report also addressed the issue of resources for development, Mr. Michel said, noting that a new phenomenon that had been discovered was that resources going into developing countries were different from those of a few years ago. "We used to see large dependence on official flows", he said. Now there was increased recognition of the importance of developing a capacity to generate savings and to help the financial systems convert them into productive investments. Private investments, private flows and loans going into developing countries through private channels had exceeded by far the amounts provided through official channels. That was good news, he said. But

UNDP Press Briefing - 2 - 28 January 1998

"the bad news", he added, was that very poor countries received about 8 per cent of the private flows. Part of the OECD efforts was to help countries at risk of being marginalized from the revolution in global finance to develop the capacity to be able to participate in the international flow of goods, technology and finance, and to open up their economies.

Mr. Michel said the total resource flows from the countries of the Development Assistance Committee to developing countries in 1996 was more than $300 billion. Of the $304 billion -- an increase of more than $60 billion over the previous year -- about $66 billion was official development finance, both concessional and non-concessional; $58 billion was official development assistance; and the remainder in non-concessional money. Aid to social sectors was also increasing through the 1990s.

For 1996, the largest donor continued to be Japan, followed by the United States, Germany and France. In terms of percentage of gross national product, he said only four countries -- Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands -- exceeded, as in previous years, the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent.

The OECD's Development Assistance Committee is the principal body through which the organization deals with issues related to cooperation with developing countries. Its members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Commission of the European Communities, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. The permanent observers are the International Monetary Fund, UNDP and the World Bank.

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