DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES COMMITMENT TO STRENGTHEN UNITED NATIONS AS LEADING CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS
Press Release
DSG/SM/2
GA/EF/2812
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES COMMITMENT TO STRENGTHEN UNITED NATIONS AS LEADING CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS
19980320 Louise Fréchette Tells Resumed Session of Second Committee United Nations Work Must be Grounded in Reality of 'World around Us'Following is the text, as delivered, of the Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the resumed session of the General Assembly's Second Committee (Economic and Financial) yesterday, 19 March, which was convened to consider financing for development:
J'ai grand plaisir à me retrouver parmi vous aujourd'hui, et je remercie vivement l'Ambassadeur Oscar de Rojas (Venezuela) de m'avoir invitée à prendre la parole devant vous.
La deuxième commission a pour moi une signification particulière. C'est au sein de la délégation canadienne à la Deuxième Commission, à l'Assemblée Générale de 1972, que j'ai découvert les Nations Unies.
L'expérience s'est avérée positive puisqu'elle m'a donnée un intérêt soutenu pour le multilatéralisme et les Nations Unies en particulier, mais aussi pour les questions économiques et la problématique du développement.
J'ai eu par la suite plusieurs occasions, au cours de ma carrière, d'être associée aux travaux des Nations Unies dans les domaines économiques et du développement, notamment à Genève où je me souviens de longues nuits de négociations à la CNUCED et à la Commission Economique pour l'Europe.
Et j'ai bien sûr renoué connaissance avec l'ensemble des activités des Nations Unies lors de mon dernier passage à New York il y a quelques années.
Je me réjouis par conséquent de l'importance qu'attache aux questions de développement la résolution créant le poste de Vice-Secrétaire général et j'ai l'intention d'y consacrer une bonne part de mes énergies.
Je m'empresse d'ajouter que si j'invoque mes expériences passées dans les organes des Nations Unies à compétence économique, ce n'est pas pour suggérer que j'arrive avec des réponses toutes faites et des solutions instantanées aux défis qui nous font face.
En ce début de mandat, je suis d'abord intéressée à vous entendre afin
de mieux comprendre vos préoccupations. Je voudrais par conséquent me limiter a quelques commentaires d'ordre général ce matin.
My first comment will be to make clear that, like you, I am convinced of the necessity to enhance "the profile and leadership of the United Nations in the economic and social spheres ... in order to strengthen the United Nations as a leading centre for development policy and development business".
I know that these words are familiar to you and I know the hopes and aspirations that lie behind them.
I am fully committed to doing everything in my power to making this a reality.
In our effort to enhance United Nations leadership and influence, we should be guided by three cardinal rules.
First: We should never loose sight of the ultimate goal we are pursuing.
Second: We should ensure that our work is grounded in the reality of the world around us.
Third: We should be prepared to align our activities to the goals and priorities we identify.
Let me elaborate briefly on each of these points.
Regarding the ultimate goal of the United Nations work in the economic and social fields, the Charter is eloquent: to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. At the end of the day, this is what our work is all about: to make life better for individual men, women and children around the world.
It is all too easy to forget this ultimate goal, and to become consumed by issues which have in some cases more to do with the protection of empires or individual pride than their impact on the life of people who need our help.
In my opinion, United Nations leadership and credibility will be enhanced if our positions and our work clearly contribute to the achievement of this overriding goal.
Grounding our work in the reality of the world around us is another essential condition of success.
Nowadays, this reality includes global financial markets; open trade and regional arrangements; vastly increased flows of investment; environmental threats and health hazards that recognize no borders; instant communications and revolutionary technologies that create opportunities, but also ethical dilemmas never confronted before; new powerful actors in our societies from financial traders to influential non-governmental interest groups.
The roles and priorities of governments around the world are being redefined to adjust to these new realities; and so, too, must the work of the United Nations.
Many of these developments have brought undeniable benefits and can contribute powerfully to the achievement of the ultimate goal we are pursuing. But they have also created new vulnerabilities -- as the crisis currently rocking Asian markets, or the AIDS epidemic spreading across the globe, have
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so painfully illustrated.
How do we reconcile the creative forces of entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged? How do we rebuild the foundations of international cooperation in a world that is increasingly market-driven? How do we influence decision-making in a direction that spreads more widely the benefits of globalization?
How can we motivate business to invest in economies where market signals are too weak to be heard? How do we integrate the least developed countries into the global economy? These are only some of the issues that need to be addressed. The United Nations can influence significantly the debate around these issues if its work is designed to ensure that it focuses on the problems of today and the challenges of the future rather than trying to recreate the past.
My third principle, that of aligning activities, structures and resources to goals and priorities, does not require much elaboration. The United Nations impact will be all the more effective if its energies are focused on the most important issues of our times.
I know it is not easy to find consensus on what is most important. But nor can we afford to fritter away our energies, or allow ourselves to go off in all directions at once.
The last point I would like to make concerns the work of the Secretariat. I believe it is our duty to give you, the Member States, the best possible support in order to help you develop a meaningful consensus on issues that are by definition complex and often closely interrelated.
What I mean by support is not only ensuring that your meetings run on time, so to speak. It also means offering you solid, credible analysis and workable, creative suggestions on how to achieve progress. We have in the various secretariats highly qualified and dedicated professionals whose talent and imagination must be harnessed to better serve you. I would also like the United Nations to become a focal point for the best minds of the world on development, to help us see our way through the challenges ahead.
The issue of development financing, which you will be considering at this meeting, is of course of central importance.
As you know, the Secretary-General has proposed a number of reforms motivated by the desire to make progress on this question. These include a proposal to consider "international financing for development" a theme for the Assembly; to create a "development dividend"; to establish an "office for development finance"; and to work towards a "more predictable financing" for development cooperation.
You have launched a process which holds the promise of giving new life to the work of the Organization. I want to encourage you in your deliberations. I will do all I can to work with you.
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