SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO JOIN UN IN REDUCING POVERTY

Press Release
SG/SM/7146

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO JOIN UN IN REDUCING POVERTY

Outlines Duties of Developed And Developing Countries in Address to Group of 77 Ministers

This is the text of remarks by Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the Ministerial meeting of the "Group of 77" developing countries:

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you once again to United Nations Headquarters.

On this occasion, you come here fresh from your ninth ministerial meeting in Morocco. I congratulate you on its successful conclusion and on the useful preparatory work for UNCTAD X, which you did there.

As always, you have worked hard to identify the issues that matter most to people in developing countries – and we must all work hard to ensure that these concerns are kept firmly in view at other inter-governmental meetings to be held in the course of the next twelve months.

The central challenges facing you and your development partners -- both multilateral and bilateral -- can be summarized in two words: development and peace.

We all know that the violence and social tensions, which afflict so many developing countries are caused, in part at least, by deprivation and inequality.

The United Nations will continue to focus its energies and resources on the task of reducing -- and before long, I hope, eliminating -– the absolute poverty which, at present, condemns so many millions of our fellow citizens to a life of misery and degradation.

But, as you know, the United Nations can do little by itself.

The key decisions have to be taken by national governments, in both developed and developing countries.

It is they who must focus their energies on implementing the measures to which they have already agreed, on both the national and the international levels.

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At the national level, governments must give priority to job-creation strategies in the countryside, as well as the cities, while carrying out structural reforms and promoting private-sector development.

The developed countries must take the actions needed to provide higher levels of development assistance, debt relief, and improved market access to the developing countries. In particular, I am sure we all welcomed the statement on debt relief made by the Group of Seven at their meeting in Cologne, and hope to see it followed by action, before the Jubilee Year begins in less than a hundred days’ time.

Many developing countries have made great efforts to follow the advice of donors and of international institutions in reforming their economies.

They are entitled to expect the support of the international community. You can rely on us at the United Nations to continue making that point.

Thank you very much.

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