2001 UN Pledging Conference

for Development Activities

1^st Meeting (AM)

ON FIRST DAY OF PLEDGING CONFERENCE, 17 COUNTRIES PLEDGE

CONTRIBUTIONS TO UN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Seventeen Member States pledged their contributions to support the development activities of the United Nations system this morning, during the annual United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Opening the Conference, Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-agency Affairs, delivered a statement on behalf of the Secretary-General.  He said that, in light of the goals of the Millennium Declaration, the United Nations was asked to do more to meet major challenges confronting the international community.  Therefore, an adequate flow of core resources for development was needed to enable it to provide effective and efficient operational activities for development.

The decline in resources devoted to those activities was particularly  acute, he added.  Combined total resources channelled annually through the United Nations funds and programmes stood at $5.5 billion in 2000.  However, funding for operational activities, particularly regular or core, remained far short of the critical mass necessary for efficiency and effectiveness of programme delivery.

In closing remarks, Bruce Jenks, Director, Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said implementation of the UNDP’s reform agenda was on track and, in some areas, ahead of schedule.  That agenda represented concrete steps to improve efficiency and effectiveness.  The UNDP was working to translate that momentum into an increase in core funding, and it was beginning to see the dividends from such efforts.  A number of donor countries had increased their contributions in 2001, and many programme countries also made an effort to contribute despite their difficult circumstances.  All the contributions made today, large and small, were important signs of support for UNDP’s work.

Richard Snyder, Chief, Executive Board Branch, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said he appreciated all the pledges made and the strong commitment of Member States to the UNFPA and its programmes.  Many of those contributions came from countries that the UNFPA was serving in its many field offices.  While donor funding had declined since peaking in 1995, he was confident that the active participation and shared commitment of the donor community would restore contributions to the $300 million level.  Donor commitment would help the UNFPA continue its important work in such areas as maternal health care, HIV/AIDS prevention and contraceptive security.

Ado Vaher, Director, United Nations Affairs and External Relations, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said funds from pledging commitments received today came at a strategically important period as UNICEF moved towards reaching the goals of the Millennium Declaration and worked to accelerate progress towards fulfilling child rights.  The persistent stagnation of regular resources, however, continued to be a matter of deep concern.  The core funds provided UNICEF with staying power, longevity and continuity in country programmes, which were so essential to poverty eradication.  “We cannot overemphasize the need for regular resources to generate sustained action for children”, he added.

Pledges were made this morning by the representatives of India, Myanmar, Thailand, Tunisia, Morocco, Maldives, Mongolia, Egypt, Algeria, Russian Federation, Bolivia, Cuba, Mauritania, Jordan, Bhutan, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.

The representatives of China and Bangladesh also made statements.

At the outset of the meeting, Matia Mulumba Semakula Kiwanuka (Uganda) was elected President of the 2001 Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Pledges Made

India

UNDP                                $4,500,000

WFP                                 $1,920,000

UNICEF                              31,000,000 rupees

UNFPA                               9,000,000 rupees

UNIFEM                                 500,000 rupees

INSTRAW                                 50,000 rupees

UNEP                                  $100,000

UNCHS/Habitat                          $80,000

UNDCP                                  $60,000

United Nations Criminal Justice Fund          $3,000

UNRWA                                  225,000 rupees

United Nations Volunteers              $15,000

Myanmar

UNDP                                1,080,000 kyats

United Nations Capital Development Fund       $5,000

UNFPA                                   60,000 kyats

Thailand

UNDP                                  $865,112

UNDP Government Local Office Cost   15,462,000 baht

UNICEF                                $112,500

                                          and   2,080,500 baht

United Nations Capital Development Fund       $2,500

UNITAR                                  $2,000

UNIFEM                                 410,000 baht

INSTRAW                                123,000 baht

Thailand (con’t.)

United Nations Volunteers               50,000 baht

UNDCP                                  $10,000

Tunisia

UNDP                                   257,000 dinars

UNDP  Local                            150,000 dinars

United Nations Equipment Fund            2,732 dinars

United Nations Volunteers                5,000 dinars

UNDCP                                    1,000 dinars

Special Fund for Victims of Torture      2,000 dinars

UNITAR                                   1,960 dinars

Fund for Crime Prevention                1,500 dinars

Human Rights Fund                        3,000 dinars

Habitat                                   976 dinars

INSTRAW                                  4,000 dinars

UNICEF                            37,000  dinars

UNFPA                             25,000  dinars

Morocco

UNDP                                1,550,000 dirhams

United Nations Volunteers               $7,000

UNIFEM                                  $2,000

INSTRAW                                 $2,000

UNICEF                                  $2,000

UNFPA                                   $2,000

UNCH                                    $3,000

Fund for Handicapped and Disabled Persons     $4,000

UNDCP                                   $3,000

Special Fund for Crime Prevention       $2,000

UNITAR                                  $4,000

Special Fund for the Second Decade for the

 Development of Transport and Communications

 in Africa                                    $5,000

Fund for the Development of Africa      $5,000

Maldives

UNDP                                    $7,500

UNICEF                                  $7,500

United Nations Capital Development Fund       $2,000

UNFPA                                   $3,000

UNIFEM                                  $1,700

INSTRAW                                   $500

UNRWA                                   $1,000

Mongolia

UNDP                                   $17,000

UNICEF                                 $11,000

Mongolia (con’t.)

UNFPA                                   $4,000

UNEP                                    $1,000

Egypt

UNDP                                   401,295 E pounds

United Nations Volunteers               $3,000

UNIFEM                                   2,000 E pounds

INSTRAW                                 $2,000

UNICEF                                 130,000 E pounds

UNFPA                                  410,000 E pounds

Habitat                                 20,000 E pounds

UNDCP                                   $1,000

UNITAR                                  $7,000

UNHCR                                   20,000 E pounds

Algeria

UNDP                                  $100,000

UNFPA                                  300,000 dinars

                                          and      $10,000

Special Fund for Victims of Torture   $100,000

Emergency Humanitarian Assistance      $10,000

UNICEF                                 $20,000

Fund to Combat Desertification          $3,500

UNITAR                                  $5,000

UNEP                                   $10,000

UNCHS/Habitat                          $10,000

Russian Federation

UNDP                                  $450,000

UNICEF                                $550,000

UNCHS/Habitat                         $150,000

Bolivia

UNFPA                                   $4,000

Fund to Combat Desertification          $1,000

UNDCP                                   $5,000

Cuba

UNIDO                                   21,000 Cuban pesos

UNICEF (Cuba)                          110,000 Cuban pesos

Mauritania

UNFPA                                1,200,000 ougiyas

Jordan

UNDP                                   191,000 J dinars

UNFPA                                   34,000 J dinars

Domestic cost of UN offices in Jordan:

UNDP                            170,000 J dinars

WFP                                     33,000 J dinars

UNFPA                                   22,000 J dinars

Bhutan

UNDP                                   $13,600

United Nations Volunteers               $1,700

UNEP                                    $1,250

UNCHS                                     $650

UNFPA                                   $5,100

UNICEF                                 $13,350

Djibouti

UNDP                                    $1,000

UNFPA                                   $1,000

UNICEF                                  $1,000

Saudi Arabia

UNDP                                $2,000,000

UNICEF                              $1,000,000

UNFPA                                 $300,000

Statement of Secretary-General

In a statement delivered on his behalf by Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-agency Affairs, the SECRETARY-GENERAL said that this year’s General Assembly, of which the pledging conference was part, took place at a particularly challenging time for United Nations development cooperation.  The Millennium Assembly placed poverty reduction, along with the political peacemaking functions of the United Nations, at the top of the global agenda for the new century.  The Millennium Declaration recognized that the benefits of globalization were not evenly distributed and that many countries and social groups were excluded from them.

The United Nations was being asked to do more to meet major challenges confronting the international community, he added.  An adequate flow of core resources for development was needed to enable it to provide effective and efficient operational activities for development.  Official development assistance itself continued to decline.  International aid flows diminished through the 1990s, before stabilizing slightly in the last two years of the decade.  Per capita aid to Africa, for example, had tumbled from $43 to $30 since the early 1980s, or by one half in real terms.  Also, the decline in resources devoted to United Nations operational activities for development was particularly acute.

As many Member States were aware, he said, the activities of United Nations funds and programmes were financed on the basis of two broad categories of resources:  regular or core resources, and non-core resources.  Core resources remained the most essential category because they were not earmarked and could be freely programmed in line with national programme-country priorities.  Combined total resources channelled annually through the United Nations funds and programmes stood at $5.5 billion in 2000.

He then highlighted the funding situation of the UNDP, the UNFPA, and UNICEF.

Funding for operational activities, particularly regular or core, remained far short of the critical mass necessary for efficiency and effectiveness of programme delivery, the Secretary-General said.

The UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF Executive Boards had operationalized the multi-year funding framework only two years ago, he added.  Nevertheless, the Economic and Social Council recommended that the General Assembly fully assess -- as part of the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review of the United Nations operational activities for development -- the effectiveness, results and usefulness of those frameworks as funding mechanisms.  He looked forward to the outcomes of the triennial review and its new decision, both in relation to the guidance it would give to United Nations operational activities for development over the next three years, and because it would give a new impetus to funding for operational activities for development.

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