ON FIRST DAY OF PLEDGING CONFERENCE, 17 COUNTRIES PLEDGE CONTRIBUTIONS TO UN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
| Press Release DEV/2352 |
2001 UN Pledging Conference
for Development Activities
1st 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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