SECRETARY-GENERAL, ADDRESSING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL URGES

INCREASED GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR AFRICAN INITIATIVES

GENEVA, 16 July (UN Information Service) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Economic and Social Council this morning that there should be an expanded international commitment to African development based on support for local African programmes for economic advancement.

The Secretary-General told the Council's annual high-level segment that few of the many past attempts of the United Nations system in Africa had been effective -- in fact, such programmes were often perceived by the African men and women who were expected to implement them as the work of remote bureaucrats with no understanding of African conditions.  In the future, he said, greater efforts had to be made to listen to people on the ground.

The theme of this year's high-level segment is "the role of the United Nations system in supporting the efforts of African countries to achieve sustainable development".  The President of the Economic and Social Council Martin Belinga-Eboutou (Cameroon) said in opening the meeting that the international community recognized that the collective destiny of the world was linked to the destiny of Africa and that boldness had to be shown in finding solutions to that continent's very serious problems.

Horst Kohler, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said the international concept of globalization should respond to the fact that all humanity shared one world, and should lay the foundation for more broadly shared prosperity -- that above all, success in the fight against poverty was the key to stability and peace in the twenty-first century, and such a fight had to begin in Africa.

James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, said the keys to progress in Africa lay in improving governance and resolving conflict; eliminating corruption; investing in people, increasing competitiveness and diversifying economies; and increasing financing for development based on African ownership of the process and on African leadership.

Mike Moore, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said after decades of experimenting with sometimes disastrous models of development, one thing had been learned -- sustainable development could not take root unless countries and communities genuinely took ownership of their own development. 

Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said it might sound paradoxical, but the only way for African countries to overcome their aid dependency was to supply in the first instance more aid to generate a positive momentum that in due course would make aid superfluous.  For this to happen, current levels of official assistance must be doubled and maintained over at least a decade.

K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said a major breakthrough for Africa was the decision to create an African economic union.  It would seek to establish policies to set clear priorities for Africa's infrastructure development.  Central to all this was the need to build and sustain peace and security.

Statements

Mr. BELINGA-EBOUTOU, President of the Council, said the United Nations bore a very heavy responsibility for Africa, and the Council owed it to itself to be one of the essential links in the chain, inspiring and guiding programmes and actions aimed at helping the continent.  A number of recent global meetings -- on HIV/AIDS, on least developed countries, the Millennium Summit, the upcoming Special Session of the General Assembly on children -- illustrated the United Nations commitment to Africa.  And all those meetings had poverty as their major focus.  Poverty had to be eliminated, and African economies had to be bolstered.  Also needed were peace and good governance on the part of African countries. 

He asked how there could be better integration of assistance given by the United Nations system to policies and programmes for bettering Africa that were developed by the African nations themselves?  How could development on that continent be energized; how could peace be created and sustained; how could the burden of African countries' external debt be eased?  How could the objective for Africa set by the Millennium Declaration be achieved?  It was time to find answers to those questions in a new spirit of hope and commitment and through a thorough dialogue on Africa and its problems. 

Secretary-General Annan said Africans must not delude themselves.  Even though trade and markets represented the best hope for Africa, as for other regions, in the longer term, the sad truth was that at present few African countries were really equipped to seize any market opportunities they were offered.

Most African countries had long been accorded preferential access to European markets for most of their products.  Yet they remained on the margins of the world economy.  Indeed, for that very reason, Africa was relatively unaffected by the current slowdown.  But that was small consolation, given the slow rate of growth Africa was already experiencing.  Unless that rate improved spectacularly in the next few years, Africa had no hope of achieving the targets of poverty reduction and social progress set by last year's Millennium Summit. 

Africa suffered from decades of mismanagement during which its resources, instead of being exploited for the benefit of its people, had become a source of misery.  Those resources were not only wasted by incompetent governments, but were misappropriated by corrupt ones.  They became the cause of devastating wars, not only among the citizens of the country they belonged to, but also between the armies of neighbouring States, which intervened in their neighbours' conflicts and cynically took advantage of their misfortunes.

He said Africans had many hard questions to ask of themselves and their leaders.  It was satisfying to know that they were now being asked.  And that was yet another reason why the theme this week was timely.  If Africans were taking a cold, hard look at their own record, it was surely appropriate that the United Nations should take a similar look at its own record in Africa.  Over the decades, the United Nations system had been involved in many African development initiatives; that few, if any, had been effective.  Although African experts and diplomats certainly played an important role in devising these plans, they were often perceived, by the African men and women who were expected to implement them, as the work of remote bureaucrats with no understanding of African conditions.  In the future, greater efforts must be made to listen to the people on the ground.

He said that after attending three African summit meetings this year -- in Yaounde in January, Abuja in April, and Lusaka –- he had the impression that Africans, including African leaders, were now less disposed to blame all their troubles on outsiders and more determined to take responsibility for their own future.  If they did, they were surely entitled to the international community's support, and the role of the United Nations System in mobilising and delivering that support would be crucial.  The United Nations had to become Africa's advocate, not only for improved market access, but also for the reduction of the subsidies paid by rich countries to their farmers, which currently amounted to

$1 billion a day.  This lowered world prices, and led to lower incomes and poverty in Africa. 

Now that African leaders were getting more serious about putting an end to the conflicts on their continent, and about improving governance and reforming their economies, the international business community should look again at the investment opportunities which Africa offered -- and those Africans who did own private capital should take the lead.  The United Nations had to become Africa's advocate in dissuading foreign companies and governments from being accomplices in Africa's destruction, through the illicit sale of arms and the purchase of illegally extracted resources.  A major United Nations conference on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons was now in progress in New York.  These were the things the UN system could do to help Africa, if Africans were really willing to help themselves.  (For text of the Secretary-General’s statement see Press Release SG/SM/7890-ECOSOC/5968.)

HORST KOHLER, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said today's meeting was taking place in a difficult environment.  Growth was slowing throughout the world.  This could be uncomfortable for the advanced countries, but it would be a real source of hardship for many emerging markets and developing countries, and a real setback in the fight against world poverty.  The business cycle was not dead, and some correction was even necessary to counteract excessive exuberance, but now the advanced economies, in particular, had a responsibility to be proactive in strengthening the prospects for sustainable growth in their own countries, and thereby to restore momentum in the global economy. 

Emerging markets and developing countries, for their part, should stay the course of structural reform and sound macroeconomic policies.  The slowdown in world economic activity made it clearer than ever that nations were interconnected.  Prosperity in the advanced economies could not be sustained in the presence of widespread poverty.  The rising tide of prosperity had left too many behind, in particular, almost all of sub-Saharan Africa.  And for everyone, talk about economic stability and poverty reduction should ring hollow in the absence of a strategy to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, reflecting last month's United Nations Special Session in New York.

All of these developments underscored the need for an integrated concept for answering critical questions about globalization.  The "New African Initiative" focused on four core elements -- a clear awareness that peace, democracy and good governance were preconditions for the reduction of poverty; the need for action plans to develop health care and educational systems, infrastructure and agriculture; a reliance on the private sector and on economic integration at the regional and global levels; and an identification of concrete steps to develop more productive partnerships between Africa and its bilateral, multilateral and private sector development partners.

The magnitude of the challenge that was facing the international community in promoting sustained development and poverty reduction in Africa should not be underestimated.  But the emerging African vision and work programme provided an opportunity for a decisive step forward.  The International Monetary Fund was a part of the United Nations family, and it was committed -- based on mandates and expertise -- to working closely with everyone to make this vision a reality.

JAMES D. WOLFENSOHN, President of the World Bank, said Africa had enormous potential and an African renaissance mattered desperately, not just to the continent of Africa but to the peace and stability of the world.  There had been progress:  14 African countries had grown on average by 4 per cent per year during the 1990s, while another 10 countries had grown by 3 per cent.  Uganda had reduced its poverty rate from 56 per cent in 1992 to 35 per cent today.  Economic reforms in various countries had slowly but surely improved growth and allowed a viable private sector to take root.  Female illiteracy had fallen.  Enrolment of girls in secondary schools had doubled over the last two decades.

There was another, darker side to the picture.  Almost half of African countries were directly or indirectly affected by conflict, and one African out of five lived daily with conflict or civil strife.  In addition there was the tragedy of HIV/AIDS:  some 19 African countries now had infection rates higher than 8 per cent; 13 million Africans already had died of the disease and 10 million children had been orphaned by it.

He said the New African Initiative launched last week in Lusaka stated in simple terms a challenge of enormous importance to every citizen of the world.  It was a pledge to extricate the continent from its underdevelopment and its exclusion from a globalizing world.  The World Bank would support the initiative by basing its own work on the fact that programmes for Africa must be home-grown and home-owned.

MIKE MOORE, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said humanity faced no more pressing issue at the beginning of this new century than addressing the plight of Africa.  After decades of experimenting with sometimes disastrous models of development, one thing had been learned -- sustainable development could not take root unless countries and communities genuinely took ownership of their own development.  Initiatives recently taken by African leaders to spearhead a "Millennium Plan" for the continent and to create an African Union with a vision of a new era of unity through economic cooperation were inspiring.   

The contribution of the WTO lay in improving market access and in ensuring predictability and the rule of law in trading relations between States.  Poor countries needed to grow their way out of poverty.  Trade was a key engine for growth, but currently products of developing countries faced many obstacles in entering the markets of rich countries.  For example, the 49 least developed countries, representing 10.5 per cent of the world population, had less than 1 per cent of world exports. 

The world economy was looking vulnerable.  In 2001, the volume of world merchandise trade was expected to grow by 7 per cent, a marked reduction from the estimated 12 per cent in 2000.  The virtuous circle of trade liberalization and economic growth could all too easily become a vicious spiral of protectionism and stagnation.  The risk was that a global recession would jeopardize any chances of economic recovery and growth in Africa.  Failure to launch a new round of trade negotiations this year could jeopardize the multilateral trading system itself. 

RUBENS RICUPERO, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that if the benchmark of reducing poverty by half by 2015 was to be met, Africa would need to grow by 7 to 8 per cent a year, and for that to happen the current investment level of around 16 to 17 per cent of gross domestic product would have to be raised to 22 to 25 per cent over the next decade.  An additional US $10 billion per year was needed because of poverty and sluggish growth.  Africans were not able to finance such investment out of domestic savings, nor could private foreign flows be relied on to fill such a gap until growth was well under way.  The money had to come from official financing and from debt relief for heavily indebted African countries.

It might sound paradoxical, but the only way for African countries to overcome their aid dependency, Mr. Ricupero told the meeting, was to supply in the first instance more aid, and in a more effective way, to generate a positive momentum that in due course would make aid superfluous.  For this to happen, current levels of official assistance must be doubled and maintained over at least a decade in order to allow domestic savings, exports and external private flows to pick up and gradually replace aid.  That was precisely what had happened with the Marshall Plan.

K. Y. AMOAKO, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said he felt optimistic because Africa now was defining its own agenda and was moving boldly to create an economic union.  The New African Initiative was a substantive effort to move Africa forward.  Rather than constituting a wish list of projects, it focused squarely on policies and programmes for sustainable development, and it recognized that Africa must take the first critical steps -- by putting in place sound economic policies, strengthening democracy, and rooting out corruption.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic had to be overcome, and that demanded immediate mobilization on an emergency footing.

A second major breakthrough for Africa was the decision to create an African economic union, Mr. Amoako said.  Several challenges needed to be addressed.  Policies that fostered a convergence of enabling macroeconomic conditions needed to be put in place, ensuring that there would be no losers in an integrated Africa.  Priorities needed to be clear for Africa's infrastructure development.  And central to all this was the need to build and sustain peace and security, and to bridge the gap between conflict and normative development.  The ECA would be helping with the African Union by bringing to the table a wealth of analytical work.  It had always been an ardent promoter of regional integration, and it intended to keep that role, working closely with the OAU and other institutions.

Discussion

A Representative of Belgium, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the Secretary-General had referred to the fact that the raw materials of Africa ended up lining the pockets of foreign enterprises and certain Africans who took the wealth that should be serving the interests of their countries and their continent.  Good governance was of utmost importance.  There had to be an end to illicit exploitation, and controls were needed at the international level to control flows of natural resources that were used to fuel wars.     

National delegations speaking from the floor also contended that leadership and guidance for bettering the situation in Africa must come from Africans themselves.  It was said that natural resources of Africa were not being used for the enrichment of the African people but for the enrichment of foreign business interests and for a tiny African power elite, and even for waging wars.  Poverty education had been talked about endlessly over the last decade, but at the same time had increased in most of the world's least-developed countries.  The New African Initiative was like the Marshall Plan except that instead of coming at the end of a major conflict it was being proposed while a number of conflicts were going on, and in fact seemed to be multiplying.  United Nations agencies, and the World Bank in particular, should create particular initiatives in particular places, such as the Great Lakes region of Africa, that would allow people to move from conflict to peaceful development.

Responding to the debate, Mr. Kohler of the IMF said, an important issue for African development was in spreading wealth to rural areas, where agriculture was vital.  Yet Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries spent billions of dollars a year on agricultural subsidies which kept developing countries, including African countries, from exporting their agricultural products to the world's wealthier nations.  The IMF, nevertheless, opposed agricultural subsidies for African countries because it was a dead end.  What was important for such countries was to build agricultural economies that were self-sustaining.

Mr. Wolfensohn, the World Bank President, said investment in Africa could not be commanded of private investors.  Rather a climate had to be created that induced people to want to invest, and he felt that the plan put forward in the New African Initiative, if it was put into effect, was the only way to attract investment, as it was the only way to attract investment in other countries; that coordination of World Bank and other projects was the basis of a World Bank analysis.

Mr. Moore, of the World Trade Organization, remarked that it often seemed to him that the only countries that really liked the WTO were those that were not members.  The organization facilitated what its members wanted and did not order those members around.  There had been major changes in WTO policies and activities to enhance the position of developing countries.  Trade facilitation was “win-win” for everyone.

Mr. Amaoko, of the ECA, said agriculture was vital for reducing poverty, and yet over the last 10 years there had been a shift away from agricultural funding.  Perhaps this was out of dissatisfaction with the results of agricultural projects carried out in the '70s and '80s, but he thought the pendulum now was swinging the other way.

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