2002 UN Pledging Conference

for Development Activities

1^st Meeting (AM)

AT PLEDGING CONFERENCE, 20 COUNTRIES PLEDGE FUNDING FOR

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

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

Opening this year’s conference, Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, noted that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had projected an upward trend in support levels, building on the turnaround in 2001.  Nonetheless, the regular resource base for UNDP remained fragile with core contributions continuing to represent the bedrock of its work.  As of 30 September, $580 million had been received by UNDP out of an estimated total of $683 million.

In 2001, he continued, regular contributions to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) amounted to $351 million.  Total regular resource contributions had declined by 2 per cent in 2001 and if those declining trends were not reversed, UNICEF’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals would be severely hampered.

He said that core resources for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had been $305 million in 1995 and had remained above $300 million in 1996, following which they had begun to decline.  This year, the Fund had had to adjust its programmes due to substantial reductions by two major donors.  In 2001, however, the World Food Programme (WFP) had received $1.9 billion, the highest amount in its history.  The pledging target approved by the WFP Board for 2003-2004 was $2.4 billion. 

Across the board, he said, although contributions from non-traditional donors continued to fluctuate, they constituted an important part of the donor base.  He emphasized the need to ensure that resource mobilization efforts were harmonized with internationally agreed goals. 

Pledging contributions this morning were the representatives of Venezuela, Morocco, Bangladesh, China, Estonia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, India, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iran, Israel, Russian Federation, Maldives, Bhutan, Lesotho, Algeria, Cape Verde, United Republic of Tanzania, Kuwait and Singapore.

The representatives of Mauritania, Malaysia, United States, Mexico, Djibouti and Jordan also made statements.

At the outset of the meeting, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury (Bangladesh) was elected President of the 2002 Pledging Conference for Development Activities and Abdul Mejid Hussein (Ethiopia) was elected Vice-President.

Pledges Made

Venezuela

UNDP             $5,000

INSTRAW           $5,520

UNICEF            $47,004

UNFPA            $5,000

UNDCP            $10,000

Criminal Justice Fund  $5,000

Voluntary Fund for Indigenous People$5,000

United Nations Habitat           $43,195

Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture$5,000

Morocco

UNDP              1,750,000 dirhams

UNIFEM            $2,000

INSTRAW           $2,000

UNICEF            $4,000

UNFPA            $10,000

United Nations Habitat           $3,000

Voluntary Fund for the Handicapped$4,000

UNDCP            $3,000

Special Fund for Crime Prevention  $2,000

UNITAR            $4,000

Special Fund for Development of Africa$5,000

Bangladesh

UNDP              $400,000

UNDP Local Office Cost  1,100,000 taka

UNICEF            $34,500

UN Capital Development Fund  $3,500

UNFPA            $25,000

UNEP              $2,550

United Nations Volunteers  $1,000

United Nations Habitat           $1,500

UNDCP            $1,000

UNIFEM            $1,000

China

UNDP             $3.7 million

UNDP Local Office       2.5 million yuan

UNFPA            $820,000

UNFPA Local Office       300,000 yuan

UNICEF            $1.15 million

UNICEF Local Office       500,000 yuan

United Nations Volunteers  $30,000

United Nations Capital Development Fund$30,000

UNIDO            $450,000 and

                                                600,000 yuan

OCHA              $20,000

International Investment of UNCTAD   $20,000

Generalized Preferential System of UNCTAD$10,000

ITC                                       $50,000    

Estonia

OCHA              300,000 kroons

UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous

Populations                               150,000 kroons

UN Voluntary Fund for the

International Decade of the

World’s Indigenous People                  150,000 kroons

UNICEF            300,000 kroons

UNHCR            300,000 kroons

UNFPA            30,000 kroons

UNDP              300,000 kroons

Lao People’s Democratic Republic

UNDP              $21,168

United Nations Capital Development Fund  $1,500

UNICEF            $5,350

UNFPA            $1,500

UNDCP            $1,000

UNEP              $2,000

Myanmar

UNDP              1,080,000 kyats

UNFPA            60,000 kyats

United Nations Capital Development Fund  $5,000

India

UNDP              $4.5 million

WFP               $1.92 million

UNICEF            31 million Rupees

UNFPA            9 million Rupees

UNIFEM            509,000 Rupees

INSTRAW           50,000 Rupees

UNEP              $100,000

United Nations Habitat           $80,000

UNDCP            $60,000

United Nations Crime Prevention Fund $3,000

UNRWA            225,000 Rupees

United Nations Volunteers  $15,000

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

UNDP              $2,500

UNICEF            $2,500

UNFPA            $1,500

Iran

UNDP              $10,000

UNICEF            $53,500

UNFPA            $25,000

Israel

UNFPA            $25,000

UNICEF            $60,000

United Nations Habitat           $7,500

UNIFEM            $10,000

UNITAR            $5,000

United Nations Volunteers  $5,000

Russian Federation

UNICEF            $500,000

UNDCP            $500,000

UNDP              $450,000

UNFPA             $150,000

UNEP             $500,000

United Nations Habitat           $100,000

Maldives

UNDP             $10,000

UNICEF             $7,500

United Nations Capital Development Fund $2,000

UNFPA             $3,000

UNIFEM             $1,700

UNITAR             $500

UNRWA            $1,000

Bhutan

UNDP              $15,000

UNICEF            $14,700

United Nations Capital Development Fund $3,750

United Nations Volunteers  $1,900

UNFPA            $5,650

UNEP              $1,350

Lesotho

UNDP Local Office            360,000 maloti

UNFPA            8,927   maloti

UNCDP            4,231   maloti

United Nations Volunteers  4,231   maloti

UNIFEM            3,685   maloti

UNICEF             23,623  maloti

Algeria

UNDP              $100,000

UNFPA            $10,000 and

                                                300,000 dinars

Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture$5,000

UNICEF             $20,000

United Nations Emergency Fund $10,000

Fund to Combat Desertification   $3,500

UNITAR                              $5,000

UNEP              $10,000

United Nations Habitat           $10,000

Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations$5,000

United Nations Decade for

Indigenous People                        $5,000

UNHCR            $5,000

UNHCHR            $50,000

Cape Verde

UNFPA            $7,000

UNDP              $1,500

UNICEF            $1,500

United Republic of Tanzania

UNFPA            $6,000

Kuwait

UNICEF             $200,000

UNDCP            $100,000

UNEP              $200,000

UNITAR            $20,000

UNDP              $750,000

Special Fund for Victims of Torture     $10,000

UNIFEM            $20,000

UNFPA            $20,000

Singapore

UNDP             $300,000

UNICEF             $50,000

UNFPA             $40,000

UNEP             $15,000

UNEP Trust Fund       $10,000

UNDCP            $5,000

Closing Statements

THORAYA OBAID, Executive Director of UNFPA, thanked all delegations for their pledges, noting that their commitments of support were a source of encouragement for all agencies.  The affirmation of support was meaningful since it came from many developing countries.  In 2002, the Fund had stepped up efforts to expand its donor base and had 115 donors to date.  Resources had decreased dramatically after the International Conference on Population and Development, she noted, stressing the importance of the core resources that enabled UNFPA to carry out its mandate. 

The representative of UNDP said that while political support in favour of United Nations funds and programmes seemed to have been renewed, funding remained substantially below the levels required to fulfil mandates.  Core resources remained the bedrock of funding and the challenge was still the translation of political support into financial resources.  In the past few years, UNDP had undergone reform in order to serve its country partners better and the multi-year funding framework was at the heart of that reform.

UNICEF’s representative expressed his support to those who said the agency’s Executive Board had decided to undertake a separate pledging event, which would be held in January 2003.  For those unable to pledge today, UNICEF looked forward to hearing from them in January.  The ratio between regular resources and other resources continued to decline, with regular resources having constituted only 45 per cent of the total in 2001, he said.

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