DELEGATES UNDERLINE IMPORTANCE OF REFORMING PROGRAMME OF WORK AS SECOND COMMITTEE CONTINUES GENERAL DEBATE

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Second Committee

5^th Meeting (AM)

DELEGATES UNDERLINE IMPORTANCE OF REFORMING PROGRAMME OF WORK

AS SECOND COMMITTEE CONTINUES GENERAL DEBATE

Streamlined Agenda Needed in Tackling Major Challenge, Speakers Also Stress

As the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) continued its general debate this morning, delegates underlined the importance of reforming that body’s work programme in furthering the implementation of development goals set out by major conferences and summits held over the past two years.

Ukraine’s representative emphasized the need to restructure the work programme and streamline its burgeoning agenda.  The Committee must identify ways to organize its agenda, to more meaningfully tackle its most pressing challenge -– that of implementing the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcomes of other United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields.

The representative of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia said he expected that Committee discussions would provide new impetus to the implementation of commitments laid down in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.  Along with the upcoming General Assembly High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, Committee deliberations would also lead to further progress on the Monterrey Consensus, which was vital to the mobilization of financial resources for developing and transition countries.

Stressing that the Millennium Summit and other major conferences had given the international community a comprehensive basis for action at the national, regional and international levels, the representative of Serbia and Montenegro said that the Millennium and other development goals had laid down clear tasks in the economic, social and environmental areas.  The international community -- including financial institutions, the private sector and civil society -- now needed to focus its attention and act without delay.  Urging States to build on momentum generated by the Johannesburg World Summit and translate its commitments into concrete actions, he said real achievements at the country level would be the best indication of how successful the international community would be in realizing conference goals.

Other speakers stressed the need to help the poorest of the poor by slashing external debt loads, increasing official development assistance (ODA) and finding more resources for the fight against poverty.  They also emphasized that greater equity was needed in international trade in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, as was increased support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Burkina Faso, Philippines, Mexico, Uganda, Jamaica, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Senegal, Bolivia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sudan, Malaysia, Belize, Armenia and Papua New Guinea also made statements.

Also speaking were representatives of the World Bank and the International Labour Organization.

The Second Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, 9 October, to conclude its general debate and take up its agenda item on implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006).

Background

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to conclude its general debate.

Statements

MARKIYAN KULYK (Ukraine) said the Committee’s most important challenge was implementing the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcomes of other United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields.  Ukraine was gratified that other delegations shared the wish to restructure the Committee’s work programme and streamline its burgeoning agenda.  The Committee must identify ways to rationalize its work and structure its agenda more meaningfully.

Regarding the Millennium Development Goals, he said, there was a clear rationale for improving the multilateral trading system, which should respond to the development needs of developing and transition economies.  Despite the recent failure in Cancun, World Trade Organization (WTO) member governments would summon the political will and flexibility to bridge the gaps that separated them.  The WTO must be transformed into a truly universal organization as envisaged in the Monterrey Consensus.

MOHAMMED AL-MEHAIRBI (United Arab Emirates) said his country’s policies had greatly advanced the development of human resources, diversified national income, improved national education programmes and upgraded the information and communication technology network, all of which had helped raise living standards.  The Government had made human settlement issues a top priority, implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Human Settlement Conference to build sustainable villages and cities for the poor.  The 2001 Abu Dhabi Declaration reflected the Government’s commitment to comply with Agenda 21 guidelines for environmental safety, biological diversity and control of desertification, sea pollution, and land development.

The United Arab Emirates had acceded to bilateral, regional and international conventions in commercial, economic and development fields, he said.  It had also provided financial and in-kind assistance to many developing countries, particularly least developed countries in Asia and Africa.  Moreover, it had helped reconstruct infrastructure in countries affected by armed conflict, notably Kosovo, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq, and was part of the donor group funding Iraq’s reconstruction.

FAWZI BIN ABDUL MAJEED SHOBOKSHI (Saudi Arabia) stressed that sustainable development and the eradication of poverty were political responsibilities, and the international community must cooperate in achieving them.  Development was not an individual task, but one requiring multilateralism.  The international community must implement all the commitments made at recent conferences and summits in seeking prosperity for all.  Moreover, international peace and security still eluded many nations, and was still an objective that the world must achieve by working together.

He called for a new partnership among developing and developed nations, based on cooperation in international economic relations, mutual benefits, justice and multilateralism.  Saudi Arabia had provided about $76 billion -– about 4 per cent of its gross domestic product -- for development, both bilaterally and multilaterally.  Its contributions to date had exceeded the target for assistance established by the United Nations.

MICHEL KAFANDO (Burkina Faso) said that while the world economy was controlled and manipulated by a small group of powerful countries, food security was far from guaranteed in developing nations.  The shortage of basic services such as drinking water and medical care had kept life expectancy to 40 years in some countries.  Those facts underscored the challenges of meeting the Millennium Goal of poverty reduction.  The international community must give the poorest of the poor a hand, slashing external debt loads, increasing official development assistance (ODA) and procuring more resources for the fight against poverty.

He warned that the recent collapse of the fifth ministerial meeting of the WTO could endanger the inclusion of the least developed countries in the multilateral trade system and eliminate preferential treatment for their products, a necessity for their economic survival.  Donor countries must honour their commitments to the least developed countries as set forth in the Brussels Programme of Action.  Greater equity was needed in international trade, including price stabilization, export guarantees through re-evaluation of raw materials, free and complete access of the South’s products into the North’s markets, an end to the North’s agricultural subsidies and a greater role for the South in the Bretton Woods institutions.

DEJAN SAHOVIC (Serbia and Montenegro) said the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits gave the international community a comprehensive basis for action at the national, regional and international levels.  At the same time, the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed objectives had laid down clear tasks in the economic, social and environmental areas.  The international community -- including financial institutions, the private sector and civil society -- now needed to focus its attention and act without delay.

He said that by adopting the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, the international community had reaffirmed sustainable development as a central element of the international agenda.  States should now build on the momentum generated by the World Summit and translate those commitments into concrete actions.  The multi-year programme of work for 2004-2017 of the Commission on Sustainable Development was vital in that respect.  Real achievements at the country level would be the best indication of how successful the international community would be was in realizing conference goals.

LAURO BAJA (Philippines) noted that poverty was deepening in absolute and relative terms.  The 2003 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicated that 54 countries, almost half of them African, were poorer now than in 1990, and that it would take 50 years for other countries to meet the Millennium targets.  That was a result of an international economic environment that continued to short-change the developing world, as well as the widening of economic disparities between rich and poor.

Trade liberalization in developing countries should redound to poverty reduction, he said.  Economic growth and sustainable development should guide international trade policy and the international community should urgently and effectively strive for an open, rules-based, predictable and non-discriminatory global trading and financial system.  Rich nations’ barriers to agricultural exports from poor countries had hurt the global development agenda, he said, urging delegates to put development at the heart of the WTO agenda.

LUIS ALFONSO DE ALBA (Mexico) said he would not give a substantive statement at the present time, but would participate later in theme-oriented discussions.  He invited the Chairman to find time to discuss the methodology of the Committee’s work.

FRANCIS BUTAGIRA (Uganda) said his country was one of seven to have reached the completion point for debt relief implementation under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt initiative.  Despite that success, Uganda and other developing countries lacked fair market access and commodity prices to sustain their debt.  That problem was particularly acute for the least developed countries and landlocked least developed countries whose problems were compounded by steep transport costs and vulnerability to fluctuations in the prices of the raw commodity exports on which their economies depended.  Moreover, the least developed countries needed foreign direct investment (FDI) to meet the Millennium targets.

He said Uganda had joined other landlocked least developed countries in calling for international support to address their special infrastructure development needs and the Almaty Programme of Action adopted in August.  Regional cooperation and interregional trade was part of the solution, he said, adding that the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania would form a customs union in November.  Uganda called for the extension of specific trade preferences to those three countries, which depended largely on one commodity for their export earnings.

EDUARDO DORYAN, Special Representative of the World Bank to the United Nations, said the development equation created in the Millennium Declaration, embodied in the Millennium Development Goals and targeted at Monterrey and Johannesburg, was the best chance for effective development.  However, greater systematic coherence was needed to implement the development agenda.  That could only be achieved through more streamlined support from international institutions to developing countries, enhanced harmonization among development partners at the country level and clear institutional, regional and global connections.

The World Bank, he continued, had streamlined and modernized its operational procedures, processes and practices, improving investment lending and creating a business development credit line for infrastructure and rural projects.  This year, it had integrated the staff and policies of its fiduciary, social and environment departments into project teams and would reduce the wait time for development-project processing to 12 months.  Moreover, the Bank’s World Development Report 2004 emphasized effective delivery of social services to the poor and spelled out the responsibilities of governments, civil society and donors in that regard.  Institutional coherence, he said, also meant greater cooperation at the country level, linking the Millennium targets to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and better results-based management.

STAFFORD NEIL (Jamaica) questioned the prospects for growth in developing countries, noting that the signs were positive in some cases but the general outlook was discouraging.  The overall strategy to stimulate development seemed to be to adopt policies based on liberalization, privatization and the free market model.  Some of those policies did not work, however, suggesting the need for a better understanding of the economic and social dynamics in developing countries.  To benefit from liberalization measures, for example, a well-developed private sector was needed, which many developing countries lacked.  In addition, the State played an important role in developing countries at certain levels of development, particularly when economic stimulation was needed.

Regarding domestic resources, he expressed the hope that domestic savings could play a role in development and that in the end most countries would rely on the transfer of resources from outside.  However, that was not occurring on a grand scale and there was not much hope that it would.  As for trade, barriers were coming down in some developing countries, but their markets had still not reached the same level of access as the developed markets.  The failure to reach agreement at Cancun had probably been a mixed blessing but it also showed that more attention must be paid to the concerns of developing countries.  At any rate, market access was not everything, since many developing countries had weak production sectors, he added.

MOHAMED FADHEL AYARI (Tunisia) said that despite the global consensus on poverty eradication and sustainable development, unfair global trade and economic policies had thwarted progress in achieving the Millennium targets.  Africa continued to account for most of the world’s poor, and debt-servicing payments totalled $350 million annually.  The ODA to developing countries totalled $56 million, just 0.22 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and significantly less than the agreed 0.7 per cent.

It was imperative to improve access for the products of developing countries to world markets, he said, calling for a more equitable international trade and economic system.  The upcoming High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development was an opportunity that the international community must grasp to assess progress in implementing the commitments made at Monterrey, Johannesburg and Doha.  The World Solidarity Fund, an outcome of the Johannesburg World Summit, was an important new tool for poverty eradication.

DIMCE NIKOLOV (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) stressed the importance of implementing the Monterrey Consensus, which was vital in mobilizing financial resources for development in developing and transition countries.  The upcoming General Assembly High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development would mark further progress in implementing the Consensus and deliberations within the Second Committee would also contribute.

He said he expected that Committee discussions would give new impetus to the commitments of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.  The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia welcomed the adoption of the new programme of work of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which was particularly important in implementing Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan.

RAMON OSIRIS BLANCO DOMINGUEZ (Dominican Republic) said his Government had taken several steps to achieve the Millennium goals, investing heavily in health, education, food and housing programmes, all of which had improved the living standards of many Dominicans.  The country had made environmental protection and conservation a priority and was the in process of integrating sustainable development objectives into all government departments and policies.

However, he said, as in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, steep oil and debt-servicing bills were crippling the Dominican Republic’s economy.  He called on the international community to grant developing countries greater ODA and other forms of development aid, as well as a greater role in international trade and economic policy decision-making to help strengthen economies and institutions in the developing world.

CHEIKH NIANG (Senegal), noting that Africa’s economic and social situation appeared to have worsened over the past two years, said the region’s development problems could be partly explained by political instability, but the world economic situation had also had negative effects on the continent.  The most recent report on human development said many African nations would most likely not achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  However, the situation was not entirely desperate because the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) had led to favourable conditions for good governance and financing for development.  However, the commitment of African countries would be pointless without the participation of developed countries.

He said that while ODA had recently increased, it still lacked predictability and reliability.  The HIPC initiative had provided some hope, but did not lead to viable indebtedness in the long term.  Beyond those issues, the most serious concern for Africa was the failure of the WTO ministerial meeting at Cancun, he said, adding that agricultural subsidies to thousands of Northern farmers had led to a drastic drop in the prices paid to African cotton farmers, who depended on that crop for their existence.

EDUARDO GALLARDO APARICIO (Bolivia) said globalization had widened the gap between rich and poor and made poor countries even more vulnerable.  The current global economic, financial and commercial systems and the information technology revolution had not adequately responded to the needs of developing nation countries and impeded their ability to meet the Millennium Goal of halving by 2015, the number of people living on less than one dollar a day.  Reaching that goal was a shared responsibility, he said, calling on the international community to support trade and economic policy reform and increase funding to countries in need.

He called for the creation of alternative financial mechanisms to help alleviate the intractable external debt-crisis faced by many developing countries.  The HIPC needed better market access and more financing in order to achieve sustainable development and economic growth.

JOHN LANGMORE, International Labour Organization (ILO), noted that global unemployment had risen from 160 million to 180 million people between 2000 and 2002.  In addition, about 500 million people subsisted below the poverty line, earning just enough to sustain themselves and their families, or lived just above the poverty line.  Stressing the vital importance of unemployment and poverty, he called on the international community to find strategies for achieving the Millennium goals, including by finding ways to increase employment, which was central to those targets.

OUCH BORITH (Cambodia) said his country had undergone dramatic changes in the last decade, completing the transition from a centrally planned, one-party war-torn State to a democratic, peaceful market economy.  The Government, private sector and civil society, with the help of international donors, had formed partnerships to rebuild Cambodia’s economy and poverty eradication was a top priority.  A national socio-economic development plan launched last year aimed to raise per capita GDP to $500, raise life expectancy to between 60 and 63 years and adult literacy to more than 90 per cent, as well as ensure universal access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation services, education and healthcare.

Poverty eradication was also the responsibility of the global community, he continued.  The shortfall in ODA steep external debt-burdens and the HIV/AIDS pandemic must be resolved through collective efforts.  He called on donor countries to make good on their ODA pledges and for greater foreign investment in the least developed countries as both were vital for their development.

MURARI RAJ SHARMA (Nepal) said the world economic slowdown seemed to have bottomed out, but recovery had remained weak.  In the near term, the United States economy was likely to be sluggish as well, with structural weakness and geopolitical risks continuing to affect recovery.  Many countries had witnessed a sharp decline in economic activities and poverty had increased starkly.  Even though developing countries had yet to reap the fruits of globalization, they were now bearing the problems of the economic downturn.

He said that success at the Cancun WTO meeting could have stimulated global trade and economic recovery, but participants had been more interested in preserving their subsidies and trade barriers.  The international community must pick up the pieces of Cancun and steer the talks to success.  Developing countries did not have a level playing field in world markets, were blunted by trade barriers, and suffered from weaknesses in productivity and marketing.

SIDDIG MOHAMED ABDALLA (Sudan) said the failure of the recent WTO talks at Cancun was a strong message to the international community that it must work harder to achieve international trade and economic cooperation.  That goal must be pursued vigorously if the Millennium Development Goals and the targets set at Monterrey, Johannesburg and Doha were to be achieved.

While the Millennium Goals included halving global poverty by 2015, if current trends continued, the number of poor people would in fact rise to       410 million by 2015.  More must be done to keep poverty eradication on track.  In that regard, the Sudan was doing its part, thanks to a national poverty reduction strategy and greater spending on socio-economic development.  He called on all countries to implement the Brussels Programme of Action for the least developed countries and to support the poorest of the poor through increased ODA, foreign direct investment and more equitable trade policies.  The Sudan also urged full support for NEPAD.

RADZI RAHMAN (Malaysia) said that in seeking sustainable development, national governments must display good governance, lay down sound macroeconomic policies and maintain financial discipline and the rule of law to create confidence in the economy.  However, without a sound international economic environment that was conducive to growth in developing countries, many of them would have problems achieving sustainable development.  They must be provided with the necessary resource, funds and assistance.

He stressed that sustained economic development for developing countries could not be guaranteed without reform to the existing international financial architecture.  In its current form, the system was ill-equipped to deal effectively with the complexities and challenges of globalization, or to protect developing countries.  The few measures taken in the past few years to reform the international financial architecture were clearly inadequate to protect developing economies or ensure a stable international financial system.

STUART LESLIE (Belize), speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said the recent Cancun conference had illustrated the difficulty small island developing States faced in attaining equitable trading agreements but also highlighted their collective strength.  The Second Committee’s work programme should include issues of great concern to small island developing States:  trade and development, commodities, science and technology, external debt, capacity-building and institutional development, climate change, sea level rise and environmental protection.

He said this year was an extremely important one for small island developing States as they prepared for the 10-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action to be held next year in Mauritius.  That review would provide an opportunity to take stock of the continuing challenges and emerging issues that had made implementation of the Barbados Programme a daunting task.  It would assess the status of implementation of 14 priority areas and address emerging ones in health, poverty eradication and security of small States.  It was hoped that the meeting would also make the international community more sensitive to the vulnerability of small island developing States.

ARMEN MARTIROSYAN (Armenia) said his Government had a clear vision of economic development strategies in line with the Millennium Development Goals.  Armenia had launched a PRSP linking education, economic development and poverty reduction.  With help from civil society, donor countries and donor organizations, it had created a National Sustainable Development Strategy.  Moreover, relevant United Nations bodies had helped identify links between the environment and poverty reduction.  Those steps, alongside Armenia’s improved compliance with international standards and duty-free and preferential market access of its products to developed country markets, had fuelled growth and exports in the last three years.

Stressing the importance of the Almaty Programme of Action, he called it the first promising global plan to recognize and address the special needs of landlocked least developed countries.  The conference had reaffirmed the right of landlocked countries to sea access and to transit neighbours’ territory.  It had also provided a forum for landlocked States to voice their grievances about unilateral coercive measures in that regard.  He called for full, timely implementation of the Almaty Programme.

DOMINIC SENGI (Papua New Guinea) drew attention to the need to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention, saying that climate change and sea level rise had become a serious threat to the survival of small island developing States, including Papua New Guinea.  Developed countries, particularly the United States, the Russian Federation and Australia, should ratify the document and take concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help small island developing States in relocating populations affected by emissions to higher ground or larger islands. 

He emphasized the importance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sustainable development and the full, comprehensive 10-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action to be held next year in Mauritius.  Small island developing States were completing regional preparatory meetings for the Mauritius meeting and hoped that the review would determine positive steps to address their future environmental and development challenges.

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