PRESS CONFERENCE ON PROGRESS TOWARDS MILLENIUM DELOPMENT GOALS

Intensive news coverage of the Millennium Development Goals planned for the summer of 2007 would centre on accomplishments and outstanding issues, Kemal Derviş, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Chairman of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

He said activities during that period -- the mid-point between the 2000 Millennium Summit and the 2015 target year for reaching the Goals –- would also focus on identifying ways to propel the process forward, with the United Nations playing a central role.  “I sense a tremendous increase in the demand for multilateralism and the multilateral approach to the world’s problems.”

The UNDP’s role in poorer countries was different from the one it played in middle-income ones, where its programmes tended to be funded by local Governments, he said.  In the spirit of country ownership, it was often left to the countries themselves to decide the mix of activities, with the United Nations providing guidance and multilateral backing.  “In many countries, progress is way too slow.  We must make a dramatically increased effort, together with the country.  It is, of course, the countries, at the end of the day, that have to achieve them.”

Lauding Spain’s launching of a new fund to advance the Millennium Goals, he said plans were in place to streamline the current development framework, in line with suggestions put forward by the High-Level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence in the Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and Environment, convened by the Secretary-General in February.  Those recommendations which were also being shared with Secretary-General-designate Ban Ki-moon would reaffirm the central role of the United Nations in international development efforts to be led by UNDP Resident Coordinators and overseen by UNDG, comprising 28 agencies, funds and programmes.

He stressed that the previously mooted rearrangement of those 28 agencies to form three new bodies -- dealing with humanitarian, development and environment issues respectively -- was not part of the High-Level Panel’s recommendations.  UNDP would not undertake unilateral decisions in an effort to streamline its processes since it was bound by requirements put forth by Member States on its Executive Board.

Nevertheless, the Programme had been able to act within its mandate to launch programmes in eight pilot countries where new procedures for United Nations cohesion would be tested, he said.  “Perhaps in six months or eight months, we can then digest all this and take it to the intergovernmental process and say, ‘Here is what we’ve learned.  Looking towards 2008, should we now generalize this or should we perhaps try to correct it somewhat and do it in somewhat different ways?’”

Asked about UNDP’s involvement with a Uganda People’s Defence Force disarmament programme in Karamoja, northern Uganda, he denied any connection between the Programme and such an exercise.

Questioned about the transparency of UNDP accounting mechanisms, the Administrator replied that the results of external audits, based, in turn, on internal audits, were made available to Executive Board members and the public through the Programme’s website.  However, internal audits were rarely made public because they tended to be used as a management tool in assessing allegations of misconduct, for example.  The Programme was now examining ways to make those audits available to larger audiences, without undermining their ‘internal-management-tool’ nature and while protecting staff.  That task would probably be undertaken by an intermediary body.

He explained, however, that the Administrator had access to a discretionary fund that could be used in unforeseen circumstances or in areas where additional impetus was thought to be required.  $1.3 million had been assigned to that fund under the current budget, and barring legal obstacles, its uses could be opened to public scrutiny along with those of the previous 10 years.

Asked whether a “global re-think” was needed on raising the accountability of public corporations, he said:  “Fundamentally, total transparency and openness in terms of programmes -- where the money goes, how it goes and why it goes -- is absolutely necessary.  I think we’ve made great strides towards that.  For example, our country programmes are not at all confidential.  You can find out exactly how the money is spent in Turkey, Brazil or Viet Nam.”

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For information media • not an official record