at launch of development cooperation forum, United Nations chief describes

it as part of process to strengthen Economic and Social Council

 

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 5 July (UN Information Service) –-The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this morning launched the Development Cooperation Forum, hearing the United Nations Secretary-General say that the Forum formed an integral part of the process to strengthen the Economic and Social Council.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also said that establishing the Development Cooperation Forum was also a decisive step forward in the implementation of the global partnership for development.  It was proof of the commitment of Governments to strengthen the coherence and effectiveness of international development cooperation.  The emergence of new and increasingly specialized funds made the system even more complex.  The challenges ahead were daunting.  But the global effort would bear fruit only if all stakeholders – Governments, UN system organizations, civil society, parliaments, private sector and academia – understood that they were accountable to one another.  Just as the global partnership for development was instrumental in achieving the development goals, so too were national ownership and leadership instrumental in driving the process.

Dalius Čekuolis ( Lithuania), President of ECOSOC, said it was fitting that the launch of the Forum took place on the last day of the high-level segment, since it would be a cornerstone of the work of the Council in the promotion of international cooperation for development.  The United Nations had given the Council the mandate of organizing the economic and social agenda, with the Development Cooperation Forum as a mechanism for the Council to undertake this work more coherently.  At a time when there was growing uncertainty regarding the realization of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the Forum was a powerful new mechanism to promote accountability of development partners and the effectiveness required to meet the Goals.  It was also a significant milestone in the implementation of the global partnership for development. 

Statements were made by a number of countries who said the overall purpose of the Development Cooperation Forum should be to ensure that development cooperation was responsive to the needs of the developing countries, to ensure that the quantity and quality of developing financing was adequate and appropriate to the receiving countries, and that the desired objectives and results were achieved in a coherent and effective manner. 

Speakers expected that the Forum would become an important part of the international discussion on the development cooperation agenda, and the global partnership for development, as well as a crucial mechanism to emphasize the Council’s role as the policy coordination body of the United Nations system for economic, social and environmental matters.  A Forum was a place for the exchange of ideas and information.  It could become a key platform for all partners in development, including donor and recipient countries, the United Nations system, international financial systems and the private sector on issues of successful international cooperation in the field of development, one speaker said.

Speaking this morning were the representatives of Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77, Portugal on behalf of the European Union, China, United States, Switzerland and the Russian Federation.

The next meeting of the Council will be at 3 p.m., when it will hear a summary of two round tables held this morning on promoting greater coherence among development activities of different development partners: the role of national aid coordination and management; and on a review of trends in international development cooperation: South-South and triangular cooperation.  It will also adopt the Ministerial Declaration on the first Annual Ministerial Review before concluding its high-level segment. 

Introductory Statement on Launch of Development Cooperation Forum

DALIUS ČEKUOLIS ( Lithuania), President of the Economic and Social Council, in opening remarks, said it was fitting that the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum took place on the last day of the high-level segment, since it would be a cornerstone of the work of the Council in the promotion of international cooperation for development.  The United Nations was the main player in ensuring the coherence, implementation and organization of international plans of action agreed by the international community.  The United Nations had given the Council the mandate of organizing the economic and social agenda, with the Cooperation Forum as a mechanism for the Council to undertake this work more coherently.  This would be achieved by dedicating part of the Forum to reviewing trends in international development cooperation.  It would also take stock of progress in development cooperation, based on an inclusive and participatory process.  This was expected to produce policy guidance and recommendations.

At a time when there was growing uncertainty regarding the realization of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the Forum was a powerful new mechanism to promote accountability of development partners and the effectiveness required to meet the Goals.  It was also a significant milestone in the implementation of the global partnership for development.  The Forum offered an unprecedented opportunity for stakeholders to work together to improve the impact of development cooperation.  However, the results that had the greatest impact were the ones that stakeholders could claim as their own.  As an instrument of the international community, the Forum would build on the successes of other important fora, such as the Monterrey Conference, which latter established that national ownership and leadership was the foundation for successful development cooperation.

General Debate on Development Cooperation Forum

MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said that it was a source of great pleasure to see the initiative for a strengthened Economic and Social Council, launched during the Economic and Social Council in 2005, translated into reality.  The role of the Development Cooperation Forum had been outlined in a General Assembly resolution.  It should give policy guidelines and recommendations, identify gaps and realize the internationally agreed development goals, among others.  Global partnership for development must be enhanced.  The Development Cooperation Forum should together with the Annual Ministerial Review enable the Economic and Social Council to conduct a comprehensive review of international development cooperation to identify and address key gaps.  In addition, it should strengthen linkages between the different organizations and system wide operations.  It should also give priority to the exchange of information.  The relationship between the Development Cooperation Forum and the Annual Ministerial Review should be clear.  The Annual Ministerial Review was designed to review the progress of the entire range of the agreed goals and to provide policy guidance to Member States.  The Development Cooperation Forum was designed to focus on international development cooperation in all its aspects and to improve its governance and effectiveness to enhance and implement the agreed development goals. 

Efforts had been made for coordination with the Bretton Woods organizations, but as yet there was no coordination with them on programmes and projects.  The Development Cooperation Forum should be designed to redress this unfortunate situation.  There was now evidence of a greater willingness of all concerned parties to act together coherently to promote the goals of development.  The overall purpose of the Development Cooperation Forum should be to ensure that development cooperation was responsive to the needs of the developing countries, to ensure that the quantity and quality of developing financing was adequate and appropriate to the receiving countries, and that the desired objectives and results were achieved in a coherent and effective manner.  In the Annual Ministerial Review, the development of criteria and benchmarks was asked to measure the effectiveness and results.  Mutual accountability should then be ensured.  This could and should be done by the Development Cooperation Forum.  The effectiveness of the Development Cooperation Forum would also depend of the nature and documentation, data and analysis prepared for its consideration.

JOAO GOMES CRAVINHO (Portugal), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said heads of State and Government in 2005 had decided to hold a biennial high-level Development Cooperation Forum to review trends in international development cooperation, including strategies, policies and financing, promote greater coherence among the development activities of different development partners, and strengthen the links between the normative and operational work of the United Nations.  The European Union was committed to a strong and coherent United Nations at the heart of an effective multilateralism, which was designed to meet the challenges of the 21st century such as poverty eradication, sustainable development and humanitarian relief.  To deliver well, the system had to constantly adapt to changing contexts, new challenges and needs.  The holding of the Forum was one response of the Member States to the emerging need for a deeper dialogue on development cooperation. 

At this midpoint on the road to 2015, the launching of the Forum was particularly symbolic, and it should prove its value-added toward the fulfilment and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and other internationally agreed development goals.  It was expected that the Forum would become an important part of the international discussion on the development cooperation agenda, and the global partnership for development, as well as a crucial mechanism to emphasise the Council’s role as the policy coordination body of the United Nations system for economic, social and environmental matters.  It could be an important coordination and cooperation mechanism in a context of an array of multilateral and bilateral players’ existence, a growing number of new donor countries, and the increasing number of special purpose global funds, added to the growing role of NGOs and the private sector in development cooperation.  The Forum could also address issues such as aid architecture, the implementation of the Paris Declaration, and the role of new and emerging donors. 

LI BADAONG ( China) said that the creation of the Development Cooperation Forum marked another major step forward in the implementation of the decisions taken at the 2006 United Nations Summit and important progress in reforms in the economic and social field.  Properly defined goals, direction, priorities and modality of the Development Cooperation Forum would be key to its success as the only United Nations mechanism newly established that specifically worked to comprehensively review international development cooperation.  First the Development Cooperation Forum should always focus on promoting development.  China believed that such cooperation at the current stage should set priority on two issues, financing for development and the Doha Round of trade talks and work for progress on both of them.  The Doha Round now stood at a critical juncture, and there was no sign of convergence of different positions.  The Development Cooperation Forum should shore up the political will of various parties and get developed members, major trading nations in particular, to demonstrate political sincerity and greater flexibility to facilitate comprehensive and balanced outcomes of the talks. 

The Development Cooperation Forum should work for putting in place a Millennium Development Goals assessment and monitoring mechanism.  The capacity of the United Nations to address development issues should be enhanced.  In a globalized world, the international community was faced with both traditional and non-traditional security challenges such as regional conflicts, public health, environment and sustainable development.  The role of the stakeholders should be given full play.  The Development Cooperation Forum brought together stakeholders in the government, private sector, and civil society and worked on thematic and cross-cutting issues at national, regional and international levels.  It should use this advantage to promote closer partnership among the stakeholders on international development and forge synergy through encouraging them to enhance coordination and supplement and reinforce each other’s work, with a view to contributing to the international development cause.      

RICHARD T. MILLER ( United States) said the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum was welcome, and it was hoped that as the Council went forward, it would be as creative in designing the Forum as it had with the Annual Ministerial Review.  A Forum was a place for the exchange of ideas and information.  For the United States, as a donor, it was interested in basic indicators of aid effectiveness, such as where and when it could be most effectively applied, and how, as this was the kind of information which helped to build and maintain political support for aid flows outside of the United States.  It could be very difficult to link specific interventions of aid with specific development results, however, it was this type of information which could have the most impact on flows.  The United States looked forward to participating actively in the Forum, both this year and in the future.

WALTER FUST ( Switzerland) said that the establishment of the Development Cooperation Forum within the Economic and Social Council high-level segment was a significant achievement.  This new forum provided the Economic and Social Council with a unique opportunity to engage all the relevant stakeholders in a dialogue on critical issues affecting the quality and relevance of the international aid system and to promote enhanced coordination and greater development impact.  The Development Cooperation Forum would give a chance to take stock of the global trends in strategies and policies in development cooperation, as well as emerging trends in the field. 

It would help promote a common understanding of the conceptual framework for effective aid delivery and by doing so bring the discussion to a broader multilateral level with the objective to improve harmonization and alignment in the true spirit of the Paris Declaration.  The Development Cooperation Forum would offer the unique opportunity to develop instruments for clarifying and strengthening the mutual accountability of donors and recipient countries encapsulated in the Monterrey consensus and pave the way to the “Monterrey+6” conference on financing for development in Doha next year. 

MIKHAIL SAVOSTYANOV (Russian Federation) welcomed the establishment of the Development Cooperation Forum, and was convinced that all the necessary conditions obtained meant that it could become a key platform for all partners in development, including donor and recipient countries, the United Nations system, international financial systems and the private sector on issues of successful international cooperation in the field of development.  It was necessary to ensure such cooperation within the United Nations.  The relative advantage of the universal platform of the United Nations was the possibility of ensuring a non-exclusive dialogue.  The priority topics could be the effectiveness of international cooperation for development, including predictability and stability of aid, ensuring room to include the national interests of donor countries, harmonisation of efforts of donors, ensuring complementarity of all channels of aid, and others. 

It was important to have a balanced approach to the selection of topics for upcoming sessions of the Forum.  There was also a need for efforts to ensure that the Forum was also practically effective, and this was in keeping with resolution 61/16 of the General Assembly of the United Nations.  The Council should consider how this should be set in practice.  In order to ensure the success of the Forum, it should be integrated into the existing architecture of the discussions on development cooperation.  It was clear that the tasks before the Forum tied in closely with these processes which had already been launched and were supported by the donor community, and they should be coordinated properly in order to respect the architecture of the process. 

Statement by Secretary-General

BAN KI-MOON, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said establishing the Development Cooperation Forum formed an integral part of the process to strengthen the Economic and Social Council.  It was a decisive step forward in the implementation of the global partnership for development.  And it was proof of the commitment of Governments to strengthen the coherence and effectiveness of international development cooperation.  Over the years, the international system for development assistance had expanded in a haphazard fashion.  Today, it appeared unnecessarily fragmented and complicated.  Donor aid flows tended to be concentrated in a few countries, while other low-income countries suffered from under-funding.  The number of donors was increasing, and the interface with partner countries was becoming more demanding and multifaceted.  Donor policies and procedures were varied, and the process of harmonization was proving difficult.  National administrative systems were burdened with responding to different frameworks and to demands by various stakeholders.

The emergence of new and increasingly specialized funds made the system even more complex, the Secretary-General said.  The challenges ahead were daunting. But the global effort would bear fruit only if all stakeholders – Governments, United Nations system organizations, civil society, parliaments, private sector and academia -- understood that they were accountable to one another.  Back in 2002, the Conference on Financing for Development recognized that if development efforts were to have a lasting impact, they must be based on national ownership of development goals and strategies, combined with sound policies and good governance at all levels.  Just as the global partnership for development was instrumental in achieving the development goals, so too were national ownership and leadership instrumental in driving the process.  The Monterrey Consensus also affirmed the importance of substantially increased and predictable official development assistance and of its effective use in supporting efforts to achieve development objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Secretary-General Ban said as all were reminded of the decrease in official development aid flows in 2006, they should take nothing for granted.  Donors should to commit to timelines for scaling up aid to reach the 2010 and 2015 commitments.  Fresh funding was required if the financing gap was to be overcome, and the Millennium Development Goals reached on time.  All countries in the Doha Development Round should to rekindle the spirit of cooperation and collaboration and conclude the trade negotiations in a way that benefited those who needed it most.

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