ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONSIDERS IMPLEMENTATION, FOLLOW-UP TO MAJOR

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES, SUMMITS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS

Discusses Follow-Up to the International Conference on Financing for Development

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 19 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this morning held a general discussion on the implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits and General Assembly resolutions 50/227, 52/12 B and 57/270 B, then debated the issue of follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development.

In the context of the general discussion on the implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits and General Assembly resolutions 50/227, 52/12 B and 57/270 B, national delegations raised a number of issues.  Speakers noted that the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields had been instrumental in improving human life in different parts of the world by shaping common objectives.  Addressing issues in a more comprehensive and holistic manner would have a greater impact, and the implementation of the outcomes of the conferences and summits should be more coordinated, a speaker said.  Important steps had been taken for the coordination of the international community to fight against poverty, and the Millennium Development Goals had become a major reference point for all to achieve development.  However, there was a need to meet the challenges faced by middle-income countries.

Representatives of Russian Federation, El Salvador, Indonesia, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC spoke.

General Assembly resolution 50/227 concerns “further measures for the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields”. General Assembly resolution 52/12 B is on “renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform”.  General Assembly resolution 57/270 B is entitled “integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields”.

During the discussion on follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development, speakers said, among other things, that developing countries were facing enormous challenges, and financing was essential for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.  Trade was not fair enough, a delegate commented.  The enhancement of links between the United Nations and its bodies with the international financial organizations and Bretton Woods institutions was vital in this regard.  Development should not be subject to conditions imposed by other nations or international financial institutions, a speaker said.  The slow-down in the Doha Round jeopardized the ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in time -- one of the reasons for this was the unwillingness of certain members of the World Trade Organization to view development as a positive force, said another speaker. 

Representatives of Pakistan (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), Portugal (on behalf of the European Union), Venezuela, Belarus, Kenya, China and Bolivia spoke.

This afternoon at 3 p.m., the Council will begin its consideration of the review and coordination of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010.

Documents

The Council has before it the report of the Secretary-General on the role of the Economic and Social Council in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes of and follow-up to the major United Nations conferences and summits, in the light of General Assembly resolutions 50/227, 52/12 B, 57/270 B and 60/265 (A/62/89-E/2007/76), which provides an overview of the major areas of progress and continuing challenges in the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits at the global, regional and country level and proposes steps that could be taken to address them.  It highlights, in particular, the opportunities that the new functions of the Economic and Social Council, notably the Annual Ministerial Review, the biennial Development Cooperation Forum and the specific event of the General Assembly on development, provide for advancing the integrated and coordinated follow-up of conferences.

The Council has before it a note by the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) transmitting the report of the Committee on World Food Security on implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action (E/2007/74).  The quadrennial report consists of the recommendations of the Committee with regard to two sets of reviews carried out in 2004 and 2006, as reflected in the associated reports of the Committee and the Council.  Among others, the Committee recommended that FAO assist developing countries in building capacity to benefit from the opportunities provided by a liberalized trading environment; and that donors and international organizations give preference, where appropriate, to the purchase of local and regional produce in the provision of food aid.  The highlight of the thirtieth session of the Committee in 2004 was the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security.  In addition, a special forum was held within the thirty-second session of the Committee on World Food Security in 2006 to undertake a major broad-based progress assessment of the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action and a midterm review of progress made in achieving the target of reducing by half the number of undernourished people no later than 2015.

General Debate

ALEXANDER ALIMOV ( Russian Federation) said the way in which the consideration of issues relating to an integrated and coordinated implementation of the major United Nations conferences and summits took place should be optimized.  Considering relevant agenda items in the coordination segment would promote effective work of the Council, in particular with regards to follow-up to the conferences and summits, and would enhance work in the general segment.

MARISOL ARGUETA DE BARILLAS ( El Salvador) said important steps had been taken for the coordination of the international community to fight poverty.  The Millennium Development Goals had become a major reference point for all to achieve development.  But many countries had over recent years seen a considerable drop-off in untied grant aid, especially in middle-income countries.  There was a need to meet the challenges faced by middle-income countries.  This also implied proper financial mechanisms.  People in middle-income countries accounted for more than 40 per cent of all populations living on less than $1 a day.  These countries should be more integrated in the world market.  Middle-income countries produced a lot of goods, which was encouraging economic development. 

The primary responsibility for domestic policies lay within the countries that had to implement them.  But the national efforts to alleviate poverty needed to be supported.  A significant proportion of the world’s poor lived in middle-income countries.  Special attention should be paid to the institutional structure and the vulnerability of those countries in the world’s financial markets.  International cooperation should help those countries to implement their goals.  Equal importance was attached to direct and indirect investments.  Small- and medium-sized enterprises would help the countries to boost their exports.  Development banks also had an important role to play, helping the companies in getting access to financing.  South-South contribution should play a major role in it.

ROSMALAWATI CHALID ( Indonesia) said major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields had been instrumental in improving human life in different parts of the world by shaping common objectives.  The reports of the Secretary-General provided a firm basis for the discussion on this.  There had been progress on the economic, social and environment levels, but billions of people continued to struggle to surmount the daily battle for survival- and in some areas the situation was getting worse.  The major United Nations conferences and summits had the potential for ensuring that, through their follow-up, progress would be made.

Addressing issues in a more comprehensive and holistic manner would have a greater impact, and the implementation should be more coordinated.  The innovative mechanisms that had been instituted were welcomed, such as the Annual Ministerial Review, which would be a powerful tool for a multilateral dialogue which should result in a common agenda for the future.  The recommendation for the Council to determine a structured and clear focus for the Review was important.  The Council should seize the opportunity to win the battle against poverty. 

INGEBORG BREINES, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said UNESCO’s strategy for the eradication of poverty was implemented through an integrated approach, and involved all the programmes of the organization.  Stress was put on the identification of specific entry points for the organization’s contribution and action bearing in mind various plans and frameworks for action, such as the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All, among others.  UNESCO was focusing on three major, interrelated strategic objectives, including the contribution to a broadening of the focus of international and national poverty reduction strategies, supporting the establishment of effective linkages between national poverty reduction strategies and sustainable development frameworks, helping to mobilize social capital by building capacities and institutions and contributing to an enabling national policy framework and environment for empowerment, participatory approaches and livelihood generation.

With regard to the World Summit on Information Society, it had been an international landmark event setting targets, developing new approaches towards the potential of information and communication for development and mobilizing multi-stakeholder approaches and new networks “to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society”, she said.  UNESCO’s position had been that, as both a description of present trends and as a characterization of a desirable future, the notion of a single global information society did not capture the full potential of the information and communication revolution for human development.  UNESCO’s role in the implementation process included, among other things, the implementation of concrete activities contained in the Geneva Action Plan within the framework of its own programmes so as to operationalize its concept of knowledge societies and the cooperation, together with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in the overall multi-stakeholder coordination of the facilitators of all eleven action lines.

RENATA BLOEM, of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Status with ECOSOC (CONGO), said as part of the trend for its strengthening, the Economic and Social Council had promoted an integrated and coordinated approach to the various conference follow-up processes.  The United Nations Secretary-General’s recognition of the significant increase of civil society participation in the work of the United Nations and in the implementation of the United Nations development goals was appreciated.  Bringing the different follow-up processes together and establishing new Council functions would promote a greater interaction among all constituencies. At the same time, the Council would also benefit from a higher degree of involvement and contribution from NGO partners in reviewing progress in implementation in a cross-sectoral manner.  Informal consultations with civil society actors should be held during the process of drafting the Ministerial Declaration, and countries under voluntary review during the Annual Ministerial Review should involve civil society actors in a national consultation process.

Documents

The Council has before it the summary by the President of ECOSOC of the special high-level meeting of the Council with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (New York, 16 April 2007) (A/62/76-E/2007/55 and Corr.1).  The overall theme of that meeting was “Coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus”.  The summary is divided into sections according to the meeting's four sub-themes that served as the focus of substantive discussions: good governance at all levels; voice and participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making, including the Bretton Woods institutions; realizing the Doha Development Agenda: effective use of trade and investment policies; and aid effectiveness and innovative financing for development.  In concluding remarks, the President suggests that one of the tasks ahead is to ensure that the 2008 spring meeting significantly contributes to the preparation for, and success of, the Financing for Development Review Conference to be held in Doha, Qatar in the second half of 2008.

The Council has before it a letter dated 4 April 2007 from the Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General transmitting a summary of the proceedings of the Intergovernmental Conference on Middle-Income Countries held in Madrid on 1 and 2 March 2007 (A/62/71-E/2007/46).  The Conference was attended by more than 90 delegations, including 51 delegations from middle-income countries, together with representatives of developed countries, international organizations and financial institutions.  The summary gives the main contributions to the debate on the following topics: cooperation with middle-income countries: the role of donors and international organizations; financial stability in middle-income countries; trade integration and competitive advantages of middle-income countries; and social cohesion and democratic governance.  Participants observed that there was a significant heterogeneity in the group of countries categorized as middle-income, and that in defining donor approaches it was therefore appropriate to go beyond the criterion of per capita gross domestic product and incorporate such other variables as the efforts a country had made to progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, and its achievements in the area of democratic governance and respect for human rights.  Among other observations was that international cooperation with such countries should be directed at increasing their autonomy.

General Discussion

MUHAMMAD AYUB (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said that the Council’s deliberations on the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development assumed particular significance this year.  There were several reasons for this.  First, on account of the process initiated by the President of the General Assembly, by appointing two facilitators, to prepare for the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.  Second, because of the decision to convene the high-level dialogue on financing for development as part of the preparations for the Doha Review Conference and in line with resolution 61/191.  Third, because of the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum where the whole gamut of development cooperation including financing would be reviewed and evaluated by the Council.  The Group of 77 gave high priority to the follow-up the international agenda embodied in the Monterrey Consensus.  Developing countries were facing enormous challenges.  Financing was essential for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. 

Trade was not fair enough to become an engine of growth for many developing countries, he said.  The Monterrey consultations had not come far enough towards conceiving a new system of financial governance that would serve to redress the imbalances of the old.  The Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus would provide a platform to meaningfully address these issues based on the lessons learnt and experiences gained.  Special importance was attached to those aspects relating to systemic issues including fostering greater coherence among the multilateral trading, financial and monetary systems, and ensuring that developing countries played a meaningful role in international economic decision-making.  The deliberations of the upcoming high-level dialogue should provide useful input.  Given the importance of financing for development, the Group of 77 would actively engage in the dialogue.

VANESSA GOMES (Portugal), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the European Union welcomed the discussions held in the context of the April high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development that dealt with the important theme of coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the 2005 World Summit Outcome.  The European Union was looking forward to the follow-up international conference on financing for development to review the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, to be held in Doha in the second half of 2008.  The role of ECOSOC in this follow-up process was well established. 

The Council should ensure that its 2008 spring meeting would be well prepared and contributed to the conference objectives.  In this regard, and in order to ensure that all the stakeholders were in a position to contribute substantively and actively, the decision on the specific themes to be discussed by the spring meeting should be taken at the earliest possible time.  The European Union requested the future President of the Council to decide on these themes as soon as possible, bearing in mind the contribution that the Council could make of the assessment on the progress made in the implementation, best practices, lessons learnt and identification of obstacles and constraints encountered as well as new challenges and emerging issues in regard to the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.  The Monterrey Consensus called for interaction between representatives of the Economic and Social Council and the Directors of the Executive Boards of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on matters related to follow-up to the Conference and preparations for the annual spring meeting between those institutions.  The European Union strongly supported these important interactions and consultations in the run up to the high-level dialogue of the General Assembly on financing for development and the Council’s spring meeting.

ALEXANDER PANKIN ( Russian Federation) said the holding of a comprehensive multisectoral, integrated and coordinated approach to resolving the major issues with regards to the implementation of the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits was essential to the Council.  The enhancement of links between the United Nations and its bodies with the international financial organizations and Bretton Woods institutions was also vital.  The results of the recent high-level meeting in this regard were supported, and there should be enhancement of this as it was an important element of the post-Monterrey process.  It should enhance the partnerships created due to the Monterrey process.

Russia attached growing attention to issues linked to development, and had increased its assistance in this regard considerably over the last few years.  One of the key issues and tasks facing the International Conference for Financing for Development was reaching agreement between donors and recipients.  Reform was not something that was the internal business of financial institutions alone - it was also the collective interest of States, and all should get together to consider mutually beneficial arrangements.

JORGE ARTHURO REYES ( Venezuela) said that, during the International Conference on Financing for Development, participating countries had taken on themselves a shared effort to promote development.  A great deal had been discussed on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  Despite the efforts made so far, the worldwide economy had led to an increase of the disparities.  Halfway to 2015, there were still a lot of obstacles, such as the external debt burden.  The only responses received from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank had been to make sure that the poor countries paid off their external debt.  Venezuela believed that the development strategies agreed multilaterally needed to take into account the specific resources and potential of each country. 

Development should not be subject to conditions imposed by other nations or international financial institutions.  Sustained and predictable growth was needed.  The Millennium Development Goals would only be achieved if there was a radical change in international trade and the way it was organized.  The commitments made in Monterrey should lead to a system benefiting to the developing countries.  The growing gulf between developed and developing countries should be reduced.  If the international community had the will to reduce the imbalances, concrete steps should be taken.

DIMITRI FOMCHENKO ( Belarus) said the practice of holding on a regular basis special high-level meetings of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development should continue.  Meetings of this type were an effective mechanism for fully-involving all interested parties in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, and ensuring funds for implementing the development goals.  The current economic situation in the world was favourable for the Millennium Development Goals, but there were a number of preconditions for a possible economic slump as a result of a slow-down in a number of countries, among other issues.

There was a need to resolve problems and to change attitudes in the Bretton Woods institutions, the authority of which had been undermined in the past.  A significant number of countries were attempting to gain independence from these bodies.  There should be a genuine expansion and enhancement of the participation of developing and transition countries in the international financial institutions’ decision-making.  The slow-down in the Doha Round jeopardized the ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in time - one of the reasons for this was the unwillingness of certain members of the World Trade Organization to view development as a positive force.  The balance of trade should favour developing countries.

PHILIP RICHARD O. OWADE ( Kenya) said it was now five years since the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus.  Current trends indicated that the world was not on track to realizing the commitments made to provide developing countries with the requisite enabling environment as well as resources to support their development efforts.  Very little progress had been made in the issues covered by the Monterey Consensus.  Kenya had made tremendous strides in its tax collection efforts.  The economy had grown by 5.8 per cent last year.  Tax revenue had increased by $ 1.5 billion due to an increase of the efficiency in the tax collection.  This led to predictability and reliability of governmental expenditure.  Despite this success, not enough resources could be collected to finance development programmes.  Global trends were not promising.  The promises made to Africa by the Group of Eight (G-8) were far from being met.  Kenya called for more efforts to meet the commitments.

The Government of Kenya had collaborated with the development partners to draw up several policies, he said.  The Kenya joint assistance strategy was aimed at facilitating the delivery of the resources.  The Government was looking forward to cooperation with partners to further implement the initiatives.  On foreign direct investments, innovative ways should be sought.  On trade, little progress had been made and developing countries continued to be marginalized in international trade.  The existing imbalances should be addressed by a comprehensive approach.  Kenya was looking forward to the review conference that would be held in 2008.

QIAN JIAN ( China) said adequate funding was a fundamental guarantee for development.  The shortage of funds was now a serious problem.  The Monterrey Consensus should be fully implemented.  The General Assembly had decided that in Doha next year a follow-up conference would be held to evaluate the Monterrey Consensus.  The next few years were critical for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.  The international community should take measures to implement the Consensus and solidify the World Summit outcome, in order to ensure substantive progress in this area. 

Governments were mostly responsible for financing for development, but the international community was also important, and all parties should do their best to move forward in the partnership, working to relieve debt, open up markets, and ensure the implementation of the outcomes of summits and commitments made with regards to those.  The international financial and trade system should be restructured to remove obstacles to financing for trade and development.  The international financial structural reform should be moved forward, and new ways explored to diversify sources of funding.  The international community should establish a follow-up and monitoring mechanism to oversee the implementation of outcomes. 

HUGO FERNANDEZ ( Bolivia) said that, since 2006, Bolivia had been embarked in a process of readjusting its economic process.  New policies were based on the new national development plan.  It was the first for 21 years, including the traditional living patterns of the indigenous majority of the Bolivian population.  The state should be sovereign.  In a multi-lingual nation like Bolivia, everybody should be involved, bearing in mind the different languages and cultures.  Living well meant making development a more human-centred process, including the cultural diversity.  The whole society should be actively involved in the process.  Everyone should benefit from the process in harmony with nature.  A development plan including the coexistence among communities as well as promoting and respecting the diversity should be part of the social and economic development.

This meant more than just boosting the economy and investments; it was also boosting the employment.  There were different ways of thinking and acting in Bolivia and they all had to be combined if one wanted to achieve growth.  A fairer sharing of wealth and income was important.  Some donor countries had achieved the goals set.  Further international consultations should be encouraged.  The aid mechanism should be made more flexible.  A new type of debt structure should be sought.  The fight against corruption was also an important issue.  The taxation system should target polluting companies.

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