SPEAKERS STRESS NATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF DEVELOPMENT PLANS, EMPOWERING LOCAL PEOPLE, AS SECOND COMMITTEE CONCLUDES DEBATE ON OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Sixty-second General Assembly

Second Committee

10^th & 11^th Meetings (AM & PM)

SPEAKERS STRESS NATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF DEVELOPMENT PLANS, EMPOWERING LOCAL PEOPLE,

AS SECOND COMMITTEE CONCLUDES DEBATE ON OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES

National ownership of development programmes, a clear work plan for Resident Coordinators and moving towards a “One UN” system were among the steps needed to bolster the efforts of developing countries to rise out of poverty, several speakers said today, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its consideration of operational activities for development.

Nepal’s representative, pointing out that community-managed development initiatives produced results, said the people themselves should be encouraged and empowered to undertake their own programmes with adequate technical and financial support.  South-South cooperation was an example of how cooperation should focus on community-led national strategies aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals.  United Nations operational activities should support local development priorities with more emphasis on local technical capacity-building, skill enhancement and leadership promotion.

Achieving sustainable capacity-building hinged upon strengthening national ownership and leadership of development activities run by national institutions, he said.  To that end, the Organization’s country teams must coordinate with national agencies and institutions so that their activities complemented the actual needs and priorities of concerned countries.  To accomplish that, the resident coordinator system should be made more efficient and accountable, while respecting the social mores and cultural sensitivities of the local people.

The representative of Belarus agreed, stating that the United Nations should only provide assistance to strengthen human rights and good governance potential upon the request of the country concerned.  National leadership and priorities should guide development activities, and a balanced approach to country-level work models was therefore needed.  Belarus was an example of a small country hosting several active United Nations agencies, where a small country team could be created rather than a “one country” team.

Canada’s representative said this year’s triennial comprehensive policy review should focus on heightening the recognition of developing countries’ needs and national development plans.  With approval from developing countries, a common United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) should be implemented, and more efforts were needed to better align it with the needs and development plans of those countries.  The resident coordinator system should better reflect country-level demand for the United Nations family, and the Organization’s funds, programmes and specialized agencies must engage more fully in the system to ensure it served their needs and better represented the whole system.

Mozambique’s representative said that, as one of the eight pilot countries to test the “One UN” programme, her country was already enjoying the fruits of concerted efforts, with United Nations mechanisms setting up a programme management team, an operations management team and a communication working group, while a steering committee to monitor the process was under way.  A joint United Nations programme for 2007 to 2009 would likely maximize development results while minimizing transaction costs and ensuring the Government’s full ownership and leadership in planning, managing and operational activities, both nationally and locally.

Norway’s representative said the United Nations needed predictable funding and the flexibility to deliver it, in line with national priorities.  Financing was crucial, she said, calling upon donors to live up to their development assistance commitments.  Norway was already striving to contribute one per cent of its gross domestic product to development assistance.  In addition, the current United Nations system must be improved by, among other things, strengthening the resident coordinator system.

Other speakers today were the representatives of Uruguay (on behalf of MERCOSUR), Chile, Switzerland, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, New Zealand, China, Cuba, United States, Jamaica, Brazil, Thailand, Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Gambia, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador and Indonesia.

Also making statements were representatives of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. on Monday, 22 October, to take up the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.

Background

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met today to conclude its debate on operational activities for development, including operational activities for development of the United Nations system, the triennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and South-South cooperation for development.  (For background information, see Press Release GA/EF/3182 of 17 October 2007.)

Statements

LILIÁN SILVEIRA (Uruguay), speaking on behalf of the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR), said all developing regions had shown their unwavering commitment to South-South cooperation as a way to form regional and subregional blocs for closer social, economic and political cooperation.  Thanks to those closer ties, investment and commercial flows among the South were growing, but greater interaction was still necessary.  Cooperation was indeed also growing among the MERCOSUR countries, which had launched approximately 30 joint projects.  Thanks to technical cooperation, they were strengthening their institutions and benefiting from each other’s knowledge and know-how.  While least developed and landlocked developing countries had benefited most, middle-income countries, home to two thirds of the region’s poor, had also gained from the experience.  Within the framework of South-South cooperation, MERCOSUR had enormous potential to reduce internal disparities and eradicate hunger and poverty through fruitful reciprocal arrangements.

The goal of reducing income disparity -- the main cause of intractable poverty and hunger in the region -- was the driving force behind many MERCOSUR cooperation programmes, she said.  The MERCOSUR countries were willing to share their experiences, offer technical assistance and technology transfer to help other developing nations reduce poverty.  The increase in South-South cooperation should not be seen as a replacement for assistance promised by developed countries, and it was important to review the work of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation.  It was not sufficient for the Committee to meet every two years without clarifying its role during the period between sessions.  It must also analyse how Member States and other actors of the United Nations system implemented high-level decisions.

ALFREDO LABBÉ ( Chile) said great efforts were needed to hold successful negotiations on the upcoming triennial comprehensive policy review, which was an important tool to guide United Nations operational activities over the next three years.  Technical assistance within the framework of South-South cooperation presented new opportunities and challenges.  The Buenos Aires Action Plan for Technical Cooperation, adopted 30 years ago, was a significant step and it was time to implement it.  The Secretary-General’s report on South-South cooperation for development highlighted economic growth in the South and the growing dynamism in South-South relations.

Like most middle-income countries, he said, Chile had moved from being a recipient country to become a donor country, helping other Latin American nations on the development path despite its limited human, financial and technical resources.  The cooperation provided by developed nations was shrinking, which limited the capacity of developing countries to consolidate gains, a situation faced by all middle-income countries.  They needed the active cooperation of developed countries in such sensitive areas as innovation, science, technology and human capital.

Many people in middle-income countries continued to live in extreme poverty, he said, warning that if that situation persisted, it would put fragile development advances at risk.  The tools to prevent such a setback must be made available and utilized.  The business sector and civil society were also important players in South-South cooperation.  No country was too rich not to support or learn from a poor country.  Chile called on the current General Assembly session to hold an international review conference on the 1978 Buenos Aires Plan of Action.

ANDREAS BAUM ( Switzerland) said the United Nations system’s operational activities for development must respond to the needs of developing countries in a flexible manner and in line with national development priorities and strategies.  But for that to be done, core funding must be predictable; a good multilateral donorship must be established on the basis of quality, multi-year pledging; and an emphasis must be placed on core contributions and agreements among Member States on a burden-sharing scale.  Another mechanism could be the pooling of non-core resources within an agency by the creation of regional or geographic funds.

He said a system-wide policy on capacity development could help the system to focus on its role, while avoiding some of the dispersion inherent in its dependency on non-core project implementation.  Regarding transaction costs, increased use should be made of existing mechanisms available at the national level, including for procurement, security and information technology.  Agencies should apply such innovative tools as gender-responsive budgeting analysis and gender-just allocation of financial resources in institutional financial planning and policy.  In addition, the resident coordinator system should work towards establishing a convincing and transparent accountability framework, with the Resident Coordinator being given increased responsibility over the strategic positioning of the United Nations, including the authority to allocate country-level resources to priority programmes and activities.

SANTOSH BAGRODIA ( India) said the triennial comprehensive policy review process carried heightened significance at the halfway point to the Millennium Development Goals target date of 2015 and underlined the urgency of the task of improving the efficiency of the United Nations development system.  Financing remained a challenge to be met in overcoming the shortfalls in resources required to attain the Millennium Goals, and the growing reliance on supplementary funding undermined the core mandates of United Nations development entities.

He said capacity building within the United Nations system should be done through training and supporting the recruitment of new professional staff, while highlighting the issue of gender mainstreaming, since there had been a significant decline in the representation of women at senior levels and among Resident Coordinators.  At the country level, national ownership of the development process and the coordination of all external aid by the recipient country added to the sustainability of results and built capacity at the same time.

DAPHNE TEO ( Singapore) said the Secretary-General’s progress report on South-South cooperation noted positive trends such as the dramatic increase in trade and investment flows among developing countries.  Exports had grown 15 per cent and imports 75 per cent from 1999 to 2005, while almost half of developing- country exports had gone to other developing countries.  Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows among those countries had also risen from about 6 per cent to 15 per cent over the same period.

Greater South-South links could only strengthen developing economies, and progressively removing trade and investment barriers would help sustain the momentum of growing economic links, she said.  Singapore had helped promote economic development and integration within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in addition to trying to build bridges to other parts of the world, notably through the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, initiated in 1998, and the Asia-Middle East Dialogue.

In its early years, she said, Singapore had benefited greatly from technical assistance, economic advice and human resource training from developed countries, and over the years it had tried to give back by contributing human resource training to others.  To date, some 50,000 Government officials from 168 developing countries had participated in Singapore’s training programmes in public administration, health care, urban planning, information technology, port and airport management, trade promotion and tourism.  Singapore worked in partnership with such multilateral actors as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Commonwealth.

SHAZELINA ZAINUL ABIDIN ( Malaysia) said only issues directly linked to United Nations operational activities for development should be discussed during the triennial comprehensive policy review.  The increase in non-core funding of operational activities was one of the main reasons for growing fragmentation, and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs should continue its efforts to build a comprehensive and sustainable financial data and reporting system.  It was interesting to note the important differences between the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in defining, classifying and reporting contributions to the United Nations system.

On South-South cooperation, she said the increase in capital flows pointed to a healthy growth in the economies of the more advanced developing countries, but cautioned that the upward trend should not be seen as a replacement for official development assistance (ODA).  Malaysia viewed with growing concern the bandying of South-South cooperation to least developed countries as part of –- rather than in addition to -- the commitment to development.  Moreover, cooperation among countries of the South must not be analysed and evaluated by the same standards as those used in North-South relations.  Financial contributions from the more advanced developing countries should not be seen as ODA, but as expressions of solidarity and cooperation born out of shared experience and empathy.

AWADH NAJA AL-HABABI (Qatar), stressing the need to address the coherence of United Nations operational activities during the triennial comprehensive policy review process, highlighted the importance of involving all of the Organization’s entities, with their expertise and specialized knowledge, in the reform process.  That would better streamline the system and make it more effective in providing assistance to developing countries.

He said his country was committed to the follow-up to the 2005 World Summit, especially its final outcome document, which stated that programmes could be improved by taking into consideration the advantages presented by each United Nations entity.  In terms of assistance, it was critically important that development assistance be neutral and impartial and that the interests of, and benefits for, developing countries remain at the forefront.  Development assistance must also closely follow national strategies.

MARIA GUSTAVA ( Mozambique) stressed the need for more efforts to enhance the capacity of the United Nations to help developing countries implement national development programmes and strategies to eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium Goals and other internationally agreed targets.  Mozambique enjoyed a sound partnership and cooperation with the Organization and had made progress in aligning its national poverty eradication strategy with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). 

She said her country had volunteered to be one of the eight pilot countries to test the “One UN” programme, the overall goals of which were to improve programme delivery though better coordination, funding and management.  Mozambique’s “One UN” programme was bearing fruit, and United Nations mechanisms were setting up a programme management team, an operations management team and a communication working group.  The creation of a steering committee to monitor the process was under way.

The Government of Mozambique had approved the joint United Nations programme for the 2007-2009 period that focused on governance, human capital, HIV/AIDS and economic development, she continued.  Thanks to the programme, Mozambique would likely be able to maximize development results, while minimizing transaction costs and ensuring the Government’s full ownership and leadership in planning, management and operational activities, both nationally and locally.

KARIN MCLENNAN ( New Zealand) said the United Nations must play its critical role in efforts to eliminate poverty and tackle the challenges of meeting the Millennium Goals.  The triennial comprehensive policy review process was one way to improve and bolster the Organization’s effectiveness.  Among the results that New Zealand would like to see from the review were national ownership as the keystone of all development activities, and heightened coordination to achieve overall effectiveness in development interventions, at the country-level and in partnership with the Bretton Woods institutions, donors, the private sector and civil society.

Emphasizing that her country supported the improvement of aid quality, she said it wanted an operational system that delivered and worked effectively on the ground in providing “value for money”.  In addition, there was a need for greater funding predictability and New Zealand supported the notion of flexible, unearmarked multi-year contributions.  With human rights at the core of all development policy, development assistance must also address fundamental freedoms and human rights for all.

LIU ZHENMIN (China) said that while there had been good results in tailoring assistance to the needs of national development strategies, reducing the planning and delivery costs of assistance programmes, and efforts to strengthen knowledge sharing among United Nations funds and programmes, there was still an imbalance in the ratio between core and non-core resources, a lack of coordination for national capacity-building and an inadequate role for recipient Governments in coordinating the planning and delivery of assistance.

Although the future of the Millennium Development Goals was not looking very promising, the net amount of ODA in 2006 had dropped, and the share of core resources in the overall resource level of United Nations programmes, funds and agencies had declined, even though core resources constituted the bedrock of the Organization’s operational activities for development.  The ability of the United Nations to meet the different development needs of recipient countries in an integrated and flexible manner should be enhanced, as should the support given to national capacity-building.

He said the increasing diversity of the developing countries offered tremendous potential for South-South cooperation.  An enabling environment should therefore be created by resolving the practical problems resulting from inadequate financial guarantees and the inefficiency of coordination and management mechanisms.  China had always been a “wholehearted” participant in South-South cooperation and had expanded it in the fields of trade and investment, debt relief, environment and sustainable development, science and technology, and medicine and public health.  The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held last November had produced fruitful results.

MONA JUUL ( Norway) said global challenges like climate change, poverty and endemic disease must be met by global measures, which required a strong, well-funded and well-governed United Nations that could deliver.  The decisions made at the 2005 World Summit, which called for stronger system-wide coherence and provided much guidance for the normative and operational activities of the United Nations, must now be incorporated into the 2007 triennial comprehensive policy review.  The proposals of the High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence were relevant to the review and must be discussed on their own merits as they related to the review.

Financing was crucial, she said, calling upon donors to live up to their development assistance commitments and noting that her country was striving to contribute one per cent of its gross domestic product to development assistance.  The United Nations needed predictable funding and the flexibility to deliver it, in line with national priorities.  The imbalance between core and non-core funding must be addressed, as the increase in non-core resources had led to fragmentation and distortions in the overall programme orientation of many organizations.  There was a need for incentives to redirect ODA towards core funding and predictable multi-year pledges.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness set progress indicators on ownership, alignment and harmonization, she continued, noting that the United Nations was falling short on many of them, according to the triennial comprehensive policy review report.  The Paris Declaration should be mainstreamed more clearly into the United Nations system by its inclusion in the review.  The Organization must remain an effective actor.

She stressed that the current system must be improved by strengthening the resident coordinator system, facilitating greater cooperation and coherence at the country level, mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment, adopting human rights-based approaches to development, promoting sustainable development, bridging the gap between relief and long-term recovery for post-crisis countries, and improving monitoring and evaluation in the management of funding and programmes.

LUIS ALBERTO AMORÓS NÚÑEZ (Cuba) said there were more than enough examples of critical economic and social challenges facing developing countries, with more than 2 billion people living in poverty, 2.6 billion living without health services and more than 850 million suffering from hunger.  Illiteracy affected 800 million people, and 115 million children did not have elementary schooling.  In a world of disparity, 1 per cent of the richest people had 40 per cent of the world’s wealth, while 50 per cent of the world’s population barely had 1 per cent.  That was why United Nations activities in each country were especially significant and reform was critical to helping them achieve the Millennium Goals.  Financing should be predictable, and it was essential to devote specific funds to South-South cooperation, especially technical and economic cooperation among developing countries.

He said his country endorsed a higher level of coordination and system-wide coherence to avoid unnecessary duplication and overlap, and supported the current deliberations of the General Assembly on the recommendations of the High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence.  Operational activities must respond to the national policies and development priorities of each country and respect the mandates given by Member States.  Cuba was concerned at the privilege UNDP had been given to increase the deployment of activities not directly linked to economic and social development, since its mandate limited it to development activities.

RUDRA KUMAR NEPAL ( Nepal) said United Nations operational activities for development should be assessed for efficiency and effectiveness, pointing out that community-managed development initiatives did produce results.  South-South cooperation should focus on community-led national strategies aimed at achieving the Millennium Goals.  Operational activities should support local development priorities with more focus on local technical capacity-building, skill enhancement and leadership promotion.  The people themselves should be encouraged and empowered to undertake their own programmes with adequate technical and financial support.  Sustainable capacity-building was contingent upon strengthening national ownership and leadership of development activities run by national institutions.

Country teams must coordinate with national agencies and institutions so that their activities complemented the actual needs and priorities of concerned countries, he continued.  The resident coordinator system should be made more efficient and accountable while respecting the social mores and cultural sensitivities of the local people.  Adequate, predictable funding was crucial to the overall effectiveness of development activities.  Long-term operational efficiency, sustainability and increased productive capability could be achieved through investment in development infrastructure, strengthening economic institutions and setting up a viable technological base.  Local public-private partnerships should be encouraged to stimulate creative and technological development.

GROVER JOSEPH REES ( United States) said the 2005 World Summit and the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence were guiding tools to informing current discussions on the triennial comprehensive policy review.  For a successful review, the United States suggested that essential elements for discussion include a focus on capacity-building to help countries build and consolidate democratic institutions to promote good governance as the foundation for development, and the need for the United Nations to make special efforts to support those countries most in need, especially those in sub-Saharan Arica.

There should also be greater coordination of the Organization’s development activities, which should improve the operational efficiencies of its various entities while eliminating waste and duplication, he said.  Another critical area was the need to focus on results so as to bring together substance and process issues in a coherent development vision.  Previous triennial reviews had focused on process issues that did not capture the desired outcome of development activities.  The current review should be clear about objectives and expected results, which included building good governance and developing technical capacities for countries to better manage and benefit from domestic and global resources, thus increasing opportunities to promote a vibrant private sector, which would grow sustainable economies.

DIEDRE MILLS ( Jamaica) said capacity development must focus on supporting developing countries’ efforts to assess their own capacity needs and enable them to better measure and monitor progress in reaching national goals.  Greater use of national staff, consultants and other expertise, in keeping with the objective of ensuring national ownership and leadership, could also facilitate capacity development, which, in turn, could help significantly reduce transaction costs.  Predictable, stable, long-term core funding was fundamental to enabling the United Nations system effectively to implement operational activities for development.  The decrease in core funding relative to non-core funding limited the Organization’s capacity to respond to the demands of programme countries, and increased the potential for them to compete for financial resources. 

Expressing her agreement with the Secretary-General’s report regarding the harm that dependence on non-core funding could do to the perception of the United Nations as a trusted partner of national Governments, she urged donor countries to increase their non-earmarked contributions for operational activities for development, and endorsed the call for improved coverage, timeliness, quality and compatibility of system-wide financial data for the financial reporting of operational activities.  There was also a need for greater collaboration between the United Nations development system and the Peacebuilding Commission to ensure the realization of the long-term socio-economic recovery and development objectives of post-conflict countries.

PIRAGIBE DOS SANTOS TARRAGÔ ( Brazil) said his country shared the same spirit as China in promoting South-South cooperation, noting that it had experience with several initiatives in agricultural production, education, infrastructure maintenance, biofuels and sports activities, among many other areas.  Brazil had engaged in cooperation with Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Islands, benefiting from a fruitful exchange of knowledge and experiences.   Bilaterally, technical cooperation was designed to contribute to national goals, and Brazil had benefited from consultants and technicians.  Its technical cooperation was geared towards least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, but it also benefited from cooperation with other middle-income countries and was open to triangular initiatives.  Brazil had cooperation activities with Burkina Faso, Congo and Angola.

Through an international fund, Brazil supported agricultural development in Guinea-Bissau and wastewater management in Haiti, he continued.  The country was working for better budget management and was also involved in cooperation activities with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), among other organizations.  In 2004, Brazil and the World Bank had signed the first contract between an international financial institution and a developing country to co-finance projects in another developing country, that being Haiti.  It was important to revisit opportunities for South-South cooperation at an international conference convened by the United Nations, and Brazil reiterated its support for Argentina’s offer to host such a conference.

CHIRACHAI PUNKRASIN ( Thailand) said there was an urgent need for the United Nations system’s operational activities to respond to the needs of developing countries in a flexible and coherent manner, in line with their national development strategies and priorities, given the prevailing scarcity of financial and human resources.  To maximize the use of scare resources, the principles of aid effectiveness, results-based management and accountability must be emphasized, along with coordination and harmonization of United Nations assistance with other multilateral and bilateral development assistance.

One area in which United Nations assistance could make a deep impact was South-South cooperation, which had seen a dramatic increase in concessional flows of assistance to $3 billion last year, he said.  The Organization should take on a stronger role as an engine not only for cooperation among countries of the South, but also for real multilateralism, inclusive partnerships and well-coordinated action to harness available resources.  South-South cooperation was a promising approach to effectively managing complex transnational development issues towards the realization of the Millennium Goals and internationally agreed development targets.  But South-South cooperation should not replace North-South cooperation, and assistance should not be limited to relationships among States.  Thailand had firmly committed to South-South cooperation activities since 1975, and worked with neighbouring countries under the Ayeyawady–Chao Phraya–Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).  It was also involved in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

IGOR MISHKORUDNY ( Belarus) said national leadership and national priorities should guide development activities, and to do that a balanced approach was needed towards creating country-level work models.  For example, in Belarus, which hosted several active United Nations agencies, it would make more sense to create a small country team rather than a “one country” team.

He stressed that the United Nations should only render assistance to strengthen human rights and good governance upon the request of the country itself.  Regarding natural resources, it was important for the Organization to help developing countries identify resources and offer assistance where necessary.  The General Assembly’s new resolution on the triennial review should reflect the changing circumstances of Member States and recognize national priorities.

To date, the potential for cooperation among developing countries had not been efficiently used, he said.  One of the possibilities for stepping up cooperation could be the creation of a bank specifically for South-South cooperation activities, which could be established with assistance from UNDP.  In addition, developing countries should more systematically and consistently use the United Nations system, particularly UNDP, with respect to South-South cooperation.

SUL KYUNG-HOON ( Republic of Korea) said this year’s triennial comprehensive policy review was particularly meaningful since it was taking place midway to the 2015 target year for attaining the Millennium Goals.  The review was a unique mechanism for enhancing the coherence and effectiveness of United Nations operational activities, and the Republic of Korea was confident that its outcome would reinvigorate efforts to realize development targets.

Pointing out several critical factors for the review, he said that while the United Nations development system’s total funding was increasing, imbalances between core and non-core resources had widened, which would lead to increasing transaction costs and hinder efforts to maximize efficiency.  Further study was needed to determine why donor countries were more attracted to non-core funding.  More efforts were needed to increase the adequacy and long-term predictability of non-core and supplementary resources.  Strategic planning and results-based management, as well as accountability and transparency in the United Nations, would eventually lead to increased financial commitments to core and regular resources.

The success of development efforts would depend greatly on the capacity of developing countries, he said, stressing that the promotion of human rights and gender equality should be an indispensable part of development.  Alongside national ownership and leadership, more efforts were needed to hire national experts, and the Republic of Korea supported more vigorous implementation of gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment.  It was important to ensure gender parity among Resident Coordinators and to strengthen the resident coordinator system with a more vigorous and competitive selection process, as well as stronger training and implementation of a comprehensive accountability framework.  Better delineation was also needed between the Resident Coordinator and the UNDP Resident Representative.

KIM IN RYONG (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) said the United Nations must strengthen its support for South-South cooperation to bolster development and enhance capacities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  Economic cooperation among developing countries in such areas as trade, finance, technology and energy had expanded to provide a new impetus to current international economic relations.  United Nations entities should become more involved in supporting South-South and triangular cooperation in their regular activities and pay due attention to intensifying international assistance for the implementation of initiatives, including the mobilization of resources in the spirit of the Monterrey Consensus.

He said that over the last decade his country had successfully implemented projects to train experts from Asian and African developing countries, in close cooperation with the United Nations Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, in the fields of agriculture, science, technology, water resources and small- and medium-scale hydropower.  The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would continue to play a role in further strengthening South-South cooperation.

HASSAN BAHLOULI, Senior Adviser, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), said that while South-South cooperation could be a significant complement to its North-South counterpart in assisting developing countries to achieve the Millennium Goals, South-South industrial cooperation could be especially beneficial since the South was becoming a major player in world industry and trade.  Its share of world manufacturing had almost doubled since the 1980s, and the developing countries’ share in global trade had risen from 29 per cent to 37 per cent between 1996 and 2006.  In addition, South-South trade in manufactured goods had expanded annually by about 7 per cent.  South-South industrial cooperation could help ensure that the benefits of changes in the global manufacturing system were more widely shared among developing countries.

He said UNIDO had already taken steps towards narrowing the benefits gap since the Second Committee’s consideration of the Director-General’s report on industrial development cooperation during the sixty-first General Assembly session.  Centres for South-South cooperation had been set up in India and China, with further initiatives envisioned in Brazil, Egypt and South Africa.  In addition, UNIDO had worked towards enhancing triangular trade between North and South through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.  It supported regional economic integration efforts, including through its programme with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which was based on the understanding that globalization and trade liberalization did not offer much to the developing world, especially least developed countries.  UNIDO would continue to consolidate and sharpen its activities to promote South-South cooperation with a focus on how it could benefit least developed countries.

TAMSIR JALLOW ( Gambia) said the need for an improved United Nations development system at the country level was greater than ever.  The donor community was increasingly channelling funds through the Bretton Woods institutions, whose adjustment programmes aggravated rather than alleviated poverty.  They lacked technical expertise, coherent development goals and trusted United Nations interlocutors.  Bilateral agreements, another avenue for development financing, were increasingly based on quid pro quos, such as granting development aid in exchange for measures to improve governance as set by development partners.  But a large part of the world population lived in countries that could not meet such criteria.  That situation would prevent the realization of the Millennium Goals, which required an adequately funded and better coordinated United Nations development system.

He stressed the importance of the triennial comprehensive policy review, particularly in light of the current intergovernmental review of the High-Level Panel’s report on system-wide coherence and UNDP’s 2008-2011 Strategic Plan.  More flexible and predictable funding was needed for operational activities.  Development resources should be allocated and targeted in line with recipient countries’ specific development programmes and frameworks, and failure to respect that would not only delay long-term economic gains, but also undermine the democratic process.  The Gambia supported South-South cooperation, but developing countries also needed all-encompassing economic growth and sustainable development.  South-South cooperation must complement, not replace, North-South cooperation.

AURA MAHUAMPI RODRÍGUEZ DE ORTIZ ( Venezuela) said her country had engaged in cooperation agreements in such areas as social development, financing, energy and humanitarian assistance.  Venezuela, a producer and exporter of oil, was involved in various regional energy cooperation initiatives, such as Petrocaribe, Petrosur and Petroamerica, aimed at improving socio-economic conditions in Latin America.  The Caribbean Alba Fund for socio-economic development had benefited 8.7 million people through direct and indirect employment in 17 socio-economic sectors, creating approximately 5,000 jobs.  The Alternative Bolivarian Initiative for Communities in Our America, or ALBA, was involved in several projects.  In Bolivia, it sponsored projects in gas distribution, natural liquid gas extraction, asphalt production, gas exploration and exploitation, diesel fuel generation and electrical energy.  In Cuba, it worked on remodelling refineries and constructing natural gas plants.  In Nicaragua, it was involved in refinery plants and diesel fuel generation.

She pointed to other important South-South cooperation initiatives, such as an international programme to treat people with eye infections and a project with Cuba to erase illiteracy in the western hemisphere.  Venezuela was also involved in financing for development projects, such as the new Bank of the South.  From 1999 to 2006, Venezuela had set up cooperation mechanisms to fund $515 million worth of projects in the developing world.  Such new South-South initiatives had enabled Venezuela to make effective use of its most important natural resource, exchange best practices with neighbouring countries in education and technology, and advance national development goals.  Those efforts illustrated that political will based on the principles of solidarity, cooperation and exchange created ample opportunity to combat underdevelopment, social marginalization and hunger.  The United Nations must improve its methods for South-South cooperation and operational programmes in order to strengthen the national capacity of developing countries.

CLAUDE HELLER ( Mexico) said each country was primarily responsible for its own development and the United Nations system should provide cooperation and technical assistance that responded to each country’s priorities.  Close collaboration between United Nations entities and recipient countries, with the additional active participation of the private sector, academia and social organizations, would be useful in developing comprehensive contributions to national development plans.  All United Nations entities should improve coordination to avoid duplication, implement mechanisms that guaranteed the transparent use of resources, cut transaction costs and maximize efficiency.

The United Nations system and Member States must increase their coordination to bolster South-South cooperation, which promoted sustainable development and the creation and strengthening of local capacities.  It should be recognized as complementary to North-South cooperation.  Mexico also supported international cooperation as a means of increasing social development to overcome extreme poverty, and as a contribution to preserving the environment and natural resources.

He said his country had learned valuable lessons about the positive role of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation.  Since 1991, it had established governmental mechanisms to conduct cooperation offers to Central America, which was then extended to the Caribbean.  Under that framework, cooperation actions and projects had multiplied at the regional and bilateral levels.  The framework had eventually been consolidated as the Meso-American Program of Cooperation, which had been included, since 1998, in the Mechanism of Tuxtla.

RODRIGO RIOFRÍO ( Ecuador) said the Buenos Aires Action Plan, the Marrakesh Plan and other international instruments had fostered South-South cooperation and enabled countries in the South to mobilize human and economic resources, spurring development and fostering respect for State sovereignty and independence.  South-South cooperation should not substitute, but only complement, North-South cooperation.  Ecuador benefited from triangular cooperation, an arrangement that combined resources from the North with the knowledge and know-how of middle-income countries to help implement projects in least developed countries.  Such cooperation arrangements were particularly important in Latin America, where ODA levels had not risen despite international pledges to increase aid.

Triangular cooperation strengthened South-South cooperation, and both were essential tools for enabling countries to attain internationally agreed development targets, he continued, calling on the international community, including international financial institutions, to fully support developing-country efforts to achieve their development goals.  Ecuador also called for the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, which stressed the need to harmonize and better coordinate United Nations strategies and programmes.  Ecuador also supported the High-Level Committee’s initiative to conduct a review conference in Argentina of the Buenos Aires Action Plan, adopted almost 30 years ago.

ADE PETRANTO ( Indonesia) said the outcome of the current review would determine the course of United Nations operational activities for the next three years, and should be driven by a vision of a stronger role for the Organization on development issues and the need to pursue implementation of internationally agreed development targets, including the Millennium Goals.  To ensure a continued and sustainable level of development for recipient countries, United Nations operational activities should be predictable in funding, simplified in programme delivery, aligned with national development programmes and implemented in coordination with national Government efforts.  The United Nations must also create an environment that promoted global partnership for development.

He said South-South cooperation was a tool that could maintain and strengthen solidarity and unity to enhance the welfare and prosperity of developing countries, by both complementing North-South cooperation and enhancing exchanges of best practices and support among developing countries, regardless of their levels of development.  The 1995 Eleventh Non-Aligned Movement Summit had endorsed the establishment of a Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation in Indonesia as one of the vital and most effective means to promote and accelerate development.  In addition, the 2005 Asia-Africa Summit had launched the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership to promote partnership in advancing political solidarity, economic cooperation and sociocultural relations.  Since its inception, Indonesia had launched initiatives, including the International Training on Business Incubators to Develop Asian, African and Pacific Countries.  In the spirit of solidarity, Indonesia emphasized the importance of convening an Asian-African Conference on Capacity Building for Palestine.

FRANCOIS ARSENAULT ( Canada) said patchy progress in some areas of the 2004 triennial review must be rectified this time around, with a special focus on recognizing the needs and national development plans of developing countries.  Canada wished to see progress in terms of the coordination of country-level efforts around a common UNDAF, specifically with the approval of developing countries.  Additional efforts were needed to ensure that UNDAF provided a strategic framework to guide the United Nations system’s efforts under a common vision and national leadership, rather than representing an aggregation of individual organizations’ country programmes.

He said the resident coordinator system should better reflect the demand for the United Nations family at the country level.  The Organization’s funds, programmes and specialized agencies must engage more fully in the system to ensure it served their needs and better represented the whole system in meeting the needs of developing countries.

While accountability frameworks were needed to reflect the needs and interests of Member States, he said, gender mainstreaming was the responsibility of the United Nations, and accelerated and concrete actions in that area would advance sustainable poverty reduction and human rights.  Canada was also keen to work with Member States to establish, where possible, time-bound targets and clear benchmarks in the 2007 review.  “In our experience, what gets measured gets done,” he said.

AXUMITE GEBRE-EGZIABHER, Director of the New York Office of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), said South-South cooperation was the centrepiece of that agency’s mandate and way of doing business.  The Habitat Agenda adopted by Member States in 1996 called for enhanced cooperation, technology transfer and the sharing of information and expertise to meet the twin goals of “shelter for all” and “sustainable urbanization”.  Urbanization was occurring at an unprecedented scale in the South, and recent estimates indicated that approximately 2 billion more people in developing countries would become urban dwellers in the next 25 years.  Thirty-five million homes and the requisite infrastructure and services must be constructed annually over the next 25 years to accommodate them.

Pointing out that 94 per cent of the world’s one billion urban slum dwellers lived in the South, she said 78 per cent of the urban population in least developed countries and 42 per cent in all developing countries lived in slums.  The scale and pace of that irreversible transition posed considerable challenges, and without large investments in housing and urban development over the next two decades, most of the South’s growing urban population would not escape the urban poverty trap, with its deplorable housing conditions, poor health, poor nutrition and low productivity.

She said that, with support from China, UN-HABITAT had conducted South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation projects in housing and urban development, such as the 2000 Chengdu International Conference on Learning from Best Practices, the 2002 International Conference on Financing Social Housing and the 2003 International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization Strategies.  Information technology offered unprecedented opportunities to match supply with demand for knowledge, expertise and technology.  UN-HABITAT could offer its best practices database and knowledge management system as a portal for South-South cooperation for sustainable development.

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For information media • not an official record