DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS NEW COMMISSION ON EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

WITH AFRICA CAN FOCUS WORLD ATTENTION ON DEVELOPMENT COMMITMENTS in continent

Following is the text of Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s remarks to the Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa, in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 16 April:

I am pleased to be here at this important meeting.  It’s an honour for me to address this distinguished group at the launch the Africa Commission.  I’d like to thank the Government of Denmark and the other organizers of this important initiative for their valuable leadership in support of development in Africa.

We welcome the central themes of the work of the Commission, which will focus, among other things, on youth, women’s employment and economic empowerment.

As you know, the continent has achieved important progress in reducing poverty, averting the deaths of children from preventable causes, ensuring that students enjoy access to quality education and boosting agriculture so essential to the livelihoods of the poor.

Results like these speak for themselves.  These States are showing how significant progress can be made relatively quickly on the Millennium Development Goals, our collective vision for a better world.  We see success in countries that are demonstrating strong leadership and adopting policies for scaling up public investments when they receive technical and financial support from the international community.

Overall, though, progress is too slow.  Too many children still die from preventable causes; too many do not attend school.  Childbirth is still life-threatening for too many mothers.

Progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals is threatened by climate change, which is wreaking havoc on African countries.

The spiralling food prices that have sparked riots in a number of countries underscore how extremely vulnerable many African States are to events that are only partially under their control.

As we pass the halfway mark in our great campaign to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the world must focus squarely on multiplying success stories across the continent.  We must all join forces to scale up interventions that have proved their worth in achieving the Goals.

The commitments are there, but we urgently need to turn them into actions that respond to this development emergency.  At a time when the global economy is decelerating, a continued focus on the need to mobilize resources for the poorest countries requires the kind of courage and leadership that many of you, here in this room, have demonstrated over the years.

For our part, at the United Nations we are working to see how successful programmes can be replicated and scaled-up in time for the 2015 deadline.  It was for just this reason that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the MDG Africa Steering Group, bringing together leaders of major international organizations.

The Steering Group has identified a number of concrete measures to do this.  It called for launching an African Green Revolution to accelerate economic growth and combat hunger.  Another key component is ensuring access to emergency obstetric care for all women and providing family planning services for all people in need by 2015.  And the Steering Group has called for critical infrastructure investments in power, transport, water and sanitation to raise productivity, ensure low-cost service delivery, and integrate countries into the global economy.

To support this ambitious effort, donors need to follow through on their commitment to double aid to Africa by 2010 and meet the target of devoting 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) towards development assistance as agreed in the Monterrey Consensus.  That target has been met by just five countries -- including of course Denmark, our host today.

Equally important, we need to improve the quality of aid, as outlined in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, by aligning it with country systems and strategies, increasing predictability, reducing donor fragmentation, and providing budget support wherever possible.  This is entirely possible if we decide to do it.  We just need to take that crucial step.

The Secretary-General has pledged his personal leadership on this issue.  That’s why he is convening a special high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals this September in New York.  The meeting will bring together national leaders, along with business executives and representatives of civil society, to announce specific initiatives to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by carrying out the recommendations of the MDG Africa Steering Group and other initiatives.

The United Nations looks forward to working intensively with Member States in the coming months to make the September event a success so that we can all deliver on our solemn promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Here is where the Africa Commission comes in.  It can play a critical role in focusing the world’s attention on honouring existing commitments to support development in Africa.

Being a practical person, I would like to close with a couple of thoughts on how the Commission can add the greatest value.  First, I believe work must focus closely on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  If we reach this set of minimum thresholds, poor communities and countries will be able to reduce poverty, raise productivity and compete more successfully in world markets.  So investing in the Millennium Development Goals is a critical step in charting a course toward greater stability and economic growth that will build capital, attract foreign investment and reduce countries’ dependence on outside assistance.  Your focus on “MDG 3” will surely steer the cause of accelerating implementations of other Millennium Development Goals and will augur well with the initiative led by a sister country, Norway, on “MDGs 4 and 5”.

Second, I applaud the Commission’s attention to the critical issues of youth and employment.  A sharp focus on how these challenges can be addressed in a practical way will complement the recommendations by the MDG Africa Steering Group to be announced during the second half this month.  I urge the Commission to be bold and very practical in its deliberations.

In conclusion, I should like to point out that ours is the generation that can achieve the Millennium Development Goals and help end extreme poverty in Africa.  The cost of inaction is staggering and mounting every day, but the benefits of bold action are tremendous.  And so I will be honoured to support the important work of the Africa Commission in every way I can.

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For information media • not an official record