High-Level Thematic Debate Considers Resource Mobilization to Break Logjam in Development, as Least Developed Countries Conference Continues
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| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
High-Level Thematic Debate Considers Resource Mobilization to Break Logjam
in Development, as Least Developed Countries Conference Continues
(Received from a UN Information Officer.)
ISTANBUL, 10 May — Prodigious existing domestic and international flows of funds, as well as innovative financing methods, must be harnessed to fill the huge gap in infrastructure and human resources suffered by the poorest countries, a high-level panel said this morning at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul.
“Massive investments in infrastructure, human resource development and the enhancement of productive capacity were essential to break the logjam in development,” said Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, during a high-level interactive thematic debate, entitled, “Resource Mobilization for Least Developed Countries Development and Global Partnership”.
Delivering the keynote address this morning, Mr. Zenawi was joined on the dais by Kabine Komara, former Prime Minister of Guinea and Adris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Development of the European Union. Upendra Yadav, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal and Ingrid Fiskaa, Deputy Minister of International Development of Norway co-chaired the discussion.
Because of the enormous sums needed, no traditional sources -- neither Official Development Assistance (ODA), foreign direct investment nor domestic revenues -- were by themselves sufficient to bridge the gaps in development, but all were crucial, the panellists and co-chairs agreed.
Uncollected tax revenues, vast amounts of trade surplus savings, remittances sent back to countries by migrants, funds from programmes meant to encourage sustainable development and to mitigate the effects of climate change, monies lost through corruption and illicit trade, profits from extractive industries -– all must be channeled towards increasing productive capacity and providing the social services needed to increase human resource capacities in least developed countries, they stressed.
Mr. Zenawi pointed out that to maximize domestic resources, technical assistance also was needed, but political will was crucial to recoup uncollected taxes and get domestic financial mechanisms in order. “The ability to collect taxes goes to the very heart of the legitimacy of every Government,” he said.
He said that even with greater tax collection, international investment would still be needed, and for that reason it was critical to overcome problems faced in both the quality and quantity of ODA. Policy reform was certainly critical to attracting foreign direct investment, but there again, he felt it was necessary to address the bottlenecks in infrastructure and productive manpower through investment in physical infrastructure and education and training.
In utilizing other funds, he stressed that those garnered through climate change initiatives were particularly important, suggesting that least developed countries could pioneer green development that would serve humanity as a whole, by both developing in green ways through the use of innovative technology and by creating major carbon sinks through enhanced United Nations REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) -- plus programmes. In those areas, it would only be fair if poor countries were paid for environmental services rendered.
Among other areas, Mr. Zenawi emphasized that global imbalances caused by countries having massive trade surpluses could also be remedied by investment in the productive capacities of least developed countries. “Trillions of dollars of savings that have not found productive outlets are milling around the financial centres of the world, contributing to extreme variability in commodity prices,” he stressed.
Mr. Komara stressed the need to leverage available funds through greater synergy created by development partnerships, both intra-country and inter-country. Subregional cooperation must be pursued in order to better enable countries with similar problems to pool their resources. Public-private partnerships, partnerships between developing countries, and partnerships involving the international financial institutions should all be focused on helping to increase the productive capacities of the least developed countries.
Mr. Piebalgs said that ODA was still key when well-directed, and the Union was well on the track to achieving 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in its contributions. Innovative sources of financing were also crucial, he said, affirming that it was particularly important that funds for climate change and biodiversity programmes be put to best uses. He emphasized that in all areas, transparency was critical, particularly in ensuring that the benefits of extractive industries benefited all citizens.
Following those presentations, additional panellists and discussants weighed in on the subject of the mobilization of resources. Panellists included: Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank; Hugh Bredenkamp, Deputy Director of the Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund;
Other panellists were: Jon Lomoy, Director of the Development Co-operation Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Carola Donner-Reichle, Senior Adviser of the Asian Development Bank and Ohashi Masaaki, Chairmann of the Japan Non-Governmental Centre for International Cooperation.
Panellists noted that in the current economic climate, it was necessary to apply resources to the areas that would get the greatest results, and to both bring in new sources of financing and leverage all income flows. “The situation was now so urgent that we really need to stretch our minds,” said Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, noting that some countries had been able to find ways to better channel migrants’ remittances and to leverage funds from non-traditional donors, including South-South sources.
Discussants from the floor also affirmed the importance of strengthening political will at all levels, particularly in regard to the mobilization of tax revenues that remained untapped and to the provision of international aid. In the area of ODA, it was stressed that producing good results from assistance was key to increasing both the quantity and quality of such aid. Speakers frequently returned to the need to channel whatever resources were available to sustaining economic growth.
In the final part of the discussion, the importance of generating savings through self-sufficiency in such areas as food commodities was noted by some speakers. Others described programmes to provide technical assistance to help developing countries strengthen their collection of tax funds and fight corruption. Innovative financing should come out of the activities of globalization, France’s representative said, reiterating that country’s support for a tax on financial transactions that could provide financing for development that was both significant and predictable.
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