Economic issues

The General Assembly would stress the need for active measures to reduce excessive food-price volatility, while acknowledging the incomplete understanding of its causes and the importance of carrying out more research, according to one of five draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved by consensus today.

The General Assembly would urge the international community to adopt urgent measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries as they were inconsistent with the principles of international law and the multilateral trading system, according to one of 14 draft resolutions approved by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

The General Assembly would urge States and international organizations to protect coral reefs and related ecosystems while implementing integrated and comprehensive approaches to their management, according to one of 12 texts approved without a vote in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

The General Assembly would demand that Israel stop exploiting, damaging, depleting, and endangering the natural resources in occupied Arab lands, according to the terms of one of seven draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).

More than 10 years after the Monterrey Consensus was adopted, most countries remained well short of allocating 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP) to official development assistance (ODA), and sharp reductions planned in response to the global economic and financial crisis made for a bleak forecast of future growth in foreign aid, the President of the Economic and Social Council told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

While the United Nations Global Compact represented a significant development in relations between the Organization and business, contributing significantly to the emerging consensus on the value of corporate sustainability, it was important to build on that progress, speakers in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today as they considered global partnerships.

The links between energy and food would continue to grow, with the high cost of oil contributing to soaring food prices, because demand for commodities was increasingly interconnected, a top Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said today during a Second Committee (Economic and Financial) panel discussion.

Major developments in urbanization since the Second United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat II) made a strong case for holding a third meeting, Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it began considering that agency’s work today.

The planet would suffer irreversible damage if “business as usual” continued, Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs warned today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) began its consideration of sustainable development.

Emphasizing the vital importance of international trade to the growth and development of least developed countries, delegates in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) underlined today the urgent need to successfully conclude a development-oriented outcome to the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations.