GA/EF/2910

SECOND COMMITTEE BEGINS GENERAL DEBATE; ELECTS VICE-CHAIRMAN, RAPPORTEUR

The international community must objectively look at the missed opportunities and the possible causes of lack of progress in achieving the goal of development for all, the representative of Pakistan told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning, as it began its general debate.

Globalization, he said, was primarily flying on four wings -- finance, trade, technology and investment -� which were being steered by market forces heavily skewed in favour of capital or being shaped to serve the interests of a few. The developing world was on the horns of a dilemma, yet it had virtually no role in the management of capital flows. Without timely collective action, a backlash against globalization might lead to global disarray.

Speaking on behalf of the �Group of 77� developing countries and China, the Director of the International Organization Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, S. A. Adekanye, said that a globalization of compassion was needed to address the unacceptable poverty in developing countries. The heavy debt burden had become the greatest obstacle in tackling underdevelopment in developing countries. The debt of developing countries must be cancelled outright to enable them to revamp their economies and address urgent social and economic problems.

Sigrun Mogedal, State Secretary in Norway�s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, �development must come from within, or it will not come at all. Donorship must be replaced by ownership.� Poverty could not be eliminated without new and innovative private-public partnerships that would mobilize additional energies and resources. At the same time, making the international environment more conducive to development and poverty eradication was futile in the absence of good governance at the national level. With good governance, poverty could and would be rolled back. Without it, poverty would continue to plague the planet.

Ghana�s representative said that never had the income gap within and between nations been so wide. At the Millennium Summit, world leaders had affirmed the need for a more determined and radical transformation of the world. Meanwhile, projected developments in the world economy indicated that those aspirations were likely to remain unfulfilled if the challenges before the international community were approached with a �business as usual� attitude.

Statements were also made this morning by the representatives of France (on behalf of the European Union and associated States), Bangladesh, Egypt, Japan,

Second Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/EF/2910 3rd Meeting (AM) 2 October 2000

Peru, China, Mexico, Samoa (on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)) and Honduras.

In other business this morning, the Committee elected, by acclamation, Navid Hanif (Pakistan) as Committee Vice-Chairman and Ahmed Amaziane (Morocco) as Rapporteur.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its general debate.

Second Committee - 3 - Press Release GA/EF/2910 3rd Meeting (AM) 2 October 2000

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to begin its general debate, as well as to elect one Vice-Chairman and its Rapporteur. It had before it several documents relating its agenda and programme of work for the fifty-fifth session (documents A/55/250 and Corr.1, A/C.2/55/1, A/C.2/55/L.1 and Add.1).

Election of Officers

The Committee elected, by acclamation, Navid Hanif (Pakistan) as its remaining Vice-Chairman and Ahmed Amaziane (Morocco) as Rapporteur.

Statements

Speaking on behalf of the �Group of 77� developing countries and China, S. A. ADEKANYE, Director, International Organization Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, said that the new millennium would continue to be shaped by the twin forces of globalization and liberalization, with information and communication technologies as their driving force. However, the benefits of globalization should not continue to be confined to a few industrialized economies, while developing countries wallowed in poverty. The challenge before the Committee was to ensure that globalization, and the tremendous opportunities it offered, went beyond the integration of developing countries into the global economy. A globalization of compassion was needed to address unacceptable poverty in developing countries.

The defining characteristics of the twenty-first century were based on new technologies, especially biotechnology and information and communication technology, he said. They were the driving forces of competition between nations and peoples in the global economy. Consequently, access to, and a share in, the returns from these technologies would be a crucial factor in the effective integration of developing countries in the global economy. Regrettably, the current debate on extending those technologies to developing countries had, so far, not gone beyond observing the growing gaps in access to them. �Let us resolve to put in place the mechanism that will enable us to achieve universal connectivity in developing countries.� That would require innovative approaches.

The heavy debt burden, he said, had become the greatest obstacle in tackling underdevelopment in developing countries. Bold and decisive action was required to cover all categories of debt. The debt of developing countries must be cancelled outright to enable them to revamp their economies and address urgent social and economic problems. The Group had, over the years, decried the continuing decline in resources to implement the agenda for development available to various agencies and bodies of the United Nations system. Therefore, it was committed to the success of the High-Level Intergovernmental Event on Financing for Development to be held in 2001. It was essential that all relevant stakeholders participated in the conference so that a secure basis would be established for enhanced and predictable funding for development.

Turning to the environment and sustainable development, he was concerned with the lack of progress on the implementation of the principles and commitments of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)(Rio de Janeiro, 1992), particularly in the areas of financial resources, capacity building and transfer of environmentally sound technologies on concessional terms. It was regrettable that eight years after Rio, commitments made were yet to be fulfilled. Under no circumstances should the �Rio+10� conference be used as a platform for the renegotiation of Agenda 21.

YVES DOUTRIAUX (France), speaking on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, said that the Millennium Summit had provided a unique occasion to reaffirm the international community�s support of the United Nations. A strong signal had been sent to the entire world. It was important to do the utmost to achieve the goals set in the Millennium Declaration.

In that context, he recognized that international development assistance was indispensable. All the major conferences of the United Nations should respond to the primary agreements of the Declaration, including halving extreme world poverty by 2015. The role of the United Nations in development was fundamental. The special meeting of ministers convened by the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had been a strong statement of support for United Nations development work.

The United Nations must continue its efforts to improve the efficiency of the network, he said. In order to fight poverty, the Organization must take into account the special problems of Africa. Strategies to reduce poverty must include good governance and the consolidation of democratic processes. Combating pandemics was another challenge that must be faced. It was of great importance that the monitoring of United Nations instruments and conferences achieve concrete results. The European Union looked forward to continuing its dialogue with other Member States in order to ensure a successful �Rio+10� summit in 2002.

The European Union was committed to assisting the least developed countries (LDCs), he said. It was a main trading partner of the LDCs and intended to go ever further in that direction. The international community must also mobilize and demonstrate its capacity for action to give the LDCs assistance. One of the vital aspects of debt eradication was the fight against poverty.

He said the Union called on all eligible countries to do what they could to reduce world poverty. It was also important to focus on sustainable development for the benefit of future generations. The Secretary-General had drawn attention to the need to extend this dialogue to civil society, members of national parliaments and educators. The European Union supported that initiative.

SIGRUN MOGEDAL, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, said that previous experience had shown that setting targets was not enough. If the target of reducing poverty by half by 2015 was to become more than fine words, the international community had to be broader in its response, and take new and additional action. It had to ensure that globalization was steered so as to yield positive results for developing countries. Its opportunities must be applied to conquer poverty; its risks counteracted so that the poor were empowered and not marginalized. Improved market access for developing countries was increasingly an essential part of economic and social development. Having learned the lessons from Seattle, the next round of trade negotiations must be a development round.

The ongoing efforts in many countries to develop their own strategies for poverty reduction must be supported, she continued. �Development must come from within, or it will not come at all! Donorship must be replaced by ownership.� Poverty cannot be eliminated without new and innovative private-public partnerships that would mobilize additional energies and resources. Norway had recently pledged $110 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. Such innovative partnerships would strengthen the role and effectiveness of the United Nations. They should not be seen as undermining the Organization�s authority, but as additional vehicles to enhance its legitimacy and influence.

Another priority, she said, was strengthening the capacity of developing countries to make use of the innovations in information and communication technology. Norway fully supported the Economic and Social Council Ministerial Declaration on Information and Communication Technology, and the establishment of the United Nations Digital Task Force. Also, a more development-friendly international framework for trade and investment was absolutely necessary to promote sustainable development. Debt relief was another prominent challenge. Full and equitable financing of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative was a litmus test of the ability of the international community to stand by its word.

Needless to say, she continued, making the international environment more conducive to development and poverty eradication was futile in the absence of good governance at the national level. With good governance, poverty could and would be rolled back. Without it, poverty would continue to plague our planet. In addition, the linkage between peace and development should be better translated into the operational activities of the United Nations. The Brahimi Report should be acted on -� it was an important building block in the quest for comprehensive peace.

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said that there were a number of issues that needed collective attention. He believed that the current deliberations would contribute to the articulation of decisions and contribute to meaningful outcomes in forthcoming gatherings. There had been an increasing disparity in distribution of benefits and risks of globalization, both within and among nations. Globalization could bring benefits, if only the international community addressed the imbalances and asymmetries in the global economy. Bilateral and multilateral efforts would be needed to safeguard the vulnerable.

The LDCs were increasingly marginalized in a world with an accelerated volume of international trading in goods and services, he said. There should be immediate steps to reduce this damage. Foreign direct investment was often prescribed as an alternative to external assistance, totally ignoring the fact that a certain level of institutional and infrastructure development and other pre-conditions were a prerequisite for attracting foreign capital flow. Official development assistance (ODA) continued to be the largest component of external finance to low-income countries. However, a definite time frame and decisive work was needed -- not another pledge, which might not be honoured.

The impact of declining aid was doubly felt, due to huge debt servicing obligations which poor countries must fund from their minuscule export earnings, he said. The fact remained that many poor countries still spent more on debt servicing than on health and education. Bangladesh called on all development partners to consider the proposals of the Secretary-General in his Millennium Report, where he called for an entirely new approach to halting the debt problem. The main component of the approach should include immediate cancellation of debts owed by countries that have suffered major conflicts or natural disasters. There were many other important issues that remained. He hoped that they would be addressed in the individual agenda items and during the discussion of the resolutions.

REDA BEBARS (Egypt) said that the elimination of poverty and the achievement of sustainable development for all were a joint responsibility, which had to be shouldered by countries of both the North and the South. A true partnership must be established based on international solidarity, the United Nations Charter, the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of the various special sessions. Today, it was important, more than ever, to understand the facts concerning globalization. Egypt agreed with the call of the Secretary-General to increase the effectiveness of international institutions. It also believed that the development of good governance at the local level required more transparency and democracy in decision-making.

While fully realizing that developing countries had to reform their economic and social conditions, the international economic order had to be reformed so as to provide a conducive environment for development and growth, he said. Development was the shortest way to prosperity for all, and the maintenance of international peace and security. The United Nations must undertake its role in mobilizing efforts to realize sustainable development. It was becoming more evident that resolutions in the economic sphere adopted by the United Nations and not implemented in reality were fruitless. It was no exaggeration that the credibility of multilateral economic cooperation was now being threatened.

The resources available to the United Nations to perform its functions were diminishing, he said. Egypt had followed with concern the meetings of the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) held recently and had noted the decline in resources to the Fund. Developed countries had to honour the commitments they made at the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo as well as at the five-year review.

He said that the international community must deal with the debt issue of developing countries and liberate the trade policies of the industrialized countries, in addition to increasing ODA. Developed countries must provide the necessary technologies and resources to developing countries to bridge the ever- growing digital divide. He hoped that next year�s High-Level Event on Financing for Development would help solve the problem of financial resources for development for the developing countries. He also looked forward to the Third International Conference on Least Developed Countries and to the start of the preparations for the �Rio+10� international conference to be held in 2002.

Finally, he said the Second Committee had a long and difficult programme. He was confident that it would be able to realize the hopes attached to it and rise to its challenges.

SHAMSHAD AHMAD (Pakistan) said that humanity had made major strides in fighting hunger, disease, oppression and poverty. Unprecedented levels of prosperity and technological advancement had been achieved, but those accomplishments had not improved the lives of a large majority. The situation of developing countries had become even more complicated due to external debt burden, recurrence of economic and financial crises, volatile capital flows and the emerging challenges of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. The recent oil crisis was also posing serious threats to the already precarious economic situation of oil- importing developing countries.

The international community must objectively look at the missed opportunities and the possible causes of the lack of progress in achieving the goal of development for all. Globalization was primarily flying on four wings -- finance, trade, technology and investment. Those wings were being steered by market forces heavily skewed in favour of capital or being shaped to serve the interests of a few. The North largely controlled world finance. Developing countries were at the receiving end. The developing world was on the horns of a dilemma, yet it had virtually no role in the management of those flows.

To promote development for all, the international community must ensure that even distribution of the benefits of globalization was not left to blind market forces. Developing countries needed to be included in international economic decisions. The countervailing public welfare policy or framework was absent at the global level. Collective global action was absolutely essential to tame the extremes of global market forces. Without timely collective action, a backlash against globalization might lead to disarray in the world. To that end, immediate steps must be taken to establish international mechanisms to dampen the volatility of commodity prices and to cancel all unsustainable external debt. It was imperative to act swiftly to achieve the targets set in the Millennium Declaration.

HIDEAKI KOBAYASHI (Japan) said that, after the two Tokyo International Conferences on African Development (TICAD), Japan continued to attach high priority to the situation in Africa, where the problem of poverty was particularly severe. As part of that process, Japan promoted Asia-Africa cooperation, so that countries in both regions could share and benefit from each other�s experiences on the path to development. It also encouraged investment and trade between the two regions, recognizing that the private sector was the engine of development.

In order to alleviate the unsustainable debt burden of developing countries, Japan had decided to extend to qualified HIPCs, 100 per cent reduction not only of ODA debts but also non-ODA official debts, he said. In addition, to promote the speedy and full implementation of the enhanced HIPC Debt Initiative, Japan would make a contribution of up to $200 million to the HIPC Trust Fund in the World Bank and would provide technical assistance to HIPCs as they prepared their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. It was also helping to finance activities of the United Nations system to enhance human security. Specifically, it had contributed over $80 million to the Human Security Fund, which had been established last year at the United Nations, and intended to make a further contribution of $100 million.

Through its ODA and other resources, Japan was providing assistance to meet the changing needs of developing countries in a wide range of areas, he said. In the area of information technology, Japan was currently preparing a comprehensive cooperation package aimed at bridging the digital divide. The package, composed of both ODA and non-ODA funds, would extend a total of $15 billion over five years. The United Nations should also play an important role in bridging the gap, in accordance with the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the Economic and Social Council in July.

In extending assistance, he said, Japan attached ever greater importance to environmental conditions. It was also working actively to ensure the success of the sixth session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Moreover, it was looking forward to engaging, at the �Rio+10� conference in 2002, in discussions that would take into account new developments during the past 10 years in areas such as climate change, technological innovation and globalization. Japan welcomed Indonesia�s offer to host the conference, an offer that was supported at the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific held recently in Japan.

JORGE VALDEZ (Peru) said it had been forecast that the gross world product would grow this year. However, it appeared that the growth of world production had been limited to only the most developed countries. The international environment had been incapable of providing insurance against the volatility of capital flows. New potential problems had recently been added with the emergence of the energy crisis.

The many efforts of the Peruvian Government had been insufficient to solve the poverty problem within Peru. To eliminate poverty, it had been estimated that the gross domestic product must grow 6 per cent every year. As a small country, Peru was vulnerable to the international market. It was for that reason that the United Nations must work as a catalyst so that there could be reinforced cooperation among Member States.

Markets had to be opened for the benefits of all countries, he continued. There needed to be a substantial elimination of debt for developing countries. There also needed to be an effective use of the so-called peace dividend. Developed countries had to take into consideration the internal situation of the developing countries. He hoped that many of the goals could be reached.

WANG YINGFAN (China) said that, despite the unprecedented material wealth humanity had created in the twentieth century, the gap between the rich and the poor had widened even more. The twenty-first century should be one in which globalization benefited the entire world. It was essential to help developing countries integrate themselves into the world economy and support their efforts towards sustainable development. The United Nations Millennium Declaration clearly stated that while globalization offered great opportunities, at present its benefits were very unevenly shared, and its costs were unevenly distributed. In his view, the key issue was to strengthen effective global governance.

The formulation of the rules of the game was crucial to the governance of globalization. To that end, the international community should change the situation where, for a long time, the decision-making power in major multilateral economic institutions had rested in the hands of a minority of countries. The United Nations had an important role to play in that regard.

The Organization, he said, had made a very good initiative by inviting the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to attend the High-Level Consideration on Financing for Development to be held next year. Such dialogue and coordination should be further promoted.

Eradication of poverty posed the most severe challenge for mankind, he said. The Millennium Declaration had provided a series of goals in this regard. The international community should also take concrete measures to get rid of the digital divide between the developed and developing countries. Developing countries varied in the level of development. Therefore, it was important to choose a road to development that was suitable to their national conditions. Developing countries should refrain from forcing their own economic and social standards. China was ready to promote international cooperation, including South- South cooperation.

MAURICIO ESCANERO (Mexico) said that globalization must become a positive force for all and be fully inclusive. Collective and responsible action was an imperative that required the will of the entire international community. The fundamental priority must be the achievement of equity. It was important to ensure that the international economic order be fully consistent with the priorities of sustainable development and social justice. Greater and better levels of education and health, and universal access to scientific and technological advancement, must also be ensured.

Three main challenges confronted the international community, he said. The first was to encourage action to provide predictability for financing for development. In that regard, he was encouraged by the possibilities offered by the upcoming conference on financing for development, which should contribute to the establishment of a solid world alliance for development. The second challenge was to strengthen the international trading system in an equitable manner. He reiterated the appeal made by the heads of State and government of the Rio Group in the Cartagena Declaration adopted in June for launching, without delay, a new round of trade negotiations in the WTO with no exclusions and leading to the effective adoption of tariff and non-tariff barriers for goods and services.

The third challenge, he said, was to strengthen the positive impact of new technologies on development, maximizing the benefits of globalization. The contribution of the United Nations would be crucial to ensure the proper participation of all countries in designing standards and institutional frameworks to guide the technological revolution for the benefit of development. In addition, the �Rio+10� conference and its preparatory process must be a platform for focusing on the culture of co-responsibility, firmly based on the principle of shared but differentiated responsibility. Also, the leadership of the United Nations was essential to strengthen international cooperation, in all its phases, in the face of natural disasters.

TUILOMA NERONI SLADE (Samoa), speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said that the special session of the General Assembly last year to review the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action had reaffirmed the validity of the Programme as a living framework for sustainable development in small island developing States. The specific constraints of such States, and the need for particular support, were given proper recognition. While it was evident that those States had made significant -- in some cases, remarkable -- efforts to promote their own sustainable development, it was also clear that many of them were destined to be dependent on the cooperation and technical, as well as financial, assistance from the international community.

The Barbados Programme of Action required of small island developing States to formulate national action plans and environmental strategies, to carry out legislative reforms to fulfil environmental norms, and to establish national institutions for sustainable development planning and project implementation, he said. Many such States now had sustainable development councils and authorities, and many were utilizing tools such as environmental impact assessments to protect the environment, in addition to actually implementing sustainable development projects.

He said that the precepts of expanding market access, trade liberalization, increased technological advancement, and more efficient and effective mechanisms for manufacturing and agriculture were all positive developments of globalization. However, they must be applied fairly and transparently. It was the rigid application of those elements, without regard to the social dimension of development, that produced distortions and threatened the widening of income gaps. The true challenge, then, would be to ensure that globalization did not become an instrument of oppression for small vulnerable communities such as his, but rather a means of offering real opportunities and improving development prospects.

The Alliance, he said, would press for an outcome at the sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that was fair, functional and dynamic but which, above all, did not result in an overall increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The time had come to provide better financial and technical support to small island developing States and other vulnerable countries so that they could begin a more forward- looking programme for adaptation to climate change.

NANA EFFAH-APENTENG (Ghana) said that never in the history of mankind had the income gap within and between nations been so wide. There was more inequality even as the focus on inequality has led to more consensus in development approaches. During the Millennium Summit, our political leaders affirmed the need for a more determined and radical transformation of the world. Projected developments in the world economy indicated that these aspirations were likely to remain unfulfilled if the challenges before the international community were approached with a �business as usual� attitude.

The representatives in this Committee must proceed from the notion that the more prosperity was widely shared, the more secure that prosperity was, he said. Such an approach would shift emphasis and preoccupation from costs and who paid for them to opportunities. In the case of debt relief, the failure to synchronize the initiatives on debt, trade and ODA had led to easy reversals in the face of instabilities accentuated by globalization. Debt relief ends up -- in those countries -- being too little, too late. If debt relief were to have an enduring impact, the developing countries would need to take decisive steps to address the concerns of the developing countries.

It was agreed that developing countries had the primary responsibility for the development of their respective economies, he said. Without access to good quality basic education, however, developing countries would consistently find their people and economies unable to respond to the opportunities of globalization. As the Secretary-General�s Millennium Report put it, education was �the key to the new global economy�. It was important to move these issues into the public arena. To do this, civil society organizations must be involved in the work of the United Nations in a deeper and more integrated fashion. Unless this was done, the solutions offered for the developing world would continue to be unrealistic and fail to achieve their intended goals.

NOEMI ESPINOZA MADRID (Honduras) said that the purpose of the Millennium Summit had been to define the role of the United Nations for the immediate future.

The biggest challenge before the international community was globalization. It was important that there be an improvement in social factors. The Organization had been involved in technological advancement. She stressed that it was indispensable to have technology spread from the largest cities to the smallest villages.

Extreme poverty affected half the world�s populations, she said. The greatest challenge to this generation was to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. Without this, there would be no peace or prosperity in the world. The role of civil society was viewed as a key factor for sustainable development. The efforts of the United Nations must focus on socio-economic development. Some of the progress of the last decade had threatened the planet. In that regard, the United Nations must ensure that the twenty-first century was preserved for the future generations of the world.

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