BackgroundThe General Assembly met today to discuss progress in implementation of and international support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), as well as causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.
Before the Assembly is the
Secretary-General’s report on NEPAD (document A/58/254), which highlights the actions taken by African countries in the implementation of the Partnership, as well as support by the international community, including the United Nations system and the response of the private sector and the civil society. Africa’s ownership and leadership of the Partnership represent an important and welcome reassertion of the principle of responsibility for its development.
The report notes that the international community’s support is an important expression of international solidarity and partnership. Together, the principles of responsibility, solidarity and partnership are a formula for success. Even so, African countries and the international community must persevere and work together to build on the incipient momentum for NEPAD and to deliver on its promise.
Much remains to be done, concludes the report, to move forward with the implementation of the New Partnership. Bold actions are required by all stakeholders to address the various challenges and constraints that have been identified, which include poor policy environments in African countries and limited use of public-private partnerships for addressing NEPAD priorities.
Among other things, the report suggests that African countries will need to take the necessary measures to integrate NEPAD priorities into their development progress. The action required includes ensuring adequate funding for NEPAD policy priorities, developing sound programmes around designated priorities and creating effective political and public support for them. In addition, it is essential that Africa’s development partners strive to achieve coherence and complementarity in their trade and aid policies. Steps should also be taken to disburse already pledged resources.
Further, the report continues, the private sector and civil society should be encouraged to adopt a proactive orientation towards NEPAD. At the same time, governments are urged to facilitate the involvement and active participation of the private sector and civil society entities in the implementation of the New Partnership.
Also before the Assembly is a note by the Secretary-General on
proposed revisions to the medium-term plan for the period 2002-2005 (document A/58/83). The Assembly, in November 2002, decided to bring the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s to a close and endorsed the recommendation of the Secretary-General that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development should be the framework within which the international community, including the United Nations system, should concentrate its efforts for Africa’s development.
In doing so, the Assembly underscored the need for a structure in the Secretariat in New York, at an appropriate level, that would review and report on support provided by the United Nations system and the international community for the New Partnership and on the coordinated implementation of outcomes of summit meetings and conferences relating to Africa, as well as coordinate global advocacy in support of the New Partnership. In that context, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to make proposals on the organization of such a structure within the framework of his proposals for the programme budget for the biennium 2004-2005.
Pursuant to those requests, the revisions to programme 8 of the medium-term plan are set out in the annex to the present document. The revised programme, entitled “United Nations support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development”, constitutes the framework for an integrated and coordinated response by the United Nations in support of the New Partnership.
The revised programme will continue to include the following subprogrammes: Coordination of global advocacy of and support for NEPAD, under the responsibility of the new Office of the Special Adviser on Africa; Regional coordination of and support for the New Partnership, under the responsibility of a special coordinating unit in the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); and Public information and awareness activities in support of NEPAD, under the responsibility of the Africa Section in the Department of Public Information.
The Assembly also had before it the
report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (document A/58/16), in which the Committee welcomed the Secretary-General’s proposals regarding NEPAD, and recommended that the Assembly approve the revisions proposed to programme 8, with certain modifications, that are laid out in the report.
Lastly, the Assembly had for its consideration the report of the Secretary-General on the
Implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, (document A/58/352), which addresses specific follow-up actions and initiatives taken in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s 1998 report (document A/52/871).
The report also identifies the problems and obstacles in the effective implementation of the recommendations and makes proposals on the future format of the follow-up of the implementation of the recommendation in the Secretary-General’s 1998 report. While progress was made in some areas, the report states that it was slow and uneven. Therefore, concerted action by African countries and their development partners was needed to speed up the implementation of the recommendations.
Regarding arms proliferation, African countries are encouraged to be more transparent in providing information on arms and ammunition and to participate in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. It is also proposed that the international community recognize the efforts of the African countries that are stopping or controlling the proliferation of illegal weapons and provide them with additional support.
In the area of social development, the report states that increased and sustained aid to African countries well above the existing levels, accompanied by appropriate policies conducive to growth, including the necessity for enhancing institutional capacities, would be needed to enable African countries to accelerate their current efforts at poverty reduction to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015. The report also identifies the need to invest in human resources and stresses that African countries need to make substantial investment in their education, health and related social services to address these challenges, including achieving and eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015. Thus, the international community is encouraged to step up its support to boost African efforts.
In addition, donor countries are urged to increase their efforts to meet the United Nations official development assistance (ODA) target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) to developing countries and to support African efforts in the consolidation of peace and sustainable development. Additionally, in light of the slow speed of implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, a simplification of the procedures and a further review of the content of conditionality need to be considered.
The report stresses the urgent need for African countries to be successfully integrated into the global trade arrangements, as trade can be an engine for economic growth and crucial for addressing the challenge of poverty reduction. The industrialized countries need to take more vigorous measures to lower their trade barriers against exports from developing countries. However, progress in reducing trade barriers and opening the markets of developed countries needs to be accompanied by improved domestic policies and enhanced capacity that help countries to take advantage of their trade opportunities. African countries will also need to strengthen their trade negotiating capacity, improve infrastructure, diversify their export-base and make export-oriented industries more productive to tap into global markets.
Statements
LEONARDO SANTOS SIMÃO, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, and Chairman of the Executive Council of the African Union, said that both NEPAD and the implementation of the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace in Africa remained at the top of the African and international agendas. The African peoples, firmly engaged in making theirs a continent of hope, were striving to achieve peace, stability and socio-economic development, and to build strong foundations for democracy, good governance and better living conditions.
The New Partnership, the African-led initiative and comprehensive development strategy, was the key to the operationalization of the vision for a better Africa, he added. Its two-fold strategy aimed to ensure that conflict in Africa became a thing of the past, and to embark the continent on the course of sustainable development. The successful implementation of NEPAD would allow Africa to cease to be a burden and a permanent source of concern for the international community. Furthermore, as one of NEPAD’s main pillars was the achievement and maintenance of peace, stability and security, three fundamental institutions had been established by the African Union, including the Peace and Security Council, the Pan-African Parliament and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council.
The Short-Term Action Plan, focused on priority projects in areas such as energy, transport, water and sanitation, information and technology and health and education, represented an important step forward, he continued. Progress was also being made on the Medium- to Long-term Infrastructure Action Plan, and a comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan was being developed in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Since the signing of the Constitutive Act of the African Union two years ago, he said the focus had been the creation of an institutional framework to oversee NEPAD’s implementation at the regional level, to integrate its priorities into national development programmes and to bring coherence on NEPAD matters within individual governments. The Peer Review Mechanism had begun to take shape; its operational structure had been established. Soon, the evaluation of the first two countries that had volunteered for review would be available.
Efforts to implement NEPAD had met with an overall balance of success in the area of conflict resolution, he concluded. Yet, despite the ownership and leadership of NEPAD and ongoing African initiatives for conflict prevention, management and resolution, the role of the international community would be critical. The United Nations should continue to concentrate its efforts in support of NEPAD, and the continent’s development partners should live up to their commitments and assist NEPAD in action.
MARCELLO SPATAFORA (Italy), speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said the Union had supported the NEPAD initiative from the beginning, sharing its basic vision of a partnership between the more developed countries and the African countries, with the latter taking primary responsibility in establishing the conditions for sustainable economic and social development and attracting private investment. The NEPAD also rightly enhanced the private sector’s role in Africa as a means to help fully integrate the continent into the process of economic globalization. Applauding the progress already made in implementing NEPAD, particularly with regard to the establishment of the African Peer Review Mechanism, he encouraged further efforts to integrate NEPAD goals and priorities into national, subregional and continental development plans, to foster cooperation with regional economic communities and to generate popular support for NEPAD.
African resolve, he added, must be matched by the commitment of more developed countries to support the continent. The European Union had already committed to bring official development assistance (ODA) to 0.39 per cent of gross national index (GNI) by 2006, as a first significant step toward the United Nations goal of 0.7 per cent, among other contributions. Recognizing the importance of cotton for the development of a number of African countries and the need for urgent action to address trade distortion in that area, the Union had proposed a constructive solution to address the trade aspects linked to depressed cotton prices in the world market. It also remained convinced that growing liberalization of world trade, together with development cooperation activities, could play a crucial role in attaining the Millennium Development Goals. In that regard, negotiations within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) should be resumed as soon as possible.
Moreover, as today’s meeting was also devoted to the promotion of lasting peace in Africa, which also constituted the first goal of NEPAD, he reaffirmed that the Union’s contribution to conflict prevention and management would be made through strengthening African capacities. There had been several important developments in that regard. Among them, the protocol for an African Peace and Security Mechanism had been endorsed by the African Union at its Durban Summit in 2002. That provided for an African stand-by force, whose creation would deter conflicts on the continent and supplement strong and effective cooperation between the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union. The European Union had much to offer Africa in terms of capacity building for conflict prevention, management and resolution.
JOHAN LOVALD (Norway) said that fighting poverty and promoting development was the soundest investment that could be made in Africa. The New Partnership was a significant step towards economic and social development and political stability for the continent. Norway had joined the rest of the international community in a commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap for halving poverty by 2015. To reach the Goals, the international community must improve the international framework for trade, investment and debt; poor countries must focus on good governance and accountability; ODA must be increased; and the private sector and civil society must become active partners in poverty alleviation.
Without peace and stability, the fight against poverty would fail, he stated. The Secretary-General had rightly put emphasis on the responsibility of African countries themselves for development in Africa. Regional and subregional organizations and civil society needed to be involved in all stages of conflict resolution and in enhancing African capacity with regard to peacekeeping operations. The primary role of the international community should be to strengthen and support efforts and initiatives within the African countries themselves.
Norway, together with Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom had supported and participated in the Sudan peace talks, he said. On 25 September, the parties signed an agreement on the principles for resolving the sensitive issue of security arrangements for a peace agreement, hopefully paving the way for the signing of a full peace agreement this autumn. But Sudanese society would need to see the concrete results of a peace agreement, which would underline the fact that “peace pays”. Norway, as co-chair of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Partner Forum, would host a donor conference as soon as there was a peace agreement.
AHMED ABOUL GHEIT (Egypt) underscored the need to unify and coordinate the work of United Nations agencies and other international organizations toward full implementation of NEPAD and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The New Partnership was a framework for development, responsibility and support for Africa and an expression of the joint resolve of all African nations to eradicate the causes of conflict and economic marginalization. It would also lay the foundation for respect for the decisions taken by the people of the continent to ensure their own development.
Efforts to coordinate the work of the wider international community with African nations was also necessary to help identify relevant priorities for action, such as curbing trafficking in small arms, enhancing cooperation with peacekeeping operations, and establishing strategies to assist refugees and displaced persons. He stressed that conflicts in Africa should not be tackled solely from the standpoint of achieving a ceasefire. The real challenge was managing post-conflict situations. That required agreement on and elaboration of a host of initiatives covering political, social, economic and administrative development.
He went on to suggest that it was also necessary to strengthen coordination with the United Nations and international financial institutions to help define the role of all parties at each stage of post-conflict management. That would avoid overlapping initiatives and allow those considered least effective to be cancelled out. All should work to develop channels of coordination and interaction on a daily basis with intergovernmental and national institutions so as to ensure dovetailing activities.
ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) recalled that, without peace, there could be no real development. Despite the progress in conflict resolution in Africa of recent years, the persistence of conflicts continued to affect a number of countries and regions. Thus, among other initiatives, the Economic and Social Council’s creation of Ad Hoc Working Groups for Guinea-Bissau and Burundi was lauded, especially with regard to their roles in coordinating the support of the international community and United Nations system to ensure the transition from post-conflict to reconstruction. The political will and determination to achieve the durable settlement of the multitude of conflicts ravaging the continent depended, however, on two factors. First, resources must not be diverted from development efforts. Secondly, in its support and encouragement for African activities, the international community should not abandon its own efforts for conflict resolution on the continent.
One year ago, he recalled, the Assembly had adopted two important resolutions on Africa. The first had welcomed NEPAD, and the second had terminated UN-NADAF. Now, on the first occasion for assessing progress in the implementation of NEPAD, it was encouraging to see that African countries were resolutely committed to attaining the goals set, and to see they had made some progress. Although Africa had made progress in areas related to governance, peace and security, national coordination, agriculture, health, education, the environment and tourism, infrastructure and industrialization, the continent would need to expend additional efforts to reinforce its resolve for implementation. The partnership between NEPAD and the Group of Eight was welcomed, as were bilateral and multilateral initiatives in support of Africa. The United Nations system was also called on to play a significant role in supporting African efforts, including with respect to operational activities.
JEAN-BAPTISTE NATAMA (Burkina Faso) said that even though NEPAD, only a few months ago, seemed to be at a crossroads due to the war in Iraq and uncertainties over good governance issues on the continent as a whole, recent declarations in Maputo by African heads of State had marked an important milestone in ushering in a new start for Africa. The spontaneous and voluntary adherence in Maputo of
15 nations to the African Union’s Peer Review Mechanism had highlighted that. The positive reviews the Mechanism had received, due to its impact on institutional capacity building, was proof of its significance.
Without a doubt, he said, Africa needed to put an end to the wars ravaging the continent, and NEPAD was a vital instrument in that regard. He commended the Economic and Social Council’s work in Guinea Bissau and Burundi, and urged that its engagement in the two countries continue to ensure lasting peace and development there. He expected similar progress soon in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. In the spirit of the New Partnership, he noted that Africans establishing their own sources of finance would be welcomed by both them and their partners. He called for the mobilization of Africa’s partners, and the consistent cooperation of the international community to develop the markets of the North without ideological considerations and the application of subsidies, in keeping with World Trade Organization rules. He also called for debate in every African State to ensure that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development was understood by all.
YURIY N. ISAKOV (Russian Federation) said Africa’s development had been slowed by the illegal activities of armed groups, mercenary activities, the use of child soldiers, human rights violations and other activities undermining the foundations of sovereign States. Only by joint efforts could those illegal forces be countered. He supported United Nations efforts to strengthen peacekeeping capacities throughout the continent. The progress achieved by United Nations operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other areas of crises demonstrated the interrelationship between peace and stability and meaningful social and economic reconstruction of countries in conflict. Recent developments in the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau had shown the seriousness of the problems confronted by African countries.
Development in Africa rested on the strengthening of statehood, and the development of democracy and good economic governance, among other things, he stated. However, responsibility for its future lay with the Africans themselves. He commended the recent adoption of the “Principles of good neighbourliness and cooperation” by a number of Southern African States, and convinced that such an example of multilateral cooperation could be replicated in other parts of the continent. The NEPAD was critical to helping Africa get back on the track to sustainable development. Russia’s assistance to Africa included alleviating the debt burden and providing preferential trade arrangements. In addition, his country provided assistance in the areas of public health and personnel training, as well as humanitarian disaster relief assistance.
JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE (France) said his country would work together with the European Union and African nations towards ensuring peace and security, fighting disease and poverty, and providing access to education. The priorities for Africa’s development identified in NEPAD closely mirrored those mapped out in the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of other international meetings and summits. He welcomed the support given to NEPAD at the recent Maputo African Union Summit, particularly the focus on agriculture, health and the environment. All were aware that much remained to be done, and now was the time for implementation. Subregional organizations could play an important role in that regard. He added that it was necessary for the international community to mobilize efforts to bring an end to conflict on the continent because peace and stability were crucial to ensuring sustainable development.
He went on to highlight the efforts of France, the European Union and the Group of Eight industrialized countries to help Africa meet defined priorities in areas such as fighting disease, providing access to water and sanitation, and combating hunger. Food security was a matter of global concern, which required the development of long-term solutions, he added. The European Union and others were also working to enhance the trading positions of African countries, and were committed to the rehabilitation of infrastructure.
On trade, he said that when the WTO resumes negotiations following the collapse of the Cancun round last month, they should pay heightened attention to the specific needs of African countries. France and the European Union, meanwhile, would continue to press for market access and stable commodity prices for African countries. He added that France was preparing to host the “New Forum for Partnership with Africa” to monitor support on all NEPAD issues. The United Nations should also play a key role in helping African countries achieve the NEPAD objectives.
JOHN D. NEGROPONTE (United States) said his country had strongly supported the objectives of NEPAD since its inception. The Partnership was a dramatic commitment by African leaders to end conflict and hasten progress, by taking concrete actions to promote peace and stability, to consolidate democracy and to provide sound economic management and people-centred development. He reaffirmed his country’s deep and continuing commitment to initiatives such as those taken in Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi and elsewhere in pursuit of peace and security, which were essential for the continent’s strong and sustainable economic growth and development. The United States was training peacekeepers, performing military education seminars at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and working with African mediators and subregional organizations to enhance their conflict resolution capabilities.
The United States was also working to expand trade, opportunity and enterprise for the African people, he added. Already the world’s largest investor in Africa’s economies, his country realized that enormous opportunities remained open. New trade and investment linkages would benefit not only Africa’s trade with the United States, but also economic ties within Africa itself and between Africa and the rest of the world. The continent had suffered from its relative isolation from the global economy for too long. Ways to overcome the failure of the Cancun Trade Round must be found in order to forge a consensus on how to further open the world’s markets and take advantage of the promise of market-led, poverty-reducing growth.
Complementing United States trade policies, he continued, the President’s Millennium Challenge Account would make substantially increased resources available to help developing countries that demonstrated a strong commitment to liberty and prosperity for their people. That drew on an essential lesson of development: “Countries prosper when their governments function justly, effectively and transparently”. His country’s commitment to Africa also included the $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, a total of $600 million over five years for the African Education Initiative, and $850 million in emergency assistance to help Africa address its food crises.
DUMISANI KUMALO (
South Africa) said that the New Partnership had completed many continent-wide programmes and strategies. Among them were the comprehensive plans for African agricultural development, health programmes and a multisectoral AIDS strategy, a NEPAD educational programme, a tourism strategy, and programmes for industrialization and infrastructure development. More importantly, Africa had moved beyond the completion of the strategies and programmes to implementation. At the subregional level, a number of projects had been started, including the electricity link between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, the oil pipeline that ran through a number of West African countries, the New Rice for Africa initiative, the printing of school textbooks and school feeding programmes.
He said the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which was supposed to help promote good governance on the continent, had now been established. While it was quite a novel and courageous process to be undertaken by any group of countries, Africa was convinced of the mechanism’s contribution to promoting good governance on the continent. It was encouraging that more than 16 countries had already signed up to it. However, contrary to the Secretary-General’s report, the mechanism was not meant to be a “means of attracting support from developing partners”. Rather it was Africa’s own effort of seeking good governance for itself, and not a means to appeal to the international community. He was appreciative of the growing efforts of the United Nations system to mainstream NEPAD into their priorities and programmes. He described as “most heartening” the close cooperation between the NEPAD secretariat, African regional and subregional organizations, individual governments and the United Nations system.
EMYR JONES PARRY (
United Kingdom) described Africa’s current situation as dramatic, saying that if the continent’s situation did not improve, 23 countries would fail to achieve the Millennium Goals. Democracy was gradually taking hold on the continent, but the number of poor people continued to increase, maternal and child mortality were increasing and 75 per cent of the world’s HIV/AIDS sufferers lived in sub-Saharan Africa. The problems were complex and interconnected. He stressed the damage wrought on the people of the continent by continuing conflict –- in January 2000, more than half of African countries were affected, poor governance, deteriorating trade schemes and low investment, as well as the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
But the news was not all bad, he said, declaring NEPAD “the most promising African-led development initiative in a generation”. That Plan aimed to tackle HIV/AIDS, reduce poverty and sustain long-term economic growth. It was backed by a commitment to improve governance, build peacekeeping capacity and create the right environment for development. The Peer Review Mechanism, to begin this year in Ghana, was an important tool to ensure the Plan was broadly implemented.
African countries knew that the primary responsibility rested with them, he added, stressing that the international response to the continent’s challenges must be implemented in partnership with African governments. While the Group of Eight had responded two years ago by agreeing to a series of commitments under its “Africa Action Plan,” there was much more the international community could do. There needed to be more and better development assistance, he said, calling on all States to increase the finances available for Africa’s development. Also, with Africa’s share of world trade at a mere 1 per cent, it was clear that trade rules must be improved to benefit the least developed countries (LDCs). Developed countries must also support Africa’s efforts to resolve armed conflicts and to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.
MASASHI MIZUKAMI (Japan) said his country had been promoting the principles of Africa’s ownership and international partnership for African development through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process since 1993. Two weeks ago, Japan renewed its commitment to supporting NEPAD by hosting TICAD III. At that conference, Prime Minister Koizumi had announced the three pillars that comprised Japan’s initiative for assistance for NEPAD’s implementation. Regarding the first pillar, “human-centred development”, the Prime Minister announced that, over the next five years, Japan aimed to extend grant assistance to Africa totalling $1 billion in areas such as health, education, food and HIV/AIDS.
The second pillar, he continued, was “poverty reduction through economic growth”. Without economic growth, poverty could not be reduced in a sustainable manner. Japan had placed particular emphasis on cooperation to improve agricultural productivity since agriculture was the backbone of African economies. The third pillar was “consolidation of peace”. While the progress made in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone, for example, was encouraging, the prevalence of unresolved conflicts in Africa was of grave concern. Emergency measures alone taken in light of such conflicts would not make for lasting peace in Africa unless accompanied by post-conflict peace-building, domestic security and humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. Therefore, the international community must encourage and support the efforts of African countries in those areas.
NASROLLAH KAZEMI-KAMYAB (
Iran) said the realities faced by many Africans had called for comprehensive policy and action. Reiterating his nation’s full solidarity with African countries, he said Iran had been able to contribute to a large number of projects and reconstruction efforts there. Cooperation between Iran and African countries, both in the bilateral field and the international scene, was on the rise. However, possibly due to time-consuming bottlenecks and a lack of necessary infrastructure, economic ties had not been progressing on equal footing with political relations.
Iran had allocated a $200 million line of credit for Africa, he stated, adding that the credit ceiling would be decided on the basis of a mutual banking agreement and proportionate to the level of trade and commercial ties between the related country and Iran. The African “renaissance” could only be initiated in all earnestness by Africans themselves. He called on the United Nations to integrate its various plans, programmes and initiatives into one policy framework, comprising of political, economic and social components.
GEORGE TALBOT (Guyana) said NEPAD not only constituted a positive agenda for action by and among African countries themselves, but one to be embraced by the entire international community. He was heartened by the demonstrated commitment to integrate the Partnership’s priorities into national policies and development planning frameworks. African ownership and leadership of NEPAD was indispensable to the achievement of its objectives. The establishment of the African Peer Review Mechanism was thus welcomed, as were the African Union’s efforts to consolidate democracy and strengthen regional mechanisms for conflict prevention, resolution and management on the continent. He also looked forward to the entry into force of the protocols establishing the Pan-African Parliament and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. Efforts to reorient the activities of regional communities to reflect the priorities of NEPAD would continue to contribute to the meaningful operationalization of those priorities continent-wide.
Such positive developments had, however, been accompanied by a number of challenges Africa needed to face, with the support of the international community, he noted. Those challenges pertained to areas such as agriculture and food security and health and education. Moreover, the implementation of NEPAD had been constrained by shortcomings in the machinery of implementation itself, by weak institutional capacity at the national and regional levels, by insufficient popularization of the Partnership at the country level and by inadequacies in funding. Overcoming those challenges would require renewed efforts by the international community to honour its commitments, to take concrete action with respect to the provision of ODA, debt relief, market access for African exports and assistance in attracting foreign direct investment. South-South cooperation should also form an integral part of the international response. Within the Caribbean Community, a number of cooperation initiatives had been undertaken with the countries and institutions of Africa.
ISMAEL ABRAÃO GASPAR MARTINS (Angola) recognized and commended the relentless work undertaken by the United Nations to assist Africa with NEPAD’s implementation. He welcomed the establishment of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser for Africa, and hoped the office would be provided adequate financial and human resources. He also commended United Nations agencies, particularly the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for its collaboration and support.
Turning to challenges and constraints in implementing NEPAD, he stressed that Africa would face many difficulties as its nations struggled to meet the Millennium Goals. The Secretary-General’s report noted, among other things, that total ODA to Africa was modest in comparison with the huge agricultural subsidies paid to farmers in the developed countries. While Africa was known as a continent of vast beauty and deep history, it nevertheless continued to struggle with famine, poverty, debt, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. In addition, ongoing armed conflicts had claimed the lives of millions. Angola was doing its part to participate in regional and subregional programmes that would enhance the capacity of African countries to better respond to the challenges of NEPAD.
BRUNO RODRÍGUEZ PARRILLA (Cuba) said that current international economic relations, marked by the inequalities imposed by the neoliberal globalization process, had left Africa totally disadvantaged. He wondered how it could be argued that the globalization process was inclusive and offered opportunities and benefits for all when Africa, with 18.5 per cent of the world’s population and holding the greatest global natural resource reserves, accounted for only
1 per cent of global GDP and 2 per cent of global trade. Additionally, out of the 42 million infected with HIV/AIDS, 70 per cent lived in sub-Saharan Africa and had no access to medicine or the treatments needed to fight the virus. What Africa needed was not more advice, but resources to solve its problems.
In that light, he said that African countries urgently needed special and differential treatment regarding trade, access to markets, stability in commodity prices, foreign debt cancellation, access to technology, and substantive increases in ODA without conditions. Stating that Africa could no longer wait, he said international cooperation was unavoidable because Africans needed the support of the international community. The resources African nations had were insufficient and had to be devoted to servicing their external debt rather than on education and health. The small increase in ODA provided with many conditions, the debt relief or cancellation initiatives, promises of foreign investment, and the announcements of agricultural subsidy reductions, which boosted agricultural production and exports, were still insufficient when compared to the continent’s needs. He highlighted Cuba’s assistance to African countries, even with its limited resources as a result of the severe economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on it for more than four decades.
MOHAMED BENNOUNA (Morocco), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said NEPAD was a basic integrated platform for the development of the African continent. Its implementation depended primarily on the political will of every African country to reflect its principles in their policies and national development strategies. Success would depend on the ability of African governments to mobilize all national capacities and stakeholders toward the realization of the Plan’s goals and objectives. The establishment of the Peer Review Mechanism to monitor implementation efforts was a significant step, which African countries had taken to help assess political and economic performance. The Mechanism’s creation also reflected African countries’ determination to ensure their own development. Four countries would kick off the Mechanism by year’s end.
Africa had intensified its efforts to consolidate democracy and strengthen regional mechanisms for conflict prevention, resolution and management, he said. Similar efforts had been made for the establishment of a Pan-African Parliament and national focal points for NEPAD, as well as initiatives at the subregional level in various fields, including infrastructure, agriculture, health and education, among others. Yet, the lack of financial resources was the main challenge to Africa’s effort to ensure broad implementation. Indeed, the mobilization of national resources was insufficient to ensure adequate financing of economic and social development programmes. International support remained essential to the success of the Plan. Developed countries should help Africa by respecting the commitments undertaken at various international summits and conferences, as well as by fulfilling their obligations to ensure ODA, resolve the foreign debt crisis, promote investment in Africa and assist the continent in achieving the Millennium Goals.
He said that although ODA for Africa had increased slightly over the past two years, there had been little movement on the debt relief issue. There had also been little progress on the international trade front. Only reinforced, reliable and broad access to international markets would provide African countries with the resources to help finance their own development. Developed countries, however, seemed to be far from meeting the commitments made to that end at the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development, the Millennium Summit and the 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) development round. Indeed, the failure of the Cancun trade round and the cotton scandal had revealed the inconsistency of developed countries’ positions on the essence of the multilateral trade system.
A.C. JOSE (
India) believed that Africa understood its own problems, and the solutions to them, better than anyone else. Therefore, its ownership and leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development would be the main success factor. Still, it was too early to assess what progress had been made in its implementation. The NEPAD was based on the principles of responsibility, solidarity and partnership. “Solidarity, this time, needs to be real.” Another failure to show solidarity would be harmful for the credibility of the international community and injurious to the notion of partnership. Cancun, which had been the first opportunity to show that solidarity, had, been a disappointment.
Official development assistance for Africa had shown some signs of progress, with an increase from $16.4 billion in 2000 to $18.6 billion in 2002, he stated. That trend needed to be built upon. India’s relationship with Africa was built on strong historical and political foundations, and his country had been exploring ways to provide support to NEPAD in the spirit of South-South cooperation. As such, India’s Ministry of Commerce had launched a “Focus Africa” programme, to build on achievements in trade with sub-Saharan Africa, and had also cancelled all bilateral debt with HIPC countries. Africa was the principal focus of India’s technical and economic cooperation programme with developing countries.
VALERIY KUCHYNSKY (Ukraine) said that, while it was the primary responsibility of the Africans themselves to translate their aspirations for revival into reality, the international community as a whole also shouldered considerable responsibility to assist Africa in that endeavour. The fact that NEPAD’s agenda had been given high priority in the work of the United Nations, the Group of Eight and other similar important international forums testified to the determination of Africa’s partners to shoulder that responsibility. The United Nations had the important role of coordinating global advocacy in support of the New Partnership, and that challenging mission necessitated strengthening collaboration, coordination and coherence among the various components of the Organization. In that context, he viewed positively the establishment of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, which served as the focal point for NEPAD in the United Nations system.
The success of NEPAD, he continued, depended to a large extent on the right propagation and mass education of Africans on its objectives. That was why one priority of the United Nations should be NEPAD’s popularization, increasing its awareness at the local level and giving it “visibility”. As a country with a long history of friendship and partnership with Africa, Ukraine pledged continued support for achieving sustainable development in the continent, and would closely follow the process of NEPAD’s implementation. He reaffirmed Ukraine’s genuine interest in participating in bilateral and multilateral cooperation programmes for its specific sectoral priorities in such spheres as education, agriculture and transport. He cautioned, however, that neither NEPAD’s objectives nor the Millennium Goals would be realized in the absence of a settlement of the continent’s unresolved conflicts.
RONALDO MOTA SARDENBERG (Brazil) recalled that the international community had identified Africa as its main target for cooperation more than one decade ago, due to the magnitude of problems that affected it. Conflict, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined had made the prospects for development in Africa even bleaker than in other regions of the world. However, efforts undertaken during the 1990s had not led to the expected results. An unfavourable international environment, in which protectionism had prevailed and commodity prices had fallen, had exacerbated Africa’s problems, as had the slackened flow of ODA and investment toward the continent.
The NEPAD, he continued, represented Africa’s collective determination to take up the challenge of designing its own development strategy. The Secretary-General’s report showed that African countries had been doing their part. Action had been taken in areas such as health, education, food security and infrastructure, while further measures such as the African Peer Review Mechanism had been developed. The report also showed that international support had fallen far short, despite recent increases in ODA and progress on the HIPC Debt Initiative. Coherent trade and aid policies, the disbursement of pledged resources and increased foreign investment in Africa were all needed.
The United Nations family had a very important role to play in supporting the New Partnership, he concluded. But for its actions to have greater impact, increased collaboration and coordination among the Organization’s different institutions was desirable. Despite its own limited resources, Brazil had also contributed to development efforts in Africa, including through debt cancellation and alleviation, technical cooperation and capacity building. South-South cooperation was valuable, as similar realities and problems could benefit from similar solutions.
KIM SAM-HOON (
Republic of Korea) said that international solidarity and partnership, while necessary and important, could be effective only to the extent that African countries took charge of their own development. In that regard, he encouraged African countries to continue to mobilize domestic support and resources for NEPAD’s implementation. Conflict and civil strife continued to be the foremost roadblock against African development. Therefore, it was critical that security be elevated to the highest priority in African affairs, and that NEPAD’s economic programmes be bolstered by strong institutions for the prevention of conflict. Good governance was another key to the successful implementation of NEPAD, and the establishment of the Peer Review Mechanism was a good way to put mutual accountability to work for good economic and political governance. He encouraged more countries to join in that important initiative. He also encouraged the international community to fulfil its commitment to NEPAD through continued and strengthened financial support and assistance in capacity building. Throughout the past 15 years, his nation had contributed approximately $2 billion in ODA to developing countries under the framework of South-South cooperation.
Equally important was the need to develop human resources, and the international community should continue to share its experiences and expertise with African nations, he stated. Cooperation was particularly important in the field of information and communications technologies (ICT), which had become vital to harnessing the benefits of globalization. Since 1992, the Republic of Korea had invited some 1,200 foreign trainees in the field of ICT to participate in human resources development programmes. In addition, 500 Korean ICT experts and volunteers had been sent to implement programmes overseas. He called on the international community to make efforts to expand market access to African products. His government had adopted a preferential scheme under which duty-free, quote-free market access was granted to a substantial number of African products. Another crucial issue for NEPAD’s success was debt, which sapped energy from many developing nations. It was important that significant efforts were made to solve the debt problems of the HIPC countries.
U AYE (Myanmar) said he was heartened by the Maputo Declaration, which reaffirmed African leaders’ political will and resolve to implement NEPAD. He was also pleased with the progress made in the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism, aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of African governments. However, such commitments by the African leaders, commendable as they were, would not be sufficient to overcome the many difficulties facing the continent. The majority of Africa’s population lived on inadequate incomes. In addition, more than 24 million were suffering from the effects of HIV/AIDS and could ill-afford the expensive but essential drugs necessary to treat them. The mortality rate among children stayed high, and primary school enrolment was below 60 per cent. The economic climate in Africa was not very encouraging, as 2002 was characterized by a slowdown in economic growth.
In light of those developments, it was imperative that African countries redoubled their efforts and demonstrated that the continent remained a viable development partner in the world. At the same time, the international community needed to respond appropriately by coming to Africa’s assistance. In that context, it was significant that Japan had pledged $1 billion in new aid at the recent Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). It was also a positive development to see a rebound in ODA to Africa, increasing from
$17.7 billion in 2001 to $18.6 billion last year. Also, the Group of Eight had provided three quarters of its ODA to the continent, and committed themselves to participate in the Africa Action Plan to provide $6 billion annually to African countries to spur growth and contribute to poverty alleviation.
Those developments, however encouraging, were still far from addressing the many and varied needs of Africa, he observed. He called on developed countries to make additional resources available towards realizing the target of 0.7 per cent of their GDP as ODA to developing countries. Further, he believed that South-South cooperation remained a key instrument to assist African development.
