LDC Conference Plenary- 1 -LDC/ISTANBUL/10
7th & 8th Meetings (AM & PM)12 May 2011
‘Here in Istanbul, as Chapter Closes on Brussels, We Have Opportunity
to Rewrite Fate of Least Developed Countries,’ Conference Hears
Speakers Seek to Address ‘Unfinished Brussels Agenda’,
Appeal for New Action Programme Grounded in Policy, Not Charity
With negotiators edging towards consensus on the outcome of the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, speakers today used the gathering’s penultimate plenary session to press for a 10-year action plan grounded in sound policies that ensured delivery on past pledges for development assistance and brought down the barriers blocking their paths to economic growth.
“The mixed results of the Brussels Programme of Action have been the defining story for the least developed countries over the past decade,” said Indonesia’s representative, referring to the previous strategy on behalf of the world’s poorest countries, agreed at a European Union-hosted conference in 2001.
She said that, even as they worked actively with development partners to overcome structural obstacles, the least developed countries — burdened as they were with fragile economic and political environments — had been largely unable to persuade businesses, markets, and investors to take up the cause of their development.
“Here in Istanbul, as we close the chapter on the Brussels [action plan], we have an opportunity to rewrite the fate of the least developed countries,” she said, urging a path that strengthened those nations’ ownership over their own development. They were in the best position to determine the most optimal means for their growth, and she added national-level action would remain the cornerstone of the success of the least developed countries.
Kenya’s representative, hoping that the Conference would help create a “united front” for dealing with the great challenges facing the least developed countries — many of which were shared by his own nation — and come up with viable actions to remediate them. The Millennium Developed Goals should be embraced as the blueprint for such efforts. He urged delegations to adopt a new, dynamic and proactive approach to meeting the challenges, and added that the least developed countries themselves should improve their governance and regulatory frameworks, and agricultural systems, and identify opportunities.
Many of the more than 40 speakers today acknowledged that the structural challenges the least developed countries faced were daunting, and many outlined their hopes for an Istanbul programme of action, which, among other things, prioritized the objective for those nations and their development partners to strengthen productive capacities over the next 10 years. Others said every effort should be made to ensure that the Istanbul outcome set out initiatives that helped bridge the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Many delegations also emphasized that the new action plan must reflect the important role equitable trade and market access played in driving economic growth, and said duty- and quota-free market access should be ensured for exports from the least developed countries. Today’s meeting also heard repeated calls for concluding the long-deadlocked Doha Development Round of international trade negotiations.
“We strongly believe that the new action programme must bridge the gap between the poor and the rich, address the unfinished Brussels agenda, and bring about more equitable global growth and prosperity,” said the Special Envoy to the President of Kiribati. That could occur only through political commitment at the national level, enhanced partnerships between the least developed countries and their development partners, strengthened coordination among the developed countries and a scaling up of resources.
The success of the new programme of action, said the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, would depend on the poorest countries being allowed to develop independent policies that reflected their own priorities and were not hindered by external conditions. European countries ignored the need for such national leadership, he maintained, expressing deep concern for developed countries’ failure to meet their commitments.
South-South cooperation was rising to the challenge and was crucial, but should not replace the activities of developed countries, which had the greatest responsibility for the development of poor countries. He highlighted the possibility of a new development model, based on solidarity and equality, and proposed the creation of a United Nations-backed development council for that purpose.
From the viewpoint of a major donor, Canada’s representative said the challenge in the years ahead would be to translate the commitments made at Istanbul into concrete and coordinated action — with focus, efficiency and accountability for real results for the least developed countries. “Much work remains to be done, and we can only achieve our objectives by using all the tools at our disposal, including North-South partnerships, South-South and triangular cooperation,” he said, also calling for enhanced engagement of the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians and philanthropists.
On the way forward, he said that since development over the past decade had become increasingly linked to other policy areas and global initiatives, achieving development objectives now depended on success in tackling a wide array of policy challenges in a coherent and integrated manner. Further, while donor Governments still had a responsibility to contribute through providing official development assistance (ODA), they now had many other powerful tools at their disposal, including ensuring market access and domestic economic policies that favoured developing country exports.
Earlier in the meeting, the Conference adopted a resolution on “credentials of representatives to the Forth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries”, contained in the report of its Credentials Committee (document A/CONF.219/5).
Represented at the ministerial level today were the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Cameroon, Germany, India, Czech Republic, Viet Nam, Brazil, Romania, Thailand, and Italy.
Also speaking today were the representatives of the Philippines, Singapore, Moldova, Cambodia, Kuwait, Spain, Japan, Haiti, Pakistan, Cuba, Panama, Dominican Republic, Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritania and Israel.
Statements were made by the Permanent Observer of the Holy See and the Minister of Planning and Administrative Development of the Palestinian Authority.
Representatives from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) also made statements.
Representatives of the Black Sea Economic Corporation, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) also spoke.
The plenary of the Fourth United Nations Conference for Least Developed Countries will resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 13 May.
Background
The Fourth United Nations Conference on the LeastDeveloped Countries continued for its fourth day today in Istanbul, Turkey. (For background, see Press Release DEV/2877 of 5 May.)
Statements
MIN DONG-SEOK, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, noted that his country had transformed itself from a recipient to donor country within the lifetime of many Koreans, with he himself remembering as a child drinking milk provided by the United Nations and United States. The Korean Government and people worked hard, making good use of assistance, to see the economy grow over 800-fold. Capacity-building played a pivotal role. A serious lack of resources, technology and domestic capital had long blocked development, however, so the only abundant resource was the Korean people. Human resource development, therefore, was key.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, he said, an export-led high growth rate revealed a pressing need to build economic and social infrastructure. Foreign aid was used during this period for the building of hospitals, power plants, communications networks and highways. Spurred by the “can-do” attitude of the people, the Government was firmly committed to implementing “five-year” plans, which identified national priorities and directed aid to them. His country’s development experience showed the importance of targeting development resources towards enhancing productive capacity. Agricultural capacity was the first focus, turning afterwards to the full range of manufacturing, with effective trade promotion policies.
“Aid,” he emphasized, “should be used as a catalyst to complement and leverage other development resources, including trade, private investment and domestic resources.” He underlined, however, that the Korean model was not something that could or should be repeated by every country. In order to be successful, it was important to capitalize on the uniqueness of the national situation as well as changes in the global environment. He affirmed that development cooperation with least developed countries was a priority of his country, and that aid devoted to that purpose was increasing, along with plans for greater market access and targeted interventions at the international level. His country was also responding to climate change, expanding support for food security and, in late November of this year, it would host a high-level forum on aid effectiveness in the port city of Busan. He looked forward to building a new kind of inclusive development partnership there.
AMANDA ELLIS, Deputy Secretary for International Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, said that as a small South Pacific nation, her country recognized that the least developed countries continued to face particular challenges. Addressing them required the international community’s full support, including through a multi-stakeholder approach that brought together Governments, civil society and the private sector. Such an approach was one way to apply innovative solutions to issues on the international development agenda. Five of the least developed countries were located in the South Pacific and all of them had to deal with, among other things, a high dependence on remittances, narrow economy bases and the adverse impacts of climate change.
She said that more than half of New Zealand’s aid was directed to its neighbours in the Pacific, but that did not mean that her country was ignoring development needs in the rest of the world. New Zealand provided substantial assistance in South Asia and in Afghanistan, and spearheaded smaller initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In addition, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Cambodia were among New Zealand’s development partners. She was pleased to announce that her Government would be providing NZ$2.5 million for a number of multilateral trust funds and programmes aimed at enhancing economic development in small States, many of which were among the least developed.
As for the work at hand, she said the Istanbul programme had an ambitious goal of graduating half those countries by 2020. That could only be achieved with the strong commitment and support of the international community, as well as concerted efforts by the Governments and peoples of the least developed countries themselves to mobilize domestic resources and invest in human capital and good governance. Graduation from least developed country status, which should be celebrated as a sign of progress for the concerned country, unfortunately and understandably raised concerns about the costs of losing preferential treatment and assistance. In that regard, New Zealand welcomed the proposed creation of a working group to study and strengthen ways to smooth the transition process.
YAOUBA ABDOULAYE, Delegate Minister for the Economy, Planning and Regional Development of Cameroon, said the Conference was being held at a time of myriad crises around the world, and therefore was a prime opportunity to consider strategies to assist the least developed countries. Those nations were disproportionately impacted by the financial downturn, climate change, and high food prices, among others. All nations must work together in such times, he said, adding that: “Over and above our discrepancies and differences, we are all responsible for maintaining essential global goods, such as human rights, sustainable environments, peace and stability.”
He went on to say that the 2001 Brussels Programme of Action had fallen short of expectations because of weak mobilization of international resources and the inability of many least developing countries to fully harness the potential for their own development. Cameroon, despite its rich natural resource base and broad range of exports, had been a victim of the various shocks that had occurred over the past decade, including alterations in global trade terms and climate change. Nevertheless, through the Government’s foresightedness and the people’s determination, “we were able to salvage our development and our republican institutions were maintained”. Cameroon had also been able to strengthen its administrative institutions, ensure the rule of law and promote basic freedoms. It had also sought to bolster the participation of civil society at all levels, while strengthening cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners.
Continuing, he said Cameroon had also introduced free health care for children under six, and recruited 25,000 youth in public administration services, not only to train those young people, but to bolster the institutions in which they worked. Cameroon was determined to graduate from the least developed category and to share its experiences with other least developed countries. He hoped that the Istanbul action plan, among other things, would truly and explicitly take on board the specificities of least developed countries, especially landlocked or conflict-affected nations.
FRIEDEL EGGELMEYER, Director-General of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, supporting the goal of halving the number of least developed countries by 2020, said: “We need to make a point of setting the bar high. Otherwise we will achieve too little.” The key to reaching that goal lay within the countries themselves, with the fundamental prerequisites for sustainable development, namely, peace and security, good governance, rule of law and respect for human rights. Education also was essential. That was why Germany was pursuing a new balance between supporting and challenging its partners. “We are increasingly calling for good governance as a condition for our support, not as a result,” he said.
External assistance was important, but the mobilization of resources was important as well, he said. “Each country is responsible for tapping its own potential,” he added, pledging that Germany would support countries in tapping their potential to the fullest, notwithstanding the need to consolidate its federal budget. The country was currently working with 24 poorest countries through bilateral country programmes and with another five as part of regional programmes, having doubled financial contributions and being the second largest contributor of funds for climate change adaptation. Germany wanted to be judged, however, not by the amount of funds it contributed, but by the results of its cooperation. Better cooperation with donors and the private sector, free access to trade, and AidforTrade programmes were key parts of that strategy.
S.M. KRISHNA, External Affairs Minister of India, said that: “Supporting the LDCs [least developed countries] goes far beyond the moral argument; it is an economic imperative and a political necessity”. Those countries were facing tremendous challenges, but they had come to Istanbul with high expectations. He was hopeful that those expectations would be fulfilled. Indeed, the Istanbul programme of action was comprehensive. It now needed to be backed by the highest political commitment and a genuine international partnership. He, therefore, urged all stakeholders to pledge their maximum support. He promised that India would do “all it can and more”.
He welcomed steps taken by poor countries to undertake major initiatives to attract foreign direct investment and promote private enterprise to boost growth, as well as the multi-stakeholder approach of the Conference to involve parliamentarians, the private sector and civil society. India’s solidarity with the least developed countries had been nurtured through a shared history and common development deficits, and it remained fully committed to those countries’ needs, having extended capacity-building and economic assistance in key sectors, as well as duty- and quota-free preferential trade treatment. Credit facilities for their benefit had also been established, and India’s private sector had invested more than $35 billion. “The Istanbul programme was an opportunity to give to the least developed countries what they rightfully deserved. Let us make the most of it,” he concluded.
VLADIMIR GALUSKA, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the CzechRepublic, said that the major task of the coming period would be to implement the action programme created at this Conference to promote the inclusive and sustainable economic growth of the least developed countries. His country was supporting the achievement of the Millennium Goals, and prioritized development work in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Cambodia, Angola, Zambia and other countries, many of which were in the United Nations least developed category.