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Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 12:34:21 EST
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Subject: [wa-afr] [unioNews] Annan On Effective Policies To Attract
Resources
Thema: [unioNews] Annan On Effective Policies To Attract Resources
Datum: 13.02.01 17:57:58 (MEZ) Mitteleuropäische Zeit
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Annan On Effective Policies To Attract Resources
The UN Preparatory Committee for The forthcoming international conference on
the mobilisation of finances for development began its second session in New
York Monday, with Secretary General Kofi Annan urging participants to focus
on policies that would attract resources.
They should also seek how to bring political leaders and financial
authorities into the process.
Annan told the participants that coming out with policies that would be
attractive to contributors of resources for development was a central part of
the efforts towards making the conference process a success.
"Policies need to be agreed at both the national and the international level,
and they must cover both public and private resources," he said.
Over the years, Annan said, the flow of private capital to developing
countries has surpassed official assistance, even though this flow has been
very uneven with the poorest countries, particularly those from Africa,
almost completely left out.
"We must establish clearly what is needed to enable all developing countries
to mobilise private capital in this way."
But more than that, he stressed the need to find ways to ensure that there
was stability in private capital flows to avoid reversals that throw millions
back into poverty as happened in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in
1997.
Annan underscored the need to involve developing countries in international
efforts to evolve policies, since it is in those countries that development
needs to take place.
On the involvement of political leaders and financial authorities in the
process, Annan explained that doing so was important because development was
too important to be left to specialised ministries and agencies.
In particular, he said, there was the need to help developing countries
organise themselves to encourage investors.
But it was also important to motivate industrialised countries to devote more
resources to debt-relief and development assistance and open their markets
fully to products from developing countries, he said.
The Secretary General reminded the meeting of the need for massive and
concerted efforts by everyone, to be able to meet the goals of reducing
poverty and improving the lives of the people as outlined at the Millennium
Summit in September 2000.
The Millennium goals include reducing by half, the number of people living in
abject poverty by 2015, access to all children of the world to basic
education, reduction of maternal mortality by three quarters, while the
spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases should be halted and reversed.
In his statement, Asada Jayanama of Thailand, who is a co- chair of the
preparatory committee, expressed pleasure that the process of addressing the
issue of financing for development began ten years ago by developing
countries was eventually taking off.
He called for an integrated and holistic approach to the issue.
The President of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri of Finland noted that
the international community was now seeking new ways of acting together to
address the issue of financing for development.
He said the Secretary General's report on the subject was unprecedented and
would be fully reviewed by the committee.
Speaking on behalf of the Group of 77, which represents developing countries,
Iran's ambassador, Bagher Asadi said expectations from the substantive
conference on financing for development were very high.
With this in mind, he said, the international community should strive to
utilise the tremendous potential of the forthcoming conference to realise the
goals set by the Millennium Summit.
"It simply cannot and certainly should not be considered a once-and-for-all
event, rather, it should be perceived as a historical turning point for a
bold, innovative and yet continuing process for setting the stage for basic
parameters and a conducive environment..."
This, he said, should lead to "a new consensus in which the international
community strives to define collective objectives and goals and take the
necessary measures to achieve them."
The ambassador said, the session should be concerned with setting the goals
and putting in place the measures required to achieve them.
In considering the various issues, he said, it must be borne in mind that
developing countries are far from reaching the necessary growth rates and
investment ratios that could lead to sustainable development.
He urged that discussions address the issues of domestic policies and actions
and the imperative of a conducive international environment for raising
resources for development.
The session is scheduled to continue till 23 February.
The first session of the preparatory committee took place in January while
the third session is scheduled for April.
The main event is slated for the first quarter of 2002.
Panafrican News Agency * February 13, 2001 * New York / UN
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