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High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, 27-28 June 2005

 

Summary

Summary report

Monday, 27 June

On its first day, participants at the second High-level Dialogue met in a formal meeting chaired by the President of the General Assembly, to hear statements from government ministers and other high-level officials.

 
 
In his address to the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (left) noted progress on the issue of development, explaining that, while in the past extreme poverty had been seen as tragic but “inescapable,” there was now a view that poverty could be defeated. Noting that UN conferences and summits and the MDGs had set a clear vision for defeating poverty, he also highlighted the focus of the Monterrey Consensus on financing issues.
 
 

Secretary-General Kofi Annan (left) Jean Ping, GA President (center)

General Assembly President Jean Ping, Gabon, opened the second High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, explaining that it would assess implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and consider future action for enabling development. Underscoring the importance of this meeting to September's High-level Plenary to review the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he welcomed the progress already made, emphasized the need to establish a multilateral trade system that is more equitable and favorable to development, and urged delegates to agree on a five-year Monterrey Consensus monitoring conference.

 
   

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (left), Under-Secretary General Jose Antonio Ocampo with Secretary-General Kofi Annan (center), and Ulla Torrnaes, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark (right).

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany, urged countries to shift expenditure priorities from armament to development, and called for the elimination of subsidies to cotton and agricultural exports.

Emphasizing the need for enhancing aid, Ulla Torrnaes, Denmark, encouraged developed countries to establish and implement new ODA commitments. She underlined two key priorities for member countries: creating an enabling environment for private sector development and integrating poor countries into the global economy.

   
 

Luis Ernesto Derbez, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mexico (left) and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, UK (right).

Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico, highlighted the linkages between the Millennium Development Goals and the outcomes of the Monterrey conference, supported greater coherence between national development strategies and global economic processes, and said it was necessary to identify areas that required a particular focus to achieve the MDGs.

 

   
 
Conor Lenihan, Minister for Development Cooperation, Ireland, highlighted debt relief and increasing aid to achieve the MDGs. He invited donors to build on the momentum generated by the EU's timetable for reaching the 0.7% ODA target and the G8 decision on debt relief.
 
 

Delano Fanklyn, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jamaica, ECOSOC President Munir Akram and Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of National Development Planning, Indonesia

Delano Fanklyn, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jamaica, speaking on behalf of the G-77/China, said the international community has yet to mobilize the level of resources needed to honor commitments under current agreements, including the outcomes of the Millennium Summit. Emphasizing that the High-level Plenary in September 2005 should give a major boost to the process, he said urgent action was required, including on implementing the Monterrey Consensus.

ECOSOC President Munir Akram, Pakistan, highlighted the agreement at Monterrey in 2002 to tackle the challenges faced in generating the necessary financing for development. Expressing concern that the Monterrey Consensus has suffered from a “serious implementation deficit,” he noted the role assigned to ECOSOC in following up on the implementation of commitments, and reported on an ECOSOC meeting in April 2005 with the Bretton Woods Institutions, explaining that the meeting focused on policies and strategies, trade, investment, and ODA, as well as innovative sources of financing and debt relief.

Sri Mulyani, Indonesia, said an integrated national strategy for eradicating poverty is essential but not sufficient and identified debt relief, better coordination of aid, increasing ODA levels and completion of the Doha Round as necessary actions.

 
 

Andrew Natsios, Administrator of USAID, noted its support for the New Partnership for Africa 's Development (NEPAD), and drew attention to its increase in ODA from US$10 billion in 2000 to US$19 billion in 2004. However, he noted that achieving the Millennium Declaration goals was about reform as well as money. He highlighted the need to link development goals and projects with humanitarian relief, and outlined his country's support for tackling HIV/AIDS, a successful Doha trade round, and debt relief. He stressed the need to address issues such as corruption and barriers to business in developing countries, and said the UN had a role to play in supporting South-South peer reviews and other policy reforms. He concluded by noting that the US and international community would “help those prepared to help themselves.”

 
 

Roland Pierre, Minister of Planning and External Cooperation, Haiti, indicated that domestic demand affects aid supply and said national projects should be made more attractive for donors. He said economic liberalization must be carefully planned and implemented.

 
 

Mohamed Nouri Jouini, Minister of Development and International Cooperation, Tunisia (left) and Motee Ramdass, Minister of Commerce and Cooperatives, Mauritius (center)

Mohamed Nouri Jouini, Tunisia, highlighted the need for appropriate policies to mobilize national savings, and urged international financial support to countries implementing economic and political reforms, as well as new and innovative forms of financing, such as the World Solidarity Fund.

Expressing concern at the lack of progress on the Monterrey Consensus commitments, Motee Ramdass, Mauritius, called for a monitoring summit in 2007. He noted the importance to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of: favorable access to international markets; an equitable, integrated development financing system; and a speeding up of debt relief.

 
 
 

Deputy Director-General of the WTO Francisco Thompson-Flôres, Mark Malloch Brown, UN Development Programme, and Carlos Fortin, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Deputy Director-General of the WTO Francisco Thompson-Flôres echoed the UN Secretary-General's In Larger Freedom report, and emphasized trade, aid and debt relief for achievement of the Millennium vision. He called on world leaders to give clear and multilateral support to achievement of the conclusion of the WTO Doha Round by 2006.

Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator, noted that the High-level Plenary draft outcome document builds on the areas covered by the Monterrey Consensus and represents a qualitative change in understandings of sustainable development. He emphasized innovative approaches to funding and acknowledged progress in debt and trade and in good governance.

Carlos Fortin, Deputy Secretary-General for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), called for opening up markets to developing countries to encourage direct investment. Regarding trade, he emphasized conclusion of the Doha Round by the end of 2005, quota free, duty free markets for LDCs, and non debt creating funding. He noted growing consensus towards full cancellation of poorest countries' debt and called for increased coherence in national and global economic systems.

 
Performance by the UN Choir of "Song of Peace" in commemoration of the signing of the UN Charter, which took place in San Francisco, 26 June, 1945.
 

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