20 Maggio 2001
Atti della III Conferenza delle Nazioni Unite sui Paesi meno sviluppati - Bruxelles, 20 maggio 2001

Statement by Rubens Ricupero - Segretario Generale UNCTAD

Mr. President, honourable ministers, ladies and gentlemen:
This morning, at the session on financing growth and development, the Minister for Cooperation and Development of the Netherlands, Eveline Herfkens, said that having been personally involved in the difficult discussions that had led to two major decisions - the "Everything but Arms" initiative of the EU, and the OECD's decision to untie aid - she could assure all those present that neither of those decisions would have been taken were it not for the Conference, that it was pressure from the Conference which brought those decisions into being. You yourself, Mr. President, said the same in your press conference, as did Mr. Nielson and Mr. Lamy in theirs. Thus, it is individuals who were involved in those decisions who are saying that this conference has already made possible some important progress in vital areas.
But could we say that in the light of those decisions, we should be satisfied with the results? I am afraid not. We know that unfortunately, many other decisions advocated, for example, by the NGOs have still not been taken. We knew, of course, before we came to Brussels that the current state of international cooperation on development would not allow for major breakthroughs in such areas as debt relief - not because there is no agreement on the principle, but because the current initiative is underfunded. The same could be said of trade, because the trade negotiations will have to continue, and the WTO members will have to deliver on the promises. And it could also be said of official development aid (ODA), where I am afraid the outlook is even less promising.
But in the face of this conclusion, what should we have done? I can see only three possible roads open to us: One would have been to go back to confrontation, as in the past, and we all know this would lead us nowhere. The second road would be resignation or passivity, which I am afraid is a very serious threat, particularly on ODA, where I have to say that even people who are really committed are showing a strange passivity in the face of prevailing trends. This sometimes reminds me of the famous verses by Yeats, in his poem "The Second Coming", when he says : "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity". This is an area where we should not give in to passivity. And I pledge to you that UNCTAD at least will continue to show rationally, rather than passionately, why it is necessary to reverse current trends if we want to break the dependence on aid. The third road would be to seek a new method of making progress. And this was what we tried to propose.
I know very well that this is only the beginning of a change in the way we do business when it comes to development issues. But we started from the assumption that if there is no consensus or political will at this point to move beyond what we were able to deliver, we should find ways of creating more consensus and more political will. And it was based on this realization that we proposed - and the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee agreed to - a new approach, which would be to keep the intergovernmental process, to give it all the centrality it deserves, but to have another process working in parallel with this approach, one in which we would not be called on to approve agreed language in a formal negotiating process among States. Rather, we would identify concrete, tangible problems and organize a debate to reach some positive outcomes.
This approach was based on the idea of broadening participation as much as possible: first, by bringing in all the international organizations, not in a purely formalistic way, but by giving them full responsibility to organize the events in their area, without any interference from outside. This was done with a large number of organizations. I personally visited 14 of them, speaking not only to the directors but also to the staff, in order to motivate them. They were asked to organize the debates and to deliver practical, tangible results. I must say that, as always in human matters, the outcome is of course mixed. Some organizations were better at the task than others, but I would like to stress that all of them were here and we had a very strong participation by the World Bank, for instance, lending considerable credibility to many of those discussions.
The other idea behind the new approach was to broaden participation by bringing in the new development actors, and this is the great difference between this conference and the previous ones, because here in Brussels non-State actors participated in an unprecedented manner. We had organized civil society, we had parliamentarians, we had mayors, we had the private sector. Ten or 20 years ago, it was not so clear that development was above all a responsibility of a dynamic private sector working in the framework of a market economy. Today we understand that, and as a result it would not have been possible to hold such a conference about development without bringing in the actors of development. We had chief executive officers from some of the biggest transnational corporations in the world, participating side by side with entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized enterprises, women entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs, all of whom discussed not a diplomatic document but concrete problems with practical solutions.
I am only sorry that not all the participants in this Conference were able to experience the richness of those debates at firsthand. In my case, as I had the institutional duty to attend practically all of them, I can tell you that those who did not follow the debates missed something of great value. To give you one example of a typical day - Wednesday - I started on health, moved on to migration, then to city-to-city cooperation among mayors, a technical meeting on export opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises, a fifth one on education, and then a sixth one on the environment. And in those debates there was much convergence, or consensus, and much political will. This was because they were discussing concrete projects - projects on railways in Africa, for instance.
So it is through this process that we can make progress. That means more than just discussing agreed language in documents; we have to move forward, even if it is by small steps. The deliverables, for instance, are of different orders of magnitude, but even if modest, they are all useful; their principal contribution is to create a momentum or a movement forward, on behalf of those who no longer have hope.
As I said, it is a pity that those who could not follow the debates also missed out on some real highlights. For example, during the discussion on migration, a minister from Mali told his personal story, of having had an excellent job in Europe but suffering discrimination against immigrants and deciding to go back to his own country to start a new life, even without the promise of a decent job. Or again, the woman from Mauritania who wanted to export camel cheese to Germany, found an importer willing to buy her entire production, but can't sell the cheese because the European Union has no regulations on camel cheese, which is a very concrete problem.
And finally, there was the amazing diversity of going from human rights to fighting AIDS, to discussing export opportunities and the music industry. Yesterday, after opening the music industry event, I was interviewed by the French Service of the BBC for French-speaking Africa, and they asked me, "don't you think it odd or strange that in the same conference where you are fighting AIDS, which is a tragic problem, you have also hosted an event on participation in the music industry?" I replied, "well, you have to understand that of course fighting AIDS is a much higher priority, because it has to do with survival and with the sacred value of human life, but life is variety; life is not only suffering, pain, disease. Life is also music, and music is also a factor of development". The music industry now represents an annual market of $50 billion a year, while coffee, which used to be the first commodity after oil, now accounts for only $17 billion a year. And the LDCs are present in this field, boasting many creators - Cesaria Evora from Cape Verde, and many others from Senegal, Mali and elsewhere - who are making their mark on the international market.
And this brings me to my conclusion, something we should never forget: the LDCs are not only recipients of aid. We use the wrong nomenclature - donor countries and recipient countries. Of course the LDCs need solidarity, they need help, but they also have a lot to give. They may have been behind in terms of Western technology, but they boast very ancient cultures. They have creativity, they have labour to offer, and the products of their imagination; they create music, but also colourful fabrics; they have the capacity to contribute to the emergence of a true globalization - not globalization confined to the concept of the unification of markets for trade, investment and finance, but globalization that can promote understanding, cross-fertilization of cultures, communication among human beings and a dialogue of civilizations. This is the real aim of this conference, and I am sure that the LDCs have much to contribute to it.
Thank you very much

Statement by J.D.A. Cuddy Executive Secretary of the Conference

Mr. President, Honourable Ministers, Distinguished Delegates,
It is my honour to present to you the results, in terms of "deliverables" and commitments made, of the Conference. I am conscious that in the time available, I can but touch on the results obtained, and can therefore not do full justice to the remarkable achievements of this Conference. Moreover, many proposals for deliverables were made during the preparatory period for the Conference, but because time was short, a number have not yet matured to the point of acceptance, yet may well do so in the months to come.
Thus the report I present is not only by its very nature incomplete, but should also be seen as merely an interim report, the Conference itself being only a point of time in a continuum of development cooperation which will be carried on post the Conference and monitored by the "follow-up mechanism" on which so many worked so hard during the past week in Brussels.
National Programmes of Action and UN System Engagement:
Perhaps the most important of all the deliverables at the Conference was the "ownership" of the process demonstrated by the LDCs themselves, and the "engagement" of the entire corpus of agencies in the United Nations system. You have seen throughout the week the degree to which that engagement was manifested in the participation of heads and senior officials of the agencies, and the vast amount of preparatory work in which they engaged to assure an appropriate terrain was ready for the discussions themselves. And you have seen that forty-six LDCs submitted National Programmes of Action, prepared through the work of national preparatory committees covering a wide range of ministries and approved by the government, committing themselves to a wide range of policy actions in support of poverty eradication. Where PRSPs or Interim PRSPs exist, the national action programmes are identical to or based on those PRSPs; elsewhere, they provide the basis for future PRSPs. This degree of ownership is unprecedented, and augurs extremely well for the future of development cooperation: the LDCs "have their act together" and are looking for similarly coordinated responses from their development partners. Moreover, in the Plan of Action agreed after long and arduous negotiations over the past several months, the LDCs have committed themselves to a wide range of actions which will – when implemented – create the necessary conditions for a reversal of the economic decline of the LDCs and the take-off to sustainable development in those countries.
Development Assistance & Finance:
In presenting the concrete results, I shall dwell on the undertakings by the development partners of the LDCs. I shall focus initially on the two areas which caused the most difficulties, and in which the results reached are therefore all the more remarkable. These are finance and trade. Given that work in these areas was constantly in the shadow of the upcoming fourth WTO Ministerial at Doha in November and the Finance for Development event in Mexico in March 2001, any results at all were in doubt. But despite this, very important commitments were undertaken.
ODA Targets:
·Development partners re-committed to the ODA targets which they had adopted at the Second LDC conference in Paris (1990)
·Sweden announced that it will increase its allocations for development co-operation.
·A number of countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Luxemburg) have re-affirmed ODA targets.
·Other countries have indicated they will endeavour or intend to increase their financial support to LDCs (Korea, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic).
Untying aid:
·OECD announced its initiative on untying aid to LDCs from 1 January 2002, and a checklist to ensure coherence in their actions for poverty alleviation.
Innovative technical assistance:
·Supporting south-south initiatives (Switzerland).
·Strengthening ODA using Public-Private Partnership strategy (Germany).
Debt Relief:
·Development partners committed to providing expeditiously adequate financial resources for the speedy and full implementation of the enhanced HIPC Initiative and to providing new and additional resources necessary to fulfil the future financial requirements of the enhanced HIPC Initiative [POA, 87(ii)(a)]
·Development partners also committed to making expeditious progress towards full cancellation, in the context of enhanced HIPC, of outstanding official bilateral debt owed by HIPC LDCs [POA, 87(ii)(c)] and to cancelling all official bilateral debts of those countries in return for their making demonstrable commitments to poverty eradication
·A number of countries announced their intention to provide more than their original contribution to the HIPC debt relief programme (including Italy, Norway, Sweden). Sweden also announced the allocation of another $50 million to debt relief and budget support this year.
-The European Commission announced a decision to forego payments on all outstanding LDC obligations arising from special loans provided under earlier Lomé Conventions.
·Development partners committed to encouraging creditors in a position to do so to consider a moratorium on debt service payments for LDCs in exceptional cases.
·Development partners committed to providing debt relief to post conflict countries under the enhanced HIPC as soon as possible, within the flexibility provided under the HIPC framework.
I am sure you will agree with me that, if implementation follows commitment, these results on debt and finance will dramatically improve the initial conditions from which the LDCs start in working forward from the Conference to their development objectives.
Trade:
Turning now to trade, I am happy to announce that equally remarkable breakthroughs were made. As both Pascal Lamy and Minister Pagrotsky (who chaired the meeting sat which it was decided) have said, the EU’s initiative to extend duty-free quota-free treatment to all LDC products except arms would not have happened had it not been for this Conference. Happily, other countries have taken similar initiatives (among which Norway, Morocco, Hungary, New Zealand). This initiative is important in its own right, but even more so because it banishes at one stroke the two major banes of LDCs as regards market access: tariff peaks, which have tended to hit precisely the products in which LDCs are competitive (or potentially so); and tariff escalation, which drives LDCs towards being simple exporters of primary commodities, rather than of higher value-added processed products. But other remarkable results were also achieved:
Market access:
·Agreement was reached that all developed countries will improve preferential market access for LDCs by working towards the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for all LDCs’ products [POA, 68(h)]
·A number of countries indicated they will endeavour to improve access, such as through lowering of tariffs/duties on LDC products to their markets (including Korea, Switzerland, Poland, Japan, Turkey).
·The EU announced a multilateral initiative to forego the use of anti-dumping measures in relation to LDCs.
·Development partners committed to providing assistance to LDCs in developing infrastructure to ensure quality control and conformity to international standards of their products [POA, 68(q)] and to avoiding taking unilateral actions in a manner inconsistent with the SPS Agreement of the WTO [POA, 68(r)]
·Development partners committed to facilitating the WTO accession process for LDCs, making it less onerous and tailored to the specific economic conditions of LDCs 68(o)]
Capacity building for trade:
·A number of countries have indicated they intend to or are willing to contribute to the redesigned integrated framework for trade-related technical assistance (among them, Japan, Norway, Ireland), with the framework receiving $6 million for the implementation of the pilot scheme. The World Bank and the UNDP are also making financial contributions.
·In addition, Ireland will also contribute $3 million over five years to the Advisory Centre on WTO Law to help developing countries, particularly LDCs, avail of their legal rights under the WTO Agreements.
·The WTO has pledged to give as much assistance as possible to the LDCs in a number of areas, including in the area of accession.
·At the 8th World Summit for Young Entrepreneurs, held on the occasion of the Conference, the World Trade University was launched, to serve as an institution of higher learning that is affordable, accessible for entrepreneurs and policy-makers from countries, including LDCs, with strong support also coming from the private sector.
·The World Tourism Organization has designated poverty as a new priority for its work programme, and has announced a programme for sub-Saharan African destinations.
Investment and Enterprise Development:
Market access is vital for the LDCs, whose share of world trade is now an infinitesimal 0.4 of 1 percent of world trade. But if the LDCs cannot supply to the world’s markets in a timely fashion export products of sufficient quality, they will be unable to profit form improved market access. For that reason, investment in plant and vital infrastructure (including social infrastructure) to build productive capacity is essential. Much of the Conference therefore turned around such capacity-building, including in such vital areas as energy and transport, where LDCs lag seriously.
A series of initiatives were announced that can begin immediately after the Conference, amounting to what could be called an International Investment Initiative for LDCs, and includes:
·The launching of a multi-agency technical assistance programme on FDI by UNCTAD, MIGA, FIAS of the World Bank Group and UNIDO for a pilot group of LDCs.
·The establishment, together with the ICC, of an Investment Advisory Council for LDCs comprising senior business executives of multinational corporations and political leaders of LDCs. Tanzania has offered to host the first meeting of the Council later this year.
·The signing of 29 bilateral investment treaties at the ministerial level between mostly francophone African countries (nine LDCs) with developed and other developing countries, paving the way for increased FDI flows and economic cooperation.
·The announcement by the Government of Uganda, Empretec-UNCTAD, Enterprise Africa-UNDP and the Italian Directorate for Development Cooperation of Enterprise Uganda project to create, in an integrated manner a framework for business development services to foster networking, partnering opportunities and international competitiveness.
·A financed programme was announced aiming at promoting linkages between foreign companies and indigenous entrepreneurs, paying special attention to access by women entrepreneurs to finance and technology.
·A number of investment and enterprise development-related projects received seed funding for a limited number of LDCs, but will require additional funding to expand to all LDCs.
Intellectual Property:
·WIPO announced a number of initiatives in the area of Intellectual Property to assist LDCs in this area, including support for the exploitation by SMEs of their innovative capacity and creativity
Infrastructure (including Energy and Transport):
·Development partners committed to supporting infrastructure development through inter alia public investment and by facilitating private investment [POA, 48(ii)(c)] and particularly for the creation of essential infrastructure to facilitate the functioning of liberalized domestic and regional markets [POA, 68(x)]
·They also committed to providing technical support and private sector guarantees to support infrastructural programmes facilitating bilateral, subregional and regional complementarities [POA, 48(ii)(b)]
·Development partners also committed to making determined efforts to increase ODA in support of LDCs’ efforts towards provision of social infrastructure and social service [POA, 32(ii)(a)]
Energy:
·Development partners committed to supporting the LDCs in their development of energy resources, including renewable energy, natural gas and other clean energy sources, inter alia through financial assistance and by facilitating private sector investment [POA, 56(ii)(a)]
·Development partners also committed to facilitating the transfer of technology for the development of clean energy technologies in accordance with relevant international agreements [POA, 56(ii)(b)] and to supporting LDC efforts to diversify sources of energy, where feasible [POA, 56(ii)(e)]
·Initiatives were announced by UNIDO on expanding decentralised village-level energy delivery through "multi-functional platforms" and the local assembly and manufacture of renewable energy equipment.
·An initiative for the establishment of national Centres for the Rational Use of Energy was also announced.
·A revolving fund to assist African LDCs in developing, designing and managing natural gas projects was proposed.
Transport:
·An initiative for the implementation of a strategy for the development of efficient international transport services for LDCs was announced by the co-chairs of the transport session. This was supported by the International Union of Railways.
·The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL) offered to contribute to transport management training for LDCs through special programmes, scholarships and dedicated research on topics proposed by LDCs .
Agriculture and Commodities:
Most LDCs remain highly dependent on the export of primary commodities, principally agricultural commodities, in part because of physical endowments, but also, as mentioned earlier, because tariff escalation on value added in processing biases their economic structures. In such circumstances, LDCs are at high risk from any interruption in their market access owing to the application of standards and norms applied by importing markets. It is thus particularly important that an inter-agency initiative was announced (including FAO, WTO and UNIDO) by FAO to establish a trust fund facility (target: $100 million) to support the upgrading of LDCs’ food safety and quality assurance capabilities. In addition,
·The EU committed to enhance technical assistance and capacity building to help LDCs meet SPS and other standards in export markets
·Development partners committed to strengthening activities covered by the Second Account of the Common Fund for Commodities, [POA, 68(v)] and the Fund in turn has undertaken to finance within its resources and through co-financing, projects which were identified in preparation for the Conference, related to enhancing productive capacities, post-harvest measures and appropriate storage to minimize post-harvest losses and financing, including input credit, price risk management and structured commodity finance
·UNHCR announced an FAO/UNHCR trust fund to enhance refugee women’s capacities in the area of food security.
Human Resources Development & Employment:
It is a well-known fact that any individual’s chances of obtaining employment will be boosted by improved skills. Hence the importance of commitments in this area:
·Development partners committed to encouraging and assisting LDCs in building capacities for technical and vocational training [POA, 37(ii)(e) and in introducing innovative training methods, including distance learning [POA, 37(ii)(i)]
·Some countries indicated their commitment to increase their training programmes for LDCs (Korea, Poland).
·Initiatives were announced by ILO on offering a package of components to be integrated into national employment strategies and to support national poverty reduction programmes through the achievement and consolidation of employment-intensive growth.
·In the area of the digital economy, UNCTAD announced it would make available an e-tourism package to all sectors, public and private, of the LDCs, to help them reach the relevant markets.
Turning now to the "social" areas, significant results were achieved as regards health and education, and on governance and conflict prevention.
Health:
·Development partners committed to enhancing ODA and other forms of support, including technical support, for health, safe water and sanitation [POA, 39(ii)(a)] and to supporting LDCs in expanding and strengthening programmes related to HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases [POA, 39(ii)(e)]
·Financial contributions towards combating HIV/AIDS were announced: an additional $200 million from the US and $30 million from Italy. The SG-UN and the G8 are working on an international trust fund dedicated to the battle against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.
·The EU member states have agreed on a tiered pricing mechanism for key pharmaceuticals, and the Commission has decided to completely untie EC drug procurement from other forms of development aid.
·EU member states have endorsed a five-year Programme of Action prepared by the Commission to fight communicable diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria) that severely affect LDCs.
Education:
·Development partners committed to providing enhanced support, including ODA, from both bilateral and multilateral sources, to reach the Dakar "Education for All" targets on education and literacy [POA, 37(ii)(a)]
·Development partners also committed to supporting initiatives to overcome barriers to girls’ education, and achieving expanded and improved learning for girls [POA, 37(ii)(h)] and to intensifying efforts to transfer knowledge and improve the capacity for local knowledge creation in LDCs [POA, 37(ii)(c)]
·An initiative to promote school attendance in LDCs whilst maintaining family income, already in operation in a number of non-LDC countries (Brazil, Mexico) was announced ("MISA")
·USAID announced an increase in its education budget by 20 percent
Governance and conflict prevention:
·A new UNDP multi-donor trust fund on governance was announced, with a special window for LDCs, as well as a window for city-to-city cooperation. The Trust Fund already has a financial commitment from Norway, and interest from Sweden.
·A number of countries expressed support for governance initiatives (Switzerland, Sweden, Norway), and Sweden announced an increase in its financial allocation to conflict prevention and good governance.
·Japan announced it will make further contributions to the UN Human Security Fund, and intends to make utmost efforts in the area of conflict and refugee problems.
·Development partners committed to assisting LDCs in developing effective safety nets and swift response mechanisms to cope with natural disasters and socio-economic shocks, including those resulting from economic reform programmes and fiscal adjustment [POA, 32(ii)(e)]
·Here at the Conference, following their session, the Parliamentarians decided to establish a core group to establish a network with regards to the follow-up and implementation of the Programme of Action.
·The International Organization for Migration announced its programme of action in favour of the LDCs, covering, among other things, migration management.
·A number of city-to-city initiatives were also announced, including the establishment of a fund to support city-to-city cooperation, a dozen agreements between cities in the North and LDC cities, contributions from city networks in favour of city-to-city cooperation, and innovative methods of financing city-to-city cooperation.
Conclusion:
I believe that even this rapid catalogue of the results of the Conference, incomplete though it is, and limited though it must necessarily be to those results directly achieved by the time of, or at, the Conference, clearly demonstrates the will of development partners to do everything in their power to assist LDCs in climbing rapidly out of the severe economic difficulties in which they find themselves. Let us all, in our various ways, keep the pressure on for the full and speedy implementation of the remarkable commitments undertaken here in Brussels, so that there will be no need for a fourth UN conference on LDCs.
Thank you.

General Assembly
20 May 2001

Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
Brussels, Belgium, 14-20 May 2001

DECLARATION
We, the Governments participating in the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries,
Gathered here in Brussels in May 2001, the first year of the new millennium, to free our fellow women, men and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty,
Determined to make progress towards the global goals of poverty eradication, peace and development for the least developed countries and their people,
Guided by the principles set out in the Millennium Declaration and its recognition that we have a collective responsibility to uphold these principles of human dignity, equality and equity and to ensure that globalisation becomes a positive force for all the world’s people, we commit to working for the beneficial integration of the least developed countries into the global economy, resisting their marginalisation, determined to achieve accelerated sustained economic growth and sustainable development and eradicate poverty, inequality and deprivation,
Recognising that the goals set out at the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries have not been reached and that LDCs as a whole remain marginalised in the world economy and continue to suffer from extreme poverty, LDC progress has been undermined by lack of sufficient human, productive and institutional capacity, indebtedness, low levels of domestic and foreign investments, declining trends in ODA flows, severe structural handicaps, falling or volatile commodity prices, HIV/AIDS and for some of them violent conflicts or post-conflict situations,
Having adopted a Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the decade 2001-2010,

UNITED NATIONS

Declare that:
1. We are committed to the eradication of poverty and the improvement of the quality of lives of people in LDCs by strengthening their abilities to build a better future for themselves and develop their countries.
2. We believe that this can only be achieved through equitable and sustained economic growth and sustainable development based on nationally owned and people-centred poverty reduction strategies. Good governance at the national and international level; the rule of law; respect for all internationally recognised human rights, including the right to development; promotion of democracy; security through preventive diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of armed conflicts; gender equality; investment in health, education and social infrastructure; strengthening of productive capacities and institution building are all essential in order to realise the vast and untapped human and economic potential in LDCs.
3. We recognise that the primary responsibility for development in LDCs rests with LDCs themselves. But their efforts need to be given concrete and substantial international support from Governments and international organisations in a spirit of shared responsibility through genuine partnerships, including with the civil society and private sector.
4. We are particularly concerned by the acute threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and emphasise the need for the strongest possible measures to combat this and other communicable diseases, particularly tuberculosis and malaria.
5. We also emphasise that improving the welfare of people is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. We have to strive to fully achieve the goals and objectives set out in the Rio Declaration in particular, as regards combating desertification, preservation of biological diversity, supply of safe drinking water and climate change in accordance with common but differentiated responsibilities.
6. We believe that increased trade is essential for the growth and development of LDCs. A transparent, non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system is essential for LDCs to reap the potential benefits of globalisation. The accession of LDCs to the WTO should be encouraged and facilitated. We commit ourselves to seizing the opportunity of the fourth WTO Ministerial meeting in Doha in November 2001, to advance the development dimension of trade, in particular for the development of LDCs. We aim at improving preferential market access for LDCs by working towards the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for all LDCs´ products in the markets of developed countries. Measures will also be taken to address problems caused by supply-side constraints. The crucial importance of trade and economic growth must be reflected in poverty reduction strategies.

7. We recognise that the most important financing of development comes from domestic resources, and that foreign direct investment is also an important source of capital, know-how, employment and trade opportunities for LDCs. In this regard we emphasise the need for an enabling environment for savings and investment, which includes strong and reliable financial, legal and administrative institutions, sound macro-economic policies and the transparent and effective management of public resources in order to help mobilise both domestic and foreign financial resources. We commit ourselves to seizing the opportunity of the Conference on Financing for Development in March 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico for the mobilisation of resources for development, in particular for the LDCs.
8. We affirm, also in this context, that official development assistance (ODA) has a critical role to play in support of LDC development. We take upon ourselves not to spare any effort to reverse the declining trends of ODA and to meet expeditously the targets of 0.15% or 0.20% of GDP as ODA to LDCs as agreed. We undertake to improve aid effectiveness and to implement the OECD-DAC recommendation on untying ODA to LDCs.
9. We are concerned with the external debt overhang that affects most LDCs and remains a main obstacle to their development. We affirm the commitment to provide the full financing and the speedy and effective implementation of the enhanced HIPC Initiative, which is essential for freeing domestic budgetary resources for poverty reduction. We undertake to make expeditious progress towards full cancellation of outstanding official bilateral debt within the context of the enhanced HIPC Initiative. We also undertake to provide debt relief to post conflict countries within the flexibility provided under the HIPC framework. The debt sustainability of LDCs, including non-HIPC LDCs, will continue to be subject to review, and consideration may be given to granting a moratorium on debt service payments in exceptional cases.
10. We stress the critical importance of an effective follow-up to the Conference at the national, regional and global level, and we commit ourselves to this end. We also ask the Secretary General of the United Nations to ensure that the Conference be followed up in an efficient and highly visible manner.
We reaffirm our commitment to the development of the 49 LDCs and to the improvement of the lives of the more than 600 million women, men and children living in those countries. Our common efforts will be an important contribution to achieving the international development goals and realising the universal aspirations for peace, co-operation and development.


BRUSSELS CONFERENCE COMMITS TO ERADICATING POVERTY IN WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES; DECADE-LONG ACTION PROGRAMME CALLS FOR PARTNERSHIP, ‘MUTUAL COMMITMENTS’
The United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries concluded today in Brussels by adopting a political declaration in which 193 participating governments committed themselves to the eradication of poverty in the world’s poorest countries and to the improvement of the quality of lives of the more than 600 million people living in them.
The Conference, attended by more than 6,500 participants from governments, specialized agencies and civil society, also adopted an ambitious programme for the next decade that addresses development assistance, debt cancellation, and private investment in the 49 least developed countries (LDCs).
By the “Brussels Declaration on LDCs”, governments stated that a “transparent, non-discriminatory and rules-based” multilateral trading system was essential for LDCs to reap the benefits of globalization and that the accession of LDCs to the World Trade Organization (WTO) should be encouraged and facilitated. In that context, they committed themselves to seizing the opportunity of the WTO’s fourth Ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, “to advance the development dimension of trade”.
Governments also committed themselves to seizing the opportunity of the Conference on Financing for Development in March 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico, for mobilizing resources for development; took it upon themselves to reverse the declining trends of official development assistance (ODA); and committed to providing full financing and speedy implementation of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Programme of Action for the Decade 2001-2010 calls initiatives to arrest the marginalization of LDCs an “ethical imperative”. It outlines a broad range of measures to be taken by the developed nations and the LDCs themselves in the form of a framework for partnership and specific commitments on, among others, good governance at national and international levels; building human and institutional capacities; enhancing the role of trade in development; reducing vulnerability and protecting the environment; and mobilizing financial resources.
Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said the Conference had already made important progress possible in vital areas. However, he asked, in light of the current circumstances, were the results satisfactory? Unfortunately, the answer was no. Many decisions highlighted by non-governmental organizations, for example, were still not achievable and it had not been possible to make major breakthroughs on such issues as debt relief, trade or ODA.
A new way to make progress on the question of LDCs had been necessary, he said. In planning the Conference, UNCTAD had tried a new approach, keeping the intergovernmental process, but having another process side by side, thus, bringing together large-, small- and medium-sized companies, women and young entrepreneurs to discuss concrete issues with a view to finding practical solutions. The “deliverables”, even if modest, were useful, as they created a momentum for those who no longer had hope. The possibility now existed for a new globalization -– one that would promote understanding and the cross-fertilization of cultures.
Statements in the final session were also made by: Gun-Gritt Andersson, State Secretary of Sweden; Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie; Christine Mandela of the Coalition of African Organizations, speaking on behalf of the Non-Governmental Organization Forum; Eddy Boutmans, Secretary of State for Development Cooperation of Belgium; Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Affairs; and John Alexander Corrie, Member of the European Parliament.
The representatives of Bangladesh (on behalf of the least developed countries), China, and Iran (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries) also made statements, as did the observer for the Holy See.
John Cuddy the Executive Secretary of the Conference, also spoke.

Communiqué final

CLOTURE DE PMA III : LA CONFERENCE CONSACRE LES PRINCIPES DU PARTENARIAT RENFORCE ET DE LA CORESPONSABILITE DANS LA LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETE
« Nous reconnaissons que les pays les moins avancés (PMA) sont eux-mêmes responsables de leur développement mais que leurs efforts doivent être appuyés au niveau international par les gouvernements et les organisations internationales dans un esprit de coresponsabilité, par le biais de véritables partenariats, notamment avec la société civile et le secteur privé ». Ces termes, extraits de la Déclaration politique* adoptée par les 193 gouvernements représentés à la Troisième Conférence des Nations Unies sur les pays les moins avancés – PMA III, traduisent l’esprit qui a présidé aux travaux lancés le 14 mai, par le Secrétaire général de l’ONU et le Président de l’Assemblée générale aux côtés du Président de la France, du Premier Ministre de la Belgique, de la Présidente du Parlement européen et du Président de la Commission européenne. Au total, PMA III a réuni plus de 6 500 participants, représentant les gouvernements, la société civile et le secteur privé.
Accueillie par l’Union européenne, PMA III s’est achevée, cet après-midi, avec l’adoption de la Déclaration politique et d’un Programme d’action décennal 2001-2010 énumérant des actions propres à matérialiser les intentions contenues dans le premier document. L’objectif du Programme d’action est d’obtenir, par le biais d’un partenariat mondial renforcé, des progrès substantiels en vue de réduire de moitié la pauvreté extrême d’ici 2015. La croissance économique étant perçue comme un élément essentiel de l’élimination de la pauvreté, le Programme d’action fixe le taux de croissance du PIB des PMA nécessaire à 7% par an et le ratio annuel investissements-PIB à 25%. Pour ce faire, la société civile, y compris le secteur privé, est perçue comme un participant important.
En sept engagements, le Programme d’action énumère donc des actions à mener par les PMA et leurs partenaires de développement dans les domaines de la promotion d’une action axée sur la population; de la bonne gouvernance aux niveaux national et international; du renforcement des capacités humaines et institutionnelles; de la mise en place des capacités de production nécessaires à l’intégration des PMA dans la mondialisation; du renforcement du rôle du commerce dans le développement; de la réduction de la vulnérabilité à l’environnement; et des ressources financières. Le Programme prévoit aussi que l’Assemblée générale mette au point des mécanismes de suivi, de surveillance et d’examen.
La bonne gouvernance aux niveaux national et international est reconnue dans le Programme d’action comme un élément important de développement et à ce titre, l’instauration d’un cadre institutionnel, juridique et réglementaire dans les PMA afin de renforcer l’état de droit et encourager une participation réelle au développement de tous les acteurs nationaux et locaux, est jugée essentielle; les partenaires de développement étant appelés à fournir une assistance financière pour le renforcement des capacités humaines et institutionnelles nécessaires à cette bonne gouvernance. S’agissant, en particulier des capacités humaines, le Programme d’action appelle à une application de l’initiative 20/20 sur « la base d’un accord et d’un engagement mutuel des donateurs et des PMA ». Là, le secteur privé est invité à compléter la fourniture par le secteur public d’infrastructures et de services sociaux dans le cadre d’une réglementation appropriée.
Source de mobilisation de ressources aux fins de la lutte contre la pauvreté, le commerce occupe une place dans le Programme d’action. Ainsi, l’adoption par l’ONU, les institutions de Bretton Woods et l’OMC de mesures cohérentes, parallèlement à celles qu’adopteront les gouvernements est reconnue comme l’un des éléments essentiels d’une réforme du système commercial international. Pour promouvoir le commerce dans sa dimension touchant au développement, les gouvernements s’engagent d’ailleurs, dans la Déclaration politique, à mettre à profit la quatrième réunion ministérielle de l’OMC, à Doha en novembre 2002. Ils se pencheront certainement alors sur la mise en œuvre des recommandations contenues dans le Programme d’action concernant l’amélioration de l’accès préférentiel des PMA aux marchés développés par une admission en franchise et hors contingent de tous leurs produits.
Au titre de la mobilisation des ressources extérieures, l’importance de l’aide publique au développement (APD) et de l’allègement de la dette pour appuyer les stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté a été réaffirmée. A cet égard, dans la Déclaration politique, les gouvernements s’engagent à profiter de la Conférence sur le financement du développement qui se tiendra en mars en 2002 à Monterrey au Mexique, pour mobiliser des ressources en faveur du développement. En attendant, le Programme d’action rappelle aux partenaires de développement l’engagement visant à consacrer 0,20% de leur PNB à l’aide (APD), en demandant à ceux qui se sont engagés à atteindre l’objectif de 0,15% à le faire dans les cinq ans à venir. En ce qui concerne la dette extérieure, le Programme d’action contient des appels à un financement rapide de l’Initiative PPTE en faveur des pays pauvres très endettés; à une participation des créanciers publics autres que le Club de Paris aux mesures d’allègement; et à l’annulation de la totalité de la dette publique bilatérale des PMA « à condition qu’ils fassent la preuve de leur volonté de réduire la pauvreté ».
Après les Conférences des Nations Unies sur les PMA de 1980 et de 1990, la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement (CNUCED), organisatrice de PMA III, a jugé bon, pour susciter l’émulation nécessaire, de bouleverser un peu l’ordre des choses. Comme l’a expliqué le Secrétaire général de la CNUCED et de PMA III, M. Rubens Ricupero « La CNUCED a donc proposé de placer le processus intergouvernemental au centre de la Conférence tout en lançant un autre processus rassemblant des organisations internationales afin de les inciter à identifier les problèmes dans un cadre informel ».
La participation à la Conférence a également été élargie à la société civile et au secteur privé. Ainsi dans le cadre des déclarations générales des délégations, mais aussi de sessions thématiques interactives et de réunions parallèles plusieurs propositions d’actions concrètes « deliverables » ont pu être annoncées. D’abord, pour illustrer le rôle attribué à l’investissement étranger dans le développement, 29 accords bilatéraux pour la promotion et la protection des investissements ont été signés entre neuf PMA et l’Union économique belgo-luxembourgeoise, trois pays en développement et un pays à économie en transition, sous l’égide de la CNUCED. Cette dernière a également annoncé le lancement d’un programme « juristes internationaux pour la coopération commerciale multilatérale ».
Les maires ont profité de la réunion organisée à leur intention pour annoncer la Déclaration sur la coopération « ville à ville » portant création d’un mécanisme de coopération triangulaire de ville à ville mobilisant les autorités locales, les citoyens et les institutions de financement internationales. Pour leur part, les jeunes entrepreneurs ont présidé au lancement de l’Université mondiale du commerce, parrainée par l’Université de York au Canada, qui dispensera un enseignement supérieur adapté aux entrepreneurs et décideurs des PMA, des pays en développement et des pays à économie en transition.
L’Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM) a annoncé plusieurs actions dont une visant à renforcer les capacités institutionnelles des PMA dans la gestion des flux migratoires. De son côté, l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO) a proposé la création d’un mécanisme financier, doté d’une enveloppe de 98 millions de dollars, pour améliorer la qualité et la sécurité sanitaire des produits alimentaires des PMA.


Messaggio del Presidente della Commissione Europea alla Conferenza

L’offerta dell’Unione Europea di ospitare la Terza Conferenza delle Nazioni Unite sui Paesi Meno Sviluppati va intesa come un forte segnale politico dell’importanza che l’UE attribuisce al problema dei Paesi Meno Sviluppati e alla necessità di affrontarli in maniera adeguata. Nell’ospitare la Conferenza, l’Unione Europea illustrerà inoltre che cosa è stato fatto negli ultimi anni per aiutare questi paesi, e rinnoverà il proprio impegno per l’eliminazione della povertà. L’UE è fortemente impegnata per un esito positivo della Conferenza, e ha cooperato strettamente con l’UNCTAD nel suo processo preparatorio a livello nazionale, regionale ed internazionale.

L’Unione Europea è uno dei protagonisti sulla scena della cooperazione internazionale e dell’assistenza allo sviluppo. Gli aiuti provenienti dalla Comunità Europea e dagli Stati che fanno parte dell’Unione costituiscono, infatti, oltre metà di tutta l’Assistenza Ufficiale allo Sviluppo (ODA) nel mondo. Gli aiuti della Comunità Europea, da soli, rappresentano un quarto di tutti gli aiuti multilaterali, un dato che fa della Comunità il secondo più importante donatore multilaterale e il maggior donatore di aiuti umanitari nel mondo. Circa un terzo dell’assistenza allo sviluppo offerta dall’Europa, inoltre, è destinata ai Paesi Meno Sviluppati.
Da lungo tempo la Commissione Europea ha promosso un approccio integrato allo sviluppo. La marginalizzazione di numerose economie, l’incremento della povertà nel mondo, la necessità di gestire in modo migliore le interdipendenze in materia ambientale, gli effetti destabilizzanti della migrazione, e le conseguenze dei conflitti armati e delle pandemie, sono importanti motivi di preoccupazione per tutti. Queste dimensioni multiple dimostrano l’esigenza di una strategia collettiva e coerente, basata su due obiettivi principali: la diminuzione della povertà, e l’integrazione dei paesi in via di sviluppo nell’economia mondiale.
Liberare le persone che vivono nei Paesi Meno Sviluppati dal flagello della povertà e mettere questi paesi nella condizione di uscire dall’elenco dei Paesi Meno Sviluppati rappresenta il parametro mediante il quale in ultima analisi verrà giudicato il successo della Conferenza. Uniamoci tutti insieme in questo tentativo comune.
Romano Prodi
Presidente della Commissione Europea