Mr. Maged Abdelaziz
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Please check against delivery Statement By Mr. Maged A. Abdelaziz Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa At: The Substantive Informal Session on “The Global Context” The Preparatory Process for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development 10 November 2014, 3:00pm – 6:00 pm The Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN Headquarters Distinguished co-facilitators, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen I have the pleasure to address today’s substantive informal session of the General Assembly on “the global context”, within the framework of the preparatory process for the Third International Conference on Financing for development. At the outset, I wish to thank the distinguished co-facilitators; Ambassadors Talbot and Pedersen, for inviting me to speak at this important session, and to pledge my continued support to all their efforts to make the Addis Ababa conference a great success. As I’m sure you know, I had personal experience with this issue in my former capacity as the Permanent Representative of Egypt, when I served as the co-facilitator, along with Ambassador Johan Løvald of Norway, of the negotiations process leading to the 2008 Doha Declaration. That is in itself makes me absolutely aware of the tremendous responsibility and pressure surrounding the negotiations process this time, particularly with the interlinkages with so many ambitious processes underway in the UN. I wish also to seize this opportunity to recognize the efforts of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, including the Financing for Development Office, led by Mr. Alexander Trepelkov, in supporting this preparatory Process. In fact, Mr. Trepelkov played a significant role in ensuring the success of the Doha Conference in 2008, but now, as he became the FfD Office Chief, I think that the success expected will be bigger. Ladies and Gentlemen, When I speak today about the African perspective on financing for development, and awaiting for the formulation of a formal common African position by the African Union and the African group in New York on that topic, my remarks will basically reflect on some African positions taken on the six chapters of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration, and on the emerging issues related to financing for development, as reflected in the African positions in various UN processes, including in accelerating the implementation of the MDGs and formulation and financing of the post-2015 development agenda. 1 Evidently, Africa’s position on accelerating the implementation of the unfinished business of the MDGs underscores the need for maintaining poverty eradication, reduction of inequalities within and among nations, and structural transformation at the center of the new global development framework as the over- arching goals of the post-2015 development agenda. By the same token, the continent underlines the importance to continue to address the unfinished business of the MDGs and to rethink the global partnership for development so as to avoid the shortcomings of MDG 8 in the new global development framework. We need to take the African expectations and the shortcomings in implementation and follow up into consideration, in order to draw lessons that would help us shape an enhanced and predictable financing framework, and gear it towards full implementation of commitments. Herein lies indeed the importance of the third International Conference on Financing for Development as it provides a unique opportunity to assess the progress in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration, including with regard to assessing the fulfilment of the commitment reaffirmed by the international community in the Doha declaration in paragraph 6 to, and I quote “provide and strengthen support to the special needs of Africa and stress that eradicating poverty, particularly in Africa, is the greatest global challenge facing the world today, We underline the importance of accelerating sustainable broad-based economic growth, which is pivotal to bringing Africa into the mainstream of the global economy” unquote. Furthermore, the conference will be crucial for reinvigorating the financing for development process, by considering concrete actions to maximize and boost the contribution of each and every one of the six areas of the financing for development process, including domestic financial resources, foreign direct investment, international trade, international financial and technical cooperation for development, and debt sustainability, beside addressing systemic and emerging issues. Ladies and Gentlemen, More than 12 years after Monterrey, the global economic situation has witnessed significant changes, including the growing weight and importance of emerging markets and developing economies, the diversity of the development landscape, the impact of the world financial and economic crisis that hit worldwide after the adoption of the Doha Declaration, which in its turn, led to the adoption of 2 the 2009 declaration by the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, and the mounting costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation. All these factors and others have had a profound impact on Africa’s partnerships and economic performance, particularly in trade and investment as well as on the progress towards the MDGs implementation. Africa’s MDGs implementation experience shows that despite challenges, the continent has made great strides towards many of the goals and targets. Significant advances were made by African countries, particularly in improving primary school enrolment, advancing gender equality and halting the spread of HIV/ AIDS. These advances were mainly the result of sound macroeconomic policies and a remarkable economic growth that Africa has achieved since 2000. African economies grew at 5% annually on average and of the top ten fastest growing economies in the world, six are in Africa. However, the economic growth and the international support were not sufficient to bring about significant progress towards other MDGs. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which revealed the weaknesses of health systems in many African countries and highlighted the interrelationship between health and development, should serve as a stark reminder for all of us of the need to continue to address the unfinished business of the MDGs and to pay more attention to the gaps and flaws in the global partnership for development. Development challenges on the continent, particularly in relation to ensuring universal access to the basic health services, education, energy, water and sanitation should all be met with decisive and concerted global action. Indeed, the long term impact of the current Ebola crisis in Africa will be a reversal of all the gains that had been made, especially on the worst hit countries of Liberia, Serra Leone and Guinea. The question now is how Africa can sustain these hard-won gains, while continuing to work towards achieving the unfinished business of the MDGs as well as other goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda. Ladies and Gentlemen, As the world is shaping the post-2015 development agenda, Africa has not shied away from playing a leading role in the ongoing processes. Similar to the 3 African Consensus on the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, and I was also the African representative in the Conference’s bureau, along with Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae of Botswana, Africa was the first region to develop a common position that articulated the needs and priorities of its peoples in the post-2015 negotiations. Guided by the Common African Position on the post-2015 Development Agenda (CAP), African delegations advocated for placing a special emphasis in the outcome document of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals on specific goals and targets that are crucial to achieving inclusive economic growth and sustainable development, including poverty eradication, reduction of inequalities, and structural transformation, covering critical areas such as infrastructure development, employment, agriculture development and industrialization, as well as addressing climate change impacts, while recognizing Rio principles, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. In doing that, pillar 6 of the CAP underscores the centrality of financial resources and partnerships for attaining sustainable development objectives. It certainly adopts a comprehensive approach to development financing by underlining the need for a significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including innovative resources, and their effective use. It highlights the importance of improving domestic resource mobilization by strengthening tax structures and curtailing illicit financial flows. It also reiterates the importance that developed countries should fulfil their commitments, including ODA commitments, as ODA remains an important source of development financing, particularly for the LDCs, the majority of which are in Africa. Hence, the CAP was not an isolated effort, it was part of a broader effort by African countries to seize the momentum and build on previous achievements to promote inclusive economic growth and put the continent onto a real path to sustainable development. For Africa, the renewed commitment to the global partnership is more urgent now than any time before, but not the partnership that is based on exploiting Africa’s natural resources but rather a partnership