ReporT

Algiers Round Table, Palais des Nations

Millennium Development

Goals

26 November 2005 Algiers

E. N. A

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His Excellency Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA President of the Algerian Democratic People's Republic

Key passages from the message of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the Algiers Round Table President Abdelaziz Bouteflika welcomes the joint initiative of ECOSOC and the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions. He addresses the participants in the Round Table, emphasising that this meeting aims at bringing out the "causes" of the delay in the implementation of the principles and orientations of the Millennium Declaration and of the subsequent Development Goals issuing from it. The Algerian Head of State deplores the growing inequalities which plunge poor populations into an unacceptable poverty. He further stresses that "one fifth of the world's population benefits from 85% of the wealth of the planet".

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika highlights certain elements which may be at the origin of these alarming results. In fact, the adoption of an approach based on mercantilism reveals "the incapacity of the international community to settle problems where the financial aspect is not the only one to be taken into account". The President notes that "Public aid to development is stagnating or diminishing". The Head of State likewise denounces the widespread dysfunction as well as the excessive bureaucracy which handicap the routing of aid packets and their distribution to their intended beneficiaries.

As far as the African continent is concerned, the Algerian President proposes a large number of different paths to be followed in order to get out of this dead-end. On the one hand, he insists on the importance of the elaboration of analyses driven by new concepts more inspired "by a will of openness, of transparency and good governance". This is the impulsion breathed in by NEPAD and the African Peer Review Mechanism - APRM. On the other, the Head of State warmly recommends taking account of new forms of participation, encompassing the university sphere and the decision-makers of civil society for the purpose of reducing poverty and promoting human development.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika denounces the primacy of commercial law over all other norms and appeals for the introduction of a more human and fairer world order for the purpose of implementing a global and lasting process of reduction of poverty. The Algerian Head of State recalls that "the Millennium Goals constitute only a minimum of development to be achieved, destined to foster the setting in motion of a global and durable process of reduction of poverty". He insists on the crucial importance of investment in a knowledge of the mechanisms of social violence the repercussions of which endanger the political stability and economic viability of our societies. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika concludes by stating that the results of the Round Tables should take a concrete form and lead to a veritable partnership.

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REPORT ON THE ALGIERS ROUND TABLE

The Regional African Table of 26 November 2005 in Algiers, held in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals and on the topic of "the way of collective appropriation by means of know-how and knowledge", was organised jointly by the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS), by the Union of the Economic and Social Councils of Africa (UESCA), by the National Economic and Social Council of Algeria (CNES), by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), in partnership with the teaching establishments and those of civil society, and under the high patronage of H.E. Mr Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria.

This Round Table is the second of the three regional meetings planned by AICESIS and ECOSOC, the first of which was held on 24 October 2005 in Paris, while the third is scheduled to take place on 17-18 January in Brasilia. This Algiers Round Table takes its place in a particularly propitious context of national reconciliation in Algeria, through the implementation of an ambitious project of economic re-launching and social development of the country, with these vital initiatives taking their place in the spirit of and in close symbiosis with the commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration. This Round Table was marked by a partnership and an active participation of the government and of the public authorities (ESCs), the universities and the NGOs. The accent was placed on the need to create educational and didactic tools better suited for the training of future professionals working in civil society, with a view to arriving at the achievement of the MDGs within the time limits foreseen.

This Round Table was also held in conjunction with the General Assembly of UESCA and was followed by a meeting in the framework of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), foreseen by NEPAD.

The Round Table was opened by Mr Tayeb Belaïz, Minister of Justice, who brought a message from Mr Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Republic. Reminding participants that the MDGs constitute no more than a minimum of desirable development, destined to start off the global process of reduction of poverty, Mr Bouteflika quoted the results given in the course of the 60th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2005, that were "symptomatic of the incapacity of the international community to settle problems where the financial aspect is not the only one to be taken into account", and noting the "numerous cases of overlapping of power which prevent the fluidity of mechanisms for the routing of aid and the real taking in hand of the needs" of the communities suffering from various scourges. Remarking furthermore "the at times violent and always regrettable reactions" caused by the present uprisings in the world, and deploring that "the situation of the poor populations does not cease to grow worse, whereas one fifth of the world's population monopolises 85% of the world's riches", he appealed to these rich countries to "become aware of the human tragedy of the daily experiences of our peoples. The important participation in this Round Table of the Economic and Social Councils, institutions which have become," according to Mr Bouteflika, "powerfully symbolical of the new models of representation and governance, capable of articulating harmoniously the specific and given action of the public authorities and of organised civil society for a greater effectiveness in the elaboration and implementation of public policies", marked a new approach towards the achievement of the MDGs.

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The President did not fail to stress that a framework of dialogue, such as NEPAD, which plans to reduce poverty, to promote human development, as well as durable development, likewise deserves to be supported.

For the President of CNES, Mr Mohamed Seghir Babes, the Algiers Round Table takes its place in the quest for a vital minimum in the achievement of the MDGs. He is convinced that, despite the incidental difficulties, the African ESCs will be capable of taking up the challenges presented by the MDGs. In fact, cooperation between the public authorities, the ESCs, the universities and civil society is one of the necessary conditions for the implementation of appropriate methods for the achievement of the MDGs. In his opinion, the essential goal will have been to place side by side and ensure they work together these four "spaces", as he calls them, which could operate in a quite remarkable interactivity. Mr Babes sees the CNES as a vector by means of which lasting development will be able to progress, for "it is part of the vocation of CNES to approach this exercise in a general way as regards everything in the nature of economic and social development and, in a particular way, when it comes to the MDGs, since the latter appeal to spaces which are concerned with the most vulnerable fractions of the population".

Mr van Ginkel, Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) and Under-Secretary General of UNO, underlined the importance of this procedure aimed at integrating the notion of the MDGs within teaching establishments and university courses. He mentioned the programmes that UNU has already set up and which meet the concerns of the MDGs. In his duties as rector, he encouraged bringing courses more in line with the practical and local needs and requirements of the MDGs, in addition to aiming at a global pedagogy, by the underlying means of the "training of trainers". In this sense, a partnership between science Pô, ENA Algiers and UNU could serve as a model for the final concrete implementation of new educational approaches.

The Rector of UNU did not fail to underline the complementarity and the purpose of the eight ideals pursued by the MDGs, namely a lasting development for all, through education. He insisted on the role of teaching in the understanding of the MDGs, wondering whether the role of the teaching structures should be limited to making known to students the contents of the Millennium Declaration and of the MDGs, or else go further, teaching them how to arrive at translating them into facts.

Mrs Savane, President of the Panel of Eminent Persons (APRM) , noted that the contribution required of 0.7% of the GNP of the developed countries remains far short of this goal. She proposed three ways of framing the priorities of action: a) lasting development, b) sectorial priorities, and c) partnership. She stressed that the priorities of NEPAD reflect the goals laid down in the MDGs and that there is a undoubted relationship of symbiosis between NEPAD and the MDGs. In her speech she associated with NEPAD the African Peer Review Mechanisms (APRM), insisting on the usefulness of this system of self-evaluation by Africans and for Africans.

In his capacity of President of the ESC of France, Mr Jacques Dermagne insisted on the historic responsibility of the institutions of the more advanced countries, particularly towards Africa, and stressed that the Round Table of Algiers "aims at giving battle in favour of the achievement of the MDGs which condition the future of those most battered in our age. This meeting is important and innovative, since it brings together in the same search everything liable to reconcile human dignity and the highest authorities of the State as well as the representatives of civil society and of the universities. Mr Dermagne will conclude by saying, "Convinced that the day will come when members of universities will work in cooperation with the decision-makers and the actors, it will once more be possible to believe

4 in a better world, in particular for the most modest and the most hard tried. It is to the honour of UNO to have understood and of Algeria to have been a pioneer in the renewal of public governance for this 21st century".

Mr Durufle, Secretary General of AICESIS, recalled how useful the Round Table of Paris was for establishing links, throwing gangplanks and building bridges between the different actors in our societies and, first and foremost, between universities, NGOs and ESCs. He underlined the contribution of the ESCs in taking over the concerns of the promoters of the MDGs, by creating "a zone for the exchange of ideas". He insisted on the fact that the Paris Round Table has highlighted the forms to be taken by a more effective mutual aid between all the parties concerned. He summarised the messages of those taking part in the Paris Round Table by recalling that pedagogical and didactic tools and new educational programmes should become major instruments for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. He will conclude by reminding participants that the MDGs concern the North as much as the South, but that if "the North groans under its difficulties, the South yells for its survival".

Mrs Mezoui, Director of the NGO Section DESA of ECOSOC, indicated that the Millennium Development Goals in Africa could not be achieved without the implementation of a process of national reconciliation and of re-launching of the economy, as the Algerian example clearly demonstrates. This procedure proved essential for the building of a durable peace. It goes without saying that a national reconciliation implies that each actor in the reconciliation engages in a veritable dialogue with his partners, to ensure that everyone may not only be heard, but above all listened to. Mrs Mezoui recalled that the success of the MDGs is likewise conditioned by a constructive reform of UNO, that all countries must support: "Thus, in 2005, year of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, at a time when we have practically gone round the world with the planetary crises to date, the global report of the Secretary General of the United Nations 'in greater liberty' resumed the essential elements of the common action in favour of a world in which all men and women can live sheltered from need, from fear and indignity, recognising that development, security and human rights are indissociably bound. This determination to achieve the MDGs is likewise fully visible in the choice of the theme by the High Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council fixed for 2006. Mrs Mezoui underlined the pertinence of this theme of ECOSOC for the Round Table of Algiers, which aims at the "Creation at national and international level of an environment favourable to full productive employment and a decent job for all, and the study of its impact on durable development". In the present framework of globalisation, this theme of job creation of ECOSOC should, in her opinion, inspire the proceedings of this Round Table of Algiers, since it will make it possible to create a favourable environment for full productive employment and for decent jobs in the poor countries, thus contributing to achieve the first goal of the MDGs: reduction of poverty.

In this connection, Mr Duruflé reminded those present that this theme has become the theme of the year of AICESIS and that a working group of which the CNES of Algeria is co- rapporteur is due to present its conclusions to the Plenary Assembly of ECOSOC in July 2006 in Geneva.

Mr Toukourou, Honorary President of UESCA noted that the Union of Economic and Social Councils of Africa and similar institutions in Africa, apart from or in conjunction with AICESIS, had already conducted various reflections on the MDGs. The new resources at international level, the partnership Agreement between African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) with the European Union concluded at Cotonou, the organisation of various world exchanges, to quote those only, clearly translate the will of organised civil society, of

5 which the Economic and Social Councils constitute an important part. UESCA by means of this partnership makes its contribution to identification of the ways and means for apprehending the problems inherent in this challenge, as well as durable development. In his intervention he recalled the most acute problems in Africa, such as malaria, AIDS, infant mortality, and the inhuman conditions that women and children above all undergo. Indeed, according to him, all of these problems were well described and included in the MDGs, but the obstacles to their eradication still constitute one of the most serious challenges for the whole of Mankind.

Mr Schmidt, Secretary General of the CDES in Brazil, expressed his satisfaction that the spirit of this meeting of the African ESCs would stimulate the Latin American countries to do the same, and went on to remark that a South-South co-operation on the lines of the MDGs, by means of a good supervision of the results, would be beneficial for all countries, including the countries of the North. Mr Schmidt, who is also the host of the third regional Round Table of Latin America due to be held in Brasilia on 17 and 18 January 2006, recalled that it is important to present the Brasilia event as an occasion of rapprochement in relations between several institutions dealing with the social dialogue in Latin America. Mr Schmidt said he was convinced that this complementary vision to be offered by participants will give an added value to the goals of the Round Table of Brasilia. Thus, the Brasilia Round Table will contribute in the American hemisphere to spreading the spirit of AICESIS which relentlessly pursues the promotion of a culture of social dialogue open to all the components of civil society.

Mr Bouguera, director for multilateral relations in the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented the results achieved by his country on the Millennium Development Goals, mentioning that Algeria is determined to honour its commitments adopted for 2015. He presented various precise statistics on Algeria, in the context of several of the MDGs, concerning:

- the important measures of investment taken since the year 2000, at the same time noting regretfully the mixed results, while applauding the quadruplication foreseen by 2009; - sexual inequality - maternal health - universal school attendance which should be achieved very shortly - women's rights (which should soon be better protected in fact, as they already are on paper in accordance with article 29 of the Constitution) - the awareness of a major ecological crisis due to poor refuse management in Algeria (which gave rise to a national report on the state and future of the environment)

Mr Bouguera emphasised that the statements drawn up on the occasion of this report on the MDGs have led to the elaboration of a national environmental strategy, which is now articulated around fundamental axes of economic re-launching that take account of a structured but enlarged base of preservation of the extremely fragile and limited natural resources, as well as the improvement of public health.

A second session took place in the afternoon, with Mr Babes acting as moderator, which comprised interventions by numerous experts and university and juridical personalities, government officials, civil servants, and representatives of NGOs. The community of researchers, university teachers and trainers was well represented, their interventions and communications as experts were extremely enriching in their diversity, demonstrating the

6 evolution towards a real partnership between the different actors of society. The following are some of the outstanding points of the principal interventions:

• In the pursuit recognised as a priority by the United Nations of reducing poverty until it is eliminated, it proves necessary to carry out a "collective appropriation of the know-how and knowledge" of university experts at national level, in the fields of durable development of infrastructures, as well as in the fields of investments, public education, health, women's rights, security, and improvement of the environment.

• A greater involvement of the private sector is essential in order to back up the achievement of the MDGs, between now and 2015. This participation should be beneficial at the level of the collection of data and statistics on the African countries, above all the sub-Saharan ones, in relation to the parameters of reference proper to the MDGs. Strategic and scientific alliances for the exchange of know-how and for transfers of knowledge should be set in place. Education and training by interactive software accessible to the public, by CD or by Internet should be facilitated, as well as the re-utilisation of software thanks to a North-South partnership.

• The bodies representing civil society (CSOs-NGOs) should be more involved in the definition of strategies for the reduction of poverty in all the African countries.

• The accent should be placed on maternal health, according to various experts, in order to offset a variety of infantile complaints and illnesses resulting from deficiencies in the stage of pregnancy and early infancy, and producing long--term sequels in human and social terms.

• Greater encouragement by the authorities should be forthcoming in favour of co- operation between South-South countries. Algeria was quoted as an example: thanks to its economic growth it not only has the possibility of assisting other countries in the training of civil servants in the public administration, but also of evaluating their methods (FORMIT).

• A firmer commitment by governments should be taken to ensure the security of the territory, to apply the Geneva Conventions, to reduce the crime arising from trafficking (both in drugs, in diamonds and even in human beings), for an improvement of the systems of customs duties and for the establishment of fairer international markets, so as to put an end to the great imbalances between the countries of the North and of the South.

• The university establishments should commit themselves further on themes of scientific research applied to the MDGs. The structures and motivations of academic middle management within the university institutions should be aligned on and draw closer to the MDGs. Four methods of educational reforms were proposed and in part initiated by the National School of Administration (ENA) with a view to encouraging greater awareness of the MDGs, namely:

1. To offer new modules on the MDGs, thus supplementing the traditional course, meanwhile announcing subsequent re-adjustments to ensure that they are in line with the real needs of the work market; to launch work on studies and analyses within the national educational instances and scientific councils for the purpose of identifying any new contributions which could be integrated into the programmes to be taught.

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2. to integrate the texts of the MDGs with the course, in order to put into perspective the material already utilised and thus impregnate the courses with the spirit of the MDGs, throughout schooling; to draw up an "educational kit" updated each year making it possible to ensure in a harmonious way a widespread use of the teachings consecrated to the MDGs.

3. to devise and introduce master's degrees for certain universities, or even the establishment of "centres of excellence", having as their specialisation one or more specific MDGs, or even all of them.

4. to create within the framework of actions of ongoing training sessions reserved to civil servants and posted middle management according to the procedures best suited to the needs expressed.

• A general feeling arose from the Algiers Round Table on the inescapable need for dialogue and partnership between the actors of civil society, in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals within the deadlines established of 2015. First of all, an objective examination should make it possible to determine and solve the causes of delay in implementation of the principles and orientations of the Millennium Declaration and its development goals. As was the case after the Second World War, to re-launch the economy of Europe and fight poverty there, the creation of jobs meeting the needs and trends of the work market should become a priority for the whole of civil society.

• AICESIS would seem very well placed to set up, as the OECD did for the underdeveloped countries of Europe, an Observatory on training and higher teaching, one of whose principal goals would be to reinforce dialogue between Universities, Government and Socio-economic Circles, in order to foster joint negotiation for the development of training and courses aligned on the new economic order, including the globalisation of the goods and labour markets and achievement of the MDGs. The forty years' experience of collaboration and dialogue between socio-economic partners in Europe and in America has made it possible to re-launch there the employment market and to redefine it in each country, on the basis of their respective resources and potentials. Three conditions were essential in order to eradicate poverty within the OECD countries and to ensure a durable job creation policy for them.

a. The vocational training offered and the pedagogical approaches in teaching must be re-adjusted and placed in close line with the needs in manpower, bearing in mind the evolution and trends of the work market, both at national and at international level; the prospective analyses on economic evolution as well as on the new technologies affecting present and future jobs are essential for the purpose of adjusting training programmes; each country, in agreement with the others, should make prospective and strategic analyses which bear in mind its resources, its means and its potentials.

b. An authentic partnership and dialogue between Industry, Universities, Government and Socio-economic Circles (SCOs and NGOs) should be set up to work out the strategies for job creation and vocational training at national level, and in order to identify the respective roles of the partners for the success of these strategies.

c. NGOs, organisations representing civil society and centres for the training of trainers should be set up with the support of the authorities and of the SCOs, in order to encourage and promote training for vocations, making it possible to understand the roots of poverty in each country, the psycho-pedagogical

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techniques for offsetting the underlying causes, as well as to better prepare the insertion of manpower in the new jobs and in the new technologies.

• AICESIS should resume from time to time national surveys in the framework of this study project on the MDGs, for the purpose of measuring the progression of the three abovementioned elements, at the heart of the national strategies aimed at fighting poverty by the creation of jobs, as well as by vocational training better suited to the needs of the national work market. Thereafter recommendations may be made to remedy any shortcomings in the dialogue and in the partnerships decided between all the parties concerned. Any delay in the setting up of such partnerships will inevitably prejudice the fight against poverty and delay the creation of jobs suited to the new economic requirements of those countries.

• The conclusions and recommendations, as well as the consensus arising from this Round Table of Algiers are as follows:

- This dialogue constitutes a 'first' between socio-economic partners and between the ESCs of Africa, with a view to achievement of the MDGs. But this innovative and extremely welcome meeting was of too short duration to permit the broad and open discussion desired by all.

- This meeting was extremely enriching, making it possible to discover and know the deep interest of various socio-economic actors, whose NGOs-CSOs aim at creating partnerships for the purpose of achieving the MDGs within the deadlines of 2015.

- The wish was expressed that such dialogue, studies and surveys, under the aegis of the UNO and of AICESIS, should be carried on and be programmed on a regular basis in Africa, up to achievement of the Goals in the year 2015.

- The training and teaching circles of Africa should be closely associated with the ESCs-NGOs-CSOs-Governments and economic circles with a view to contributing more effectively to the MDGs.

- These forms of training would be based on a multiple partnership with institutions and associations (United Nations University (UNU), UNECSO, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Training Centre of Turin (CIFT), Science Pô Paris, Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA, Algiers), by basing themselves on training associations such as FORMIT (Foundation for Research on Migration and on Integration of Technologies) and the International Association of Trainers in the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (IATMDG).

- - The Round Table of Algiers also made it possible to recognise the differences and to appreciate the complementarity between the different partners: UESCA, civil society and teaching establishments, in order for the implementation of the MDGs to become a reality which bears in mind the priorities set by NEPAD

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ANNEXES :

- Address of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika - List of speakers

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ALGERIAN DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLI

ADDRESS BY His Excellency Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA

President of the Algerian Democratic People's Republic

Algiers, Palais des Nations , 26 November 2005

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Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Honourable guests, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are both happy and honoured to welcome the African Round Table consecrated to further consideration of the pedagogical and methodological approaches for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

I wish to greet this joint initiative of ECOSOC and of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS) which, with the collaboration of CNES, aims at decentralising and regionalising the reflections of organisational scope. Thus it will be possible to work out ad hoc strategies adopted to the site of their implementation and making it possible to mobilise all the actors involved in this partnership.

The three Round Tables of Paris, Algiers and Brasilia, emerging from the partnership between ECOSOC and AICESIS, in fact draw their legitimacy from the finding of failure recorded by the plenary high-level meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations, held only two months ago, and which succeeded the unprecedented enthusiasm which had welcomed the historic resolution of the Millennium.

Mr Chairman,

The problem arises of establishing why there was such a delay in the implementation of the principles and orientations of the Millennium Declaration and of the subsequent Development Goals issuing from it. The determination of the causes of this delay, I feel, should be the subject of the prior questions which you will be examining.

The persevering work of the United Nations and of the social forces engaged on this path made it possible to entertain and to revive the hope in a juster society based on a greater solidarity and more concerned to reduce the imbalances shocking the consciences of our fellow citizens.

Our world is crossed by unacceptable contradictions arousing reactions that are at times violent and always regrettable. In the present world order, the situation of the poor populations does not cease to worsen, while as is known, besides, one fifth of the world's population benefits from 85% of the world's wealth.

If we wish to introduce a little more humanity into our world and rid it of the Scoriae of a globalisation driven by purely mercantile logics, it will be necessary for us to provide world relations with a new architecture, based more on a multipolar system and deliberately fair and inclusive.

The 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly was a propitious occasion for recalling the commitments of the international community while proceeding to a provisional evaluation of the first five-year portion of the Millennium.

The results are not brilliant, far from it. It seems symptomatic of the incapacity of the international community to settle problems where the financial aspect is not the only one to be taken into account.

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Several lines of rupture exist between the instruments of international aid, the beneficiaries of programmes, the public authorities and the framing organs, without counting the social systems of representation. There likewise exist many cases of overlapping of power which prevent the fluidity of the mechanisms of the routing of aid and of the real taking in hand of needs.

As far as our continent is concerned, your analyses will be oriented by the new concepts which, in our country, are more and more focused on a will to openness, transparency and good governance. This is the very spirit animating NEPAD and the African Peer Review Mechanism - APRM - of which it is the most emblematic instrument. In fact this frame makes it possible to enter in our general objectives, our ambition to reduce poverty and to promote human development as well as durable development, by profoundly updating our methods of governance whether political and institutional or economic and social. This supposes seeking out new forms of participation leaning on university training and research, and relayed by the most advanced and motivated fractions of civil society.

Africa's offer of partnership addressed to the rest of the world aims at being open, global and based on solidarity, transcending the classic frames of international aid in its present forms.

It is a question of reducing the constraints weighing on our economic development and of improving the conditions of taking in hand the social needs by a better utilisation of our resources. Thus it will be necessary to fight against the informal economy which neutralises every effort at productivity and creativity. Likewise we should warn against coupled food aid which dramatically undermines the foundations of the food production economy.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights, the multilateral agreements on the Environment, the basic conventions of ILO, if they were respected by all, could greatly lighten these constraints and facilitate the search for solutions to our problems.

Despite the decision of the Gleneagles Summit of wiping out the debt of the poorest countries, the financial means mobilised scarcely suffice to cover half of the needs, estimated by the multilateral institutions at a minimum entity of 100 billion dollars per year to attain the Millennium Development Goals. Public Aid for Development stagnates or diminishes, whence the imperative quest for additional resources.

Our commercial problems are as heavy as our financial constraints, as is borne out by the difficulties encountered by the implementation of the Doha cycle. It was a case, as you will remember, of putting into practice the decisions regarding the illegal subsidies and customs barriers which prevent a full and entire opening up of the markets of the developed countries, to all the peasants of the developing world and the African peasants in particular.

We must of course recognise that, insofar as the WTO remains the only international organisation endowed with binding rules, commercial law will command all other norms. Social, environmental and human rights are accordingly perceived, at the best, as negotiable constraints and, at the worst, as impediments to the free circulation of commodities.

Instead of that, it would be necessary to ensure a world regulation which is not the simple expression of the mere facilitation of exchanges and of international transactions without references to the universal principles of solidarity.

To the customs duties are added the non-tariff obstacles represented by quotas, norms and imposed regulations and the health and technical restrictions which complete the

13 protectionist mechanisms, offering little possibility for a hypothetical integration of our countries in the globalisation of exchanges.

It is important to react in the face of the disaster striking a large number of countries of which the crushing majority are in Africa. The rulers of the rich countries as well as their civil societies need to become aware of the human tragedy of the daily experiences of our peoples that they can perceive in the form of the waves of desperate immigrants arriving at their frontiers without much chance of benefiting from their hospitality.

These same problems of course also exist in Algeria. We have chosen the path of dialogue at internal level for the promotion of peace and national reconciliation, and at external level by including our action in the new African dynamics, symbolised by the initiative of NEPAD and by the programmes adopted by the African Union.

Mr Chairman,

Your Round Table should emerge on an opening in the direction of social and civil representations having a vocation to produce a twofold echo of the needs felt by our populations, and of their will to base themselves first of all on their own sacrifices in order to take themselves in hand.

Mr Chairman,

I am particularly happy to see the participation in your Round Table of the Economic and Social Councils at the highest level of world, continental and regional representation, of which I have pleasure in greeting here the most emblematic figures in the persons of their very honourable Presidents, the President of the Economic Council of China and likewise President of AICESIS, the President of the Economic and Social Council of Benin and, besides, the President of the French Economic and Social Council who had the merit of hosting the first Round Table one month ago in Paris, and the President of the Economic and Social Council of Brazil who is due to welcome the third Round Table of the kind devoted to Latin America.

Monsieur le Président,

Such a participation of the economic and social councils goes to underline, so true is it, that these institutions have become powerfully symbolic of the new models of representation and governance, capable of articulating in a harmonious manner the specific and regulated action of the public authorities and that of organised civil society for a greater effectiveness in the drawing up and implementation of public policies. In this connection, and more and more clearly, organised civil society disposes of a mandate of democratic supervision and participative listening in, which finds its natural prolongation in the spaces of dialogue and joint negotiation, represented here by your councils.

The networks of experts, university teachers and researchers are likewise powerfully represented at this Round Table. They have as their natural mandate to reveal the stakes and the implications for Africa, for the developing countries and for the developed world, of the risks of aggravation of poverty and of the extension of under-development. We should not lose sight of the fact that the Millennium Goals constitute no more than a "minimum" of development to be attained, destined to foster the setting in motion of a global and durable process of reduction of poverty.

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On another hand, it is essential to invest more in knowledge of the mechanisms of social violence and of their implications on the political stability and economic viability of our societies. This should be the object of university research, both fundamental and applied, having as its central goal to single out solutions for the use of decision-makers and organised civil society.

The conclusions of your proceedings, as those of the other round tables, should of course find their application and their implementation will require financial and human means which should be evaluated and foreseen as from now. In this connection, it was wise on your part to associate with this meeting representatives of potential sponsors whose active participation we will be requesting when we come to the concrete application of your projects.

Before concluding and leaving you to your proceedings, I wish to greet more particularly the Presidents of the Economic and Social Councils of Africa who, as from tomorrow, will be holding their ordinary meetings of the Union of the Economic and Social Councils of Africa, placed under the general themes of NEPAD and of APRM.

It only remains for me to thank you for your invitation and to convey to you my best wishes for the full success of your proceedings.

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ANNEXES

List of participants in the Round Table of Algiers 26 November 2005

MORNING SESSION

Moderator Mr Mohamed-Seghir BABES President of the CNES

- Mr Van GINKEL Under-Secretary of the United Nations, Rector of the United Nations University

- Mrs Marie Angélique SAVANE President of the APRM-NEPAD Panel of Eminent Persons

- Mr Jacques DERMAGNE President of the French Economic and Social Council

- Mr Bertrand DURUFLE Secretary General of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS)

- Mrs Hanifa MEZOUI Head of the NGOs Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, New York

- Mr Raphiou TOUKOUROU President of the Union of African Economic and Social Councils (UESCA), President of the Economic and Social Council of Benin

- Mr Fernando SCHMIDT Secretary General of the Council for the Economic and Social Development of Brazil

- Mr Madjid BOUGUERA Director General of Multilateral Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Algeria

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AFTERNOON SESSION

Moderator Mr Mohamed-Seghir BABES President of CNES

- Mr Mustapha BENZINE Former representative of FNUAP, « Sub-Saharan Africa and the goal of the improvement of maternal health »

- Mr Abderrazak BENHABIB Professor University of Tlemcen, « The state of scientific research on poverty »

- Dr Mohamed BENBOUZIANE University of Tlemcen, « Application of the multi-dimensional approach to the measurement of poverty »

- Mr Hocine CHARCHABIL Director of ENA Algiers, « ENA and the MDGs, state of the places and prospects »

- Mr Taib ESSAID Professor ENA Algiers, « Training in the MDGs at ENA »

- Mr Ambrosio NSINGUI-BARROS Educationalist, Science Pô Paris « Comparative experience Algeria-Kenya »

- Mr Giovanni BISOGNI President of the Foundation for Research on Migration and Integration of Technologies (FORMIT)

- Mrs Nadia CHETTAB Lecturer, University of Annaba « Scientific alliances and shared know-how as assets of the MDGs»

- Mrs Claudie Kulak, 'Belle planète' Publishers

- Mr François LORIOT Adviser on international law « The right to education through IATMDG »

- Mr Abdelkader DERBAL Rector of the University of Oran, « South Africa - Algeria project: scientific research and poverty»

- Mr Mohamed KOUIDRI Lecturer, University of Oran « Strategies for reducing poverty in Algeria »

- Pr Abdelwahab DIF

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President of the National Committee for fighting AIDS, « 20 years of fighting HIV/IST in Algeria »

- Dr Said KABOUYA « The MDGs and family planning »

- Pr Abdelouhab REZZIG University professor – Member of the CNES « Some elements for building the society of know-how in the Arab world »

- Mr Nabil HATALI Magistrate « Crime and poverty»

- Mrs Fatma Zohra KARADJA President of the ANSEDI Association, President of the National Commission on Governance

- Mrs Aicha BARKI, President of the IQRAA Association.

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