United Nations A/55/PV.48 General Assembly Official Records Fifty-fifth session 48th plenary meeting Wednesday, 1 November 2000, 3 p.m. New York President: Mr. Holkeri ............................................ (Finland) The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m. important issue and their guidance in the consideration of it. Agenda item 50 (continued) Today, my delegation wishes to focus on the Working Group’s proposals to facilitate the further Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable implementation of the recommendations of the peace and sustainable development in Africa Secretary-General. These proposals complement the objectives we have defined for ourselves in the African Report of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Working renaissance. We thus commend the Working Group for Group on the Causes of Conflict and the the high priority placed on addressing the economic, Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable environmental and social issues needed to ensure Development in Africa (A/55/45) sustainable development. These are indeed the most important priorities for Africa. As long as Africa finds Note by the Secretary-General (A/55/431) itself on the margins of the information superhighway, the mainstream of the world economy, the flow of Mr. Vermeulen (South Africa): The report of the foreign direct investment, the marketplace of new ideas Secretary-General on the causes of conflict and the and technologies and the central debate on our promotion of durable peace and sustainable environment, it will always be difficult for the development in Africa remains a landmark in the way countries of Africa to address the issues of conflict and it showed the link between peace and development. It sustainable development. is in fact worth noting that this link became a recurring feature of most interventions at the recent Millennium As is so rightly pointed out in the report of the Summit. The Working Group provided Member States Working Group, the first priority needs to be poverty with the unique opportunity to help shape the direction eradication — a priority also acknowledged in the and nature of the response to this very important Millennium Declaration in its reference to the special report. Under the capable chairmanship of the needs of Africa. The importance of education as a President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth starting point in addressing poverty is also session, assisted by the Ambassadors of Singapore and acknowledged. My delegation fully subscribes to the Spain as his Vice-Chairmen, the Working Group invitation to donors, in close collaboration with produced a most impressive report in a short time. national Governments, to strengthen and promote human resource development on the continent. We wish to thank the Secretary General, the President of the General Assembly and the two Vice- The Working Group has stressed the need to Chairmen for the focus they provided on this very address the untenable burden that external debt places This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-178. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum. 00-72178 (E) *0072178* A/55/PV.48 on a number of African countries. My delegation serious effect on the continent’s ability to address the recognizes the progress made by the enhancement of challenges of sustainable development. the initial Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt The Working Group appropriately recognized the (HIPC) Initiative at the annual meetings of the Bretton need to strengthen the Organization of African Unity Woods institutions last year. We also welcome the extra Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and efforts made by those institutions to meet the target of Resolution. We wish to support the proposal that the having 20 countries reach decision point before the end General Assembly request the Economic and Social of this year. While these actions may be laudable, the Council to establish ad hoc advisory groups on fact that we still have numerous countries on the countries emerging from conflict. This could greatly African continent having to pay more in servicing enhance the efforts towards post-conflict external debt than for education, health services and reconstruction and peace-building and the prevention housing demonstrates the crux of the problem that we of recurring conflict. Africa’s efforts to develop its face. capacity in conflict prevention, management and My delegation believes that we need a two- resolution should also be complemented by an effective pronged approach. First, we would need to secure the United Nations in the field of peace and security. We necessary resources for the full implementation of the therefore believe that the Brahimi report represents an enhanced HIPC Initiative. We appeal to the donor important contribution to the ongoing efforts to community to address this issue as a matter of urgency. strengthen the United Nations in this regard. Secondly, we would have to consider ways in which to However, addressing all these issues will make improve debt relief so that it would benefit more little difference to sustainable development on the countries and to have deeper and faster debt relief. In African continent unless we pay proper attention to the this regard, we support the proposal of the Working environment and to the effective integration of Group and the United Nations Conference on Trade environmental protection, social development and and Development to have an independent body make economic growth into the implementation of an assessment of the sustainability of African debt. sustainable development. We thus support the call on This should form the basis of future considerations of all Member States to ensure that environmental the external debt overhang. considerations be adequately integrated into all My delegation also supports the Working Group’s relevant aspects of the promotion of sustainable emphasis on the importance of financing for development on the continent. development in promoting durable peace and In this regard, bringing the 2002 Earth Summit to sustainable development on the African continent. We the African continent will be a concrete demonstration would join the call to ensure that the special concerns to the people of Africa that the United Nations is of Africa be taken into account at the high-level event serious about implementing the proposals of this on financing for development next year. We add our Working Group. It would also provide the people of voice to the appeal to donor countries to make a our continent with an opportunity to recommit concerted effort to reach the agreed target of 0.7 per ourselves to the principles of Agenda 21 and to the cent of gross national product for official development objectives and ideals of sustainable development. assistance to developing countries. Mr. Horst Köhler, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, My delegation associates itself fully with the reiterated only last week here at the United Nations proposals made by the Working Group on the need for that increased official development assistance, together follow-up. We would strongly endorse the extension of with debt relief, are critical requirements if we are to the Working Group’s mandate. In fact, it is our view achieve the 2015 development targets that we have set that this Working Group could play a very important for ourselves. role in ensuring a prolonged focus on the activities of the United Nations in Africa and assist in improving I wish to also associate my delegation with the the effectiveness and efficiency of the United Nations priority that the Working Group has placed on the need system on our continent. The work of the Working to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the scourges of Group could provide an important foundation to the malaria and tuberculosis. These diseases have a very implementation of part VII of the Millennium 2 A/55/PV.48 Declaration, dealing with the special needs of Africa. external to Africa. Therefore, to reverse this situation We also support the proposal of the Working Group on and tackle the complex sources of conflict and achieve the development of benchmarks. durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, political will is required primarily from us Africans, The role of the Economic and Social Council in but also from our various external partners. the follow-up to and implementation of the reports of the Secretary-General and of the Working Group is African countries in the past decade have been critical. The Council, with its ability to provide system- actively promoting democratic systems of government wide guidance and coordination, must play a major and strengthening the rule of law and the protection of role in the implementation process. We look forward to human rights, as well as individual freedoms like the high-level segment of the Economic and Social freedom of speech and freedom of association. Council in July 2001, which will be devoted to the role Furthermore, they are pursuing steady economic of the United Nations system in support of the efforts reforms which enable them to create better frameworks of African countries to achieve sustainable for business through structural adjustment programmes development. We further agree that this Working Group that encompass privatization, the adoption of sound could make a very useful contribution to the investment codes and regulations, tight fiscal and preparations for the final review and appraisal of the monetary policies and appropriate macroeconomic United Nations New Agenda for the Development of policies. At the regional level, the Organization of Africa in the 1990s.