UN debate highlights health, debt, trade and investment

The Economic and Social Council at the UN on Wednesday wrapped up a three-day high-level meeting on the role of the UN in supporting African nations achieve sustainable development by adopting a ministerial declaration that, among other things, expressed concern about the health crisis in Africa and the weight of African countries’ external debt. The ministerial declaration expressed deep concern that Africa’s efforts to reverse its low human capital developments were being severely challenged by a worsening health crisis, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. It called for special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, including debt cancellation, improved market access, additional official development assistance (ODA) and increased flows of foreign direct investment, as well technology transfer. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that African countries could not delude themselves about their internal problems, decades of mismanagement and strife, or their marginalisation within the world economy, but that he nonetheless saw “a possible turning point in Africa’s history.” The continent’s leaders were, at last, taking more seriously the need to put an end to the conflicts which had caused untold human misery, making normal economic life impossible, and frightening away investment even from countries that were not directly affected, Annan suggested. “My overall impression, after attending three African summit meetings this year - in Yaounde [Cameroon] in January, Abuja [Nigeria] in April, and Lusaka [Zambia] last week - is that Africans, including African leaders, are now much less disposed to blame all their troubles on outsiders and more determined to take responsibility for their own future,” he said. If they did take such responsibility, they were surely entitled to the international community’s support, he said, adding that the role of the UN system in mobilising and delivering that support would be crucial. The United Nations must serve as Africa’s advocate, not only for improved market access but also for the reduction of the subsidies paid by rich countries to their farmers, Annan said. It must also push for increased official development aid, without which many African countries will not be able to take advantage of new market opportunities, let alone defeat the new and deadly obstacle of HIV/AIDS, he added. In addition, Annan argued, the UN must push for deeper and faster debt relief, “to end the same absurd and unjust situation where there is a net transfer of resources from poorer to richer countries”; advocate for the prompt repatriation of the illegally acquired wealth which was transferred to Western banks by some corrupt African leaders and officials; and push for a larger share of private investment for the African continent. “Now that African leaders are getting more serious about putting an end to the conflicts on their continent, about improving governance and reforming their economies, the international business community should look again at the investment opportunities which Africa offers - and, of course, those Africans who do own private capital should take the lead,” Annan added. ECOSOC invited Kofi Annan to take the measures required to ensure an effective and coordinated response of the UN system to the New African Initiative, adopted last week at the Organisation of African Unity summit meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. The intent of that Initiative was African renewal, and the main direction to that end were establishment of the necessary political and economic environment; the ending of persistent conflicts; the consolidation of democracy; and the strengthening of good governance, said Mohamed-Salah Dembri, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Dembri said the adoption of the New African Initiative had been born from the continent’s ambition to assume its responsibilities and meet the aspirations of its people, but that major international help was needed to mobilise the financial resources to carry it out. There should be an appropriate solution to the debt problem, to trade restrictions, and to barriers to increased foreign investment in Africa, he added. Several national delegations and international organisations told of the need to improve disaster management policies in the African countries since disasters - among them, drought, floods, famine - hampered development, and could wipe out the hard-won results of decades of work in a very short time. Others maintained that among the most pressing issues was the cessation of the various armed and internal conflicts afflicting Africa. There was a direct link between peace, security, good governance and development, they said, and if that inter-relationship was not realised, there could be no meaningful or sustained human-centered development in Africa. ECOSOC president Martin Belinga-Eboutou said the new environment of world globalisation had widened an already enormous gap between rich countries and developing countries, especially the poorest among the poor, as in the case of the 35 African states which were among the world’s 49 least developed countries. “It is true that the challenge seems at first glance to be a difficult one ... last year alone, Africa saw a spectacular 13 percent drop in foreign direct investment,” Belinga-Eboutou said. At the international level, investment in Africa was still particularly weak, accounting for less than 1 per cent of capital flows throughout the world, he added. To get Africa back on its feet, there would have to be an increase in the wealthy countries’ overseas development assistance, which had dropped steadily in the past 10 years and which had a direct impact on capital movement and external capital flows to Africa. ECOSOC called for strengthened efforts by developed countries to meet the ODA targets of 0.7 per cent of GNP as soon as possible, and the effective delivery of assistance by all development partners. Another key factor was the opening of local and foreign markets to African exports. In this connection, the reform of the rules of international trade now under way in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) absolutely had to take account of an issue that was vital to Africa, Belinga-Eboutou said. Michael Oyugi of Kenya said the upcoming ministerial conference of the WTO in Qatar should be used to secure real improvement in market access for African exports while maintaining the flexibilities accorded to developing countries. Genuine efforts must be exerted to eliminate distortions in agricultural trade, the most prominent being the $1 billion per day spent by developed countries on agricultural support, he added. Summarising the Council’s three days of debate on African development, Belinga-Eboutou said the international community had to assume a responsible approach to Africa, based on solidarity, rather than simply falling back and withdrawing from development initiatives. However, African leaders must also improve the climate of security and political stability in some parts of the continent; otherwise, there could be no hope of an increase in the capital transfers and financial flows needed for economic upturn in Africa, he said. More generally, Africa must no longer be merely an area whose unprocessed raw materials and mineral wealth were transferred to wealthier parts of the world, Belinga-Eboutou said. “The continent has to be regarded as a full economic partner and this depends on the diversification of its sources of production and, in particular, the establishment of communications and industrial infrastructures to foster growth and, in so doing, kick-start the economy and sustainable development,” he added.