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Burundi: Assembly President Calls for 'True Spirit of Partnership' Among All Nations To Secure Peace, Stability, Sustainable Development in Africa

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Source: UN General Assembly
Country: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Zambia, United Republic of Tanzania, Cameroon, Niger, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Guinea

GA/11011

Sixty-fifth General Assembly

Plenary

30th & 31st Meetings (AM & PM)

During Annual Consideration of Africa's Development Needs, Speakers Urge Rich Countries to Deliver on Promises, Urge 'Equality of Opportunities' for Africa

In the wake of the General Assembly's renewed commitment to galvanizing political momentum towards implementation of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, it was crucial for international partners to cooperate on redressing the ills of the world's most strife-ridden continent, said delegates gathered today for their annual joint debate on development in Africa.

Grappling with armed conflicts, trade barriers and life threatening diseases whose impacts were made worse by climate change and lingering food and financial crises, Africa needed developed nations to deliver on long-promised aid commitments and for African Governments to guide the continent's recovery with "flawless" and "unyielding" leadership, speakers told the Assembly.

General Assembly President Joseph Deiss of Switzerland said the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - the innovative, home-grown plan adopted in 2001 to drive the political and socio-economic transformation of the continent - had helped increase managerial efficiency. Yet, greater cooperation was needed to meet its recommendations to devote more resources to agriculture, women's empowerment and developing a dynamic private sector to meet benchmarks set for Africa.

"I believe that it is important to stress that these recommendations call for a true spirit of partnership since they are addressed both to development partners and to African countries," he said, stressing greater unity of effort would be needed as activities of the United Nations would focus increasingly on social justice.

Speaking on behalf of the African Group, the representative of Malawi said 2010 "has been a remarkable year for the African Union and its NEPAD programme." The Partnership would plan how to mobilize resources for priority programmes and projects in Africa, while its role in research would make it possible to achieve food security and agricultural development in the next five years, he said.

Yet Africa's scenario was worsened by the global economic crisis, increasing food prices and the impacts of climate change, he said, noting that no African countries were on track to meet their Millennium Goals by 2015. Therefore, he called for the international community to focus on Africa - the only region where poverty was on the rise.

Belgium's representative, speaking on behalf of the European Union, the world's largest donor, hailed "impressive" gains in peace, political governance and economic growth, but agreed Africa was heavily affected by food insecurity and climate change. The upcoming Africa-European Union summit in Libya, on 29-30 November, would add fresh impetus for future cooperation. "Our aim is to support Africa's own political and economic integration agenda," he said, through regional trade and political partnership.

Among the many speakers calling for an end to punitive trade preferences and a speedy conclusion to the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization trade talks, the representative of Ghana said that full support for a universal, rules-based and non-discriminatory trading system would help Africa integrate into the global economy. He urged "aid for trade" measures to increase African countries' competitiveness. " Africa has the desire to move away from aid dependency in the future", he said, which could be done by trading its way out of poverty.

Many spoke of urgent need to establish mechanisms to monitor the commitments made regarding the development of Africa, noting that the most glaring gap continued to be the $16 billion shortfall on pledges towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, made by the leaders of the Group of 8 (G-8) during their 2005 Gleneagles summit. Other's noted that momentum generated by the Assembly's summit-level review of the status of the implementation of the Goals, held form 20 to 22 September, to jump-start initiatives aimed at ensuring sustainable development in Africa.

China's representative echoed those sentiments, calling on all developed nations to raise their assistance commitments to 0.7 per cent of their gross national income, open their markets to their African counterparts and reduce or waive debts. In that regard, he said there needed to be greater respect for sentiments of African countries by removing conditions on aid, increasing the transparency of assistance and redressing the power imbalance between donors and recipients.

To address African problems, the "profit-at-all-cost" philosophy that supported the international system must be eliminated, Cuba's representative said. Africa needed firm international support. The United Nations must provide an integrated approach to challenges of peace, security and development. "We do not demand paternalism for Africa but equality of opportunities," he said. That was what was required for Africa and other developing nations as they faced today's challenges.

When the debate turned to progress in implementing the 2001-2010 Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, the speakers stressed the need to step up efforts to eradicate that preventable disease, which killed nearly 1 million people, mainly in Africa, every year. Significant progress had been made combating malaria through increased mosquito net use, but large financial gaps remained, despite commitments to malaria control having increased five-fold over the 2003-2009 period. The reduction of malaria cases and deaths through bed nets and treatment programs demonstrated that "we know what is needed to combat this disease," said a Senator from Australia, who urged that efforts to that end continued.

The representative to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it had committed more than $5 billion in 82 countries, investing in universal coverage of insecticide treated mosquito nets. Available funds would purchase an estimated 250 million bed nets, a significant step forward to addressing the most vulnerable populations.

He went on to say that with better financing, an increasing number of countries were reporting reductions of more than 50 per cent in malaria deaths. That worldwide progress was also due to better leadership in malaria affected countries and more support from the World Health Organization. Donors had committed $11.7 billion to the Fund for 2011-2013, she said, and pressure must be maintained by ensuring the availability of drugs and supporting effective malaria interventions.

In other business today, the Assembly, acting on the recommendation of its General Committee, decided to include on its agenda an item entitled "Follow-up to the High-level Meeting held on 24 September 2010 - Revitalizing the Work of the Conference on Disarmament and Taking Forward Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations". It decided to allocate that item to the plenary and the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) on the understanding that in the plenary, the Assembly would hold debate on that item and the First Committee would consider any proposals on it.

Also addressing the Assembly today were representatives of Yemen (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China), Guyana (on behalf of Caribbean Community, CARICOM), Indonesia (on behalf of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN), Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Algeria, Israel, India, Morocco, Senegal, Russian Federation, United States, Tunisia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Canada, Japan, Mozambique, Sudan, Zambia, Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Lebanon, and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Speaking as Observers were representatives of Holy See and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The General Assembly will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Monday, 18 October, to consider Sport for Peace and Development.


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