Remarks By
His Excellency President Olusegun
Obasanjo
President Of The Federal Republic Of
Nigeria
At The 3rdUN Conference On Least Developed Countries
"The Challenge Of Eradicating Poverty
For Sustainable Development: International Community Response"
Brussels 14 May, 2001
Let me begin by congratulating you on your election as the
President of this historic conference. I have no doubt that with your wealth of
experience, this Brussels meeting will be a milestone in consolidating
North-South relations and dialogue in pursuit of a fairer global economic
order. But more importantly, Mr. President, we all look forward to you and
other members of the Bureau to help all of us make Brussels a turning point, in
the long search by the international community for a genuine transformation in
the lives of millions of people wallowing in poverty in the developing world.
I must thank the European Union for
hosting this Conference. With the historic link between Europe and
the various countries that constitute
the Least Developed Countries [LDC's], and indeed the rest of the World, the central
role and responsibility of Europe in global affairs has long been established.
It is a role which dates back to colonial times and has endured up till today.
And there is no reason why this role should not continue into the foreseeable
future.
Few would doubt the general impression
that our gathering in Brussels for a third LDCs Conference is an
admission of failure, particularly of
the past Programme of Action for the decade of the nineties. Or, how else do we
regard the proliferation of extreme poverty as measured by the near hundred per
cent increase in the number of countries classified as LDC's - from twenty-five
in the 1980's to forty-nine at the turn of the century?
A lot has so far been said - I am sure more will still be said -
to provide us here with deep understanding of poverty. Without any intention to
add to the numerous views on the subject, permit me to say very quickly what
poverty means for us in the developing world:
These dimensions of poverty are daily experiences for us in the
developing world. Naturally we are worried, but more importantly, we feel the
pains and frustrations of helplessness to effect a change after trying all our
very best to lift our countries and peoples out of the vicious grips of penury
and poverty.
Of course, crises of governance in many developing countries, as
well as the lack of accountability and transparency in the role of government, and
general political instability, have contributed to the failure of measures
hitherto aimed at combating poverty. Good governance is critical for the
process of development, structural change and eradication of poverty. Good
governance should be made an integral part of antipoverty measures, rather than
a condition for international support for such measures.
We are concerned that national efforts to eradicate poverty may be
futile if the external environment remains unsupportive of our endeavours. In the
area of trade liberalization, for example, the daunting task of harmonizing our
domestic economy with commitments assumed under the various Uruguay Round of
Agreements, may in fact backfire on our prospects in the multilateral
trading system. The agreements are asymmetric, not only with respect to the
rights and obligations inherent in membership of the World Trade Organization
(WTO), but also as regards the costs of implementation. Thus far, our
development partners have not yet fulfilled their commitments in the Marrakech
Declaration, as regards those provisions intended to give developing world
access to markets in the industrialised world.
The non-implementation of the special and differential measures,
and the increasing protectionist measures by major trading powers against some
of our exports under the seemingly innocuous guise of health, labour and other
standards, are detrimental to our developmental aspirations. Implementation of
the development dimensions in the various agreements, and the enhancement of
market access in the areas of agricultural trade, textiles and clothing, must
precede, not follow, a new round of rule-based multilateral trade negotiation.
The debt problem is another cardinal concern. We leaders call on
our citizens to make sacrifices as we move to liberalise our economies. But
this option would not be successful without matching sacrifice on the part
of the industrialised world, especially as regard debt reduction or cancellation.
This is particularly urgent and pressing in societies in transition, such
as Nigeria, where the burden of debt servicing will choke the capacity of
the state to make needed investment in social and physical infrastructure,
as well as human capital. Everything taken together, the time appears auspicious
for the application of a human face to the debt question.
External capital flows for development, are today widely accepted
and acknowledged as critical to sustained economic growth, which in turn, are
necessary for the fight against poverty. In this context, the decline in the
level of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.24 per cent of donor
countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as against the internationally agreed
target of 0.7 per cent, is a matter of serious concern - if not profound disappointment
- to us.
The dramatic drop in ODA flows might have been bearable if it had
been compensated by increase in Foreign Direct Investment [FDI] flows.
Unfortunately FDI flow has been uneven and effectively bypassed LDCs. And more
recently, we have witnessed a reversal FDI flows.
Against this background, ODA must be resuscitated as an important
source of capital for investment in social infrastructure, while untying of
development aid. There must be urgent political commitment to meet the internationally
agreed target regarding flow of ODA to LDCs.
As regards Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the investment climate
in our countries is surely not the sole reason for the decline in FDI. Our
productive base has sufficiently improved and our economies have commenced on
the path of sustainable growth. We are eager to engage the private sector.
We have heard much about the potentials of Information and
Communication Technology [ICT] in economic growth and alleviation of
poverty. But how can we take advantages of the ICT revolution and share in the
benefits of globalisation if the constraints of infrastructure, education,
capacity building, investment and connectivity, faced by many developing
countries, are not tackled?
Herein lies the role of effective and meaningful
collaborative efforts which should involve governments, multilateral
development institutions, the private sector, civil society and other
stakeholders. All must work together to bridge the much talked about digital
divide for the realisation of the promise and potentials for development
inherent in the application and use of ICT. We had high hopes after the 2000
Okinawa G8 Summit and the ECOSOC Session, but hardly any progress has since
been detected.
Mr. President,
Africa must be given a special attention. Many developmental problems which
have become a thing of the past, remain endemic in Africa: The continent is
ravaged by conflict and poverty. Africa is home to a growing share of the
world's absolute poor. Infrastructure is at dismal level, little progress has
been made in the educational sector, while child mortality is high, and
generally life expectancy is low compared to other regions of the world.
Practically,
Africa's place in the global economy has been totally eroded with the decline
in the share of export and trade, capital flight and little presence of the
digital revolution sweeping across the world. Perhaps most worrisome is the
ravaging impact of HIV/AIDS and other endemic diseases like Malaria and
Tuberculousis which are threatening to wipe out the little that is left of the
gains of the past. It is therefore, not surprising that, out of a total of 49
LDCs today, 34 are in Africa, and all are in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region
whose total income is said to be just a little over that of Belgium. The
Continent must be assisted to bring to reality the much talked about African
renaissance.
Placing
the HIV/AIDS issue on the global agenda is top priority and must receive the
support of all and sundry. The Abuja Declaration and Programme of Action on
HIV/AIDS and other dreaded diseases, provide a clear road map in this
direction. We expect this conference to explore practical ways of supporting
the implementation of the programme of action accordingly, and especially by
contributing generously to the newly established Global Trust Fund for
HIVIAIDS.
Mr.
President, in the past we have too often paid lip service to international
cooperation. Today we must realise that the response of the international community
has paled into insignificance. This perhaps explains why in the last three
decades of global action, presumably in support of the LDCs, only one country
has graduated from its ranks, while many more have crossed the thin line from
erstwhile developing, to least developed countries.
This
development is instructive. It calls for serious reflection, and more
importantly, urgent concrete action on the part of all of us gathered here
today.
Let me
conclude by expressing a genuine fear and concern that the opportunity
presented by this conference to tackle the developmental problems of the LDCs
must not be allowed to slip by. We have heard of difficulties at the
preparatory process. Now that the political leaders are gathered here, it is
our responsibility to make those commitments with follow-up actions that will
produce the desired changes. Only then shall we be sure that there will be no
increase in the ranks of LDCs by the time of the mid-term review of the Brussels
Programme of Action in the year 2006.
Today,
the international community has all it takes to re-position LDCs and indeed all
developing countries in their determination to eradicate poverty. Let us,
therefore, make Brussels a new beginning for genuine international cooperation.
And let us say farewell to absolute poverty in the world.
I thank
you. And may God bless you all.