“3rd United Nations
Conference on the Least Developed Countries”
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AGAINST DELIVERY
Ladies and gentlemen,
This conference comes
at a crucial time for world development. Globalisation and new technologies
have become driving forces for global change.
As a result, life
has improved: but the gap between poor and rich nations is widening dramatically.
In particular, the
least developed countries – the LDCs – have so far been unable to benefit from
these changes. Hunger, environmental
degradation, the spread of disease and large-scale migration remain and are becoming
worse.
These problems are complex and interrelated.
But at their root lies the cancer of poverty.
A cancer that urgently
needs to be removed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
it is in our power to remove that cancer – and it is our duty and responsibility
to do so.
The European Community is keenly aware of that responsibility and has in
the past borne its share of that responsibility with pride.
With the Lomé Convention,
the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and now the Cotonou Agreement, we have pioneered a truly innovative
approach to development co-operation. One
that successfully combines aid and trade instruments.
The EC today is one
of the world’s largest donors of development aid.
One of the key purposes
for which that aid is used is to improve health in developing countries.
The Commission has
drawn up an ambitious five-year Programme of Action to fight communicable diseases
that severely affect LDCs.
Diseases such as
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Just today, the EU
Member States have given the Programme their full endorsement.
I congratulate the
Council on this timely decision, and I call on all our partners to join the
EU in implementing the plan.
New drugs and vaccines
are essential weapons in the fight against disease. So we need to intensify our research efforts.
But medicines must
also be affordable. The European Commission has been calling for an effective
tiered pricing mechanism for key pharmaceuticals.
I am very glad to
see that the EU Member States have, today, agreed on this, and I urge all governments,
industry and civil society to work together to make tiered pricing a reality.
To further help the
fight against disease, the Commission has decided to completely untie
EC drug procurement from all other forms of development aid.
But aid is not the
only weapon in our war on poverty: debt relief and a fair trade policy are essential
too.
The Commission is
already by far the largest contributor to debt relief managed through the HIPC
initiative. Just last year, we announced
that we were cancelling 1 billion euros of LDC debt.
Now we are going
beyond that. To mark the occasion of
this conference, the EU has decided today to forego payments on all outstanding
LDC obligations arising from special loans provided under earlier Lomé Conventions.
Where trade is concerned,
the European Community has recently taken the groundbreaking decision to grant
duty-free and quota-free access to all LDC products except arms.
This means the poorest
countries will soon enjoy unprecedented access to their largest export market.
But if LDCs are to
take
full advantage of world trading opportunities, they need to be fully integrated into the
world economy.
So LDCs must have
their place at the WTO negotiating table and a genuine say in setting world
trade rules.
Globalisation must
be made to work for the good of all. This
too is a priority for the EU as it seeks to launch a new trade round this year.
The European Community
is determined to go on leading the fight against poverty in the LDCs, giving
our action maximum impact by focusing it on a limited number of sectors.
Sectors such as education,
health, gender equality, food security and – last but not least – good governance.
Our efforts in these key areas
will have even greater impact if the EU Member States and other donors also
concentrate on them.
Let me say alittle
more about good governance.
We will win the fight
against poverty only if the LDCs exercise good governance in all its aspects
– democracy, citizen participation, respect for human rights and the the rule
of law.
Corruption is an
insult to the poor. The fight against
corruption must be at the very heart of our development policies.
So the European Commission will
practice development co-operation in accordance with the principle of mutual
respect. In other words, it will give priority support to partners that show
tangible commitment to the necessary internal reforms.
The European Commission will
review its partners’ performance on a regular basis.
There will be no blank cheques.
But there will be constant dialogue, taking account of the reality of the situation
so as to target the aid effectively.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Action by the
European Community can only achieve so much.
If poverty is to be truly eradicated, the whole of the international
Community, including the LDC governments and civil society, must commit
themselves to joint action.
If this conference
leads to that outcome, the EU will consider it to have been well worth while.
This conference has
the potential to be a truly landmark event. Why?
Because it brings
together not only UN agencies, donor states and LDCs, but also representatives
of civil society - including NGOs and the private sector.
This effort to involve
civil society is unprecedented and extremely important. Action on the ground in the LDCs can only be
truly effective if the actors concerned – especially civil society – are fully
involved in designing the action programme.
A Global Programme
of Action for the next ten years is needed, and this conference must produce
one.
The European Community
will do all it can to bring this about.
But the EU will call
the conference a success only if the programme agreed here is implemented and
genuinely improves the lives of poor people.
That – at the end
of the day – is what matters.
Behind all the
trends and statistics we shall be discussing here are the stark realities of
people’s daily lives.
People’s desperate
needs.
People’s hard
struggles.
People’s hopes.
Those people are
looking to us. We cannot let them down.
We cannot, we must
not, dash their hopes.
History must not
say that we walked away from this conference and failed to deliver the goods.
The EU, for its
part, is determined to deliver.
Thank you.