Statement of H.E. Dr. Yousef ALSAADON,

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs For Economic & Cultural Affairs,

The Head of Delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

To the 3rd United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries

Brussels, Belgium–16 May 2001

 

(Check Against Delivery)

Mister President,

Ladies and Gentlemen heads and members of the participating delegations,

 

I have the honor to greet you in the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I invoke the All-Mighty to make successful the efforts of this conference to come out with common international positions that would contribute to the establishment of a suitable environment and achieve prosperity for the people of the world.

                                                        

On this occasion, I have the pleasure to thank the European Union for hosting the 3rd United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and the Kingdom of Belgium for welcoming this conference on its territory and providing the necessary facilities to hold it. Also, I thank His Excellency the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Koffi Anan for supervising this conference.   

                                                     

Mister President,

Within the framework of the several conference works, I have listened to a lot of speeches and discussions during the last two days. What amazed me is that most of the speeches have essentially insisted on what the least developed countries have to do and not what has to be done for them.

 

The massive scale and the number of conditions that some countries would like to impose on the least developed countries also held my attention. Some of these conditions can be described as unfair and imaginary. Sometimes, they ignore the principle of sovereignty of these countries as well as the principles and values of their people.

 

The position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very clear and unchangeable on this matter. It emphasizes the importance and the necessity of offering an unconditional assistance to the least developed countries, which, if they are financially poor, are rich through their traditions, principles and civilization. 

 

Mister President,                                                                                           

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proud to have been and still be an active partner in the different fields of activities of the United Nations and despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is a developing country, it did not spare any effort or hesitate to offer its aid and contribute to the development actions performed in the developing and least developed countries.

The official assistance given by my country to the developing and least developed countries was about 76 billion dollars during the period of 1973-2000, which constituted an average of almost 4% of the annual rate of its GNP, this average was the highest in the world. This aid includes some grants and some soft loans from which benefited up to 73 countries via bilateral or multilateral channels. Least developed countries received this support and among the 49 countries classified by the United Nations as least developed countries, 44 countries benefited from the total assistance given by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the offered loans. Besides, Saudi Arabia cancelled debts for 6 billion dollars for 11 developing countries among which a number of least developed countries.

 

Mister President,                                   

Our current world witnesses a new phenomenon called “globalization”, aiming at abolishing barriers and establishing a complete liberalization of movement of goods and services. In this context, I would like to quote HRH Prince Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister, in his speech during the UN Summit held on September 2000, when he said: “ Despite the fact that this phenomenon opens new opportunities to enrich human and civilian interaction and holds promising opportunities to strengthen relations between human beings, there is in parallel of this bright side a dark one that should not be ignored and that includes threats and prejudices in particular for small and poor societies in our international community. There are numerous societies that fear the annihilation and the loss of their original identity because of the electronic invasion, and there are other societies that would face the threat of economic decline or complete bankruptcy since their weak economies are subject to the competition of stronger and more established economies.

Mister President,                                                                                            

The development process in the developing as well as in the least developed countries was bound to the quick changes witnessed by our world during the past years and their negative impact on their economic activities that engendered a pronounced decline in the economic development average and the increase of poverty level. The share of these countries in the worldwide trade was reduced due to the pronounced changes in the prices of their major exports of raw materials, and due to the reduction of the volume of foreign investment and the increase of the exterior debts.

Those countries suffered excessively from the protective policies that were imposed on their exportations by the developed countries. The World Bank estimated the annual financial costs paid by developing countries and least developed countries at 100 billion dollars and this is due to the protective policies and the anti-dumping policy applied on their products. On the other hand, the average volume of the agricultural assistance given within the industrialized countries reached annually 266 billion dollars during the period from 1997 to 1999, that is five times the total volume of the official assistance to developing and least developed countries.

 

Mister President,                                                                                           

It is necessary that developed and industrialized donator countries respect their commitments towards the support of development actions in developing and least developed countries and meet the required average of the official aid, that is  .07% of the GNP and quickly relieve the debt burden of the least developed countries to enable them to face the requirements of their sustainable development.

                                              

Besides, it is necessary to promote the integration of all countries and in particular the least developed countries in the international economy on an equitable basis offering equal opportunities to benefit from the positive features of trade liberalization; industrialized countries having    to consider the interests of the least developed countries especially regarding the full application of the commitments and agreements concluded within the framework of the World Trade Organization and to enable products of developing and least developed countries to have more  access to their markets

 

Mister President,                                                                                           

We are confident that this distinguished attendance will contribute in the elaboration of practical and realistic recommendations that will serve the development issues in the least developed countries and the promotion of constructive co-operation between the members of the international community on the basis of equity and balancing in exchanging benefits and serving common interests within the real notion of interdependence so that security, stability and prosperity would reign in all over our world.

 

May the peace of God be up on you.                                                          

 

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