Trade and Development Board urged to use UNCTAD XII to boost progress towards Millennium Development Goals; UNCTAD Secretary-General says organization´s role is to use globalization to reduce poverty
Geneva, 3 March 2008 — The international community has a "special duty" to spread recently promising global economic growth to the "poorest of the poor," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this afternoon during a special address to UNCTAD´s Trade and Development Board (TDB).
The UNCTAD XII conference, scheduled for 20-25 April in Accra, Ghana, is a good place to advance this aim by galvanizing support for a more development-friendly global economic, trading, and financial system," the Secretary-General said. "Accra must also articulate an effective strategy to leverage globalization, trade, and investment for poverty reduction and economic growth."
The year 2008 should be "the year of the bottom billion," Mr. Ban told the TDB´s 43rd executive session. Globalization is still leaving the extreme poor behind, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, he said, and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty by 2015, will not be met at current rates of progress.
"Now is the time for new ideas and fresh approaches." Mr. Ban said, warning against "delay and dither." He added, "In the coming weeks and months, I will dedicate myself to strengthening the UN´s role in development."
TDB President Petko Draganov (Bulgaria) said Mr. Ban´s address was the first by a serving UN Secretary-General to the Board and cited his "commitment and leadership in matters related to trade and development and his vision in tackling the needs of the disadvantaged by strengthening the UN´s role in development."
UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpadki, responding to the speech, said proposals recently submitted by Mr. Ban to the United Nations General Assembly to strengthen the "development pillar" of the United Nations and to "address the critical capacity gaps faced by the Secretariat, including UNCTAD," are welcomed by UNCTAD and should help the organization advance its work and expand its resources. He described UNCTAD´s role as "helping countries accelerate development and poverty reduction by maximizing gains from globalization."
Mr. Supachai said UNCTAD XII should provide "a balanced and pragmatic set of policy guidance to speed up growth and reduce poverty." He added, "We see the Accra Conference and its preparatory process as contributing to the UN´s development agenda. Economic growth and poverty reduction are two sides of the same coin."
UNCTAD´s quadrennial conferences review trends in trade and development and set the course of the organization´s work. The theme of the Accra conference is "addressing the opportunities and challenges of globalization for development." Panel discussions on least-developed countries and the situation in Africa will be held in Accra, reflecting concern that while developing countries have averaged economic growth of 5% and more per year for the past five years, the benefits do not appear to be reaching the extreme poor.
Mr. Ban said "not a single country in sub-Saharan Africa" is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on time. He called the situation "alarming" and said efforts "must involve all our partners, from international financial and development institutions to NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to the private sector."
Since last September, an MDG Africa Steering Group has been striving to develop strategies for making better progress in Africa, the Secretary-General said. He added that, armed with the outcome of UNCTAD XII and the work of the Steering Group, he will convene in September a high-level United Nations event on the MDGs.
Noting that UNCTAD focuses on using trade and broad-based development to create economic growth and expand employment in poor nations, Mr. Ban told the meeting, "We must work to raise the living standards of the desperately poor by working to raise incomes. This is why improved and equitable economic growth and the creation of decent jobs are so important."
The one-day executive session of the TDB also featured a review by UNCTAD member States of preparations for UNCTAD XII, including a presentation on the high-level segment and roundtable debates planned for the conference
