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USUN PRESS RELEASE # 137 (02)
September 25, 2002

Statement by Ambassador Richard S. Williamson, Alternate U.S. Representative for Special Political Affairs, to the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly for the Final Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, September 25, 2002

President George Bush and Secretary of State Powell have made clear that the United States is committed to supporting African efforts to improve the lives of African people through lasting economic growth and development.   We have demonstrated that commitment each day through our efforts to end conflict in Africa, through our leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS, through our support for food security and agricultural development, and through opening our markets to more of Africa’s products.

The United States supports the principles of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NePAD, as a solid basis for African-led development.  As President Bush and his G-8 partners noted in the G-8 Africa Action Plan, “The NePAD offers an historic opportunity to overcome obstacles to development in Africa.”  We hope that its bold rhetoric and commitments are reflected in concrete action for change and greater well-being.

At the heart of NePAD’s vision is the understanding that development begins at home.  We will be strong and willing partners in support of that vision.   With our G-8 partners in Kananaskis, we have already pledged to develop deeper partnerships with countries whose actions and policies reflect the commitments in NePAD, including by providing enhanced assistance to those that do so.

The challenge we face today is to consider how the United Nations and its Funds and Programs can best support Africa’s development goals and the efforts of African nations to accelerate growth.  The U.N. should learn lessons from its experiences with the U.N.’s New Agenda for the Development of Africa in order to best support NePAD.

Consistent with the Millennium Declaration and the Monterrey Consensus, the UN should concentrate on the most effective use of its resources to achieve concrete results.  As President Bush said in Monterrey, “Our new approach for development places responsibility on developing nations and on all nations.  We must build the institutions of freedom, not subsidize the failures of the past.  We must do more than just feel good about what we are doing, we must do good.”  In the regard, we are heartened by the Secretary-General’s call to streamline and focus the UN’s work in Africa to make it more effective.

Although it has become a cliché to call for a coordinated, coherent approach in which all stakeholders focus on their comparative advantages, nevertheless, this truth remains a formidable challenge to realize.   Development partners can all improve their efforts in this regard.  Such a focus will maximize the impact of aid resources, make development programs more effective, and limit the burden placed on recipient countries -- an issue highlighted by the expert report.

But coherence is not a donor imperative, it is a development imperative.  It rests heavily upon the establishment of clear, sound development priorities by the countries themselves.  Therefore, one specific area where the UN can support increased coherence is through continued emphasis on cooperating with African governments, civil society and the Bretton Woods Institutions in the Poverty Reductions Strategy Paper process.  This will not only build capacity in Africa, it will also help identify appropriate divisions of labor in the context of a country-led process.  

Mr. President,

As several speakers have stressed during this debate, the most fundamental requirement for realization of Africa’s development goals is peace.  Over the past decade too much of Africa has been essentially off limits to the development process due to civil war and other conflicts.  It is here that the UN system has and should continue to make a vital contribution.

Peace throughout the continent is crucial for development of regional markets and infrastructure, which are essential for Africa’s sustainable development.  Regional development simply can’t happen if large portions of the region are in conflict and cannot participate. 

Therefore, the real progress in Sierre Leone, from years of civil war to free and fair elections, thanks to the commitment of the Sierre Leone people and, in part, due to the continuing contribution of UNAMSIL, is extremely encouraging.  Also encouraging are recent developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including, but not limited to the Sun City Agreement, the Pretoria Agreement and the current withdrawal of Rwandan armed forces from the eastern Congo.  These are reasons for hope, and the United States remains a committed partner with our African friends to find real, sustainable peace wherever conflicts rage.  This, in turn, sets a necessary precondition for economic growth and progress. 

We welcome and will support work being done by the Economic Commission of Africa to assist African efforts on governance and peer review, both centerpieces of NePAD.  This work will represent a strong base on which to energize efforts by African countries to achieve the higher standards of political and economic governance outlined in NePAD as critical to development success.  The ECA is also making strong analytical contributions on economic development.      

We also recognize the strong catalytic role and leadership the United Nations is playing in the fight against HIV/AIDS around the globe, but in particular in Africa.  The United States will continue to make fighting the epidemic a major foreign policy priority, and we shall wage this war through bilateral, regional and multilateral partnerships.

Similarly, we welcome UN action on food security and agricultural development and productivity being carried out by the WFP, FAO, IFAD, and UNDP.  Even more needs to be done.  Agriculture is the bedrock of the African economy and the growth rates necessary to meet poverty reduction goals cannot be met without strong sustained growth in African agricultural productivity.  This growth can be achieved through investment in rural development, including extension services, research, biotechnology development, as well as a policy environment such as land tenure policies that respect the rule of law to enable farmers to reap the rewards of their work.   The US initiative announced to support African agricultural development and productivity will complement these efforts. 

More generally, the UN has a far broader presence in Africa than any single bilateral or multilateral donor.    It is therefore able to reach and help build capacity in places that may otherwise fall through the cracks of other donor mechanisms.  As noted in the experts’ report capacity building is essential and is an area that we and G-8 partners are devoting increasing attention. 

Mr. President,

The United States encourages the UN to focus its support for NePAD on achieving results at national and regional levels to achieve the international development goals of the Millennium Declaration, and we welcome the Secretary-General’s call for stronger regional cooperation.   NePAD provides a framework and an approach for development but it needs to be translated into action at the national and regional levels, not by building an unwieldy NePAD bureaucracy.     

Mr. President,

NePAD represents an African-developed vision of that great continent’s future.  We urge the United Nations to work to help Africans transform their vision into an early reality.  President Bush reminded us in Monterrey that “We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity.  We fight against poverty because faith requires it and conscience demands it.  And we fight against poverty with a growing conviction that major progress is within our reach.
 

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