I wanted to report back on another interesting session that I attended during last week’s UN Conference.  It was titled “Recovering from Global Crisis: Towards an Action plan for Africa and the Least Developed Countries” and included Dr Dipu Moni, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh; Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, UN Deputy Secretary-General; and Mr Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser for Africa and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries (as represented left-to-right in the photo).

At the start of the session, Mr Cheick Sidi Diarra stated that Africa and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) will likely be hit hardest by the global financial crisis.  Many of these countries lack the “fiscal space” to pursue countercyclical measures to protect their industries (think “bail outs”) and to fund social safety net programs (think healthcare, education and social services).  He warned that a reduction in Official Development Assistance (ODA) would make the prospect of meeting the MDGs even more remote and urged donor governments to: 1) deliver on the commitments they made at Gleneagles in 2005 as well as the recent G20 meeting; 2) resist protectionist trade policies; 3) finalize the Doha trade agreements; and 4) pursue reforming the global financial system, as to protect against instabilities and guard against future collapses.  As he said, these steps are critical “to laying the foundation for future growth and sustainable development.”

Dr Asha-Rose Migiro echoed the call for G8 countries to meet their 2005 Gleneagles commitments, mentioning that aid to Africa is about $20 billion short of the 2010 target of $50 billion per year.  As she stated, “there is abundant evidence that aid can help transform lives and must remain a central part of the global development agenda.”  She outlined what the UN considers their highest funding priorities, which are: 1) to close the funding gap for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations; 2) to provide agricultural development, including that for subsistence farmers; 3) to improve health systems and infrastructure for the world’s poor; 4) to ensure universal access to education, in support of the Education for All’s Fast Track Initiative; 5) to improve water and sanitation systems; and 6) to meet the gap for clean energy development.  That being said, she said that we all must recognize that aid works best in conjunction with market forces.

Dr Dipu Moni picked up on this statement, arguing that trade ¬can be the engine for growth and calling for the conclusion of the Doha Development Round, which could boost the global economy by at least $150 billion and would help fulfill its development mandate.  She pointed out that even though the G20 countries pledged not to turn inward, at least 17 of them have already broken their promises and have instituted protectionist and nationalistic trade policies, such as tariffs, trade-distorting subsidies and buy national requirements that favor domestic goods.  She said that the current crisis will have a serious impact on trade and that the outlook for 2009 is pessimistic, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) estimating that global trade volumes will fall by 9% in 2009, the largest decline since World War II.

Dr Asha-Rose Migiro ended the session by calling Member States to build upon the Conference to forge a new multilateralism and stronger global collaboration so that we can enter 2010 and the decade beyond with the global financial crisis behind us, a climate change plan in hand and working towards the achievement of the MDGs.

-Margaret McDonnell