A/50/PV.78 General Assembly

Members will recall that at the 68th plenary meeting, on 21 November 1995, I informed the Assembly that after consultations with the Chairmen of the regional groups, I had appointed Austria, Jamaica, Jordan, Morocco and the United States of America as members of the Committee on Conferences for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 1996. However, one seat from among the African States and one seat from among the Asian States still remained vacant. Following further consultations with the Chairmen of the Groups of African and Asian States, I have appointed Kenya and Nepal as members of the Committee on Conferences for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 1996. May I take it that the Assembly takes note of these appointments? The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (f) of agenda item 17. Reports of the Fifth Committee

The General Assembly will now consider the reports of the Fifth Committee on agenda items 128 and 133. If there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the Fifth Committee that are before it today.

Statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote. The positions of delegations regarding the recommendations of the Fifth Committee have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. May I remind members that, under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401, the General Assembly agreed that: “When the same draft resolution is considered in a Main Committee and in plenary meeting, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain its vote only once, i.e., either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary meeting is different from its vote in the Committee”. Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the reports of the Fifth Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we shall take decisions in the same manner as in the Fifth Committee.

The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft decision recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 6 of its report (A/50/796). The draft decision was adopted by the Fifth Committee without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

We have thus concluded this stage of our consideration of agenda item 128.

The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft decision recommended by the Fifth Committee in paragraph 6 of part II of its report. The draft decision was adopted by the Fifth Committee without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

We have thus concluded this stage of our consideration of agenda item 133.

I call on the representative of Niger.

Mr. President, I thank you for calling on me to speak on this agenda item, which is of major importance to my delegation. But I should like first of all to extend my delegation’s congratulations to the Secretary-General and to his team, particularly the Special Coordinator for Africa and Least Developed Countries, on the documentation they have provided and the efforts they have constantly exerted within the framework of the process of implementing the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. Some may wonder why this item has once again been included in the agenda of this Assembly session when the Economic and Social Council devoted its high- level segment on 4 and 5 July 1995, during its substantive session in Geneva, to the development of Africa, including the implementation of the New Agenda. There are a number of reasons for this, the most important of which, in our opinion, is to enable us to briefly review the progress achieved in the implementation of this New Agenda for the Development of Africa. The first reason, in the Niger delegation’s view, stems from resolution 48/214 adopted in December 1993. In that resolution, the Secretary-General was asked to undertake a study on financial intermediation systems and practices in African countries, and to submit to the General Assembly at its fiftieth session a report on that study. The study was necessary because of the drop in resource flows, in particular in official development In the study submitted to us in document A/50/490, the Secretary-General has undertaken an in-depth analysis of the state of financial systems and practices in African countries. The study shows that the African financial systems are rudimentary, with few participants and transactions. But while there has not been very much development of the modern financial system, the traditional informal system is very important because it serves as an intermediary for a large volume of transactions. The advantage of this informal system is that it is particularly effective in mobilizing savings and in meeting the needs of micro-enterprises. In the Secretary-General’s report, it is recommended that this informal sector be preserved and encouraged while at the same time measures are taken to mitigate its shortcomings by developing and strengthening the modern system. Niger shares this idea and hopes that the General Assembly will adopt this recommendation. The second reason is to be found in resolution 49/142. It is true that the resolution was adopted rather hastily last year, but it was the result of long and difficult negotiations in which my country participated — negotiations that were led by Minister Amara Essy in his capacity as President of the General Assembly. We thank Minister Amara Essy for all the efforts he exerted in those negotiations. The difficulty of the negotiations obliged us to abandon the idea of a diversification fund and to replace it with a special contribution within the African Development Bank to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to present projects that are viable and meet the required criteria for being financed. While recognizing that the African Development Bank is experiencing difficult times and that the seventh replenishment has not yet been concluded, we must note that no initiative has been taken by the donor countries to make that special contribution. Niger feels that in the context of following up the New Agenda for the Development of Africa, the States participating in the Development Fund of the African Development Bank that are also Members of this Assembly must ensure that resources are set aside for this important activity, which is one of the priorities of the New Agenda and which might enable Africa to be less dependent on The Secretary-General has already established the necessary contacts in the African Development Bank. The resolution exists. So the donor countries should act before next year, because, as we all know, in keeping with resolution 46/151, 1996 will be the year for the mid-term review of the New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. The third reason for the General Assembly’s consideration of this agenda item can be found in the results of this year’s high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council devoted to African development, including the implementation of the New Agenda for the 1990s. That in-depth consideration, with the participation of high-level representatives of African States and heads of international financial institutions, had been expected to lead to concrete proposals and decisions on the vital sectors of the continent requiring urgent assistance. We note, however, that the discussions did not lead to anything but general remarks. Niger had hoped that the high-level segment would take courageous decisions to set Africa on the road to sustainable development. Some have said that Africa is inseparable from the rest of the world and that the world needs Africa just as much as Africa needs it. It is undeniable that Africa needs the rest of the world, but my delegation is increasingly led to ask whether the world really needs Africa. The fourth reason for our consideration of agenda item 24 is the submission by the Secretary-General of the summary of the meetings of the Panel of High-level Personalities on African Development. My delegation is pleased to note that the high-level Panel is attempting, on the initiative of the Secretary-General, to establish a general consensus on the major African problems. This is an important effort, and one we hope will continue, because there are so many new initiatives on the various forms of development. The high-level Panel — despite, or because of, its diversity — has managed to achieve such a consensus, which can only benefit Africa and which, above all, will help us focus on the most important work to be done to get Africa out its current impasse. I am therefore pleased to congratulate the high-level Panel and thank it for its outstanding work. The last reason is that this fiftieth session is an opportunity to begin to think about and organize for the mid-term review of the implementation of the New Niger welcomes the fact that a line of credit has been established in the United Nations budget to finance the activities envisaged to coordinate the system-wide implementation of the Programme of Action for African Recovery and Development and to help the General Assembly in its 1996 mid-term review and assessment process. Niger appreciates the efforts made in this respect, but it is concerned that the resources allocated to that line of credit are insufficient. My delegation welcomes the fact that paragraph 20 of resolution 46/151 places special emphasis on South-South cooperation. This is an important aspect that we must not overlook. We must bear in mind that the New Agenda is not a North-South issue; it is a programme that concerns all States. Niger also welcomes the efforts already made by certain countries in assisting Africa and encourages the southern countries that have been hesitant to do so to give Africa the benefit of their development know-how and their financial support. Niger also encourages the developed countries to lend their support to Africa in the framework of the implementation of North-South cooperation. I should like to conclude by addressing these last few remarks to the international community. First, we must encourage and strengthen savings mechanisms in Africa. Secondly, we must ensure that small businessmen and small-scale producers become involved in the diversification of the African economy. Finally, Niger appeals to all interested development partners of Africa to help our continent finally assume its full role on the international stage.

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The New Agenda for Africa reflects the commitment of the African countries and of the international community to develop cooperation leading to the promotion of sustainable development, through the implementation of reforms aimed at the establishment of participatory political systems and market economies. The impact of the Agenda can be clearly seen in the priority given to Africa in the programmes of action of and the follow-up meetings to the major United Nations conferences, as well as in other new international instruments. This priority should be reflected in particular in the future Agenda for Development. In the same spirit, the recommendations of the Agenda for Development should be taken into account in the implementation of the New Agenda for Africa. The mid-term review of the New Agenda for Africa is scheduled to take place next year. It will provide an opportunity to assess the Agenda’s results and, if necessary, adjust the approach of the United Nations system to Africa. While some developing African countries and regions have undoubtedly benefited from the economic take-off of the last decade and applied positive structural adjustment policies, the results of Africa’s socio-economic development during this last period — in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, where a large number of the least developed countries are concentrated — have been universally acknowledged as disappointing. Of course, some positive developments have taken place, among which we wish to highlight the new situation that has arisen in South Africa since the end of apartheid, the processes of reconciliation in Angola and of democratization in Mozambique, the initial establishment of regional integration and cooperation mechanisms, the success of some emergency operations — such as the actions to combat famine after the prolonged drought in Southern Africa — and, finally, the reduction of budget deficits in terms of percentages of gross national product. Other noteworthy developments Nevertheless, African countries must make efforts to take advantage of these opportunities. Africa continues to experience certain ongoing problems, especially civil and political conflicts, which often limit its development possibilities. These conflicts have given rise to emergency situations requiring more and more emergency assistance, along with the attendant human tragedies and flows of refugees and marginalized persons. International aid is increasingly marked for these purposes. In this respect, the United Nations has made a fundamental contribution through its peace-keeping activities. The member States of the European Union have fully supported the efforts of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to develop conflict- prevention and conflict-management measures. Although social indicators have improved somewhat, problems in Africa persist, owing, inter alia, to the unsustainable growth of its population. All this is bringing about accelerated urbanization and further jeopardizing Africa’s food security. As these problems worsen, gender inequalities are exacerbated. The effective implementation of the recommendations adopted at the Cairo, Copenhagen and Beijing conferences remains crucial. In the economic field, in spite of the encouraging economic policies carried out by several African countries, most indicators are still worrisome. We welcome the progress made in applying appropriate structural-adjustment policies. Africa’s share of world trade is less than 1 per cent. Its growth rate remains modest, and agricultural production does not meet the food requirements of a growing population. There is no need to reiterate that the resolution of Africa’s multiple crises and the maintenance of peace are primarily the responsibility of the Africans themselves. The European Union will continue to support their efforts. A sine qua non for the sustainable development of African countries is greater political stability, manifested in sound State structures, the establishment of democratic systems, transparency and accountability in public affairs and the promotion of and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Any development policy should focus on sustainable development with an emphasis on the The effective implementation of the recommendations adopted in the Copenhagen Programme of Action, such as the elaboration of the 20/20 initiative by developed and developing countries, should contribute to a gradual reduction of poverty. It is also necessary to establish priorities that take into account the specific capacities and needs of each country and to implement strategies to respond to such priorities. These priorities should be focused on economic growth, as well as on fundamental social sectors, such as health, universal education, nutrition and the creation of employment opportunities. Mutual commitments should be made between interested donor countries and African countries to devote, respectively, about 20 per cent of official development assistance and 20 per cent of national budgets to basic social programmes. Africa is undoubtedly the continent with the most underutilized human potential. The strengthening of human and institutional capacities is therefore essential. Africa in particular would benefit from the implementation of the major international Conventions on climate change, biological diversity and desertification. Only an integrated approach will make it possible to strengthen national capacities, gradually reduce poverty and integrate Africa into an international economy characterized by globalization and interdependence. Since the 1980s more than 30 African countries have been implementing structural-adjustment programmes and reforms. We are convinced that such measures will continue to benefit Africa in the long term. We believe that the reforms should be continued and expanded and that they should be accompanied by appropriate social policies. African economies are often dependent on commodity exports. Efforts to diversify those economies are necessary, and African countries should take steps towards that goal. International support for such efforts by the poorest countries should be carried out within the framework of existing institutions, such as the United Nations Common Fund for Commodities and the African Development Fund of the African Development Bank. Efforts should also be made to achieve greater integration of African economies at the regional and international levels, in order to open market systems, create a favourable environment for the private sector and develop efficient cooperation between the public and private sectors. In this context, the first steps towards regional integration were taken with the establishment of the African Economic Community in 1991 and the strengthening and revitalization of subregional structures. This process should be enhanced and actively supported by the international community. The reinforcement of South-South cooperation, which is important for all developing regions, is particularly so for Africa. International solidarity is also essential for Africa’s development, as is international support for the mobilization of national resources by the African countries. In fact, both in absolute and per capita terms, the portion of international aid granted to Africa during the 1980s and 1990s has remained the largest in the developing world. The activities of multilateral aid organizations are of particular importance for Africa’s development. United Nations funds and programmes should be encouraged to pay special attention to the low-income and least developed countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 1993 the total official development assistance provided by the European Union to sub-Saharan Africa, including both bilateral official development assistance and multilateral aid administered by the Commission, exceeded $10 billion. Since 1975 the main framework for cooperation between the European Union and the African countries has The Lomé Convention also guarantees the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries free access to the European Union in respect of all industrial and many agricultural products. None the less, the percentage of these countries’ share of trade with the European Union has decreased by more than half, to less than 4 per cent, since the first Lomé Convention was negotiated. This underlines the fact that the key to improving the access of African products to the world markets is to improve the competitiveness of their economies. This will require, above all, action by the African countries themselves. At the same time, a concerted effort should be made by all actors in the international community to support Africa in its efforts to improve the competitiveness of its trading sector so that it can fully benefit from the new trading opportunities opened up by the conclusion of the Uruguay Round agreements. The European Union is ready to contribute to this common effort, in particular by giving priority within the Lomé framework to the provision of technical assistance for trade development. In this respect, the European Union reaffirms its commitment to reach as soon as possible the official- development-assistance target of 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product, to strive to reach 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent of gross domestic product for the least developed countries, the majority of which are in Africa, and, in the case of those donors which have already reached the figure of 0.15 per cent, to undertake to reach 0.20 per cent of the gross domestic product for the least developed countries by the year 2000. Furthermore, we believe that such aid should be focused primarily on the poorest countries and on the poorest sectors of society. These priorities should also be taken into account in mobilizing resources to carry out these commitments and in meeting the quantitative and qualitative objectives agreed upon during the recent cycle of international conferences. We believe that the external-debt problem continues to be a major concern for many African countries. We welcome cancellations of debt by bilateral creditors and the recent measures adopted by the Paris Club, within the framework of the Naples agreement, for the poorest and most heavily indebted countries. The high ratio of multilateral debt to total indebtedness cannot be ignored, especially in the case of the most heavily indebted countries. It must be stressed that some of the lowest- Several member States of the European Union have, on a bilateral basis, cancelled a substantial part of the debt owed, which nevertheless continues to be a heavy burden for most African countries. We stress the importance of enhanced coordination between donor countries and several international agencies to provide a more coordinated follow-up to the programmes resulting from recent international conferences. Today’s debate should allow us to continue to raise the awareness of all governments and the international community of the need for an effective response to the critical situation in Africa.

I should like to propose that the list of speakers in the debate on this item be closed this morning at 12 noon. I hear no objection. It was so decided. I therefore request those representatives wishing to participate in the debate to add their names as soon as possible.

Four years ago, the General Assembly adopted resolution 46/151, which contained the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. In that resolution, the Assembly requested the international community to make a substantial contribution to the recovery and economic development of the African continent. The major thematic conferences organized under the auspices of the United Nations have also, in the meantime, made the international community more aware that the end of ideological confrontation had brought the world neither the peace nor the development it had the right to hope for. With regard to Africa in particular, my delegation welcomes the fact that the international community is agreed in recognizing, or has at least become aware, that it Indeed, be it at the Summit in Halifax or during the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council at its most recent substantive session, the industrialized countries have committed themselves to cooperate to encourage competent multilateral institutions to reduce the extreme poverty that has engulfed the continent. This relates, above all, to attacking on a priority basis the structural factors hindering its development, namely: inadequate infrastructure; weak institutions; poor use of human resources; high vulnerability to natural and climatic disasters; unfavourable fluctuations in the terms of trade; the enormous debt burden; unchecked population growth; and environmental degradation. My delegation takes this opportunity, as we speak on this agenda item, to thank the United Nations and, through the Organization, its Secretary-General and the specialized agencies and programmes as a whole for all the measures they have constantly undertaken to overcome these difficulties and promote the harmonious development of Africa. The most significant of those measures comes within the framework of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1991 and revised in 1994. It provides for tangible short- and medium-term projects to promote African development in areas such as food safety, the strengthening of institutions, the development of the private sector, desertification problems and social development. For my delegation, if United Nations action is to lead to sustainable development with multiplier effects, it should help Africa to strengthen its regional structures and diversify its economy by allowing African products access to foreign markets. For that reason, Togo welcomed the adoption by consensus of General Assembly resolution 49/142 entitled “United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s”. It affirmed the need for further efforts to promote the diversification of African economies. It also urged the international community to increase the financial resource flows to Africa, as these are crucial to regenerate economic growth and sustainable development, and to provide effective support to political reforms and help cushion their adverse social consequences. For those reasons, Togo believed that it provided a way in which In this respect, my country would like to hope that after the respective commitments made in Halifax, Copenhagen and Geneva, aimed in particular at ensuring that the support of the international community could take the form of technical and financial assistance in the preparatory stages of diversification projects, in the framework of the Common Fund for Commodities of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the African Development Bank, the delegations that expressed reservations when resolution 49/142 was adopted will take a fresh approach to the draft resolution before us, with an eye to the genuine interests of Africa. We are all certainly aware that the economic development of Africa is, first and foremost, up to Africans themselves and that development depends to a large extent on the domestic strategies introduced by the States concerned. Substantial efforts in various areas have been made by a number of African countries and by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which has established guidelines for the coherent development of Africa. For its part, therefore, the Government of Togo joins those who are persuaded that economic decline is not inevitable and that Togo’s economy is today an integral part of the world economy. We also believe that a State where the rule of law prevails is necessary and that private investment is indispensable. Thus the political economy of development in Togo is based on free enterprise and developing the qualities of the population. We remain convinced that making use of private investment and creating an environment conducive to the rapid expansion of the private sector are the keystone of any economic and social development. My Government therefore supports and encourages all national and international private initiatives. Partnership between economic operators in countries of the South and North is highly desirable in this context. In order to ensure investors’ security, Togo has thus acceded to various international conventions and treaties, such as the Treaty establishing the Multilateral Investment Better yet, the establishment in 1990 of an appropriate institutional and juridical framework — the free industrial zone — falls into the same category. What my Government is seeking today, therefore, is the wider mobilization of the national and foreign private sectors in order to expand and perfect this plan, which has already had some success. Similarly, Togo has adopted a new labour code and a new mining code and has undertaken broad tax reform. It has also put in place a revised investment code with many incentives. As can be seen, Africans have understood the need to take responsibility and to count on themselves above all. However, none of their efforts will be truly productive unless they are made in a favourable international economic environment. It is thus unfortunate that after the failure of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990, and despite the enthusiasm with which the international community greeted the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, it has taken no concrete action to fulfil, even partially, the many commitments it freely agreed to under the New Agenda, which has yet to be truly set in motion, despite the impetus provided by the Secretary-General. The ongoing decrease in official development assistance and the evaporation of private foreign investment suffice to illustrate this bitter conclusion. My delegation therefore takes this opportunity to express its hope that our Assembly will adopt the draft resolution before it, this time by consensus. In this way it will broadcast its pledge that, at next year’s mid-term review of the New Agenda for the Development of Africa, it will not yet again merely note and deplore Africa’s extreme poverty, but will finally decide on the ways and means it will use to really achieve the goals it has set for lifting our continent out of that extreme poverty — that is, to devote 0.7 per cent of the gross national product of the developed countries to official development assistance, and 0.2 per cent to the least developed countries; and to establish conditions that will make it possible to achieve a mean real growth of 4 per cent a year for financial flows into Africa.

The deteriorating economic situation of the African continent has for a considerable period engaged the attention of the world. Indeed, it has been prominent on the agenda of the United Nations since the early 1990s. India’s ties with the nations of the African continent are deep and mutually enriching. For us, this valuable relationship dates back to the years of our independence movement. It was on African soil that the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, started, as a precursor of our national struggle, his non-violent, passive resistance movement against racial discrimination and exploitation. India struggled side by side with the African nations against colonialism. We felt that our own freedom would be incomplete until all the nations of Africa had been emancipated from foreign rule. We were the first to request the inscription of the issue of apartheid on the agenda of the United Nations, in 1946. Our commitment to the anti-apartheid struggle accompanied political, economic and material support. We rejoiced at the liberation of African nations from colonial rule, the liberation of Namibia and the final end of apartheid in South Africa. India’s support for the subsequent efforts of African countries to achieve economic development is rooted in our commitment to South-South cooperation and to the cause of economic and social development and the eradication of poverty. This support has manifested itself in tangible terms. We share our experiences, resources and capabilities through a high-quality technical and economic cooperation programme. It was at India’s initiative that the Africa Fund was established by the Non-Aligned Movement to provide project aid and other technical assistance to the front-line States in various critical areas. By 1992 the Africa Fund had disbursed up to $500 million in such assistance. Our active cooperation with the Southern African Development Community is yet another expression of our desire to partner the development efforts of Africa. Since the early 1980s, various agencies of the United Nations, including the Economic Commission for Africa, had been sounding dire warnings that the economies of the Alarmed at the continued adverse performances of African economies, the international community adopted the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990. Almost five crucial years have since elapsed. Unfortunately, Africa’s economic recovery still appears remote and elusive. The Secretary-General’s report “Mobilization of additional resources for African economic recovery and development: a study on overall resource flows to Africa” (A/48/336), issued in 1993, appropriately drew attention to the need for enhanced private commercial flows and foreign direct investment. There is a consensus that the considerable investment- savings gap must be filled by external resources. The United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s recommended a minimum annual level of $30 billion in net official assistance in 1992 if an average annual growth of real gross national product of at least 6 per cent was to be achieved by the year 2000. These figures are far from being achieved. The report of the Secretary-General issued in the context of the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council this year reveals once again that the economic performance of the African region was sluggish in 1994. There are loud warning bells that the African continent will confront enormous perils and challenges in the years ahead. The ecological degradation that is constraining the long-term productive capacity of Africa’s farmlands has to be reversed. Food-grains production has to be stepped up from the present growth rate of approximately 1 per cent per annum to at least 3 to 5 per cent per annum. This is necessary for the nutritional requirements of a growing population to be met. We know it can be done. We did it in India through the “green revolution” initiated in the late 1960s. Civic infrastructure has to be dramatically enhanced if the current decline in many of the social development indicators, particularly in the fields of health, education and employment, is to be reversed. It is within this framework that India has sought to participate in the economic endeavour in Africa. Under India’s Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), we have interacted with many countries in Africa through technical assistance — executing projects, extending training facilities, deputing experts, conducting feasibility studies, providing consultants and organizing study visits. More than 20,000 nominees from foreign countries — most of them from Africa — have been trained in India under this Programme. Among the projects currently in hand are the establishment of a remote sensing centre in Nigeria and a vocational training programme centre in Senegal, and several schemes in Mauritius. In addition, study visits to identify fresh projects in various other countries have recently been undertaken. We have offered training facilities in a wide range of fields, such as banking, financial management, hydrology and water resource management, urban development, mass communications, fisheries, electronics, satellite image processing, packaging, food processing, small industries, crop research, sericulture, bio-gas technology, and manpower planning and training. There are further programmes of South-South cooperation in the area of new and renewable energy resources, biotechnology, gene banks, and so on, which India is coordinating on behalf of fellow developing countries. Africa is the principal beneficiary of these programmes, and in 1994-1995 roughly 60 per cent of the technical assistance rendered by India under ITEC went to countries of the African continent. There is little doubt that Africa will require considerable support from the international community in order to achieve its basic development goals. Economic reforms and structural adjustment programmes must be dovetailed with international support for measures aimed at protecting the environment, encouraging agricultural and rural development, achieving food security, promoting investment and integrating population trends with development. African economies will also need catalytic support from external variables, in terms of additional resource flows, better terms of trade for commodities, diversification of production and trade, and enhanced We are convinced that a modern African economy will be built. It will be built by harnessing the resilience and inner strength of Africa. The combined efforts and the pooled expertise of Governments, local authorities, voluntary agencies and the international community will be required to facilitate this task. Ultimately, achievements are durable only to the extent to which they develop and draw upon the inherent talents of beneficiaries. India has sought to participate in the development of Africa — inter alia by supporting and strengthening the resource pool of the required skills. We are willing to make such further contributions as are required of us in this endeavour. In conclusion, I should like to reiterate that consensus on the urgency of programmes for the economic development of Africa already exists. We have the United Nations New Agenda. The Declaration on International Economic Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries, and the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade also encompass the countries in the African region. The Declaration adopted at the World Summit for Social Development includes a specific commitment concerning the economic, social and human resource development of Africa. Work is currently under way on “An Agenda for Development”. What is lacking, therefore, is not a vision or a set of plans and programmes, but a ready will to translate these into reality. I urge that the focus of our discussions and attention should therefore be on specific steps towards fulfilling our commitments and our responsibility to our partners in Africa.

At the outset, my delegation would like to associate itself with the statement made by the representative of the Philippines on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. We fully support the views expressed in that statement. Let me also take this opportunity to commend the Secretary- General for his informative and useful reports on this agenda item. In spite of the commitments made by the international community through the adoption of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, the overall socio-economic situation in most African countries has continued to deteriorate. In contrast, most African countries have honoured their commitment by implementing structural adjustment programmes involving socio-economic reform measures. My own country — Tanzania — has focused reforms on the following sectors: agriculture, industry, finance, parastatals, the civil service, trade, planning and budgeting, and the private sector. The objective of these reforms is the removal of structural rigidities in order to correct the existing macroeconomic imbalances and lay the foundation for sustained economic growth. In tandem with socio-economic reforms, Tanzania has undertaken major political reforms and has just gone through the exercise of multi-party elections. The impact of undertaking these measures to reform our economies has been debated in many forums. The debate, which is still going on, reveals both positive and negative effects. However, the success of the reforms will depend to a large extent on the international community’s support for the creation of the necessary internal capacity, with an appropriate economic base, as well as on a supportive external environment in terms of favourable commodity prices, market access and debt relief. Tanzania, like many other African countries, has a commodity-based economy that is dependent on a few primary commodities. With such an economic system, the need for diversification cannot be overemphasized. If that long-term objective is to be achieved, the international community will have to provide assistance, particularly in the areas of financing projects on commodity diversification and of capacity-building. In this regard, my delegation calls In conclusion, my delegation would like to underscore the fact that Africa is the least developed of the continents. As we move towards the next millennium there must be concerted efforts by the international community to help Africa to take the giant leap necessary for it to be part of the development process as set forth in the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s.

Allow me first to express my delegation’s special interest in this debate and its appreciation for the reports prepared by the Secretariat, which provide us with information and very useful analysis that will assist us in our discussions of this important agenda item. I should also like to express our appreciation to the non-African delegations that have joined us in emphasizing the need for an effective partnership to enable Africa to realize all its potential in order to benefit its people as well as the international community as a whole. Despite the wealth of its soil and subsoil, the selflessness and persistence of its human resources and its historic links with and geographical proximity to one of the world’s largest economic communities, Africa, in this era of greater growth and well-being at the world level, is the only region where social and economic conditions are in a chronic state of decline. This, obviously, is a situation that is both an economic aberration and an unacceptable flouting of the aspirations of millions of citizens to a decent life and a less uncertain future. Yet it must be recognized that the African countries themselves, despite their modest means, have made considerable efforts to break out of this deadlock. The African continent is the one in which the largest number of structural adjustment programmes have been set up. The vast majority of African countries are implementing policies of macroeconomic stabilization and deficit reduction, which have often led to an increase in social tensions. The easing of foreign-trade restrictions is now a reality at the continental level, and foreign investments enjoy a legislative and regulatory environment that has never been more favourable. Lastly, regional and subregional integration has been significantly stimulated by the adaptation of existing institutional entities and by enhancing their ability to take action, by the creation of It should be remembered that this progress has been made in an internal and external economic context that has been generally unfavourable, because of the continuing constraints that are impeding any process of stable and sustained development. Indeed, is it realistic to hope for any conclusive results so long as there is no overall solution to the continent’s external debt, which is continuing to increase, its servicing weighing heavily on the dwindling resources of most African countries? However welcome they may be, the debt-easing measures decided on by the Group of 7 at its Naples Summit and by the Paris Club remain temporary, limited and insufficient to break the African countries’ vicious circle of external indebtedness. And is it realistic to envisage any more decisive accomplishments when the prices of raw commodities, which represent more than 90 per cent of African exports, continue to be weak and when the decline in the terms of trade has created an insupportable drain on the financial resources African countries derive from them? In this connection, it is possible to ignore the sombre prospects of the post-Uruguay Round, which indicate that the African countries will be among those suffering most from the dismantling of the preference system and the rising price of foodstuffs? Finally, should we be surprised by such actions when we note that Africa is the only region that has not benefited from the recent transfers of financial resources to developing countries? This resource insufficiency, linked to the diversion of private capital elsewhere, is related to a reduction in real terms in official development assistance and to the effects of the underlying strategies of structural adjustment programmes, which, by favouring exports over imports, are only intended to re-establish the ability of debtor African countries to repay. Thus the remarkable efforts of the African countries are bound to have limited results if they are not accompanied by considerable support, in many forms, from the international community. The purpose of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa is to ensure coordination between the efforts being made at the national and regional levels in Africa and meaningful support by the international community. Enshrining a doctrine and vision of the African continent’s economic recovery through a collective action qualitatively different from traditional approaches conceived First, the Agenda’s relevance is shown by its timely identification of the factors impeding African development: an external debt whose burden weighs more heavily than ever on the income of African countries; a supply of external resources that is clearly insufficient to meet the enormous financing requirements; excessive dependence on a limited number of natural resources whose export prices are continuing to decline; and, lastly, a degree of regional integration below the minimum required to create markets capable of ensuring collective autonomy on a continental scale. The Agenda is consistent because, learning from the failure of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990, it was designed as an operational whole in which the respective responsibilities and commitments of Africa and the international community were clearly spelled out in what has rightly been called a partnership contract intended to lay the groundwork for lasting African economic and social recovery before the end of the present decade. The African countries, by sparing no effort, often in difficult conditions, to fulfil their commitments, have demonstrated their desire to be credible partners and active participants in the enormous task of their continent’s recovery. They therefore have a right to expect from the international community, and especially from the developed countries, an equal determination to fulfil the partnership contract, the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa. To achieve this, Africa’s partners must transcend their previous ideas about cooperation with the continent and must overcome the accompanying “donor fatigue”, and must count on Africa’s natural determination to develop a dynamic of progress by which it will gain its proper place in the vast movement of international cooperation that is beneficial for all. We are pleased to note that many have decided to do this, as evidenced by the multilateral meetings held in recent years on the central theme of the development of Africa. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held in October 1993, and the Asia-Africa forum held at Jakarta in 1994, enable us to assess the vast potential for cooperation and fruitful exchange of experience between In its concerted and ongoing effort to return Africa to the sphere of development and enable it to recover and grow, the United Nations has been a significant catalyst. At its thirteenth special session, held in May and June 1986, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development. By declaring Africa to be one of the five priorities for the United Nations in the 1990s, the General Assembly underscored the need to devise new intergovernmental machinery to provide stronger encouragement for international support for the continent. In recent years, with the personal encouragement of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Organization has done good work to keep the question of African development among the priority concerns of the international community, and there have been many efforts at the institutional level to further encourage and coordinate the activities of United Nations institutions towards the implementation of the New Agenda. And far from limiting itself to the United Nations system, the Organization has expanded its efforts to make decision makers in multilateral institutions more aware of the need to contribute to the development of Africa. Just as the General Assembly is now considering the New Agenda for the third time, the Economic and Social Council devoted the high-level segment of its 1995 substantive session to Africa. The segment, in which a number of Government ministers participated, make it possible to make a fresh diagnosis of the ills that are hampering the development of Africa and to define a strategy to overcome the crisis, the elements of which had already been identified in the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa: addressing the question of debt through a dynamic, comprehensive approach; substantially increasing external financial resources; enhancing human and institutional capacity; diversifying exports; providing assistance to enable African countries to absorb the shocks of the start of new multilateral trade A year before the mid-term review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, which is to take place at the next session of the General Assembly, it is already difficult to avoid pessimism. It seems as though the political will that reigned during the preparation and adoption of the Agenda has been sadly missing in its implementation. The commitments undertaken by Africa’s partners are slow to be fulfilled; in a variety of ways, this threatens an orderly development of Africa that would lead to Africa making its own contribution to the great balance that must mark the twenty-first century. In any event, Africa knows that its well-being must come first and foremost from within. That knowledge is not new; the Lagos Programme of Action adopted more than a decade ago laid down the broad lines for action at the continental level, surmounting borders and purely national concerns. The 1991 treaty establishing the continent-wide African Economic Community provided for the institutional machinery needed to achieve this collective prosperity. More recently, the Cairo Agenda for Action adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity reaffirmed — if this were necessary — Africa’s desire to join the world economy, assessed the progress made, and charted a course for the continent with a more assured vision of the future. At the same time, Africa, which refuses to be marginalized from progress, is seeking to remind the rest of the international community of its responsibilities. It wants to believe that there will be a universal burst of progress to make Africa into a solid, vital linchpin of international cooperation for development in the clear interests of one and all.

One year before the mid-term review of the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, our continent continues to face untold problems that hamper its economic growth. The hopes raised by that commitment by the international community to the recovery of the States of Africa remain unfulfilled. The report of the Secretary-General (E/1995/81) to the Economic and Social Council at its most recent substantive session, which considered the development of Africa and the Indeed, according to this report, and despite some progress in real growth in some African countries, the situation globally remains precarious, particularly because of the crushing debt burden, the drop in concessional assistance, the minimal volume of direct foreign investment, and the new situation resulting from the multilateral negotiations of the Uruguay Round. In addition to these external constraints, we have continuing natural disasters, such as drought and desertification. All of these factors taken together make Africa’s recovery doubtful if their courageous joint measures are not taken both domestically and internationally. Aware that the development of the continent is primarily a matter for the African Governments and peoples, our leaders have committed themselves to undertaking vigorous political and economic reforms to establish structures for sustainable development. Thus, since the beginning of the 1990s, the continent has truly flourished politically, with a shift from one-party regimes to pluralistic democracies, and the increasing affirmation of respect for human rights. In parallel with this progress in the political area, Africa has also understood the need to forge solid links of cooperation and economic integration. This has been reflected in the adoption of the Abuja Treaty, establishing the African economic community and in the relaunching of the activities of subregional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Southern and Eastern African States. Thus, the machinery for the prevention, management and settlement of disputes established at the Cairo Summit has begun to play an active role in conflict resolution. However, as desirable and as necessary as those initiatives may be, they cannot by themselves redress the economic situation of the continent without the help of the international community. While welcoming actions already undertaken by the United Nations system, in particular the establishment of the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and Least Developed Countries, we place great hopes in the means that Office will have in order to carry out its responsibilities. Since the launching of the United Nations Agenda in 1991, various measures or initiatives have been undertaken or suggested. From working groups at international conferences, such as that in Tokyo in 1993, to the At a time of globalization of trade and commercial relations, it would be dangerous to marginalize Africa. Africa has enormous natural and human potential for development. That is why we urge the international community to translate the priority given to the continent into concrete actions. In this connection, we hope that the mid-term review that we will undertake next year will enable us to give concrete form to the commitments already made by the international community to meet the development needs of this large part of humanity.

I commend the Secretary- General for his comprehensive reports — contained in documents A/50/520 and A/50/490 — on the status of the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. As we urge increased international support for African development, Kenya has no illusion that the primary responsibility lies with African countries individually and collectively. The commitment by African countries to tackle their economic problems is evident by the structural reforms being undertaken in many of those countries, despite serious socio-economic and political constraints. The recent adoption of the “Cairo Agenda for Action” underlines the determination of the African countries to pull their continent out of the vicious circle of underdevelopment. This Agenda emphasizes that Africa’s development is first and foremost the responsibility of the African Governments and their people. It outlines what actions African Governments and their people need to take in order to relaunch the continent’s economic and social development. We are concerned that UN-NADAF may not achieve the desired objectives as elaborated by the General Assembly in the Agenda and the related resolutions. This is largely due to lack of symmetry and effective complementarity between internal and external development policies and support measures. While African countries continue to make every effort to implement structural adjustment programmes to fulfil their commitments as contained in UN-NADAF, the international community has not lived up to its commitments. It is apparent that the political will that led to the adoption of UN-NADAF has been backed up neither by increased financial resources nor by a comprehensive solution to Africa’s debt burden. African countries continue to lag behind on both the technological and the capital formation fronts needed for the diversification of their economies — hence the need for continued assistance by the international community. In this regard, acquiescing to the “donor fatigue” argument floated to mask the lack of political will on the part of the donor community is the same as giving up on cancer research and treatment because cancer continues to kill. But with a little more effective support the reforms which African countries have undertaken in recent years and which they are still implementing will turn around the economic prospects for many African countries. Africa’s debt problem requires urgent attention, as most of the measures so far undertaken have not been able to bring the burden to a manageable level. Further initiatives, including cancellation of bilateral debts, are required. More importantly, bold innovative measures by the multilateral institutions to reduce effectively the huge debt owed by the African countries are urgent. Easing of the multilateral debt would play a significant role in support for the economic reforms that are being implemented by many African countries. Such measures, coupled with My delegation is conscious of the importance of domestic resources mobilization and the significance of financial sector development. We welcome the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s report (A/50/490) which, inter alia, emphasize the need to strengthen central banks to enable them to play their crucial role in nurturing and supervising the financial system, including the informal sector. These recommendations clearly recognize the importance of equipping the central banks adequately with the necessary resources. It is essential that they should effectively carry out their responsibilities for ensuring compliance with sound monetary policies. We support the strengthening of the informal financial sector because of its ability to augment the mobilization of savings from broader sections of the population. Kenya attaches much importance to this sector, which is a major source of finance for the majority of our people. Women, in particular, have been able to invest and participate in income-generating activities through the support of the informal financial sector facilities. To this end, we urge the international community to support Africa’s efforts towards the development of the financial sector, including transfer of appropriate technology at affordable prices to central banks to facilitate their institutional capacity building. Support for the financial sector has become even more urgent owing to the new challenges facing the banks as a result of liberalization of monetary policies and trade by most African countries. Africa’s share in international trade is very small and African countries, in general, have not been able substantially to broaden their export base. The international community stands to benefit immensely by supporting the economic diversification processes in African countries. Yet the response of the international community has been constrained because of the weak infrastructure and low purchasing power in African countries. We are therefore appealing for increased international support to improve the investment climate We are disappointed that there has been no significant achievement so far with regard to the replenishment of the African diversification fund within the African Development Bank. Nevertheless, my delegation welcomes the efforts of the African Development Bank in regard to the consultations on the replenishment of the African Development Fund, from which we have high expectations. The level of this replenishment should be adequate in the light of the large number of African countries and the diversity of the envisaged projects and programmes. In addressing the issues of the diversification of commodities, account should be taken of the need to promote both horizontal and vertical diversification. Commodities should be given added value through processing, marketing, distribution and transportation. That approach calls for substantial investments and transfer of appropriate technology to African countries to achieve the objective. We are in agreement as well with the recommendations of the United Nations-sponsored inter-agency workshop on the diversification of African economies held at Yaoundé from 13 to 17 February 1995, which recommended inter alia that diversification of African economies be integrated in the national, subregional and regional development strategies.

My heart is full of sorrow and sadness as I address the General Assembly today. Cameroon has just suffered one of the most lethal air disasters in its history. An airplane of the national Cameroon Airlines crashed on landing at Douala on 3 December, resulting in many casualties. Item 24 of the agenda of the fiftieth session of the General Assembly, entitled “Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s”, is of particular importance to my delegation at a time when Cameroon is preparing to host the thirty-second Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity. In common with the African countries as a whole, Cameroon welcomed with a sense of relief and satisfaction the adoption of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) after the failure of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development. Given that unfortunate situation, and in an unparalleled display of Recognizing that it is primarily responsible for its own development, and in keeping with commitments entered into under UN-NADAF, Africa has recently become involved in far-reaching and difficult reforms designed to accelerate the process of democratization, promote human rights and achieve economic, social and cultural development, in a climate of transparency and with the active participation of all positive forces. This is being done by stressing attractive conditions for investment, the development of human resources, the implementation of structural adjustment programmes and the pursuit and consolidation of economic integration through subregional and international cooperation. For its part, as pointed out by His Excellency Ferdinand-Leopold Oyono, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cameroon, when he addressed the General Assembly on 5 October, Cameroon has embarked on the irreversible pursuit of the process of democratization, in which there will be significant progress with the adoption of a new Constitution allowing for greater democratic participation by the citizens of Cameroon in the management of their own affairs. Significant reforms have also been made in economic areas, notably by an extremely liberal investment code and the disengagement of the State from the management of major public enterprises. It goes without saying that the efforts made by the African countries, sometimes at great sacrifice, can lead to the desired results only if combined with the active and sustained support of the international community. My delegation considers that the solidarity evinced by the international community when the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s was adopted has been slow in its concrete expression. Indeed, only a few months from the mid-term review of the New Agenda and despite the various measures that have been taken, the economic and social situation of Africa is a continuing cause of concern. The international economic context in which the African countries must operate is most unfavourable. Net resource revenues to Africa have declined drastically, dropping from $22.9 billion in 1990 to $21.7 billion in 1993. The total debt burden of Africa has increased from If we do not wish the mid-term review of the New Agenda, set for 1996, to be simply another academic exercise or another opportunity to take note of the failure of the New Agenda, an important step must be taken at this session of the General Assembly. The international community must implement the commitments it freely entered into under the New Agenda. Significant measures will have to be adopted to support the efforts of African countries to achieve sustainable economic and social development. Here I refer in particular to the diversification of African commodities and economies. A special contribution could be made by the African Development Bank to help small African producers undertake bankable projects. In this connection, my delegation welcomes the announcement that the Amsterdam Common Fund is to hold a seminar in February 1996. On another subject, my delegation fully supports the proposals relating to advancing financial intermediation in Africa, as this is a way to strengthen local savings structures and to link them with modern banks and financial institutions, with a view to generating local resources at this time when official development assistance is dwindling at an unprecedented rate. With respect to financial resources, my delegation welcomes the establishment of a line of credit for the development of Africa. We consider, however, that additional efforts should be made in order to ensure that these resources will be commensurate with the challenges ahead and will more accurately reflect the priority assigned by the United Nations to Africa, and in particular to Programme 45: critical economic situation, recovery and development. My delegation therefore welcomes the general determination that has been evinced since the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations to increase, in accordance with the recommendations made by the Committee on Programme and Coordination at its thirty-fifth session, the financial resources available for the implementation of Programme 45 Africa.

Before taking up the agenda item before us, I should like to convey to our sister Cameroon delegation the most sincere condolences of the delegation of Benin on this morning’s air disaster at Douala international airport, which claimed many victims. The General Assembly is now considering agenda item 24, entitled “Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s”, a subject that, unfortunately, is becoming part of the end-of-session ritual of the General Assembly, when representatives’ fatigue and their eagerness to sample the delights of the Christmas holiday take precedence over any genuine desire seriously to discuss a question that ranks among the priorities of our Organization. I shall limit my statement to a few remarks that might contribute to a better understanding of draft resolution A/50/L.40, which was just distributed and will be introduced, in due course, by the Chairman of our Group, Ambassador Osman Yassin of the Sudan. My delegation is grateful to the Secretary-General for having produced two very interesting and instructive reports on this item. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to him for the untiring efforts he has been making since the adoption of the United Nations New Agenda to ensure its consistent implementation. The report of the Secretary-General on advancing financial intermediation in Africa appears to be an excellent introduction to comprehensive financial reforms in that continent. The delegation of Benin hopes this important study not only will be widely distributed to the African Ministers of Finance and the Governors of development banks, but also will figure in the organization of regional meetings or consultations that will make possible the effective translation of the recommendations of the report into concrete actions, with the assistance of the relevant agencies of the United Nations system. Aware of the realities of the national economies of the continent, how can we not welcome, for example, the recommendations emphasizing the interplay between the My delegation welcomes also the clarity of the other report of the Secretary-General, on the implementation of resolution 49/192, on the diversification of African economies. We thank the Secretariat for having informed the African Development Bank of the results of the consultations held at the forty-eighth and forty-ninth sessions of the General Assembly. We duly appreciate the organization of workshops to make local institutions aware of the need to diversify African commodities. The delegation of Benin encourages the Secretary- General to establish more solid and more sustained working relations with the African Development Bank in order to facilitate the inclusion in the present negotiating process for the seventh replenishment of a special contribution to finance the preparatory phase of programmes and projects for the diversification of commodities in the African countries. Finally, my delegation wishes to make a sincere and urgent appeal to the international community at large, and to the States participating in the African Development Fund in particular, to implement the minimal recommendations contained in General Assembly resolution 49/142. Last year the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council, at the request of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, held at Addis Ababa in June 1995, again emphasized the need for the international community to support the efforts undertaken by the African countries with regard to the priorities defined in the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF). Benin hopes that positive actions will emerge before the mid-term review of the Agenda, in 1996. It is disturbing that UN-NADAF has faltered so much. Thirty-five years after various countries achieved independence in the 1960s, 10 years after the unanimous adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD), five years after the start of experiments geared towards democracy and four years after consensus adoption of the United Nations New Agenda for Development of Africa in the 1990s, Africa’s agony continues. It lives in psychosis and in genuine fear of a As I have said on other occasions, this state of affairs is aggravated by armed conflicts, civil wars, the AIDS pandemic — added to other devastating or debilitating endemic illnesses, such as malaria — and by emergency situations, such as famine, drought, natural disasters, desertification and so on. All this has in recent years affected, and continues to affect, a number of African countries, leaving them vulnerable, very weak and dependent on foreign aid. The situation in Africa is surely critical, carrying as it does the seeds of underdevelopment. But it is not apocalyptic, and there is a tomorrow. The African continent has no lack of resources. I say, without false modesty and without exaggeration, what others have said: it is potentially the richest continent but also the most cruelly poor, impoverished by a number of factors that need not be mentioned now, but the most recent of which is the iniquity of the contemporary international economic system. Africa can and must stop being the only part of the world deserving to be described as a weakly industrialized producer of commodities. It must be recognized that local factors have contributed largely to the current state of affairs. We know, for example, that poor management, the lack of consistency in economic choices and, in some cases, excessive military expenditures have not helped build responsible projects and programmes to eliminate poverty and revive the economy. Africa knows how to make a recovery. It knows that it must take responsibility for instilling a new awareness that will rid its sons of their habits of taking the easy path of improvisation, begging or atavistically wanting development to come entirely from outside. In a world where the accentuated selfishness of States is noticeably replacing the spirit of human solidarity, in an era when a strong neo-cartographic trend inspires the parliaments and chancelleries of well-off countries, Africans must get down to the task of removing from their political discourse the shorthand phrases and clichés used up to now to define the profound inertia of a continent that has for 30 years been engaged in an obscure process of development. I do not wish to list them here for fear of forgetting some of those commitments that we would like to see carried out, but it is the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s that we are focusing on today. This Agenda is an appropriate framework for carrying out concrete actions for Africa. We agree with Ambassador Martin Huslid of Norway, who presided over the work of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, responsible for developing the Agenda in 1991, that in subscribing to this programme, “The international community accepts the principle of shared responsibility and full partnership with Africa and therefore commits itself to giving full and tangible support to the African efforts.” (resolution 46/151, annex II, para. 1) This programme elaborated by the General Assembly has undeniable political importance. Moreover, by presenting in detail the machinery for follow-up and monitoring, UN-NADAF guarantees Africa’s being one of the five priorities of the United Nations, as Secretary- General Boutros-Ghali has so often emphasized. But, alas, almost midway through its implementation, UN-NADAF has been implemented only embryonically or partially. The only major manifestations that might suggest a willingness to implement it are the efforts of the Secretary-General, which led to high-level meetings in Geneva, Rome and New York and the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, organized thanks to the active cooperation of the Japanese Government, the Global Coalition for Africa and, of course, the United Nations, through the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries. My delegation recognizes furthermore that some bodies of the United Nations system, such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have taken encouraging initiatives that show their interest in implementing the Agenda. We welcome those initiatives, and we can only hope that the various activities engaged in by such bodies will be integrated in a The efforts of African delegations for the adoption of a draft resolution calling for the establishment of an African commodity-diversification fund as part of the implementation of the section relating to support for the diversification of African economies have met with nothing but the somewhat scornful refusal of the delegations of certain developed countries. Resolution 49/142, which recommends improving existing compensatory machinery, increasing the terms offered by the Amsterdam Common Fund and establishing a special contribution to finance the preparatory phase of projects and programmes for African commodities, is nothing but a small consolation prize that African delegations accepted with a certain sense of resignation. For this reason, the delegation of Benin wishes to make a friendly appeal to all other delegations, especially those of the developed countries, to show their political will by recommending to their respective Governments that resolution 49/142 be effectively implemented. This is the least one can do to ensure the success of UN-NADAF and renewed development in Africa. This is the right time and the right place to pay tribute to the Economic and Social Council and to its President, Ambassador Kamal of Pakistan, for the fruitful consultations organized last July in Geneva during the high-level segment of that organ’s 1995 substantive session. My delegation hopes that the conclusions of the President of the Council will be appropriately distributed to delegations in the General Assembly. I have absolutely no desire to be a prophet of doom, so it gives me no pleasure to say that the lack of political will on the part of several Member States or observers in our Organization with regard to UN-NADAF could condemn it to failure, as occurred in the case of its predecessor, the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD). Africa would then have wasted two decades waiting for the generosity of the international community. In my comments on behalf of my delegation here before the General Assembly, I have admitted that Africa has had and still has its defects. However, it must be noted that the States of the continent have in recent years Yes, Africa can and must stand tall and exorcise the demon of fratricidal conflicts that belong to another age, reclaiming peace and stability by resolutely committing itself to the path of regional economic integration and by reorganizing its trade along the lines advocated by UN- NADAF. It has been said, but cannot be repeated enough — and no school of thought, no economic-development specialist can contradict me — that the development process in Africa will come to a standstill if the efforts of the African States continue to be bogged down by the burden of external debt, if flows of capital continue to be insufficient, if the obstacles limiting market access persist, if commodities are not diversified or changed and if the terms of trade remain depressed. Any serious thought, here or elsewhere, must take these elements into account and result in the proposal of suitable, lasting and immediate solutions to them. History teaches us that no nation in the world has developed without obtaining and utilizing resources for private and public investment. Many countries enjoying prosperity or on the fast track to prosperity are represented here, and they will have no trouble vouching for this. And so, what about Africa? No, Africa has not been put under a curse or damned by fate not to follow the fortunate examples I have just mentioned. There is still room for hope, be it to the liking of the Afro-sceptics or not. The draft resolution which has just been circulated represents a modest step that the Group of African States, through its Chairman, the Ambassador of Sudan, invites the General Assembly to take in order to recall that Africa remains one of its five priorities, even if attendance in the

My delegation joins the delegation of Benin in offering its sincere condolences to the people of Cameroon for the tragic loss of life resulting from the airplane disaster at Douala international airport. Let me begin my remarks by expressing our sincere appreciation to the Secretary-General for the reports which he has presented to us on agenda item 24, entitled “Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s”. These reports have been at once analytical, comprehensive and insightful inasmuch as they have exposed the dark cloud hanging over much of Africa, threatening to drag the continent deeper into economic ruin, social decay and political instability. It is not my wish to burden the Assembly with the long litany of Africa’s economic woes, most of which we have all perhaps become familiar with. In this regard, it is perhaps not incorrect to say that the problems in Africa have not gone unnoticed. There has been no shortage of programmes of action to accelerate the development of Africa. During the 1980s, we had the ill-fated United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD), and now the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) has run half its course. Given this impressive array of initiatives to help Africa, is it not curious and ironic that, in fact, at the end of each of these programmes, the aggregate economic performance of Africa has been worse than at the beginning? Indeed, as the numerous reports of the Secretary-General clearly indicate, the overall economic situation in many African countries has not improved since the launching of UN-NADAF, but has instead taken a turn for the worse. There can be only one explanation for the African predicament and for the reasons behind the many failed initiatives. There is a wide gap between rhetoric and good intentions, on the one hand, and concrete action, on the other. It is this yawning gap between the plans and the means of implementation that this Assembly should now strive to address and resolve. A few months before the mid-term review of UN-NADAF, can we sincerely say that this compact has succeeded, even in the most modest of terms, where UNPAAERD so dismally failed? In my delegation’s opinion, we cannot afford to turn During the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council earlier this year, my delegation expressed its profound disappointment at the virtually zero-level implementation of UN-NADAF. Our initial apprehensions and worst fears have been painfully realized, and those of us from the continent are now being forced to ask ourselves some very hard questions about the internationalism and “brotherhood of man” which our Organization epitomizes. For many of us who know what it feels like to be on the lowest rungs of economic and technological development, these questions are far from academic, as they represent genuine disappointment at the overall attitude of the international community towards the African predicament. When the New Agenda for the Development of Africa was adopted, it was universally recognized that a critical element of the international community’s support for Africa’s own efforts was the provision of adequate resource flows. In the light not only of a persistent decline in the net aggregate resource flows to Africa, but, more ominously, of the continuing flight of capital out of the continent, we hope that when the Secretary-General presents his reports to the Assembly at this session and at the mid-term review, he will outline the projected total resource requirements needed for the full implementation of UN-NADEF and specific recommendations on the mobilization of resources to meet the set goals and targets of this compact. No new initiative, programme of action or strategy can possibly succeed in Africa if comprehensive measures are not taken urgently to address and resolve the continent’s excruciating debt problem. Indeed, we agree with the Secretary-General that: “Africa’s debt issue cannot be dissociated from that of financial resources necessary for the economic recovery and development of the continent.” (A/48/336, para. 56) We would therefore wish to reiterate the urgent need for a lasting and definitive solution to Africa’s external-debt problem. For reasons with which most of us in this Assembly are familiar, most African countries rely on too few commodities for their export earnings, and the exports of these commodities have been stagnant. Now that a new multilateral trade regime is operational under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, my delegation is gravely My remarks should be construed neither as a sign of ingratitude for the assistance that has been rendered nor to mean that we, the African people, do not have a contribution to make towards our own socio-economic uplifting. To the contrary, we are aware of the need to develop our national capacities and mobilize domestic resources. In recognition of this fact, many African countries have undertaken various forms of structural economic reforms at enormous social and political cost. Yet for us to tackle this challenge successfully, there is a need for more than mere pious expressions of solidarity, as we are sure to hear during the September mid-term review. More than such empty expressions, Africa needs tangible support in the form of new and additional resources and the transfer of and access to technology on a concessional basis. Africa remains committed to the implementation of the New Agenda and is scrupulously adhering to its side of the compact. We shall reserve our substantive comments for the forthcoming mid-term review of the UN-NADAF. However, as we prepare for that review, we see no cause for celebration on that important occasion. There is no doubt that there is no political will or commitment whatsoever to help Africa overcome its economic predicament. For centuries, the continent and its abundant human and material resources have contributed significantly, in various ways, to global progress. We do not believe that it is asking too much for the international community now to identify with Africa and provide modest assistance and support for the sterling efforts of African countries. So far, UN-NADAF has taken us nowhere, and the current level of non-implementation does not inspire much hope. It is abundantly clear that UN-NADAF has so far failed to galvanize and catalyse international support for the continent’s economic development. We therefore call on the international community to renew its solidarity with the African continent through tangible support.

My delegation would like to extend its deeply felt condolences to the people and the As a representative of the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), I am pleased to participate in this discussion. Allow me to express my sincere appreciation to the Secretary-General for his informative report, which addresses the economic and social problems facing Africa as well as the major strategic framework of action needed to revitalize the African economy. The continuing crisis of development in Africa is one of the major challenges currently facing the international community. The marginalization of Africa from the globalization process of the world economy, along with declining economic and social trends, underscores the need to give the highest priority to putting Africa back on the path to development. It was in response to such an economic and social decline experienced by several African countries since the 1980s that Africa and the international community launched various initiatives aimed at the continent’s economic recovery and development. In this regard, one of the major initiatives of the international community was the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, which was adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session. The New Agenda kindled the hope that the end of the cold war would bring ample opportunities for international cooperation to promote Africa’s development, especially at a time when many countries were engaged in democratization and were vigorously pursuing economic reforms. However, four years after the New Agenda’s adoption, and one year before its mid-term review, the results are not encouraging. External factors, including declining commodity prices, increased competition for concessional resources and the debt burden, continued to have a negative effect on Africa’s socio-economic recovery. Africa is the only region in the world to have experienced continuous stagnation and decline since 1980. During the 1980s nine African countries fell from the group of middle-income countries to the group of least developed countries. In 1995 Africa accounted for 33 of the 48 least developed countries. Except for limited signs of recovery and growth in a few countries, per capita income in most African countries is far below the target set in the New Agenda. As most African countries still depend on concessional aid for their development programmes, improving its quality and quantity aid deserves priority consideration. In this regard, implementation of the level of official development assistance for Africa recommended in the New Agenda — $30 billion, with an annual increase of 4 per cent — is a matter of the highest priority. It is also necessary to make every effort to increase levels of official development assistance in accordance with the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) — 0.15 per cent in the case of the least developed countries. Likewise, the multilateral and regional development banks, as well as United Nations development programmes and funds, should ensure consistent support for the continent’s socio-economic recovery effort. In this regard, Africa attaches paramount importance to timely replenishment of the funds of the International Development Association and the African Development Bank, as well as to augmentation of core resources allocated for the operational activities of the United Nations. These proposals regarding the flow of resources to Africa can contribute significantly to sustainable growth and development only if they are accompanied by a multi-pronged strategy to alleviate the continent’s crushing debt problem. Debt overhang has become one of the major challenges faced by most African countries. Despite relief measures, the estimated burden of debt at the end of 1994 was equivalent to 83 per cent of Africa’s GNP and 255 per cent of its export income. This implies the need for a comprehensive debt strategy. Therefore, the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s report on development in Africa, including the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s — a report submitted to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session — deserve close consideration. In addition to the external flow of resources and a multi-pronged debt-relief strategy tailored to each country’s specific situation, there is a need to enhance Africa’s participation in the new international-trade regime. Specific action is required to promote African countries’ competitiveness in the international market and to strengthen their capacity to cope with the immediate consequences of the Uruguay Round and benefit fully from the gains arising from trade liberalization. To this end, the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other organizations need to be implemented expeditiously. They include the following: deferring removal of the trade preferences that African countries have enjoyed; implementing agreed most-favoured-nation tariff reductions in respect of export products of African countries that do not enjoy preferential treatment; providing financial support to assist African countries in dealing with balance of payments pressures and transitional strains consequent on policy reforms; implementing the Marrakesh Ministerial declaration, which addresses the specific problems of the least developed countries and net food-importing countries; and assisting African countries in their effort to have horizontal and vertical diversification and ultimately to enhance their competitiveness in world trade, and, to that end making adequate contributions to finance the preparatory phases of commodity-diversification projects and programmes, as called for in General Assembly resolution 49/142. The international community’s assistance in these areas will not only offset the adverse consequences of the Uruguay Round, but also lay the ground for effective participation by Africa in the new international trade regime, through processing, manufacturing and distributing finished goods based on the continent’s primary commodities. This process will, in turn, open avenues for industrialization, the acquisition of technology and the provision of employment opportunities. The review and appraisal meeting should be organized with relevant inputs from United Nations organs, agencies and programmes as well as the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and other competent bodies. The intergovernmental process has to be preceded by preparatory conferences involving donor countries, multilateral financial institutions and African countries to generate the expected results. My delegation would like to propose that, in addition to examining the implementation of programmes, the review meeting should also consider institutional issues. It has to identify an organization within the United Nations family to lead and coordinate all the major initiatives on Africa. In this regard the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which is the regional arm of the United Nations, has a comparative advantage for the assumption of this responsibility. The ECA, the OAU and the African Development Bank already have a tripartite mechanism to coordinate international development programmes, and we urge that this arrangement be further strengthened in order to expedite the implementation of UN-NADAF and other initiatives related to the socio-economic recovery of Africa. The review meeting must come up with specific implementable proposals that would enable the ECA to discharge its responsibilities. UN-NADAF has to make a difference in African development by having positive impacts on the lives of the people in the region. It is in this spirit that we ask the General Assembly to adopt the draft resolution before us unanimously. Programme of work

I should like to make an announcement concerning the programme of work of the General Assembly. May I remind members that document A/INF/50/5/Add.3, containing the tentative programme of work and schedule of plenary meetings for the month of December is now available to delegations. The list of I should like to point out that there are still some agenda items for which no date has yet been indicated. I As I mentioned to the Assembly in earlier announcements, I hope to keep close to this schedule so that the Assembly can discharge its responsibilities as effectively and expeditiously as possible. I again appeal to those representatives who wish to submit draft resolutions to do so sufficiently in advance of the dates fixed for consideration of items in order to give members adequate time to examine them. I should like to reiterate that additional time is needed for draft resolutions involving changes in the work programme or additional expenditures since they will require the preparation by the Secretary-General of a statement of programme-budget implications. Furthermore, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Fifth Committee will need adequate time to review the programme-budget implications of a draft resolution before it can be acted on by the General Assembly.