A/67/PV.26 General Assembly

Let me begin by thanking the Secretary-General for presenting the two insightful reports (A/67/204 and A/67/205) on which we are having this debate. My delegation aligns itself with the statement made earlier by the representative of Cameroon on behalf of the Group of African States (see A/67/PV.25). We commend the appointment of Mr. Maged Abdelaziz as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa, and consider the appointment as a proper step towards reinvigorating and supporting the activities of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. The reports under consideration address a number of subjects relating to the challenges faced by the continent, including areas where significant progress could be made by the African people. They also highlight a number of policy measures taken by many African countries and organizations regarding the implementation of the priorities of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the responses of the international community and the support provided by the United Nations system in the past year. My delegation notes that, despite those challenges, African countries have made significant progress in the implementation of NEPAD sectoral priorities, especially in the areas of governance, infrastructure, information and communications technology and agriculture. We are encouraged by the progress reports on the support provided by the United Nations system in strengthening the Regional Coordination Mechanism of United Nations agencies and entities working to support the African Union and its New Partnership for Africa’s Development and its cluster system. We equally note the progress made in the area of capacity- building through the United Nations-African Union secretariat of the Regional Coordination Mechanism’s business cluster plans. With regard to those issues that have been singled out as areas where actions have been taken aimed at realizing the goals of NEPAD, we wish to restate the need for more investments in agriculture, food security and health. That is because one of the key sectors that requires synergies of actions by the African countries and their partners is the development of agriculture and food security. As indicated in the reports of the Secretary-General, Africa’s share of the global agriculture market is extremely low and has further decreased in recent years. In addition, some aspects of the report highlight the importance of agriculture and food security for the development of the continent. In a continuously interdependent global environment, we wish to emphasize the need for the implementation of the commitments made by development partners, which could further assist African countries to overcome development challenges and facilitate the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. In that regard, we join the Secretary-General in calling on Africa’s development partners to deliver on the commitments made regarding Africa’s development needs, including those concerning the implementation of NEPAD priorities, in order to fulfil their promises and implement their commitments. We also call on the Group of Eight countries to fulfil the commitments made to Africa at the 2005 Gleneagles summit. We especially call for the fulfilment of the commitments in the areas of agricultural funding and development, as stressed in the report. The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, launched early this year, aims to support 50 million people and to assist them to move out of poverty within 10 years, in particular by mobilizing private capital for Africa’s agriculture and by scaling up investment and technology to enhance agricultural productivity. We believe that that initiative could also serve as a model for cooperation and engagement between Africa and the rest of the world. One challenge to development on the African continent has been the numerous conflicts and crises in various regions. We commend the discussion in the Secretary-General’s report on issues relating to the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. We agree that the systematic exclusion of significant parts of society from the institutions of political governance and key economic assets and social services is one of the causes of conflict on the continent. We also appreciate the focus of this year’s report on the larger issues of the management of diversity and the urgent need to address the related challenges to peace, stability and sustainable development. My delegation remains concerned about the report’s discussion of arms proliferation, which aggravates long-standing conflicts and induces terrorist activities in some parts of the continent. It is more worrisome that criminal groups in some regions have taken the opportunity to increase recruitment and create local support networks for gathering information and supplying arms and ammunition, thereby facilitating transnational organized crime. In that connection, let me take this opportunity to commend the efforts of Member States, which worked assiduously last month to work out the outcome document of the second United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (A/CONF.192/2012/RC/4, annex I), under the presidency of Ambassador Joy Ogwu of Nigeria. Nigeria is not immune to some of those challenges. My country is currently battling the heinous and criminal activities of the Boko Haram group. Rest assured, however, that we are working tirelessly to address the problem in a comprehensive manner. In the subregion, Nigeria has also been guiding other African leaders in addressing the crisis in the Sahel region. We therefore call on the international community to support the current steps taken by the Economic Community of West African States to address the political and security situation in Mali. We believe that by addressing the security situation in the region, especially the current situation in Mali, regional States will be able to build upon the achievements made over the years towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and in pursuit of the sustainable development goals. My delegation notes the achievements of the Assembly in implementing the recommendations on the key priority areas identified in the Secretary-General’s review report of 2010 (A/65/165). The activities of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, as outlined in the report, are commendable. However, there is a need for additional posts and resources to enable the Office to fulfil its mandate with regard to the United Nations monitoring mechanism. We call on all Members of the United Nations to support the Office in realizing its full mandate, especially in supporting the implementation of the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (resolution 66/288, annex) and in shaping the post-2015 development agenda. There is also a need to raise the profile of interaction between African regional and subregional organizations with Member States in order to further strengthen United Nations support for the activities of the Office. Two years after the target date for rolling back the malaria scourge in Africa, malaria remains a major public health threat in Nigeria, accounting for 30 per cent of the under-five mortality rate and 11 per cent of the maternal mortality rate. With a steady transmission rate and a seasonal peak from April to October, the disease has a significant impact on the economic situation in the country, where 167 million inhabitants are at risk. Approximately $835 million is lost annually in prevention and treatment costs, as well as absenteeism, lost productivity and disability. A number of measures are being implemented to address the issue. For instance, in line with the transformation agenda of Nigeria’s current Administration, the Government programme includes a malaria-control initiative. Nigeria aligns itself with the Abuja Declaration to Roll Back Malaria in Africa, announced by African heads of State and Government at the beginning of the decade in order to halve the burden of the disease by the year 2010. Nigeria bases its malaria-control and eradication efforts on four strategic pillars, which include the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to achieve universal coverage of the population, prompt diagnosis and treatment with effective medicines, indoor residual spraying to curtail transmission and the prevention of malaria in pregnancy through intermittent preventive treatment. Supported by external partners, high-impact malaria interventions have been put in place and are being rapidly scaled up to achieve results. At last count, 51.6 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets had been distributed to the populace through campaigns. That is being complemented by a robust strategy for routine distribution to sustain the coverage of 80 per cent so far achieved. In addition, the rational treatment of malaria with artemisinin combination therapy, based on diagnosis with rapid diagnostic tests kits and microscopy, is seen as the gold standard for the prevention of resistance. Intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women has increased from 5 per cent to more than 13 per cent in the past few years. Larviciding and indoor residual spraying have also been rolled out in phases. The impact of such efforts is becoming obvious. More children now sleep under long-lasting insecticide-treated nets than previously. It is estimated that over 166,000 lives of children under 5 years of age have been saved using the Lives Saved Tool. A number of challenges currently threaten Nigeria’s resolve to move from the control stage to the elimination stage of malaria intervention. In the past two months, many parts of the country have witnessed unprecedented flooding, which has left many people homeless. That situation is likely to prompt an increased incidence of malaria, given that there are now more breeding sites for the mosquito vector than usual. Besides, many of the supplies needed for intervention have been destroyed by the floods. Let me affirm Nigeria’s fullest commitment to vigorously address the scourge of malaria through various means, including the adoption and use of long- lasting insecticide-treated nets for malaria control in the country. In order to rapidly scale up that intervention, a mixed model comprising a catch-up phase, as part of the mass universal campaign, and a keep-up phase in routine distribution was identified as part of Nigeria’s National Malaria Control Programme 2009-2013. That has been declared as the strategy for scaling up that intervention. We have received significant support from our external partners through the universal mass campaign, which began in 2009. We call on the international community to assist with capacity-building in the local production of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets. Let me affirm Nigeria’s continued commitment to improving the lives of the people of Africa. The continent must not be defined either by violence or by failure. The African people and the world owe the future generations of Africans an enabling environment, where dreams are achieved and aspirations are met in their entirety.

I would like to say that Cambodia and the entire nation of Cambodia is mourning the passing of His Majesty former King Norodom Sihanouk, who was the architect of the friendship between Asia and Africa. I am here today in mourning, yes, but I would like first of all to express thanks to the Secretary-General for his comprehensive report contained in the documents entitled “New Partnership for Africa’s Development: tenth consolidated progress report on implementation and international support” (A/67/204) and “Causes of conflict and promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa” (A/67/205), as well the earlier report entitled “2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa” (A/66/169). Cambodia attaches great importance to its friendship and cooperation with Africa. Over the decades, the relationships between Cambodia and African countries have been consolidated and enhanced in the spirit of solidarity, close cooperation and mutual respect. Cambodia strongly supports the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and considers it an important tool for addressing poverty and underdevelopment throughout the African continent. Cambodia believes that NEPAD has also provided a collective vision and a strategic socioeconomic development framework for Africa. I would like to remind the Assembly that in 2002, when Cambodia was Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we took the initiative of sending an invitation to the NEPAD Chair, former South African President Mbeki, to come to Cambodia to deliver a statement about African development. Cambodia also welcomes the significant progress made through the efforts of the African peoples and leaders to address some of the sectoral priorities of NEPAD and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as education, health, infrastructure and agriculture. As emphasized in the Secretary-General’s reports, most African countries face serious challenges in reaching the MDGs, particularly in the current fragile and uncertain global economic recovery. Cambodia shares the view that much needs to be done in support of Africa’s implementation of NEPAD and the MDGs. Continued attention and assistance for Africa should remain a focus of international development action plans and programmes. Cambodia will continue to work in that direction. In that regard, Cambodia also reaffirms its commitment to strengthen its cooperation and collaboration with Africa. We are ready to enhance our relationship and partnership with Africa for the achievement of the MDGs and sustainable development. We believe that through mutual support and the sharing of experiences and practices in socioeconomic development both Cambodia and the African States can achieve those objectives. Furthermore, we believe that South-South cooperation is the best strategy to promote an ASEAN and African partnership. South-South cooperation is key to strategic areas, such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, that would significantly contribute to Africa’s development and integration in terms of poverty and hunger eradication, agriculture and rural development, as well as the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. In that connection, the recent integration of NEPAD into the structures and processes of the African Union and the establishment of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency can make a significant impact on NEPAD’s implementation. We also believe that it is a good way to facilitate and to improve the management and coordination of Africa’s regional and continental priority programmes and projects, promising better outcomes for Africa’s development process. Having said that, Cambodia fully supports the conclusion and recommendations of the Secretary- General contained in his reports regarding the proper ways and means to scale up the implementation of NEPAD and build on the momentum of international support for Africa’s development. In addition, we also support the recommendation to establish a review process as a monitoring mechanism of commitments to Africa’s development. Finally, Cambodia welcomes every positive initiative to advance the common development agenda between Cambodia and Africa. We stand ready to strengthen that cooperation, collaboration and solidarity with the international community, particularly with Africa, to realize the internationally agreed upon development goals, including the MDGs.

African countries today face complex challenges associated both with internal transformations as well as with the need to respond to external threats, including shocks on financial and commodities markets, climate change and associated natural disasters. Russia welcomes the efforts of African countries to accelerate economic growth, strengthen political unity and cultural cooperation throughout the continent and increase the role of Africa in world affairs. The active participation of African States in addressing urgent contemporary problems and full-fledged integration into the global economic and political system are crucial for the successful implementation of the outcomes of the socio-economic agenda set by major United Nations conferences and summits. We support coordinated measures designed to promote the sustainable development of the African continent. We attach priority importance to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) by actively participating in the agreed steps to provide NEPAD comprehensive assistance, both bilaterally and multilaterally. To date, we have already written off the debt principal owed by the African States, which represents more than $20 billion. Within the framework of a debt-for-development swap, bilateral agreements with Zambia and Tanzania have been signed to use the debt for financing development projects. Preparation is under way for signing similar agreements with Benin, Mozambique and Ethiopia. The World Bank Group’s Trust Fund support for development in vulnerable countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, received our contribution of over $50 million. Russia has provided countries in the region with humanitarian assistance, including bilateral assistance. The Russian donor contribution to the World Food Programme for 2011 was allocated to assist Ethiopia, Somalia, the Republic of Guinea, Kenya and Djibouti, and through UNICEF, assistance was provided to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea. Through the International Civil Defence Organization, Russian food aid was provided to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. A targeted earmarked contribution was made to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for its fund to strengthen its coordination capacity in the region. Russia continues to participate in financing efforts to support Africa through the Group of Eight, the World Bank and other multilateral initiatives. The objectives of socioeconomic progress and improving living standards in Africa have also been promoted by the further development of trade and economic relations, as well as investment links. A growing number of Russian companies realize that Africa is a continent of tremendous opportunities for business and have started operations or are currently expanding their presence in African countries. The States of the region enjoy extensive trade preferences. The traditional exports of the least developed countries, most of which are in Africa, are exempt from import and customs duties. Russia is participating in the Global Partnership for Education. The Russian decision to allocate to the World Bank $42.9 million for 2008 to 2012 to improve the programme to enhance the quality of basic education in developing countries, including in Africa, has been carried out. Over 8,000 African students are currently studying in Russian universities, and approximately half of them have scholarships funded by the Russian federal budget. Significant assistance is being provided to Africa in the field of public health. The total amount of our voluntary contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has reached $100 million. We have pledged to reimburse up to $217 million of the Fund’s expenditures for project implementation in Russia. Russia attaches great importance to the implementation of the goals of the Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa. In 2011, we paid our full contribution of $20 million for the implementation of the World Bank Malaria Booster Programme in Africa. In 2010, $4 million was allocated to a similar programme, the Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization of the World Health Organization. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia makes a tangible contribution to the elaboration of the strategic policies and practical measures undertaken by the international community to strengthen peace and security in Africa. We participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations throughout the continent. We have expanded the training programmes for African peacekeepers and law enforcement officers. We believe that the settlement and prevention of armed conflicts is a key factor in ensuring a safe future for the continent. We support the increasingly active role of the African Union and subregional organizations in that regard. We note the efforts to establish the African Standby Force and the Continental Early Warning System. We call for increased partnership between the Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council in settling acute crisis situations. We support the ongoing development of cooperation in that area between the United Nations and the African Union. An important step in that regard was the adoption of Security Council resolution 2033 (2012) in January. To ensure a more lasting peace on the continent, what is needed is more active involvement on the part of African States themselves. It is essential to ensure that measures are adopted to combat illicit armed factions, strengthen good-neighbourly relations and expand cooperation in order to secure borders and prevent the spillover of conflicts, the infiltration of weapons and mercenaries, mass violations of international humanitarian law and impunity for crimes against humanity. Russia provides consistent political support to the relevant efforts undertaken by the African community and stands ready to further contribute to the strengthening of the capacities of African States to deal with crisis. We believe that all the barriers to transforming the continent into an area of security, stability and sustainable development can be overcome on the sound basis of international law, African unity and solidarity with the peoples of the continent on the part of the friends of Africa. Russia welcomes the establishment of a monitoring mechanism under the auspices of the General Assembly to review progress on commitments made by all parties for the development of Africa. We expect that substantial and depoliticized dialogue within that mechanism will help strengthen regional stability and promote the conditions necessary for sustainable economic growth. We are ready to continue to provide multifaceted assistance to resolve acute problems throughout the continent on the basis of an equitable and mutually beneficial partnership.

Today, the focus of the international community is on Africa, as the world’s new economic frontier, after Asia. In recent years, the annual economic growth rate of the African continent has exceeded 5 per cent. On the other hand, Africa still faces various challenges, including conflict and poverty. We must urgently strengthen efforts to help Africa take full advantage of its rich natural resources and growing population in order to achieve economies and societies from which all people on the continent can benefit, including the socially vulnerable, such as women and the poor. We must also strengthen our efforts to achieve a society that is resilient to natural disasters such as droughts and other crises arising from economic and social changes. The African economy, like all economies, is affected by the trends of the global economy. Therefore, in order to strengthen and diversify sectors that can foster robust and sustainable growth, infrastructure development in Africa is essential. For that reason, Japan strongly supports the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), which is an African initiative; we will take the priorities set out in PIDA into consideration in implementing our own assistance. We should note the fact that more than 40 per cent of the African population is under 15 years old. Youth employment is a matter of economic development, but also, naturally, a matter of security. It is critical for those young people to secure decent jobs, and job training for the younger generation is an urgent issue. Agriculture and food security are also key issues in Africa. In particular, rural development, with special care for women and smallholders, also contributes to poverty eradication. Japan welcomes the fact that African countries have collectively committed, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, to annually increasing their agricultural productivity by 6 per cent and allocating 10 per cent of their national budget to agricultural investment. Climate change is another serious issue that is closely related to agriculture and food security in Africa. Supporting Africa so that it can adapt to climate change, such as by breeding crop varieties that are resistant to drought and developing irrigation facilities, is very important. Japan is currently contributing to that effort through the Africa Adaptation Programme and the formulation of a strategy to promote low- carbon growth and climate-resilient development under the framework of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). Regarding health issues, we have made significant progress in reducing under-five mortality rates and curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Nevertheless, comprehensive efforts, including further efforts to promote maternal and child health, are necessary in order to accelerate progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) throughout Africa. With regard to peace and security, which are necessary preconditions for sustainable economic growth, the achievement of the MDGs and the formation of inclusive and resilient societies, Japan welcomes the relevant African initiatives undertaken through the African Union and subregional organizations, especially in relation to South Sudan, Mali, Somalia and the Sahel region. It is important for the international community to support such African initiatives for peace and security. Resolution 66/290 on human security, adopted last month, was co-facilitated by Jordan and Japan. It is important to realize its benefits on the ground. Human security is an effective approach that focuses on individual people and helps build societies in which everyone can live with dignity through action to protect and empower individuals and communities that are exposed to actual or potential threats. Japan is determined to contribute to advancing human security in every corner of the world, in cooperation with all stakeholders, bearing in mind that the three pillars of the work of the United Nations — peace and stability, security and development and human rights — are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. In that regard, the human security approach is also important in the context of Africa. Since 1993, TICAD has been promoting African development by emphasizing both ownership by African countries and partnership on the part of the international community, including my own country, Japan. Since the launch of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2001, the TICAD process has been contributing to achieving NEPAD’s priorities, serving as an important framework for partnership. With the support of an increasing number of organizers, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Commission (AUC), TICAD has grown into an international forum with the participation of international organizations, regional organizations, members of civil society, various donors and Asian countries. In 2008, TICAD IV adopted the Yokohama Action Plan, which included two main commitments: first, that Japan would double its official development assistance to Africa to $1.8 billion by 2012; and, secondly, that it would aim to double its investment in Africa to $3.4 billion by 2012. Japan has been working steadily to deliver on those commitments; in fact, it has already achieved and surpassed its investment commitment, since our investments in Africa have in fact tripled rather than doubled. Last month, the General Assembly adopted resolution 66/293 on a monitoring mechanism to review commitments made towards Africa’s development, which emphasized the importance of following up on commitments made to development in Africa. Through its TICAD process, Japan has established a mechanism according to which we hold annual ministerial follow- up meetings to closely monitor the progress of the commitments made at TICAD IV. This is a pioneering effort aimed at improving accountability, and we are ready to share our experience of it. From 1 to 3 June 2013, Japan, together with the United Nations, the World Bank, UNDP and the AUC, will organize TICAD V in Yokohama, commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the TICAD process and, at the same time, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity. We are now in the process of preparing for TICAD V, which includes a senior officials’ meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 15 to 17 November and a ministerial preparatory meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, early next year. At TICAD V, we hope to strengthen both the ownership of African countries and partnership with development partners. We are also considering ways in which civil society and the private sector, whose involvement is critical to Africa’s long-term self- sustaining development, can be incorporated into that process. Japan invites the participation of African Heads of State and cooperation with development partners, as we have done with all the previous TICAD meetings. Let me conclude my statement by reaffirming Japan’s unwavering long-term commitment to African development.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate Mr. Maged Abdelaziz on his appointment as Special Adviser on Africa. His presence at every occasion when Africa is being discussed is testimony to the Secretary-General’s serious attention to African affairs. (spoke in French) I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his reports on the items on today’s agenda (A/67/204 and A/67/205), which underscore Africa’s efforts to emerge from underdevelopment, but which also point out the gaps and constraints that still exist, including in the essential area of international support. Today, the whole world recognizes that Africa has made significant progress in various areas in the first 10 years of existence of the ambitious development programme known as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The Secretary-General’s report enables us to track that progress through the various components of NEPAD’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, in the areas of energy, transportation, water and sanitation and information and communications technology. In the context of the current fragile and uncertain global recovery, the implementation of NEPAD and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals on the continent require unfaltering determination and leadership on the part of Africa and its development partners in order to ensure that commitments are fulfilled on time if those development goals are to be met. In that regard, my delegation stresses the importance of operationalizing the United Nations monitoring mechanism so as to ensure sufficient follow-up to all commitments relating to Africa’s development. Promoting lasting peace and development in Africa requires sustained, concrete, unified action on the part of the international community that addresses the root causes of underdevelopment and conflict on the continent, with the aim of creating an environment conducive to investment and sustainable economic growth in Africa. Here I should reiterate Africa’s concern about a particular phenomenon that is a major source of social tension and poverty in Africa — youth unemployment. In Africa, where more than 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 25, youth unemployment has emerged today as a serious threat both to African countries themselves and to the international community, due to the upheavals and other repercussions it has produced in our societies. Development partners should therefore redouble their efforts in a holistic approach to helping Africa resolve the underlying causes of tension on the continent, which, besides unemployment, include food insecurity, debt issues, desertification, climate change and water shortages. Facilitating people’s ability to move from place to place, increasing direct foreign investment, strengthening official development aid, encouraging technology transfer and capacity-building so as to derive advantage from preferential treatment are now essential to helping to build development and lasting peace in Africa. A number of African countries, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, have undertaken sweeping political and economic reforms in the wake of historic revolutions against the decades of dictatorship, corruption and poor governance they have endured. It is now up to the system of the United Nations, the international community and all our partners to strengthen their support to our countries as we seek to make the transition to democracy and national reconstruction. In conclusion, based on our profound conviction that we have a common destiny and that cooperation and solidarity among African nations is essential, Tunisia is determined to work with our partners on the continent to make Africa an area of active partnership and to create the conditions necessary for lasting peace and development. The priority task of all interested stakeholders now is to honour their commitments to Africa.

Facing the impact of the international financial crisis in recent years, African countries have made unremitting independent efforts to promote the integration process, strengthen international cooperation and maintain a steady momentum of stability and development and have made great strides in implementing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The establishment of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency has promoted the implementation of projects in such key areas as infrastructure, agriculture, food security and health care and has enhanced the consistency and coordination of the development efforts of African countries. We are heartened by the achievements made by Africa and full of confidence in the continent. That being said, one must also acknowledge the challenges that Africa faces. The global economy continues to slow down owing to the lingering financial crisis. The overall growth rate in Africa is still below the pre-crisis level of 6.5 per cent, which is not sufficient for substantial poverty reduction. Though it has increased somewhat since 2004, official development assistance to Africa is still far from what has been pledged. The international financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe have resulted in long-term pressure on the sustainability of Africa’s debts, a reduction in foreign direct investment in Africa and a deterioration in the trade environment for Africa. Local conflicts in some parts of Africa persist, and the humanitarian crisis has aggravated them. Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, is confronted with huge challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals as scheduled. In the second decade of NEPAD, the international community should continue to increase its attention and contributions to Africa and should promote greater progress in the implementation of NEPAD, so as to promote stability and prosperity in Africa. In that context, China wishes to put forward the following suggestions. First, with regard to strengthening development partnerships, developed countries should demonstrate greater political will and fully honour their aid and debt-reduction commitments to Africa at an early date. The international community should do its best to expand assistance to Africa, increase aid for trade and promote an early conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, so as to improve the trade environment for African countries. Resolution 66/293 should be fully implemented so as to strengthen the monitoring mechanism to review commitments pledged towards Africa’s development. In recent years, South-South cooperation has seen rapid development, giving a forceful boost to economic and social development in Africa. We support efforts to further tap the potential of South-South cooperation and leverage the advantages of that type of cooperation in order to contribute more to the implementation of NEPAD. However, South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation. Secondly, with regard to increasing United Nations support for Africa, recent years have seen progress in the United Nations regional initiatives to support and help Africa. Priority should continue to be given to Africa’s special development needs, so as to ensure that the priorities of the United Nations agencies are consistent with the priority areas of NEPAD. The implementation of the post-2015 development agenda and the follow-up actions to implement the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (resolution 66/288, annex) should also give special consideration to Africa’s needs. Thirdly, with regard to Africa’s ownership of its development agenda, African countries have in recent years made enormous efforts and obtained significant results in economic reforms, conflict resolution and governance capacity-building. Africa is fully capable of controlling its own development agenda. The international community should respect Africa’s realities and the will of African countries, support their independent efforts to handle their own affairs, further remove conditions attached to assistance and improve the predictability and transparency of aid. In the six years since the establishment of the new China-Africa strategic partnership, China has deepened its relations with African countries and regional organizations including the African Union (AU). China has rendered active support for Africa’s integration and has continued increasing its support for NEPAD. In the past three years, China’s total assistance to Africa has nearly doubled and is increasingly directed to such areas as improving people’s lives, poverty reduction and alleviation, disaster prevention and mitigation and capacity-building. We have built new schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and water-supply projects for Africa. China has made good on its commitment to provide $15 billion in concessional loans to Africa. With sustained efforts to expand trade with and investment in Africa, China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for three consecutive years. Africa’s exports to China have grown by a large margin and have doubled in the past three years. China’s direct investment in Africa has exceeded $15 billion in cumulative terms, with investment projects covering 50 African countries. At the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in July in Beijing, President Hu Jintao announced the measures in several priority areas that the Chinese Government will take in the next three years to support peace and development in Africa. China will provide a $20 billion credit line to African countries to assist them in developing infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and small- and medium-sized enterprises. China will build more agricultural technology demonstration centres as needed in order to help African countries increase production capacity. China will help African countries enhance capacity-building in meteorological infrastructure and in forest protection and management. China will continue to carry out well-drilling and water- supply projects in Africa to provide safe drinking water to the African people. China will encourage established Chinese companies and financial institutions to take part in transnational and transregional infrastructure development in Africa. China will help African countries upgrade customs and commodity inspection facilities to promote intraregional trade facilitation. Moreover, China will launch an initiative on the China- Africa cooperative partnership for peace and security, deepen cooperation with the AU and African countries in the area of peace and security in Africa, provide financial support for the AU peacekeeping missions in Africa and the development of the African Standby Force, and train more officials in peace and security affairs and peacekeepers for the AU. Cooperation between China and Africa is being carried out in the context of the fact that the two sides face similar circumstances and share the common mission of development. It is therefore highly constructive and promising. China attaches no political strings to its aid for Africa. China and Africa have drawn on each other’s strengths in their cooperation with a view to sharing in the achievement of development, and such cooperation has provided opportunities for both sides. China will give genuine support to African countries as they independently choose their path to development and will genuinely help African countries strengthen their capacity for self-development. China will forever be a good friend, good partner and good brother of the African people. Guided by an open and inclusive approach, China will work with other countries and international organizations to help promote development and prosperity and uphold peace and stability in Africa.

I have not had the opportunity to formally congratulate you, Ambassador Balé, on the election of your country as a member of the Bureau of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session. It is with great pleasure that I see you, Sir, presiding over the 26th plenary meeting of the Assembly. I would also like to welcome our friends, Mr. Maged A. Abdelaziz, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, and Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Senegal is gratifi ed by the convening of this important debate on NEPAD. This ambitious programme aims to release Africa from the grip of underdevelopment. I would like to convey our wholehearted appreciation to the Secretary-General who has just presented his high- quality reports (A/67/204 and A/67/205), with their relevant and constructive recommendations for the socioeconomic reconstruction of the African continent. The continental initiative of NEPAD is based on an indigenous culture of development. At the same time, it embodies a new approach to the nature and direction of the best type of partnership that Africa should have with the rest of the world. The implementation of this programme is therefore of great interest to Africa, which bears the primary responsibility for its own development. But it also demands that concrete actions be undertaken by the rest of the international community. As is so well underscored by the Secretary- General in his report, it is evident today that over the first 11 years of existence of NEPAD, Africa has made significant progress in a number of areas, namely in terms of extinguishing hotbeds of tension, the return of economic growth, good governance and democracy, as well as the promotion of human rights and the empowerment of women. Let us agree, however, that despite the encouraging signs referred to by the Secretary-General, progress remains slow, and significant difficulties continue to cast a shadow over the future of our continent. Indeed, in many other areas the picture is grim, exacerbated by the recent economic, food, energy and environmental crises, whose inextricable difficulties have held Africa back, placing it at a crossroads in its quest for development. The high rate of poverty, HIV/AIDS infections, malaria, tuberculosis and child mortality are even more alarming challenges. Despite satisfactory growth rates, endemic poverty continues to weigh heavily on Africa. To these recurring problems are added the familiar litany of other factors that continue to disrupt the international debate on development, including rising levels of famine and unemployment; agricultural subsidies, which significantly impede free trade; an intolerable debt burden; the energy crisis with its collateral damage, such as untimely and uncontrolled fluctuations in the price of oil. At the same time, the growth of investments remains at the very heart of the continent’s concerns as a major component of the strategy aimed at stimulating sustained economic growth and establishing a genuine competitive economy. Clearly, Africa will find it difficult to develop unless an end is put to those countless constraints. Along the same lines, serious threats weigh on the stability of a continent increasingly beset by international terrorism, religious fundamentalism and the blind fanaticism of uncontrolled groups. In that regard, what is needed is the firm will of the international community to find lasting solutions to the conflicts, which cripple and slow efforts for Africa’s development. It is time to welcome resolution 2071 (2012), adopted on 12 October by the Security Council, in which the Council encouraged Africa to assume its responsibilities and declared its willingness to look further into the request of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for intervention to remedy the alarming situation in Mali. Senegal firmly condemns the occupation of half of Mali’s territory, and we would like to reaffirm our ongoing support for that brotherly country in this very sensitive phase of the reconquest of its territorial integrity and its march towards prosperity, understanding and progress. While completely rejecting any partitioning of that country, Senegal would like to voice its support for the peace plan adopted by ECOWAS. We commit ourself to ensuring the plan’s full success. My country takes the same position with regard to the need for solidarity to restore stability in Libya, Somalia, Darfur and Guinea-Bissau. Indeed, it is by fulfilling its promises and financing efforts that the international community will be able to truly help Africa to free itself from the economic, financial, environmental, energy and food crises. Moreover, Africa requires a genuine, sincere, fair and equitable partnership to eventually become the continent to bring about global growth, as is its vocation.

At the outset, Thailand commends the Secretary-General for his comprehensive report, contained in document A/67/204, which will facilitate the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Peace and development in Africa matter not only to our African brothers and sisters, but to all of us. Africa is home to over a quarter of the United Nations family of nations, with a combined population of over 1 billion, or one sixth of the world’s population. It is therefore our shared responsibility to promote stability and sustainable development in Africa. As the Secretary-General rightly states in his report, “African countries and the international community ... should strengthen their partnership for development on the basis of mutual responsibility and accountability” (A/67/204, summary). NEPAD, along with other regional initiatives, has significantly contributed to the remarkable progress in socioeconomic development in the region over the past decade. However, Africa continues to face a number of crises, from political conflict to economic slowdown, from terrorist and criminal activities to drought and famine. Together the African countries and the international community must ensure that such challenges will not reverse the success and progress achieved to date. It is the urgent task of the international community to support African countries in enhancing their prospects of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). That can be achieved only through the successful implementation of the NEPAD sectoral priorities aimed at promoting equitable economic growth that will allow Africa to be better integrated into the global economy. It must also be our priority to strengthen Africa’s capacity to deal with persistent and emerging global challenges, be they food security, climate change, disasters or pandemics. Thailand, while pursuing people-centred development, believes that economic growth and sustainable development can be achieved only through the development of human capital. Therefore, our development partnerships with African countries have focused primarily on human resource development and capacity-building in various fields, through bilateral, trilateral and multilateral cooperation. We hope that Thailand’s experience and expertise in agriculture, public health and education will be of value to Africa. A prerequisite for sustainable development is a healthy population. Thailand supports Africa’s efforts in attaining the MDGs by 2015, including combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases. Thailand supported and co-sponsored resolution 62/180, “2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa”, with special emphasis on universal and equitable access to treatment and medication without discrimination. We also supported the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, dedicated to helping developing countries stamp out those deadly scourges. As Thailand has learned from hard experience, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, especially when it comes to development. We have therefore implemented development programmes tailored specifically to individual country needs in Burundi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal and the Sudan. Moreover, we have also established a partnership with Lesotho in setting up an agricultural development and sufficiency economy project, in line with the sufficiency economy philosophy of His Majesty the King of Thailand, which values low-cost, sustainable solutions adapted to each situation. We will continue our support in a spirit of partnership through South-South cooperation as well as triangular cooperation with United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development through the International Trade and Development Centre based in Bangkok. Thailand believes that sustainable development can never be achieved without durable peace and security. As emphasized by my Prime Minister in the general debate last month (see A/67/PV.14), innovative solutions and new thinking are necessary. According to the Secretary-General’s report (A/67/205), the past year witnessed zero growth in North Africa due to political unrest. Conflicts have also led to large numbers of refugees and the expansion of transnational criminal networks. In addressing those issues, the United Nations has played a crucial and commendable role. For our part, Thailand has contributed to collective efforts on peace and security through our participation in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur. Counter-piracy task groups in the Gulf of Aden are another area where we have contributed, by providing naval patrol vessels. We will continue to work with Africa and the international community in a spirit of solidarity to maintain peace and security. Thailand agrees with the Secretary-General, who in the same report states that it is essential to understand and address the needs of diverse groups. Diversity, if not well managed, can become a source of conflict and instability, and ultimately hinder development. When managed well, however, unity in diversity can be a powerful source of strength, as we in the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have learned. Thailand commends the leading role of the African Union in contributing similarly to regional socioeconomic development, particularly in the face of the diverse array of challenges that confront the continent. Finally, as a developing country that has undergone decades of trial and error, Thailand now places sustainable development at the heart of its national agenda. As a member of the international community, we will continue to do our part to strengthen the global partnership for development. We look forward to sharing more of our experiences and best practices in various areas of development with our African brothers and sisters, so that our continents, while geographically far apart, may become ever closer through cooperation.

Cuba attaches the highest importance to the theme of today’s debate. Africa, a vastly rich continent, continues to face obstacles to development that are unacceptable. Rhetorical proclamations of support for the continent are followed by the sad reality that, to take just one example, African countries must waste resources paying five times in external debt what they can on social development programmes. Powerful multinational corporations fight for control of Africa’s mineral resources, while powerful countries, with a few exceptions, break their already modest promises of official aid and resolutely persist in unjust trade practices that block the development of African nations. To deal with Africa’s problems we need to shed the mindset of profit at all costs that sustains the unjust global economic system the world is subject to. Cuba will continue to support the African Union and all mechanisms of regional cooperation in their efforts to find African solutions to African challenges and will continue to call for honouring the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of African countries. We hope that in debating African issues the General Assembly will tackle the real core causes of the continent’s challenges, which are the result of decades of colonial plundering and neoliberal measures that only deepen economic disadvantage, even bankrupting many African countries. In that vein, we reiterate our support for resolution 66/293, which calls for a monitoring mechanism to review commitments made towards Africa’s development. The quest for independence and our African heritage are indissolubly woven into the formation of the Cuban nation and our national identity. We are proud to say that the Cuban people are direct inheritors of Africa’s valour, bravery and culture of resistance, which have battled obstacles heroically for centuries. During the colonial period, more than 1.5 million slaves, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, were transported to Cuba to do forced labour on sugar-cane plantations and other such work. The Cuban Revolution’s strong internationalist position has meant that we have always stood by Africa, from our unconditional support for the anticolonial wars of independence to our many and various cooperative projects promoting the continent’s economic and social development. More than 381,000 Cuban soldiers and officers have fought selflessly to defend the integrity and sovereignty of our brotherly African countries for almost three decades. As we have said before, the only things we have taken away from Africa are the remains of our fallen heroes and pride in the knowledge of a duty honourably fulfilled. In the context of South-South cooperation, our country continues to bring its human capital and experience to the work of collaboration with the countries of Africa. To mention only the most significant examples, there are more than 2,600 Africans pursuing professional studies on scholarships at Cuban universities, including those specializing in the medical sciences. More than 5,000 Cubans are providing services in 34 African nations with the aim of encouraging development in such diverse areas as public health, education, agriculture, sport, construction and more. And more than 27,000 African patients have had their eyesight restored through our Operation Miracle programme. For its part, Africa has always stood by Cuba. Over the more than 50 years of the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed on my country, the Governments and peoples of Africa have closed ranks on 20 occasions to go before the General Assembly to call for the right of the Cuban people to determine their own destiny. Cuba is an advocate for a fairer and more equitable international order. We seek no favours for Africa, only equality of opportunity. That is all that is needed for Africa and other developing countries to tackle, without grotesque obstacles, the challenges of working for the well-being of our peoples.

At the outset, I would like to welcome Mr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and to take the opportunity to once more congratulate Mr. Maged Abdelaziz on his appointment as Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Africa. This year the debate on Africa comes at a time marked by the persisting economic and financial crisis, whose consequences have been felt more intensely in Africa than elsewhere. Despite a certain amount of positive news about the revival of economic growth, it is important that we take note of the problems, challenges and issues that African countries are dealing with. We should also note the policies implemented within the framework of NEPAD, whose primary goal is to help build a major pole of growth in line with Africa’s legitimate aspirations. In dedicating NEPAD as a mechanism that provides a frame of reference for establishing partnerships between Africa and the rest of the world, the international community has chosen a new approach to cooperation and development with Africa. The development path for Africa outlined by NEPAD is critical, thanks to the free rein it gives to the principles of ownership and partnership that are at the heart of this African initiative. The implementation of NEPAD remains based on clear leadership that aims to transform the ideals and vision of NEPAD’s founders into political action and realities, with the ultimate objective being the achievement of good political and economic governance, through strengthened democracy and the rule of law but also through economic and social development. The recent creation of the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency, led by Mr. Mayaki, and its integration into the African Union’s structure, marks a qualitative shift that enables NEPAD to implement regional and continent-wide structural projects and programmes. Besides imparting momentum to the implementation of such projects and programmes, the Agency is in a position to encourage our development partners to respect their commitment to supporting the implementation of NEPAD. In that context, Algeria welcomes the General Assembly’s adoption of resolution 66/293, concerning the establishment of a mechanism to monitor commitments made towards Africa’s development. That new biennial mechanism should provide a framework capable of evaluating the fulfilment of commitments undertaken by various parties in order to help promote cooperation and partnership. Aware of how vital good political governance is to the continent’s economic development, NEPAD introduced into its strategy the African Peer Review Mechanism, a voluntary tool for promoting and strengthening the values of democracy and respect for the rule of law, and to consolidate social peace and sustainable growth. The Mechanism, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2013, has continued to strengthen its position as a tool for promoting good governance in Africa, with more than 30 countries acceding to it, 14 of which have conducted self-assessment tests. For its part, in 2012 Algeria, a founding member of the Mechanism, submitted its second-phase report on the implementation of its national action programme on governance. That report testifies to our determination and continuing willingness to strengthen civil society’s participation in achieving a sustainable development that reflects current generations’ aspirations while safeguarding those of their descendants. This report on the implementation of the action programme was prepared at a time when Algeria was committing to a new series of political, economic and social reforms, proclaimed by the President of the Republic in April 2011. During the next decade, efforts undertaken in the framework of NEPAD will focus on harmonizing sectoral policies and promoting common economic policies on a regional and continental scale. Key sectors, such as agriculture, the environment, information and communications technologies and, in particular, basic infrastructure, will now benefit from greater attention. Agriculture occupies a major position in Africa’s development. Indeed, with the goal of guaranteeing food security, African countries have made significant progress, aiming to allocate 10 per cent of national budgets to agricultural development and to exceed the goal of a 6 per cent growth rate for the agricultural sector. Thirty countries are now committed to this programme and 21 have devised a national investment plan for agriculture. Furthermore, Africa understands clearly that the foundation of its integration process is the development of subregional and regional infrastructure. The growing interest of African leaders in developing and building up the central sector of infrastructure is clearly a result of the absolute priority accorded it in the various plans and programmes initiated within the African Union-NEPAD framework. That is why Algeria welcomes the adoption in January by Africa’s Heads of State of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, embracing four areas for action at the regional and continental levels: energy, transborder water resources, transportation and information and communications technologies. Besides its social impact, including achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and improving Africa’s ability to attract intra-African and international investment, this programme will enable us to close a backwardness gap that costs Africa two percentage points of growth annually. We are compelled to conclude that the international community’s support remains inadequate to the challenges that Africa is facing. We call on it to adopt specific measures designed to boost the economies of developing countries, particularly those in Africa, such as facilitating access to developed countries’ markets and respecting official development assistance commitments. Beyond this, greater participation on Africa’s part in global economic decision-making would help considerably to reduce the continent’s marginalization. To conclude, Algeria wishes to convey its gratitude for the contributions and commitments of a number of our partners, including the Group of 77 and China, which have enabled NEPAD to make a two-pronged move forward in the fields of good governance and sustainable development.

At the outset, I wish to align myself with the statement made by the representative of Cameroon on behalf of the Group of African States (see A/67/PV.25). I wish to thank the Secretary-General for his informative reports on the topics under consideration today (A/67/204 and A/67/205). The Secretary- General’s report on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) brings out the issues, inter alia, of infrastructure development, agriculture, information and communications technology, especially telephone technology, governance and the African Peer Review Mechanism, and the commitment to gender equality in Africa. Let me commend the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for the NEPAD Africa Week that runs from 15 to 19 October here in New York. The events that have been produced for the week, including today’s plenary meeting, are both inspirational and reinvigorating. All the issues raised in the report of the Secretary- General have been identified before, but what is important and noteworthy is that African nations have taken a leadership role in charting the course of their development, especially in infrastructure development. My own country, Zambia, has identified infrastructure development as a priority area in its sixth national development plan, which runs from 2011 to 2015, and is encouraging the public-private partnership concept to accelerate infrastructure development, especially for roads. The other priority area is human development, which is both a primary agent and a beneficiary of development. Zambia aims to develop skills that will match the demands of the labour market. In terms of agriculture, Zambia has in recent years made great strides and produced bumper harvests in grain production, especially maize, which is the staple food crop. However, the gains in agricultural production have yet to be translated into poverty reduction owing to a number of challenges, including inadequate storage capacity and limited road infrastructure between rural and urban centres, which create difficulties for crop marketing and the distribution of agricultural inputs. Agriculture in Zambia is mostly rain-fed, which makes it vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In dealing with that challenge, the Government is investing in drought-resistant crops, irrigation, early warning systems and other adaptation measures. Furthermore, the Government is promoting value addition in the agriculture sector by providing incentives for agroprocessing industries. Zambia sees the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme as providing an opportunity to develop the agriculture sector. We are also committed to allocating the agreed minimum required resources of 10 per cent of the national budget to agriculture. In line with the report of the Secretary-General, major strides have been made in information and communications technology, especially in the use of mobile telephones. The Government has created an environment conducive for development in that subsector, with positive response from the private sector. That has, among other things, improved telecommunication even in rural areas. However, high charges still exist for calls within Zambia and the region. I am delighted to state that, in terms of governance, Zambia remains committed to promoting democracy, and we are proud to state that the country has, since the 1990s, experienced a peaceful transition of power from a ruling party to an opposition party through elections on two occasions, notably in 1991 and 2011. Zambia is committed to the promotion and protection of the rights of women in order to reduce inequalities. In that regard, the Government has enacted a number of laws, such as the Anti-Gender-Based-Violence Act and the Anti-Human-Trafficking Act. It has further established a fully fledged Ministry of Gender and Child Development to ensure the advancement and equality of women. In line with the mandate of NEPAD, Zambia calls on the NEPAD Agency to continue promoting agriculture and food security, regional integration and infrastructure development, human development and other cross-cutting issues such as gender and information and communications technologies. As to the issue of rolling back malaria in developing countries, the Government is working around the clock to ensure that Zambia achieves complete eradication of malaria by 2030. Working with different partners, such as the World Health Organization, the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and the United States President’s Malaria Initiative, inter alia, tangible gains in the fight against that endemic disease have been made. I am happy to note that high-impact interventions have resulted in the reduction of malaria deaths of persons of all ages by 66 per cent, thereby surpassing the 2010 Roll Back Malaria target by more than 50 per cent. Lastly, positive trends have also been observed in combating HIV/AIDS. One of our major challenges continues to be resource availability to fight the epidemic in a changing world economy amid reduced financial contributions from cooperating partners. For its part, the Government of Zambia, in its 2013 national budget released last week, has allocated an amount representing 11.3 per cent of the total national budget towards the health sector, which translates to a 40 per cent increase over last year’s allocation. The HIV/AIDS component will benefit from the increased allocation, albeit at the expense of other equally essential requirements. In that regard, the continued need for United Nations and other international collaboration cannot be overemphasized. I therefore wish to end by assuring the Assembly of Zambia’s undiminished commitment to these important developmental programmes, particularly for the African continent.

I wish to thank the Secretary-General for the excellent reports that inform today’s debate (A/67/204 and A/67/205). There are undoubtedly some very positive elements in the reports, which testify to the growth, progress and resilience we are witnessing in Africa. At the same time, there is much that is sobering. The bottom line is bluntly stated: “[I]ts improved performance notwithstanding, Africa’s growth is considerably below the pre-crisis level … and inadequate to reduce poverty significantly”(A/67/204, para. 47). Ireland is deeply engaged with the unfolding African story. From the very beginning, the primary focus of Irish Aid, Ireland’s overseas development programme, has been on Africa. The large majority of our aid partners are in Africa, and it is in Africa that we have always concentrated the bulk, that is, 80 per cent, of our resources. Recognizing the extent and pace of change in Africa, the Irish Government launched an updated Africa strategy last year. The new strategy deepens and develops our approach to date, while also underlining the importance of the growing trade and investment links. Given the time constraints of today’s debate, I intend to focus on just a couple of areas covered in the reports before us. Earlier, the speaker for the European Union commented on the Roll Back Malaria initiative. I would simply note the enormous progress made over the past decade, to the point that malaria is now on the retreat across the globe. None of that would have been possible without a 15-fold increase in international funding for malaria control and without creating new ways of doing business. Ireland was a founder member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and has remained hugely committed over the past decade; our contributions to the Fund to date have totalled almost $175 million. The report before us on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), in both its analysis and its recommendations, fully recognizes the importance of agriculture and of food and nutrition security to Africa’s development. That resonates very strongly with Ireland’s official development assistance priorities. In 2008, we set ourselves a target of allocating 20 per cent of our overseas development programme to hunger eradication. Earlier this year, we were able to announce that the target had been met. Let me mention a few examples in Africa. We are very supportive of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and support and provide funding in several of our partner countries for the CAADP compacts. We are also founding members of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, which has many African members. And in 2011, the Irish Government launched the Africa Agri-Food Development Fund to provide financial support for initiatives that help to build capacity in agribusiness in Africa. The Fund is being piloted initially in Tanzania and Kenya. The report is clear as to the challenges to strengthening gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa. I would like in particular today to address those challenges in a rural and agricultural context. We all know that women experience a number of disadvantages in agriculture. They perform a disproportionate amount of farm labour, have weaker land rights and have poorer access to improved farm inputs, extension services and financial services. Yet we know that if given equal rights, access to land and other critical inputs and an equal say in decision-making, women can be powerful agents of change. Engaging and empowering women farmers must be a cornerstone of any strategy to boost agricultural productivity. In all of Ireland’s engagement in Africa, we prioritize support for women’s land rights, access to credit and improved farm inputs. We support efforts to change attitudes towards men’s and women’s agricultural workloads. We also emphasize gender- specific indicators and gender-disaggregated data in agricultural projects. The landmark decision taken last week by the High Court in Botswana will hopefully have reverberations across the continent in terms of boosting women’s property rights. The African Peer Review Mechanism is a very welcome flagship programme of NEPAD. To ensure follow-up and effective accountability, it is particularly important that the country action plans feed into the national mechanisms for planning and resource allocation, rather than remaining as stand- alone documents. Ireland has been active in our partner countries for many years in supporting better governance through providing assistance to Government ministries and local authorities, parliaments, human rights commissions and other oversight institutions for institution-building. We also help support good governance through civil society organizations. Improving the quality of financial management systems remains a major challenge. To support that, we fund a number of initiatives, such as the African Tax Administration Forum, which helps build the capacity to improve tax collection systems. Progress is being made, as the report states, with revenue collection having tripled since 2002. Management of diversity is rightly seen as a good governance issue. The Secretary-General’s report before us cogently addresses what he describes as one of the most pressing issues in Africa: the management of diversity. It is a challenge that is by no means confined to Africa. We in Ireland have experienced on our own island the tensions and scars that history leaves behind — the pain of people who believe themselves to be on the wrong side of a border. We know how difficult it is to build the approaches and institutions that can accommodate differing identities and aspirations. The Secretary-General, in paragraph 97 of his report, calls for support to national processes and policies that promote inclusive and participatory political systems, equitable representation of minorities, and institutions that address economic and political inequalities. The Good Friday Agreement of 1996 — an elaborate set of arrangements that sought to establish parity of esteem and equal treatment for both communities in Northern Ireland — is the outcome of just such a process. Knowing the long and tortuous road that led to the Good Friday Agreement, we wholeheartedly endorse the Secretary-General’s call and stand ready to offer any practical help we can. The impact of the global financial crisis on aid budgets worldwide is clearly a matter of deep concern. For our part, Ireland is committed to maintaining our development programme and to reaching the target of 0.7 per cent gross national income. We are currently contributing in excess of 0.5 per cent, and, despite the current period of austerity in Ireland, which has required major cutbacks in domestic programmes, we will move resolutely ahead towards the 0.7 per cent target. As mentioned earlier, the large bulk of our resources, close to 80 per cent, are devoted to Africa — more than twice the 37 per cent share of the total Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development global aid allocation that goes to Africa. The African Union summit in January this year, with its theme of boosting intra-African trade, was all about a new African focus and confidence. Ireland’s Africa strategy fully recognizes that new focus; we are keen to promote stronger regional integration towards increased intra-African trade, to provide technical assistance to enhance governmental capacity and industrial development planning, and to promote new opportunities for business relations. Next week, on 22 October, we will be hosting in Dublin the second Africa-Ireland Economic Forum, a strong practical demonstration of our commitment to expanding our business engagement with Africa. To conclude, on a personal note, I found it exhilarating to attend the African Union summit in Addis Ababa earlier this year. The continent is clearly and palpably on the move, and it is particularly gratifying to see African women taking their rightful place in the leadership of that move. Without overlooking any of the sobering realities, or minimizing the difficulties that lie ahead, it is clear that a new African narrative is emerging, and we in the United Nations are challenged to play our full part in that exciting new narrative.

Allow me to begin by extending my wholehearted thanks to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his attention to agenda item 13, “2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa”. I would also like to extend my warmest congratulations to Mr. Vuk Jeremić, President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session, on his election and on the leadership with which he is guiding our work. My delegation welcomes the selection of malaria as a topic of our debate today. We endorse the statement made by Cameroon on behalf of the African Group and by Algeria on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Despite the tireless efforts of countries located in areas exposed to malaria, the disease remains the primary cause of mortality and morbidity. Given the endemic nature of the disease, only a collective political commitment, together with sufficient resources, widespread understanding of the problem and the existence of appropriate health-care services will help to eradicate, or at least considerably reduce, the tragedy of malaria. In Togo, malaria is the primary public health problem. The disease is endemic, ravaging the entire territory all year long, with new outbreaks during the rainy season. According to national health statistics, malaria represents 38.9 per cent of clinic consultations and 21.9 per cent of hospitalizations. Malaria killed more than 1,314 people in Togo in 2011, and we had 506,000 cases recorded in public clinics. Children under 5 years of age and pregnant women are the most vulnerable. In the context of its determined and continuous efforts to implement the development goals contained in the international plan, Togo drafted a national five-year strategic plan to combat malaria, entitled “Roll Back Malaria 2006-2010”, with a particular emphasis on mosquito nets as a means of protection. There is not the slightest doubt that it is my country’s wish to achieve the highest rate of use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, namely, 80 per cent, in order to protect vulnerable populations, especially women and children. It is true that the numerous campaigns to distribute free insecticide-treated mosquito nets have helped to decrease somewhat the rate of malaria contamination in some regions where 71 per cent of households, or 77 per cent of children under 5 years of age, have benefited from health-care interventions. However, about 64.7 per cent of women are still exposed to malaria. Today, my country is committed to meeting the challenge and to extending the rate of preventive and curative coverage to 80 per cent of the at-risk population, in conformity with the technical recommendations of the World Health Organization, which should ensure a 75 per cent reduction in the impact of malaria on our people by 2015. With that in mind, we have started a new, simple malaria diagnosis campaign, including follow-up treatments with Coartem for infants and all children up to 10 years of age, which will run from early October until the end of December. Togo has also undertaken an anti-vector campaign, primarily aimed at improving local environmental conditions and strengthening sanitation. A reassessment of the 2005-2010 strategic plan indicated some progress as well as weaknesses. In reviewing the weaknesses, there were two main problems, as seen in the target groups, namely, a low usage rate as far as the insecticide-treated nets were concerned and possible future unavailability of the nets. With respect to environmental management, hygiene and basic sanitation, the major problem identified is the lack of an intersectoral programme and basic sanitation measures aimed at dealing with the spread of larvae breeding grounds. Given all that, we must see our struggle to combat malaria within an intra- and intersectoral framework. As a priority, we must also increase resources to support sanitation and hygiene programmes. Togo believes that the issue of malaria must be addressed not only as a public health issue, but also as a development issue in terms of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to which Togo is fully committed. My country welcomes the support of our bilateral and multilateral partners in combating malaria. We thank them for their wise counsel and technical and financial support. In order to provide a more durable and effective response capable of meeting the challenges and our collective ambition, we must take the measures needed to effectively manage the recruitment and training of qualified health personnel at all levels in order to meet our technical and operational needs. In that context, Togo reiterates its commitment to our people’s health. To the best of our ability, we will increase earmarked resources to combat that illness and create appropriate conditions to effectively cooperate with the private sector and improve high-quality anti-malarial services. That is why my country has taken the necessary steps over time to provide an increased budget for the anti-malaria campaign. But those efforts must be bolstered by considerable international aid so that we can meet our objectives for the period 2012-2015.

At the outset, my delegation would like to express our sincere thanks to the Secretary-General for his insight and his comprehensive reports (A/67/204 and A/67/205) on the important agenda items before us today. It has been over one decade since the launching of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as a collective vision and a strategic socioeconomic development framework for Africa, aimed at bringing about sustained and equitable economic growth for Africa and its improved integration within the global economy. In past years, many challenges have hindered the collective effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. However, adoption of NEPAD has forged broader support among the international community, which has led to greater achievements on the part of African countries through policy actions aimed at implementing NEPAD’s sectoral priorities. It has also further enhanced prospects of attaining the MDGs. The establishment of the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency and its integration within the African Union’s structure and process have gradually strengthened the coherence and coordination of all development efforts in the continent. We need to learn from the experiences of the past 10 years and build on NEPAD’s success. We should work together towards a new approach and better ways and means to ensure effective implementation of the programme in the next decade. As NEPAD enters its second decade, clear resolve and commitment, as well as policy actions, are essential in order to meet Africa’s development needs and to effectively and fully implement the NEPAD agenda. We are pleased to witness Africa’s steady transformation despite the tremendous challenges facing the region. We are also encouraged to learn that even with its difficult geopolitical environment and the decreasing momentum of the world economy, growth in Africa was resilient, with a rate of 4.5 per cent in 2011. Nevertheless, Africa’s growth is inadequate for the goal of significantly reducing poverty, and the continent still lags behind other regions on progress in achieving the MDGs, because of the heavy effects caused by climate change and food insecurity. It is evident that, while domestic leadership is key to Africa’s development, a strengthened and sustained global partnership is critical to successful development endeavours. Although development partners have committed to helping Africa’s development needs, including implementation of the NEPAD priorities, only limited progress has been made in that regard. We therefore add our voice in calling on the international community to increase support for Africa and to help it make further progress in the implementation of the NEPAD agenda. Both sustained external financial support and the good management of the resources are prerequisites for success in the implementation of NEPAD. However, we hardly need to stress here the importance of giving special consideration to the needs and priorities of African countries, as well as to their right to self- determination. Myanmar was one of the leading countries in building friendship and solidarity among Asian and African countries over five decades ago, as one of the organizers of the historic Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference. Myanmar has long been committed to the cause of peace and development on the African continent and a strong and solid supporter of the decolonization efforts of African countries. As Myanmar and Africa have a deep-rooted relationship and tradition of friendship, allow me to reiterate that, in solidarity with Africa, Myanmar will continue to stand firmly in support of NEPAD’s goal of generating broad-based and equitable economic growth. Myanmar’s recent significant changes and re-engagement with the international community have also opened up greater opportunities to expand trade and economic relations with countries in Africa, which is of benefit to the peoples of both Myanmar and the friendly countries of Africa. Myanmar rejoices in the reaffirmations and commitments of the international community to the full implementation of existing assistance pledges, including those made in connection with Agenda 21, the Istanbul Programme of Action, the political declaration on Africa’s development needs (resolution 63/1) and NEPAD at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Just like many countries in Africa, Myanmar has lagged behind in development for the past 60 years owing to domestic insurgency problems and an unfavourable external environment. Yet, we are now redoubling our efforts to promote peace and development in our country through both political and economic reform measures aimed at enhancing the livelihood of the people. With the growing support and encouragement of our development partners far and near, we believe that Myanmar’s economy will start to gain momentum in the near future. Together with other developing countries, Myanmar looks forward to enhancing our engagements with our African friends in their development endeavours through the South-South cooperation framework, which we believe remains important for Africa’s development. In conclusion, we would like to reiterate our support for the full and effective implementation of the NEPAD agenda to promote peace and development in Africa, while building mutual understanding based on our friendship and cooperation in the Bandung spirit of Afro-Asian solidarity.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has provided a road map for strategic development for the most disadvantaged countries in the African continent. As a country that adopted its own development path in order to realize most of the Millennium Development Goals, Sri Lanka was able to graduate to middle-income status recently and we compliment African States, which have achieved a great deal. In the past, malaria was responsible for high morbidity rates worldwide, especially in 2010, when an estimated 216 million cases of malaria occurred, resulting in the deaths of 655,000 people, mostly in Africa. Controlling malaria has been one of the most cost-effective challenges in the global public health arena, providing an excellent return on investment. The Secretary-General has recognized the importance of malaria as a barrier to the broader development agenda by making it one of his priorities for the beginning of his second term. Globally, the incidence of the disease has come down significantly during the past few years, especially after the global community united behind the comprehensive Global Malaria Action Plan of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1998. The Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries is particularly relevant to Sri Lanka. The socioeconomic advantages of Sri Lanka’s public- health-care delivery system have been acknowledged globally. It is positively reflected in the very low child and maternal mortality rates in the country. In addition, our success in eradicating polio has also been cited in a special case study. Sri Lanka, once plagued by malaria, now experiences only sporadic cases in some parts of the country. It nearly eliminated malaria once. In 1963, during the global malaria eradication effort, we achieved a low of only 17 cases, down from 92,000 cases in 1953. With funding declining and reduced spraying and surveillance, we experienced a massive resurgence of up to 1.5 million cases in 1967-1968. That highlighted the necessity of continued vigilance, investment and efforts to sustain results already achieved. Since 1970, Sri Lanka has worked hard to bring malaria back under control, with significant success. There has been a dramatic reduction of the caseload in the past decade, down from 210,000 cases in 2000 to 558 cases in 2009, a 99.7 per cent reduction. In 2011, only 124 locally acquired cases were reported. Sri Lanka is also unique in that, despite nearly three decades of internal conflict, it has succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9 per cent since 1999 and is on track to eliminate the disease entirely by 2014. Normally, countries dealing with conflict situations experience a weakening in their epidemic control mechanisms. Among the keys to success was the ability of Sri Lanka’s national programme to be flexible and to adapt to difficult and volatile conditions. Public health workers deployed mobile clinics equipped with malaria diagnostic tools and anti-malarial drugs to protect hard-to-reach and displaced populations. A heavy focus on preventative measures, such as carrying out early detection and operational research and giving adequate prominence to curative measures, were key factors in our success story. The massive awareness campaign in the school system on epidemics caused by mosquitoes made a significant impact. Political leadership, from the national level to the grass-roots level, was also mobilized. An effective partnership with civil society organizations, the private sector and international development partners was a contributory factor. I must acknowledge with gratitude the solid partnership with the WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership’s Global Malaria Action Plan, which has contributed tremendously to our efforts. Sustaining those gains and preventing resurgence are even more challenging today, with population pressures and the tropical environment of Sri Lanka. Another challenge is the shift in the population group that is at highest risk. The group most at risk in Sri Lanka is now adult men, particularly those exposed to malaria-carrying mosquitoes through their work, such as gem miners, service personnel and farmers. We are in the process of developing new strategies to address their needs as we progress with our success story. I would also commend the significant progress made globally against malaria in recent years with the help of the United Nations and other partners, including bilateral and multilateral agencies. Sri Lanka is ready to share its experience and expertise with others. Moving forward, especially in Africa, it will be critical for a range of actors to work together. It will be necessary to access low-cost and affordable treatments and drugs. The private sector has a key role in this area. The only way to achieve universal targets like the Millennium Development Goals and those in the Roll Back Malaria Partnership’s Global Malaria Action Plan is to work together in partnership.

My delegation would like to thank the President for convening this joint debate on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and on the Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa. The current plenary meeting is an important opportunity to reaffirm our support for Africa’s development agenda, which is central to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We would also like to convey our appreciation for the quality of the reports and notes (A/67/204 and A/64/205) presented by the Secretary-General on the items under our consideration today. The contours of Brazilian culture and society owe much to our historical ties with the African peoples. Those ties constitute an essential element of who we are as a nation. Brazil’s support for NEPAD reflects that awareness of our inextricable connections to Africa. The Secretary-General’s tenth progress report on NEPAD shows that Africa is undergoing a profound economic, social and political transformation. As highlighted by the report, the New Partnership mechanism aims to generate broad-based, sustained and equitable growth that allows Africa to reduce poverty and better integrate the continent into the global economy. We believe that cooperation remains a key strategy for success, as progress in development demands concerted action on multiple fronts in order to ensure inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth. In that connection, Brazil commends the progress made in the African continent in a number of areas, as indicated in the Secretary-General’s report, such as infrastructure, agriculture, food security, health, education, environment, information and communications technology, and women’s empowerment. We wish to underscore the important role played by the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa as a framework for promoting synergies at the regional and continental levels through actions focused on transport, energy and water infrastructure. Many challenges still lie ahead. The world economy continues to face renewed uncertainty, and many African countries still depend largely on exports of commodities for their economic well-being. The lack of progress in the negotiations of the World Trade Organization Doha Round — particularly with regard to improved agricultural market access, an issue of central importance for the Round’s development objectives — makes it much harder for poor countries to withstand the impacts of the global economic crisis. The situation is further aggravated by the slow pace in the increase of official development assistance to Africa. As noted in the Secretary-General’s report, Africa has received only around half of the increased assistance pledged at the Group of Eight Summit in Gleneagles in 2005. We welcome, in that regard, the adoption of resolution 66/293 on a monitoring mechanism to review commitments made towards Africa’s development, and we call upon all donor countries to fulfil their commitments as a matter of urgency. We believe that the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development has provided important tools to enable us to step up our efforts to foster Africa’s development agenda in all three dimensions of sustainable development, namely, the economic, the social and the environmental. Based on the principles of national ownership and leadership, NEPAD has our full and enthusiastic support, as it offers an effective framework for cooperation and development, rooted in African perspectives and African priorities. Africa remains a priority for Brazilian foreign policy. Over the past decade, Brazil has increased its presence in Africa, including through the establishment of a growing network of diplomatic and trade missions in the continent. Today, we are present in 37 African capitals, including in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the African Union. We have also been working to strengthen regional political dialogue with a view to broadening the scope and number of developing partners. The Africa-South America Summit constitutes, in that sense, a good example of an innovative platform for increased dialogue and cooperation. Bilateral economic ties between Brazil and African countries have also prospered. Over the past decade, Brazil-Africa trade flows have increased more than six- fold, from $4.2 billion in 2002 to over $27 billion in 2011. We have also expanded investment in several countries on the continent, particularly in the construction, mining, energy and transportation sectors. Brazil fully supports the sector priorities established by NEPAD. In recognition of the essential role played by agricultural and rural development as crucial drivers of food security and poverty eradication, we have sought to work with African partner countries to develop joint initiatives in those areas. Since 2002, the Brazilian Government has signed more than 50 cooperation agreements in the field of agriculture with 18 African countries, including Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia. Two years ago, we were pleased to host 45 African countries in the first Brazil-Africa Dialogue on Food Security, the Fight against Hunger, and Rural Development. Since 2006, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, a State company, has been operating in Africa through an office in Ghana with a view to supporting the technological and productive improvement of savannah agriculture in Africa. Through that facility, we have been able to provide assistance to over 30 countries in the region. We also believe in the large potential Africa has for the sustainable production of biofuels, while being careful not to endanger food production or food security. In that sense, Brazil has been working with countries such as Ghana and Senegal in order to develop national capacity for the production of bioenergy. As a rule, cooperation projects aim to transfer skills, build local capacity and empower local workers, with the full engagement and ownership of African Governments, in line with the principles that guide our engagement in South-South cooperation initiatives. Furthermore, together with our partners, India and South Africa, we have engaged in a number of capacity- building projects with countries such as Burundi, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The implications of health issues on the overall efforts to promote development are clear and have been reaffirmed in a number of internationally agreed documents, such as the Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2). According to the World Health Organization, there were, in 2011, around 216 million cases of malaria worldwide, with an estimated 655,000 deaths per year, mainly in Africa, where every minute one child dies of that disease. NEPAD rightly recognizes the close links between health, poverty, social exclusion, marginalization and environmental degradation in Africa. As one of the countries afflicted by malaria, Brazil is deeply committed to the international fight against the disease. Our engagement is manifested through both bilateral cooperation and participation in multilateral efforts, such as the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the International Drug Purchase Facility and the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. Brazilian cooperation initiatives focus significantly on creating and developing capacities in the area of health. On the bilateral level, we have developed joint training and capacity-building programmes with a number of African countries for the prevention and control of malaria and the overall strengthening of national health systems. The international community has made remarkable progress over the past few years in the pursuit of the goals of achieving universal coverage in malaria prevention and treatment by 2010 and reducing global malaria deaths to near zero preventable deaths by 2015. Programmes related to early diagnosis and control have been able to decrease the global mortality by 25 per cent since the beginning of the Roll Back Malaria initiative. However, there are still many significant challenges to be overcome. In addition to traditional prevention strategies, such as the use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying, national Governments should be able to count on the support of the international community to implement mechanisms aimed at ensuring universal access to free or affordable medicines for the treatment of malaria for those who are already affected, making full use of the flexibility in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health.

Since this is the first time I am taking the floor, I seize this opportunity to reiterate the congratulations of the Mozambican delegation to Mr. Vuk Jeremić on his election to preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and to assure him of our full commitment to contribute to the success of this session. The delegation of Mozambique aligns itself with the statement made by the distinguished representative of Cameroon, on behalf of the African Group (see A/67/PV.25). It is with great interest that my delegation joins in this debate on the development of Africa, and we wish to commend the Secretary-General for the substantive reports before us today (A/67/204 and A/67/205). We also take the opportunity to commend the various initiatives related to the celebration of Africa Week, which contributes to keeping Africa’s development needs at the centre of the international agenda. We note with encouragement that the reports before us give evidence of the positive trends in Africa’s development, from its remarkable growth rates to its growing political stability, recognizing that those achievements derive from strong leadership, good governance and increased reliance on home-grown solutions that are appropriate to Africans as the subjects and owners of their own destiny. The New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has provided us with exceptional opportunities to improve capacities and policies aimed at delivering results in important socioeconomic areas and at promoting public and private partnerships, which have added to the growing confidence in Africa’s ability to extricate itself from the malaise of underdevelopment within the continent and beyond, thus enabling many countries to make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As the report of the Secretary-General underscores, the African continent is making concerted efforts to ensure that international development assistance is gradually complemented by an increasing share of internally raised resources within the continent. Nevertheless, we believe that international development assistance is still critical to helping the continent to build and consolidate the foundations for growth that will eventually reduce dependence through investments in infrastructure and the social sectors, such as health and education. Therefore, while we are encouraged by the modest increase in the levels of official development assistance to Africa from $47 billion in 2010 to $50 billion in 2011, we would like to renew the call to the international community to ensure that the shortfalls in attaining the agreed levels of financial commitments made at United Nations conferences and by the Group of Eight at Gleneagles in 2005 and L’Aquila in 2009, including those relating to the financing of food security and agriculture programmes, will soon be resolved. Only with the support of its development partners can Africa successfully address the prevailing challenges and stay the course to sustainable development in peace and achieve the MDGs. To that end, we concur with the recommendations contained in the reports of the Secretary-General and would like to stress that, in order for Africa to continue to consolidate the socioeconomic and political achievements made so far, priority should be given to strengthening, among other things, inclusive governance, partnerships between public and private sectors so as to expand economic opportunities, build infrastructure, develop local economies and reduce poverty. With regard to sustained global partnerships, turning to agenda item 13, malaria remains a great concern in our development efforts, as it accounts for a high percentage of Mozambique’s disease burden, with children under 5 years of age, pregnant women, socially disadvantaged groups and people living with HIV/AIDS being the most vulnerable. The 2010-2014 five-year Government plan and its poverty eradication strategy envisage bold measures to strategically develop national systems and capacities in the health sector and to increase the coverage and quality of interventions, which can enable the country to move to an elimination plan sooner. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health is actively engaged in establishing participatory and integrated strategies to mitigate the impact of diseases that directly affect the social and economic structure. It has also put in place a strategy that combines efforts to secure more flexible and better-trained health personnel, as well as a close monitoring mechanism for malaria eradication. It is worth noting that Mozambique has witnessed significant progress in the reduction of the malaria burden in the country through various initiatives undertaken under the National Malaria Control Programme, such as indoor residual spraying; increased Roll Back Malaria awareness campaigns, based on wide-scale mosquito net distribution, aiming at universal access; intermittent preventative treatment for pregnant women; the use of rapid-diagnosis tests as well as combined therapy based on artemisinin for malaria treatment. As a result, Mozambique has made significant steps towards reducing malaria occurrence and has increased the number of health units capable of performing malaria diagnosis on the ground. In addition, 100 per cent of health units and indoor residual spraying agents are capable of assisting people with malaria by providing first-line malaria treatment; 57 per cent of the affected families have at least one mosquito net with long-lasting insecticide treatment; 34 per cent of pregnant women were entitled to two doses of intermittent preventative malaria treatment during the first semester of 2012; indoor residual spraying covers 85 per cent of the targeted districts in the country for the 2011-2012 period. Our efforts are geared towards measures that go beyond the goal of malaria prevention. Our aim is to increase collective awareness of good practices, with a view to eliminating the scourge of malaria, which is one of the constraints on our national development. As we strive to keep up the momentum generated by the Decade to Roll Back Malaria, Mozambique would like to stress its view that the lessons learned and the best practices for scaling up national interventions add value to our efforts to improve universal access and reach the targets to which we have committed ourselves. In the efforts to address the scourge of malaria, partnerships with the relevant stakeholders, such as the private sector, civil society, development partners and neighbouring countries, are of paramount importance. As such, Mozambique is among the eight Southern African Development Community pilot group countries that signed, in 2009, a malaria agreement establishing 2020 as a target for malaria eradication. We are convinced that a regional approach will ensure the availability of appropriate mechanisms to strengthen the ongoing transborder initiatives and their sustainability. We reiterate our regional common understanding that only a common political commitment will drive us towards establishing an appropriate health architecture by means of which we will be able to overcome the challenge confronting the region, namely, the eradication of malaria in this decade. I would like to conclude by stressing that, based on the progress made so far and the commitments adhered to by the various partners, we are confident that Africa will not be left behind. The Government of Mozambique remains committed to accelerating and redoubling its efforts.

I would like, first of all, to align my delegation with the statement made by Ambassador Tommo Monthe, Permanent Representative of Cameroon, in his capacity as Chair of the African Group (see A/67/PV.25). We are pleased that the Organization has convened this meeting on the Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa, and we thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in that initiative and for his comprehensive report on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (A/67/204). I take this opportunity to express the Republic of Equatorial Guinea’s appreciation for the noble efforts deployed over the past decade by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership in the framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), with the benefit of substantive international support. We also appreciate the resources mobilized, which are greatly helping Governments’ ongoing efforts to combat and eradicate pandemic diseases in developing countries, such as malaria. Despite those efforts, malaria continues to take 780,000 lives a year. Malaria still affects 40 per cent of the world’s population, impeding socioeconomic development in the poorest communities. Nevertheless, during the past decade the rapid increase in measures to control malaria has saved more than a million lives in Africa, reducing deaths from malaria by 38 per cent. Those achievements should help to strengthen the international partnership aiming to completely eliminate malaria. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea has contributed vigorously to those efforts at both the international and the national levels. Internationally, the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea sponsors the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, whose purpose is to foster scientific research aimed at the eradication of pandemic diseases, such as malaria, that afflict the continent of Africa and other regions of the world. Nationally, the Government runs an anti-malaria initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Marathon Oil Corporation and Medical Care Development International, which currently focuses on Bioko Island, but will be extended in 2013 to cover the mainland of the country. As a result of those efforts on the part of the Government, in cooperation with its partners Marathon and Medical Care, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea today has one of the most successful programmes to combat malaria, having reduced the incidence of the disease by 57 per cent in only four years. In support of that initiative the Government is working towards the completion of a wide-ranging set of projects to build and equip specialized hospitals, provide potable water and supply electricity to all parts of the country. Those projects fall under the Government Horizon 2020 initiative, which seeks to provide health care for all, education for all, livelihoods for all, food for all, electricity for all and potable water for all. In his address to the General Assembly at this session, Mr. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, reiterated his support for an approach based on common but differentiated responsibility in the global fight against pandemic diseases, including malaria (see A/67/PV.12). Because good intentions are not enough, but must be proved by actions, the President of the Republic backed up his stated support with specific commitments. In that vein, we express our sincere appreciation for the noble work being done by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership under the leadership of Executive Director Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, Under-Secretary-General Maged Abdelaziz, the Special Adviser of the Secretary- General on Africa, and Mr. Ibrahim Miyaki, Chief Executive Officer of the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), for the remarkable dynamism and pragmatism of the work being done within the framework of NEPAD, and for the international support in promoting sustainable development and lasting peace in Africa. I conclude my brief remarks by encouraging all of Africa’s partners and, indeed, the whole of the international community to support the strong efforts being made by the Governments of our continent and to help confront the numerous challenges they face in coping with the pandemic diseases, in particular malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, while striving for sustainable development and lasting peace in the region.

Allow me at the outset to express my delegation’s appreciation to the President of the General Assembly for convening this plenary meeting, which is of great importance for Africa. I would also like to express our deep appreciation to the Secretary-General for his leadership and commitment in putting Africa’s agenda at the centre of the work of the United Nations system. Ethiopia welcomes the progress report of the Secretary-General on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) (A/67/204). My delegation fully associates itself with the statement delivered by the representative of Cameroon on behalf of the African Group (see A/67/PV.25). The year 2012 signals the beginning of the second decade for NEPAD. A key milestone has been reached. Since its inception, NEPAD served as the common and shared vision for Africa’s renewal. The vision of NEPAD’s initiators is one that is premised on the need for Africa to take its rightful place in the global system, based on our self-defined transformative agenda and ownership. Over the years NEPAD has matured into the flagship development programme of the African Union. Its programmatic activities have promoted stronger African ownership through creative and effective cooperation with partners. NEPAD has been contributing immensely to the transformation of the policy design and implementation of Africa’s development objectives. There is no doubt that Africa is witnessing a new era of renewed momentum. No longer is the continent seen as a marginalized part of the world that is fit only for consideration from the perspective of humanitarian assistance. Even during difficult times at the global level, Africa has continued to register growth. That does not apply to all countries on the continent, but it applies to enough of them for the trend to be considered broadly representative. It is projected that Africa will grow at the rate of 5 per cent in the next decade, which is not sufficient to ensure the graduation of most of its least developed countries into the middle-income categories. If we are to achieve more, the global situation, including financing for development, has to improve. Although the continent has been moving towards a more promising future, the development challenges facing Africa remain complex. Global realities have continued to influence Africa’s development outlook since the turn of the new millennium. The global financial and economic crisis, worsened by fiscal disarray, and climate change have had an impact, direct and indirect, on the high gross domestic product growth rates in Africa, which had reached a peak of about 6 per cent in 2007. In that context, the role of NEPAD is extremely critical. NEPAD has moved into a new phase of Africa’s development trajectory. The focus is now on the implementation of key programmes and projects in key sectors such as infrastructure, energy, agriculture and enhancement of African ownership. Essentially, the core objectives of NEPAD should be realized through effective international cooperation. Ethiopia is committed to the NEPAD vision of taking full ownership of its development process. NEPAD should serve as the catalyst for development and regional integration. In that regard, we call on all development partners to work towards re-energizing NEPAD implementation. For its part, Ethiopia attaches great importance to strengthening regional integration. The electric power connections and the road networks that we have built and are building with Djibouti, the Sudan, Kenya and South Sudan are emblematic of our resolve to play our part in regional integration. We believe that that infrastructure development will create larger markets and develop stronger economies that facilitate and enhance the regional economic transformation. Beyond economic development, it is also essential to promote social development programmes guided by the objective of social inclusion. Here again the challenge is not to come up with a new strategy for social development but to implement the strategies that we have on various occasions already charted. Recent reports describe Africa as a young continent, with over 60 per cent of its current population being under 30 years old. The current characteristics of African demography represent a potential challenge. Proper management of the demographic situation requires active and substantive participation by youth in the economic, social and political environment. We believe, therefore, that the main principle in dealing with the issue must be to recognize that the problems of youth can be overcome successfully only by addressing the challenges facing African societies as a whole. It is in that context that it becomes essential to help youth organize and to create the necessary political space and mechanisms for their engagement in addressing societal challenges. Turning to the issue of rolling back malaria in developing countries, since 2000 Ethiopia has made significant and intensified efforts by initiating and scaling up the coverage of key malaria interventions throughout the country. Our malaria prevention and control programme is an integral part of our growth and transformation plan. As a result, the overall achievement has been a significant reduction in cases of malaria and malaria-related deaths. In concluding, Ethiopia would like to underscore that the post-2015 development agenda and the follow- up to and implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, particularly in the process of formation of sustainable development goals, should pay particular attention to the development needs of Africa.

My country’s delegation is pleased to take part in discussing the agenda item entitled “New Partnership for Africa’s Development”. We have followed with great attention the content of the two reports of the Secretary-General on the implementation of and international support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) (A/67/204) and on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa (A/67/205). We join others in urging the international community, African Governments, development partners and international financial institutions to unite their efforts in dealing with issues related to security, development and the rule of law. The State of Kuwait attaches special importance to the agenda item before us because of Kuwait’s close relationship with Africa and the challenges that the African continent faces. Those challenges require all of us to step up our efforts and cooperation and assist the peoples of the continent as they address them. They include, inter alia, the steep increase in the rate of unemployment, the absence of security in a number of regions, the spread of armed conflicts, and the fact that a significant number of African States remain far from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Eleven years have elapsed since the heads of African States adopted the NEPAD initiative, the comprehensive strategic vision for accomplishing economic and social development in Africa. Moreover, 10 years have elapsed since the General Assembly held a high-level dialogue on the NEPAD initiative, on 16 September 2002, and adopted, in November 2002 its resolution 57/7, making NEPAD the international community’s framework for Africa’s development. The Assembly called upon the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other development partners to harmonize their programmes directed at supporting development efforts in Africa. Unfortunately, increases in the number of poverty cases and the spread of dangerous and communicable diseases, together with the progressive decrease in economic support and support for development projects, makes it essential that the international community take a serious stand, determine how to support and assist developing African States in overcoming the difficulties they face in earning their livelihoods, and adhere to the resolutions and commitments it has made to increase official development assistance. During the past five years, the countries of the world have witnessed the emergence of numerous international challenges and dangers that have impeded development efforts in many developing countries. Perhaps the most pressing of those challenges have been the rise in food prices, the turmoil in financial markets and the global economic crisis. However, despite the significance of those crises, they should not impede the international community in the fulfilment of its commitments to support development projects in the developing and the least developed countries. I therefore cannot fail to emphasize the need to urge African countries to make greater efforts to address the requirements and the concerns of the international community, such as laying the foundations of stability and good governance and providing the appropriate environment to encourage the donor countries in all its sectors to offer the needed economic and technical support to the countries on the African continent. In that regard, I would like to mention that the State of Kuwait has not spared, nor will it spare, any effort to continue its support and provide assistance to developing countries in general and to African countries in particular, through its official institutions and its private sector. Such assistance is considered a constant in Kuwait’s foreign policy, which emanates from its conviction that advancing the economies of those States and lending them a hand in achieving their development goals will benefit everyone, consolidate partnerships and cooperation and further strengthen global trade and economic systems. My country will continue to lend support so that developing countries in general and the African countries in particular can achieve their development goals. The State of Kuwait has a history replete with partnerships with African countries and supporting their development. Kuwait’s economic relations with the African countries have often preceded diplomatic and political relations. A fundamental element in that regard is the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, which has a presence in 48 of the 54 countries that constitute the African Union. His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, participated in the nineteenth African Union summit, held in Addis Ababa. Kuwait joined the African Union as an observer and made a donation at the summit of funds to cover the expenses of equipping the headquarters of the African Union Commission. All those aspects emphasize the depth of relations between Kuwait and the countries of Africa and clearly demonstrate my country’s desire to support and assist the countries of Africa as they find solutions to their problems. Recognizing the importance of joint work undertaken to benefit the peoples of developing countries, my country established the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The activities of the Fund have been expanded to 102 countries, all over the world, including 48 African countries, contributing to the financing of numerous projects in different sectors, including agriculture, transportation, energy, water, sanitation, health, education and so on. The African continent has always benefited from the activities of the Fund. The total amount that the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has spent on development projects in Africa exceeds $6.4 billion. In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the need for the international community, all intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector to stand united in providing the support and assistance needed to ensure the availability of the means for lives of dignity and to strengthen the infrastructure of the developing countries in general and the African countries in particular. That is in accordance with Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, which deals with international cooperation to solve economic, social, cultural and humanitarian issues.

I wish to thank the Secretary- General for his reports informing today’s debate (A/67/204 and A/67/205). I also take this opportunity to thank the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for organizing the NEPAD Africa Week. That event follows the very successful commemoration of the tenth anniversary of NEPAD held last year here in New York. My delegation supports the statement delivered at the 25th meeting by the Permanent Representative of Cameroon on behalf of the Group of African States. Today’s debate on Africa is crucial, as it takes place at a time when there is even greater focus on Africa’s development needs. Kenya was honoured, together with Sweden, to co-facilitate the General Assembly process on the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to follow up on all commitments related to Africa’s development needs. I am happy to report that the co-facilitators successfully completed that crucial exercise and presented a draft resolution to be adopted at the Assembly’s sixty-seventh session. I wish to thank all Member States for their active participation and fruitful contributions during the consultation process and the negotiation of the draft resolution. A monitoring mechanism on Africa’s development needs is important, as it will help to identify existing gaps in numerous crucial sectors and because it will hold partner agencies and countries accountable and maintain political momentum in efforts to achieve internationally agreed development goals. Africa is the most infrastructure-deficient region globally. The continent requires massive investment in infrastructure development — transport, energy, information and communications technology, and water and sanitation — in order to strengthen the platform for sustained growth. It is estimated that the region will need to commit over $200 billion annually, through the three pillars, in order to develop the capacity required for sustained development. That is far above what the continent receives in official development assistance and what national budgets can afford. In fact, available data shows that the continent is able to marshal only a third of the resources required to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally agreed development goals. The MDGs represent an unprecedented global consensus on measures to reduce poverty, especially in Africa. They have provided a powerful tool for sustaining global attention and for galvanizing support in many countries. The MDGs have shown that a set of clear and measurable targets can be an important driver of change, and that has provided incentives for a post- 2015 global development agenda. It is now a reality that no country in sub-Saharan Africa is on course to achieve all the MDGs by 2015. While some have made commendable progress towards meeting the MDG targets within the stipulated time frame, others are not on track to realize any of them. Some have in fact recorded negative growth and reversed gains. Kenya’s experience in the pursuit of the MDG targets has been mixed. We have significantly reduced the proportion of our population living below the poverty line. We are on course to achieve the Goal on universal primary education, with the net enrolment rate rising from 74 per cent in 2000 to 95 per cent in 2011. Positive progress has also been witnessed in gender equality and the development of women. Kenya is a Board member of the Roll Back Malaria programme and is currently consolidating gains achieved in the fight against malaria. It was envisaged that in order to achieve the MDGs by 2015, developing countries would need to register a consistent and sustainable annual growth rate of at least 7 per cent up to 2015. That forecast has not been realized, as most countries have been forced to redirect their priorities in response to the impacts stemming from a harsh global economic environment, including the global economic and financial crises and humanitarian interventions. The crises, coupled with rising food and energy prices and the negative effects of climate change, have severely interrupted the development priorities of most of our countries. The increasing global challenges have made it apparent that perhaps we need to change the strategy. Thus, even as we continue our reflections on the post-2015 scenario, we must focus our attention on accelerating progress towards meeting the targets before the stipulated time. The transition from the MDGs to the post-2015 strategy must be combined with a degree of continuity. The new development agenda should be formulated through a participatory, inclusive and bottom-up process and should be United Nations-led. The process should build on the principles of the Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2), experiences with the MDGs, MDG successes and resource gaps. The Millennium Declaration presented six values that were considered to be fundamental for international relations in the twenty-first century — freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility. The new global development blueprint must re-emphasize and highlight the increasing challenges facing poor countries, particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa, which have continued to negate the social and economic development of the continent. The post-2015 development strategy is therefore, more than before, critical to Africa. Dedicated and accelerated development strategies are required to fully realize the vision expressed in the Millennium Declaration and create a world where globalization becomes a positive force for all. We look forward to active engagement in the forthcoming discussion on the intergovernmental process on sustainable development goals, the post- 2015 development strategy and the just-launched negotiations in the quadrennial comprehensive policy review. It is Kenya’s view that at the end of those parallel processes on the sustainable development goals and the post-2015 development strategy, we will come up with a single process which should be United Nations-led. The special needs of Africa must be prioritized, with Africa actively engaged in the negotiation process.