Annan Calls On Both Rich And Poor Nations To 'Close The Deal' To End Poverty
After many years of hard work and compromise, the world is now on the threshold of a breakthrough in the pursuit of
development and human dignity, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, calling on rich nations to
provide the funding and poor nations to affect the necessary reforms to clinch the global deal to "make poverty
history."
"There is real hope today because, first and foremost, many developing countries have succeeded in lifting millions of
people out of impoverishment and despair. And there is real momentum because the international community has banded
together in a sustained, unprecedented effort," Mr. Annan told the General Assembly's High-Level Dialogue on Financing
for Development.
The Assembly has gathered finance ministers in New York to debate the status of worldwide efforts to implement the
Monterrey Consensus, the landmark agreement adopted by world leaders at an international development summit in Mexico in
2002. The two-day meeting, will be built around a series of formal and informal meetings and six interactive round-table
discussions on issues that include international trade as an engine for development, and mobilizing domestic financial
resources for development.
In Monterrey, developed nations agreed to a new bargain with the world's developing nations: donors would increase aid
spending and the world's poor nations would carry out economic and political reforms to ensure that development
assistance money gets spent effectively, chiefly towards meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of
targets a set of ambitious targets, ranging from halving extreme poverty, to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and to
providing universal primary education, all by 2015.
"The Millennium Development Goals have become a rallying point of unparalleled scope - the globally accepted benchmarks
by which our policies should be fashioned, and by which our progress should be judged, Mr. Annan said today, adding that
the Monterrey Consensus has "brought rich and poor countries together in partnership."
"The question now, just days before the G8 summit, and less than 12 weeks before the 2005 World Summit here at the
United Nations, is whether we can close the deal," said the Secretary-General, making reference to the 6 to 8 July
meeting of the Group of Eight most industrialized nations in Gleneagles, Scotland, and the Assembly's upcoming September
summit to review the MDGs and make decisions on UN renewal.
Mr. Annan called the decision taken earlier this month by the G8 finance ministers to write of the staggering debt of
some developing countries "very encouraging," and noted the European Union has agreed to a clear timetable for reaching
the 0.7 percent target for official development assistance (ODA) by 2015. "This will offer a chance to finally overcome
the resource shortfalls that have kept so many millions of people mired in squalor," he said.
"Such steps make up for lost ground. They need to be accompanied by similarly dramatic action on the unfinished parts of
the agenda. Rich and poor alike must do heir part. Responsibility flows both ways," he said.
"So let us work together for a successful World Summit. Let us grasp this opportunity to advance the cause of
development, as well as the security and human rights agendas that are so closely bound up with it. Let us show that
needless, senseless human misery shall have no place in our world," Mr. Annan said.
General Assembly President Jean Ping of Gabon said that today's dialogue was particularly significant because it would
allow for passing one more milestone on the road towards the September summit. The Monterrey conference reflected the
international community's growing awareness about the complex development issues and the lack of financial resources in
poor countries.
Looking ahead to the upcoming 2005 World Summit, Mr. Ping said it was essential to ensure that the monetary system was
more consistent and cohesive to enable developing countries to reform and to mobilize national resources. He reiterated
the appeal of heads of State at Monterrey calling for an international follow-up conference to report on the
implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. Arrangements for such a conference must be decided on in 2005 at the latest.