General Assembly Session 57 meeting 11

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Carlos Ruckauf, Minister for Foreign Affairs, External Trade and Worship of Argentina.

Mr. Ruckauf (Argentina)

It is an honour for Argentina and for me to make a statement at this important debate to consider the issue of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Argentina fully supports this new initiative aimed at eradicating poverty in Africa and helping its peoples in the path of the rule of law, growth and sustainable development. My country shares NEPAD's fundamental premise: the link between peace and development. In other words, economic and social development is not possible without an adequate framework for peace and stability. The reality in Africa and other parts of the world shows us daily that, as long as the basic needs of the individual remain unsatisfied and vast inequality persists, the threat of conflict will always be latent.

For centuries, the African continent has been part of the world economy as a supplier of unskilled labour and raw materials. Colonialism, post-war bipolar confrontation, the decolonization process, the end of the cold war and globalization brought with them specific trends, to which Africa tried to adapt, with a majority of the countries failing, regrettably, to achieve the expected development results.

However, we are not here to blame the past, but rather to help overcome structural weaknesses that have impeded development in Africa. NEPAD represents a new vision and responsible awareness by African leaders regarding regional and international politics and economics. Argentina values the political, economic and social objectives that the African leaders have pledged to achieve through NEPAD. Among those objectives, we wish to underscore conflict prevention, the protection of democracy and human rights, economic stability, the revitalization of the education and health sectors, with emphasis on the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other communicable diseases, the promotion of the role of women, the development of infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing, an equitable solution to the external debt issue and integration of the African continent into international trade.

The NEPAD objectives deserve the support of the international community -- the international community at large, the donor countries, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The United Nations particularly must be the spokesperson for the least developed, smaller and weaker countries.

We live in a world of contradictions. Integration and globalization coexist with fragmentation and marginalization. The unprecedented economic prosperity achieved in recent years coexists with extreme poverty in parts of Africa and other areas of the world, including Latin America. The only option for one fifth of humankind is to survive on $1 per day. In spite of that, official development assistance has steadily diminished. We believe it must be increased. We also believe that the relationship between official development assistance and policy implementation is a key to achieving sustained economic growth in Africa. Fighting inflation and the fiscal deficit and encouraging savings and investment are measures that are directly related to the effectiveness of official development assistance.

In our view, support must not be limited to official development assistance; it must also be translated into liberalization of trade that would allow for real integration of the African countries into international trade. Tariff barriers are assuming new forms, such as establishing labour and environmental standards and anti-dumping measures, sending a message of little encouragement to African countries that are making considerable efforts to modernize their economies and conquer export markets. The issue of the external debt also deserves a sustainable solution that is not detrimental to the allocation of resources to priority areas of development, such as health and education.

In matters relating to peace and security, we are pleased to note the significant progress achieved in the peace processes in Angola, Sierra Leone, between Eritrea and Ethiopia and in the Great Lakes region, with the active involvement of African regional and subregional organizations and the clear, effective and decisive involvement of the Security Council through its resolutions. We think that the relationship between regional organizations and the Council must be reinforced and that we should explore the possibilities for cooperation set out in Chapter VIII of the Charter.

We are aware of the efforts being made by the majority of African Governments to settle their pending disputes peacefully, strengthen their democratic institutions, promote human rights and reform their economies. Today we want to renew our commitment to Africa. Argentina has always been present in Africa. From the beginning, we supported the decolonization process and the fight against apartheid.

Consistent with an approach that links peace and security, Argentina has contributed to peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, good governance and technical cooperation for development.

In the 1960s, Argentina participated in the peacekeeping operation in Congo. Subsequently we have been present in Angola, Mozambique and in the United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia. At present, Argentina is participating in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara and in the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With electoral observers, Argentina participated in the first free and fair elections held in South Africa, in the referendum for self-determination in Eritrea and in the 1997 legislative elections in Algeria.

Argentina provides humanitarian assistance either directly or through the "White Helmets" initiative and promotes development cooperation through a programme of cooperation funds. Likewise, with the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic, which brings together three Latin American and 21 African countries, an action coordinated by my country since 1998, Argentina has presented several proposals to deepen cooperation among members of the Zone.

In recent years, Argentina has strengthened its political, cultural and commercial ties with Africa. We want this mutually beneficial trend towards dialogue and cooperation to continue and further deepen in the future.

I would not wish to conclude my intervention without expressing the gratitude of the Argentine Republic towards Africa. Virtually no changes could have been possible in this Organization in areas of paramount importance such as decolonization, disarmament, the law of the sea, human rights and development, just to name a few, without the substantial contributions and clear commitments made by Africa to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.

The President

Before giving the floor to the next speaker, I would like to remind all representatives about the agreed five-minute time limit on statements. I appeal to all speakers to really, genuinely respect it.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalghem, Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Mr. Shalghem (Libya)

I am pleased to express my deep appreciation to you, Sir, for presiding over this very important meeting. I would also like to express our thanks to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his keen interest in African causes and his continuous efforts for the establishment and consolidation of peace in the continent and for African development in all fields.

African leaders have reaffirmed their determined will and full commitment to guarantee complete success in the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and have stated the need to take all genuine and effective measures to transform the Partnership into reality, especially because it is African-led and should respond to all of Africa's aspirations to comprehensive development.

This meeting, which is devoted to considering how to support NEPAD, is a clear indication of the international community's desire to respond to Africa's special needs. Those needs have been underlined in several international forums and, particularly, in the Millennium Declaration.

Africa fully realizes that the main responsibility for the implementation of NEPAD falls on the shoulders of the African peoples. However, international support is essential. That is why we urge the agencies of the United Nations system and the international community to help in achieving NEPAD's objectives through practical and concrete measures: by mobilizing financial resources, by increasing official development assistance and direct investment, by easing the debt burden and by embarking on new initiatives to improve the access of African exports to world markets, especially those of developed countries. There is also a need for assistance in the fields of human resources and capacity-building through investment in health, education, drinking water and the infrastructure projects needed to achieve economic development.

In order for NEPAD to be a true and truly new partnership, the partners should observe the following points. First, they must respect the will, history and culture of the Africans, with all that this entails: the exclusion of any political conditions or biased positions that would ignore the specificity and innate character of a society. Development should be recognized as a historical process that cannot be achieved through political decisions.

Secondly, donors should realize that the extent to which they contribute to the financing of NEPAD is the extent to which their own societies will benefit both materially and socially. Limiting or preventing immigration through legislative and administrative measures will not achieve the desired effect. The expansion of development projects in countries whose people are emigrating could keep people in their homeland and drastically and definitively remove incentives to emigrate.

Thirdly, priority should be given to infrastructure projects, especially in the fields of communications and road-building. This could help all sectors to achieve development, production and stability at lower cost.

Fourthly, special importance should be attached to water projects in order to make maximal and optimal use of all water sources in Africa for diverse purposes, especially agricultural, in order to solve food problems and eradicate poverty throughout the continent.

Fifthly, all restrictions on the transfer and dissemination of technology should be eliminated; this would further development in various economic and social fields.

Sixthly, consideration should be given to Africa's long suffering over past centuries, to the fact that its resources were plundered without compensation and to the role played by those resources in the development that certain countries have attained.

Finally, it is essential to deal with one of the most important phenomena in Africa, the brain drain, which affects its finest human resources, who emigrate to developed countries due to the pressure of several interconnected causes. The creation of a suitable environment for African minds and expertise plays a role in the countries that have prepared and educated such minds. This would greatly benefit the Partnership and save everyone huge costs in terms of the loss of talent.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Inam ul Haque, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan.

Mr. Haque (Pakistan)

My delegation would like to begin by commending the African leadership for their vision of launching Africa on the path of sustainable growth and development through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). We are happy that this Africa-led, Africa-owned and Africa-driven programme is an integrated and comprehensive framework for Africa's development.

During the past decade, many initiatives were evolved and launched. Yet the overall situation on the African continent has not improved over the last two decades. Some 80 million more people live in poverty in Africa today than did at the dawn of the decade of the 1990s.

Cognizant of these realities, most African Governments have undertaken important structural reforms, reflected in improved macroeconomic management, trade liberalization and the encouragement of greater and enhanced private sector participation. However, overall, the results have not reversed the economic decline in Africa. NEPAD offers hope. It sets out a broad vision for Africa's future, outlines a strategy for achieving that vision and spells out a programme of action focused on a number of key priority areas.

Many elements of New Partnership for Africa's Development, such as peace and security, poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, good governance and infra-structural development directly correspond to ongoing programmes of the United Nations in African countries. The United Nations can, and must, play a tangible supporting role in this important project.

The primary objective of NEPAD is to eventually eradicate poverty in Africa and place African countries on the path of sustainable growth and development, thus reversing the marginalization of Africa and integrating it into the globalization process. This is a gigantic and formidable challenge that Africa cannot overcome on its own. It needs meaningful international support and assistance, which will entail action at two levels.

First, the international community should help in dealing with the underlying political and security causes of instability in the African continent. At the same time, the economic and social problems afflicting parts of Africa must be tackled through a comprehensive assistance programme comprised of adequate resources. Such a programme should be complemented by: improved market access for African exports; accelerated and increased debt relief, including complete debt cancellation; enhanced official development assistance (ODA) without conditionalities; conscious efforts to increase the flow of foreign direct investment to African countries; transfer of technology to African countries on concessional and preferential terms; human resource development, particularly in health and education; and a special and focussed endeavour to halt and eradicate HIV/AIDS.

Pakistan, for its part, has consistently supported the political and economic aspirations of Africa. We are proud of our participation in several United Nations peacekeeping operations in that Continent. Our military and civilian personnel have been part of United Nations operations in Somalia, Namibia, Liberia, Western Sahara, and, lately, Sierra Leone. Pakistan will continue to lend its moral and material support to African countries.

Our technical assistance programme for Africa is an on-going process of training young professionals in diverse fields. Today, I would like to affirm that Pakistan will extend full support to NEPAD in all possible ways.

African people have suffered for a long time. Challenges faced by Africa are colossal. NEPAD represents a realistic framework to meet these challenges. Commitments are there, so are the plans. It is time to turn words into deeds. This is our moral obligation as well as a political imperative.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss, Federal Counsellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.

Mr. Deiss (Switzerland)

I am particularly pleased that it is on the subject of Africa that Switzerland is participating for the first time as a Member State in a substantive debate in this Assembly.

A long-standing partner of the African continent, Switzerland welcomes this initiative designed by Africans for Africa, through which the African countries are expressing their determination to control the destiny of their continent. I wish, here, to congratulate our African colleagues on this new shared approach to the economic and social development of their continent and on the very ambitious and demanding strategy their countries have set up for themselves.

The massive support being given to this new partnership by the African States constitutes its greatest strength and the best evidence of its potential for success. The priority areas identified by NEPAD, in particular the development of human resources, will make it possible to act on the key factors of sustainable economic and social development on the continent.

I am also delighted that NEPAD places the principle of partnership at the heart of its efforts. As we already considered, the establishment of genuine partnerships among all parties concerned was an indispensable condition for the success of development cooperation.

We believe that the improvement of surrounding conditions will play the most critical role in allowing optimal action by all development players and in particular the private sector, to which NEPAD, correctly, attributes the fundamental role as the driving force of economic development.

It is therefore our hope that concrete steps can soon be taken in the areas of good management of public and private affairs, democracy and peace and security. In this regard, the rapid and systematic implementation of the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance seems to us to be an indispensable factor in increasing the confidence of all partners, including private investors, both African and those from outside the continent.

The implementation of an effective and credible review mechanism by peer countries, a major innovation promised by NEPAD, seems to us, therefore to be crucial.

Switzerland strongly encourages the clearly affirmed will of NEPAD to strengthen the role of African civil society in the design, planning and implementation of programmes.

The assistance that Switzerland has been giving to Africa for a long time is granted not only in a spirit of solidarity with the neediest populations, but also with the objective of intensifying, over time, our economic and commercial partnership. The programmes we support on the continent focus on the fight against poverty and support national strategies to combat poverty. Our programmes include action in the fields of health, education and training. We also focus on good governance in the public sector, decentralization and reforms in justice, as well as on the promotion of economy and investment, in particular, through measures for budgetary assistance.

Lastly, we attach growing importance to measures for peacekeeping and human rights. Moreover, we have always been strongly on the side of Africa in multilateral institutions. Switzerland has long been actively in favour of reducing the indebtedness of the least developed countries in the framework of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative. Toward that end, we have entered into many financial assistance programmes and debt reduction programmes with our African partners.

We are determined to support NEPAD fully, within our means, and in particular with our longstanding partner countries. Coordination among partners is one of the fundamental concepts of NEPAD. I can assure you that Switzerland will participate fully. Nonetheless, a little more than a year before the launch of the initiative, we believe that the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) still needs to clarify its role with regard to the existing African institutions and to multilateral and bilateral partners, both internationally and at the subregional and country levels. In this regard, it seems essential to us that NEPAD avoid becoming an implementing structure, and that it be able to focus on its role as an advocate and a promoter.

Furthermore, we will continue to use our experience and our expertise in our traditional areas of intervention, in order to support NEPAD priorities. On the basis of our official development assistance (ODA) budget, we are prepared to envisage an increase in that support. Lastly, Switzerland will continue its resolute commitment, in the United Nations and international financial institutions, to programmes of cooperation and increased investment in Africa, in line with NEPAD priorities. We will also continue to work for the fair treatment of the poorest countries in international trade negotiations.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Koffi Panou, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Togo.

Mr. Panou (Togo)

On behalf of the Togolese delegation, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for giving me this opportunity to speak in this debate concerning the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD. There is no need to mention how important and timely this debate is, given the great importance that Africa attaches to this new initiative and the role that the international community is called upon to play in its implementation.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, our continent had a growth rate of 4.3% in 2001, as compared to 3.5% in 2000. That is a good performance, one is tempted to say, but in fact we must acknowledge that the economic situation in Africa is still very precarious and disturbing. It requires strong action by the international community, and above all by the Africans themselves, especially if we want to achieve the priority development goals set forth in the Millennium Declaration.

NEPAD today is Africa's reply to the challenge of economic and social development in the continent. Africa is gradually getting organized and is assuming its own destiny with conviction, and welcomes the reception given NEPAD by development partners, primarily the United Nations, donor countries and international financial institutions. Africa welcomes the commitments already made at the summit meetings in Genoa, Monterrey, Kananaski and Johannesburg.

Our countries, by making the necessary efforts, strongly wish that the promises made at those meetings to help Africa attain NEPAD goals will be respected within the given deadlines. We are counting on the support of the United Nations and the entire international community. It is my hope that, following this debate, we will together undertake specific activities that answer the expectations of our peoples and their hopes for well-being and progress, so that one day we can say that NEPAD was not just another programme, but a project that delivered for Africa. It is high time for us to move from words to deeds.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by Her Excellency The Honourable Lilian Patel, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Malawi.

Mrs. Patel (Malawi)

Allow me to join the other African delegations in thanking the United Nations for arranging this special high-level session as a platform to introduce the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). NEPAD is the flagship of the African Union, designed to create conditions for economic recovery and sustainable development on the continent, within the context of the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the Millennium development goals. It is first and foremost a partnership among the African countries themselves, and secondly a partnership between Africa and the international community, based on shared responsibility and mutual respect.

Through NEPAD, Africa wishes to demonstrate its determination to break with a long past, characterized by strategic missteps on the part of our leadership that resulted in immeasurable waste of the continent's precious resources and in a lamentable loss of opportunities for progress on the continent.

The NEPAD initiative would not have come at a better time than now, when Africa is plagued by deepening poverty, the debt burden, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in addition to armed conflicts, famine, and other human crises. If only these problems could be overcome, Africa would be integrated into the world economy and have a role in the process of globalization. This would be not only for Africa's own benefit, but also for the benefit of all mankind.

As an African-owned and African-made development strategy, premised on collective self-reliance, NEPAD seeks to unlock the development potential of the continent's vast natural resources. However, this ought to be complemented by external capital inflows in the form of official development aid (ODA), trade and investment. In this respect, I would like to thank the Group of Eight (G-8) countries for leading the way in supporting NEPAD through the creation of the G-8 Africa Action Plan. This will serve as a rallying point for the initiative.

I would like to emphasize that increased ODA alone will not ensure the success of NEPAD. It is critical that the international community should also deliver on long-standing commitments on debt-relief, market access for African exports, and foreign direct investment.

For our part, we African Governments will ensure that good political and economic governance becomes the norm through the determined promotion of pluralist democracy, accountability and transparency, and respect for the rule of law and human rights. Actually, Africa is already on an irreversible course of democratization. There may be problems here and there, but this should not be the basis for judging the whole continent. Naturally, different countries move at a different pace. What is necessary is the support of all, including our external partners, to overcome the problems. After all, NEPAD is intended to resolve such problems and to ensure the development of the African continent.

Let me take this opportunity to call upon the United Nations, and the world international community, to work in partnership with Africa to ensure the success of NEPAD.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Celso Lafer, Minister for External Relations of Brazil.

Mr. Lafer (Brazil)

It is a great honour for me to represent Brazil at this high-level meeting of the General Assembly dedicated to fostering African development.

The ties joining Brazil and Africa run deep. The contours of Brazilian culture and civilization owe much to their historical nexus with the African peoples. Brazil's support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) highlights this awareness of our inextricable connections to Africa.

We have taken a keen interest in the African continent and have been engaged in many recent developments there. We are convinced that a new era is being ushered in, one that offers renewed expectations for peace, democracy and prosperity. NEPAD is one of the reasons for optimism, for it embodies the recognition that Africa itself holds the key to its own development. It is an African-born initiative based on a profound understanding of the daily realities of the continent. Moreover, it contains mutually reinforcing aspects that allow for the creation of a virtuous circle of socio-political inclusion, development and peace. NEPAD also offers new opportunities with regard to development assistance. Resources to support NEPAD could be usefully channelled through multilateral institutions to foster triangular, as well as South-South, cooperation.

Since 1996, Brazil has adopted a debt alleviation policy with regard to African countries that contributes to the success of initiatives such as NEPAD. In recent years, we have written off more than $1 billion in debts in the hope of fostering, within our possibilities, development in Africa.

NEPAD is not an isolated proposal: it forms part of a wider effort for regional renewal enshrined in the establishment of the African Union. The first signs of these new times are already visible in the strengthening of democracy and the peaceful settlement of regional conflicts. Such is the case, for example, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Angola. Those developments underscore the affinity between the new African initiatives and the core principles of the United Nations. NEPAD and the African Union are significant steps on the road to making the African renaissance a reality.

Brazil shares many of the concerns of African countries. The zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries bring us together. Those forums offer further opportunities for coordination and cooperation on issues such as environmental protection, cultural exchange, trade liberalization and the fighting of the illicit traffic in small arms. The Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, created in the 1990s, provides a powerful tool for political action and cooperation in realizing the common aspirations of our peoples.

Beyond the cultural and linguistic links, we are united in the struggle to overcome shared problems and in the struggle for a more equitable international order. The Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries is fundamentally committed to the primacy of peace, as enshrined in the Brasilia Declaration, adopted last August.

Brazil has sponsored other initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation and understanding between the two shores of the South Atlantic Ocean. In May and June of 2003, in Brasilia, we will host a wide-ranging Brazil-Africa seminar that will aim to put into perspective the array of ties that unite us on our common path to development.

Brazilian cooperation with Africa encompasses many areas from agriculture to infrastructure, from trade to public administration. The main thrust of these projects is to develop human resources and to strengthen capacity-building. Let me highlight two essential areas: education and health.

Brazil is sharing with African countries its experiences in the field of education, such as the Bolsa Escola programme, a scholarship for poor families, aimed at increasing their income and keeping children in school. The initiative has proved to be a useful tool in promoting basic education, decreasing dropout rates and promoting income redistribution and poverty reduction. Brazil has already started a cooperation project with Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe aimed at establishing a Bolsa Escola programme in those countries.

Another area where Brazil and African countries have joined efforts is that of the fight against HIV/AIDS. We do not need to dwell on the devastating impact of the epidemic. Based on an integrated approach of prevention, treatment and human rights policies, Brazil has halted the spread of the epidemic and has enabled people with HIV or AIDS to live normal and dignified lives.

Brazil has already initiated cooperation projects with African countries, in particular the Portuguese-speaking ones. Those projects are focused on capacity-building, human resources development and technology transfer. We also believe that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an essential tool in providing assistance to African nations. Brazil has already actively participated in the Fund and has stated its readiness to contribute to it through technical assistance.

To conclude, in working to overcome common challenges, our partnership takes its cue from the vitality of our peoples, the creativity and determination of our leaders and the growing role of civil society. That partnership gives form to a mutually supportive relationship between a country and a continent which share the ideals of democracy, peace and development and which have found in NEPAD a new source of inspiration. NEPAD means African leadership and African ownership. That is an idea Brazil wishes to commend and support.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Vilayat Mukhtar ogly Guliyev, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Guliyev (Azerbaijan)

I am pleased to address, on behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to consider how to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

I should also like to express our heartfelt congratulations to the countries of Africa on the occasion of the establishment of the African Union. We are certain that it will be a solid foundation for achieving greater unity and solidarity among the countries and the peoples of Africa, while accelerating the political and socio-economic integration of their continent.

We warmly welcome and support NEPAD, a truly African initiative that should lead African nations to the progress, prosperity and development of the entire African continent. We expect a more active and more visible role for NEPAD in advancing the interests of African nations in the international arena. It is within the power and the capability of African States to jointly promote and defend the cause of Africa and to speak up for those who have been abused or oppressed. The fact that some 30 per cent of all refugee populations forcefully displaced as a result of conflicts and tensions throughout the world are Africans dictates as a necessary goal the strengthening of relevant NEPAD functions. Always speaking with one voice and translating declared unity into practical work will allow African values to be upheld successfully and with dignity. As has been stressed by the majority of delegations, the unresolved conflicts on the African continent remain serious obstacles to establishing durable peace and security, stability and prosperity in Africa.

As a reflection of Azerbaijan's long-term contribution to Africa's development, I am proud to state that, since 1960, my country has been actively engaged in educating young men and women from various parts of the African continent. Approximately 10,000 young people from 25 African countries, among them eminent statesmen and leaders, have had the opportunity to receive their higher education in Azerbaijan.

I should like to reaffirm our commitment to supporting African development activities in the spirit of true partnership and mutually beneficial cooperation. We are certain that, with concerted efforts by the international community, NEPAD will be a real success for Africa.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by The Honourable Mr. Tom Butime, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Uganda.

Mr. Butime (Uganda)

There is no doubt that the African countries will take responsibility for the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). In order to achieve the objective of eradicating poverty and other targets identified in the millennium development goals, however, NEPAD recognizes the need for key, mutually supportive, strategic partnerships. These include partnerships between African countries at the subregional and regional levels; partnerships between African Governments and the private sector, which were launched at the Conference on the Financing of NEPAD, held at Dakar in April; and partnerships between Africa and the international community, including the United Nations and donor countries, and within the framework of South-South cooperation.

Uganda is committed to the implementation of NEPAD, like many other African countries; it is also committed to constitutionalism, democracy and good governance. Uganda has established a national focal point for NEPAD, and it is envisaged that the national steering committee will involve the private sector and civil society. We feel that it is in Africa's own interest to build strong democratic institutions and to ensure the establishment of peace and security as prerequisites for development.

But how can the international community assist Africa in the implementation of NEPAD? That is a question on which I should like to concentrate. Since this morning, much has been said about the need for greater enhancement of the partnership between Africa and the international community, especially the donor countries. Uganda appreciates the effort led by Canada to support NEPAD, reflected in the Group of Eight (G-8) Africa Action Plan of June 2002. Initiatives such as the European Union's "everything but arms" initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act of the United States and The Canada Helps Build New Partnerships with Africa programme are a significant step forward. Equally useful are the proposals by the Secretary-General on future United Nations engagement with NEPAD.

In order to adequately support the implementation of NEPAD, Uganda calls upon the international community to take concrete and deliberate measures to implement the G-8 Africa Action Plan, including: allocating at least $6 billion per annum in new and untied bilateral resources for NEPAD programmes in Africa; meeting the objective of duty-free, quota-free market access for Africa's processed and semi-processed products as well as eliminating agricultural subsidies in the developed countries; increasing resources committed to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative to ensure debt sustainability based on realistic export earnings of African countries; enhancing Africa's capacity to attract public- and private-sector investment from within and outside Africa for the development of human capacity, institutions, infrastructure -- railways, roads and ports -- and cheap and renewable energy sources, including hydroelectric power; facilitating the financing of private investment through the increased use of development finance institutions, export credits and risk guarantee agencies; supporting Africa's initiative to ensure efficient regional financial markets and domestic savings and financing mechanisms, including microcredit schemes; and supporting efforts aimed at higher agricultural productivity in Africa, including agricultural research institutions, sustainable land management, reliable central water systems, rural development and the integration of food security into poverty eradication strategies.

Finally, I hope that, when the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole meets on NEPAD in October, the General Assembly will agree on an action plan to ensure an integrated United Nations response to NEPAD through improved coordination and collaboration among its various bodies and agencies; coherence among the United Nations system, multilateral monetary and financial institutions and the World Trade Organization in support of NEPAD; and identification of selected indicators and targets, in consultation with the NEPAD Steering Committee and the African Union, to monitor the United Nations response to NEPAD.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency The Honourable Keliopate Tavola, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of the Republic of the Fiji Islands.

Mr. Tavola (Fiji)

The final review and appraisal of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) is fostering the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). NEPAD is a home-grown African initiative that is taking off with new momentum in terms of ideological and strategic rethinking on development.

We are confident in the knowledge that long-term sustainable development solutions for Africa can be replicated in other developing countries. It is therefore my great pleasure, as a developing country in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, to contribute to this debate on the final review of the United Nations Agenda. Fiji, as the Group's current President, warmly embraced the concept of NEPAD at the Group's last meeting, which my Government hosted last July. The Nadi Declaration, which was adopted at that meeting, was issued as document A/55/1015.

Three decades ago the developing countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions formed the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, of which the African continent forms an integral part. Our common vision was born out of the constituents' shared aspirations for socio-economic advancement, in partnership with the European Union. Market access was the usual substantive object of the trade agreements between the ACP and the European Union. The current preferential arrangement under the Cotonou Agreement continues this form of development assistance to the three regions in the Group until the end of 2007, when a new trade arrangement will need to be put in place.

The evolving global economic landscape has long challenged the ACP vision, today more than ever as our members find themselves immersed in and surrounded by the forces of globalization. NEPAD offers Africa a new opportunity to respond to these challenges. For NEPAD to deliver on the carefully targeted set of actions, its policy framework and aspirations have to be liberating and self-sustaining. Africa must control and feed its own development and growth mechanisms.

Indeed, this presupposes several levels of shifts and stances. Internal investment bases and saving mechanisms need to grow to be able to sustain domestic development programmes. Fundamental infrastructure is critical to long-term development and growth. Africa needs its dams, bridges, roads, schools, hospitals and communication facilities. Today Africa's future can leapfrog with information and communication technologies (ICT). While aid and official development assistance has its proper place, it has also entrenched the dependency mindset and so stifled growth. No country can be built on aid, debt or credit alone. While these resources are essential for development, we need new possibilities.

We have learned many lessons on development in Africa. The ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic threaten to roll back development gains in the continent. Notably, however, peace and security are gaining ground, while political stability increasingly is taking hold in the continent, with its new and emerging democracies. For its part, the international community has set up new mechanisms to help shape our options in this new partnership for the immediate future. The Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg action plan are pillars for, and are in place to help us deliver, the Millennium Development Goals. NEPAD can be built and strengthened on this foundation. It is incumbent on the United Nations to reorientate its modalities for partnership engagement with the African continent. In doing so, the United Nations must support the African ownership and leadership of NEPAD.

Once NEPAD is firmly rooted, Africa can favourably match its national and regional initiatives with external assistance. The avenues for such assistance would need to be transparent and solicited externally with the purposes of building democratic governance and sound political bases from the perspective of the African countries themselves. For too long, developing countries, including those on the African continent, have been shackled by the hands that feed them.

NEPAD cannot be built in a day. In future, we can look forward to a robust Africa, free of conflicts; an end to corruption and political instability; and a reduction in poverty in keeping with the development levels set by the Millennium Development Goals.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Hassan Wirayuda, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

Mr. Wirayuda (Indonesia)

Speaking as a person from Asia, let me say that this meeting reminds me of the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung in 1955 -- a conference that, almost half a century ago, gave rise to the spirit of Bandung, advocating the principles of solidarity for the promotion of political freedom and economic cooperation for development. It can still be relevant today in helping to inspire cooperation and solidarity among the peoples of our two continents.

Let me therefore welcome the establishment of the African Union and the launching of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a holistic, integrated sustainable development initiative for the revival of economic and social development in Africa. NEPAD represents a call for a new relationship of partnership between Africa and the international community, including multilateral organizations, on the basis of mutual interest, benefit and equality, to promote sustainable development and eradicate wrenching poverty.

Taken together, NEPAD and the African Union should help to advance regional cooperation in Africa and should help Africa to speak for itself with a strong, coherent and single voice. These initiatives will provide greater opportunities for the continent to better meet the challenges of the twenty-first century and enhance its capacity to achieve the sustainable development goals set out in the implementation document of the Johannesburg Summit. Moreover, they offer the possibility of the promotion of regional peace and security on the continent, which are prerequisites for development.

The establishment of good governance and regional peace and security is part and parcel of the effective implementation of the New Partnership. We are pleased to note that the initiative is premised on African States' making commitments to good governance, democracy and human rights. These are critical prerequisites for moving development forward that are largely within the control of respective national Governments.

There are other issues, particularly those of finance and market access, that require cooperation between the international community and multilateral organizations. Regrettably, such cooperation, despite major initiatives and promises, has been gravely eroded over the past decade.

The gap between international commitments and results is particularly glaring in the case of Africa. Indeed, official development assistance decreased 43 per cent in Africa over the decade-long lifespan of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF).

Moreover, crushing external debt levels have further undermined financing for development through the diversion of development resources. This adverse situation is most pronounced in the least developed countries. Despite pledges of debt relief, especially through the extended Debt Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) -- most of which are in Africa -- little or nothing significant has been achieved. In fact, only a few countries had reached "completion point" as of April 2002.

The international trading system, which holds out great hope for development, has largely failed the developing countries, particularly in Africa. Trade opportunities under the UN-NADAF mechanism expanded far more slowly than expected. One of the persistent underlying constraints responsible for the weak performance of African economies is their heavy reliance on primary commodities. This is largely due to the deterioration in the terms of trade for commodities vis-à-vis industrial goods and to the punitive tariff barriers confronting processed and value-added products from Africa.

Those were lessons well learned from the implementation of the New Agenda. Thus, as is fully recognized by African Governments, there is an acute need for diversification, as commodities alone hold few prospects for the future. Greater efforts towards diversifying exports under the framework of the New Partnership are therefore a critical way forward. But diversification alone will not suffice. What is also critical is a conducive external environment, particularly one that provides ample access to markets. This has certainly not been promoted by agricultural subsidies in rich nations, which have not only shut out producers from developing countries but have also depressed prices.

Proposals on the modalities of future United Nations engagement with the New Partnership for Africa's Development are outlined in the Secretary-General's report. We welcome these relationships, which will take place at the country, regional and global levels, and we hope that they will be further strengthened. Pledges have been made at high-level meetings to reverse the declining trend in official development assistance, to open up the markets of developed countries to developing countries' export products and to reorient the world's financial and trade systems towards promoting sustainable development and addressing the development needs of developing countries. But all these pledges have been made before. Now we must have action.

To support the implementation of NEPAD we must strengthen international cooperation and multilateralism. As a unique reservoir of multilateralism, the United Nations is well positioned as a coordinator of the follow-up to major United Nations conferences and as a supporter of NEPAD and the development of Africa. It is our hope that we can translate the partnership and cooperation that drive NEPAD and the African Union into broader solidarity by promoting cooperation with other subregional groups in Asia. Such cooperation and solidarity between our two continents would greatly reflect the message of the Asia-Africa conference held at Bandung in 1955: the Bandung spirit. Indonesia stands ready to help strengthen such multilateralism and hopes that NEPAD will be successfully implemented.

The President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Igor S. Ivanov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Ivanov (Russia)

Our discussion of today's problems in Africa is important and timely, all the more so as the problems and threats faced by Africa in the context of globalization are increasingly the problems and threats we all face. That is why our strategic objective is a common one, namely, to break the vicious circle of underdevelopment, conflict and disruption in development programmes. It is for that reason that we all attach such importance to a comprehensive approach to the key problems of Africa: crisis management and prevention, poverty eradication, economic recovery and the consolidation of democracy.

The establishment of the African Union was a major step in pooling the efforts of African nations. The African Union is, quite rightly, focused on social and economic development. Peoples and States must indeed be free to choose their own future and to assume their responsibilities with regard to peace and security issues, economic management, the sustainable use of natural resources, efforts against corruption and the effective allocation of resources to promote development. All of that was in fact taken into account in drafting the programme objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Mr. Ivanov (Russia)

Russia actively and directly participated in the elaboration of the Africa Action Plan adopted at the G-8 Summit held in Kananaskis. That document is aimed at facilitating the implementation of NEPAD and at other areas of cooperation where the G-8 can provide real assistance in addressing the multifaceted challenges Africa faces.

We strongly support United Nations efforts to promote the resolution of armed conflicts in Africa and to enhance interaction in this area between the United Nations and the competent international, regional and subregional organizations in Africa. We are convinced that we must help to strengthen regional mechanisms for early warning and conflict prevention and resolution, to build effective security structures in the continent and to address, among other things, post-conflict reconstruction problems. We hope that the Peace and Security Council created within the African Union will contribute to achieving that goal.

We support the establishment of an Ad-Hoc Advisory Group on African countries emerging from conflict, pursuant to a resolution of the Economic and Social Council. We are ready to participate actively in the discussion of proposals to establish closer interaction among the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and other United Nations bodies on issues of post-conflict rehabilitation in Africa.

Russia is familiar with Africa's problems and understands them. Our country will continue to render assistance of all kinds to African States and to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with them. We are contributing in practical ways to solving the problem of Africa's external debt. In 2000, Russia wrote off $572 million in debt owed by the poorest countries, mainly in Africa. Last year, we wrote off $904 million in debt. Russia will continue to make responsible efforts to tackle this problem. We will also continue to participate in humanitarian relief programmes, including programmes on combating HIV/AIDS and other dangerous diseases, natural-disaster management and assistance in human resource development for African countries.

Our cooperation with Africa pursues long-range objectives. In that context, we are determined to implement the decisions taken in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

We sincerely wish African countries every success in carrying out the large-scale tasks they face. In cooperation with all other concerned members of the international community, Russia will do all it can to realize the rightful aspirations of African nations.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Marcel Ranjeva, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Madagascar.

Mr. Ranjeva (Madagascar)

Like those who have spoken before us, the Malagasy delegation, which I am honoured to lead, cannot fail to take this opportunity to express its deep gratitude for the convening of this high-level meeting devoted to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

At a time when the international community is seeking ways and means to cooperate in the multilateral and regional spheres to attain sustainable development, this meeting is a testament to the will of Africa's leaders to launch the continent's economy. We must not forget, however, that NEPAD is above all a programme designed by African heads of State, including President Wade of Senegal, a great friend of Madagascar of very wise and enlightened counsel who has spared no effort to provide assistance to resolve the Malagasy post-electoral crisis, for which we are very grateful.

This programme is designed to lay the foundations for a partnership between Africa and the developed world. Our continent is thus taking its destiny in its own hands. We welcome the fact that we are taking responsibility for and accepting ownership of our future, especially since the partnership emphasizes democracy, transparency, good governance, the rule of law and human rights.

I would like to highlight a few issues that are of particular importance to us. The first relates to the need to finance the programme so as to ensure that it does not remain merely a good intention. As we have seen, official development assistance has been steadily decreasing, despite the various pronouncements on this matter, the most recent of which include the Millennium Declaration and the Monterrey Consensus.

Current thinking supports development financing through foreign direct investment, above all from the private sector. But in poor countries like ours, it is not foreign investment that creates growth, but growth that attracts private foreign investment. The liberalization policy underlying current economic doctrine is, in the long term, beneficial, and we must therefore prepare for it from cultural and technical standpoints. We must take account of our infrastructures and make it possible for the State to take action, for example by helping farmers through the provision of subsidies and by other means. Competition must be promoted, but it must be competition between protagonists of equal strength. As Lacordaire said, "Between the strong and the weak, freedom oppresses and the law protects."

Madagascar, a country in which farmers make up 80 per cent of the population, relies on its agriculture as the driving force of sustainable and rapid development. All developed countries have, at some point in their history, subsidized their own agricultural sector. We must not therefore impose on the poor countries draconian conditions to which the big Powers are not themselves subjected. The developed countries and economic unions allocate excessive subsidies to livestock and agriculture, as well as to certain other industries. Such practices contradict the rules of liberalism that apply in developed countries -- yet poor countries are being refused social subsidies for foodstuffs. We must not kill the patient in the process of curing the disease.

We must find other sources of financing for these vital public investments. This is not a new concept; studies have been carried out on this matter by prominent experts. Solutions are discussed at every major international gathering, and I should like to take this opportunity to recall a few of them. They include the cancellation or, at least, significant reduction of the debt, whose unfair rates and terms are denounced on a regular basis by the developing countries. I would also like to mention the idea of taxing financial transactions or wealth produced through globalization. We must not from the outset, in the name of economic liberalism, discard the idea of international taxation; the world cannot be truly human without solidarity.

The second point that I would like to emphasize is that African peoples must set the terms themselves and benefit from the results, and their leaders must be particularly committed to the well-being of their peoples.

We believe that the Peer Review Mechanism -- a revolutionary idea -- is a tool with the potential to strengthen fundamental rights in Africa. However, it must not conflict with existing human rights mechanisms and, above all, must serve the general interests of our peoples.

In conclusion, I appeal to the international community to encourage and support NEPAD with a view to enabling Africa to emerge from its isolation and underdevelopment.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Leonardo Santos Simão, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique.

Mr. Simão (Mozambique)

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is a vision and a holistic framework programme of the African Union, developed by African leaders to promote Africa's sustainable development. We Africans have created our own home-grown solutions to development problems and should strive for domestic partnerships between the public and private sectors and civil society. In order to avoid the marginalization of Africa and to improve its image and credibility, the continent should enhance its capacity to implement development programmes through self-financing mechanisms and the use of African technical expertise, with the international community playing a complementary role in those African efforts.

We all seem to agree that the time has come to move away from the information phase of NEPAD and to ensure its implementation. This is, indeed, a challenging stage, and we need to address some important perceptions if we are to succeed. First, there is a perception that developed partners are more interested in the political issues of NEPAD -- the Peer Review Mechanism -- while Africans are more interested in the economic and social issues. It is important to note that both the political and the economic objectives of NEPAD were set out by African themselves and constitute challenges to be overcome if the continent is to develop.

Furthermore, Africa is aware that different countries will experience different degrees of difficulty in reaching agreed goals. What those countries will require is encouragement to identify and overcome those difficulties, instead of criticism and pressure on the grounds that they are bad performers.

Secondly, we Africans should avoid the perception that we are the eternal victims of the North.

Within the framework of NEPAD, there is room for an effective partnership with the international community, in particular the United Nations system. That partnership will require improvements in the efficiency of the United Nations system with regard to development programmes devoted to the African continent. United Nations agencies and programmes should therefore synchronize and harmonize their programmes to bring them into line with the objectives of NEPAD.

The United Nations should support institutional, financial and human capacity-building in Africa in order to establish and strengthen peace, stability and good political, economic and corporate governance. The Security Council should continue to pay special attention to the conflicts in Africa and should strive to bring about effective solutions in close cooperation with Africans. The success of NEPAD and its sustainability will depend, ultimately, on the strength and performance of African institutions, at both the national and the regional level.

The United Nations has an additional role to play in helping Africa to address issues of debt relief, market access and the empowerment of the African private sector. This high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly thus provides us with the opportunity to renew our commitment to making Africa a continent of peace and hope for a better future.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear and address by His Excellency Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mr. Kharrazi (Iran)

It is indeed a great honour for me to have the opportunity to participate in the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to consider how to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development. What we have already heard this morning from the President of the General Assembly and from the heads of State and delegations indicates that there has been a good assessment and analysis of the African predicament. The reality of the situation faced by so many millions of people and in the greater part of the continent is grim enough and calls for a real, serious and comprehensive approach, policy and action on a scale and magnitude commensurate with the situation itself.

Let me reiterate my country's full solidarity with African countries, all of which belong to the family of developing nations. Last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the Chairman of the Group of 77, was, much to its satisfaction, closely involved in two important processes related to Africa. One was the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, the majority of which are located in the African continent. The Ministerial Declaration of the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council, whose chosen theme was "Role of the United Nations system in supporting the efforts of African countries to achieve sustainable development", was the other. Both had constructive and fruitful outcomes, on which several good ideas were built, and produced tangible results.

Currently, my country has active bilateral and multilateral cooperation with and a diplomatic presence in most African countries. With hindsight, determination and mutual cooperation, we have been able to contribute to a large number of projects and reconstruction plans in many African countries. Building infrastructure, the construction of hospitals and health clinics, and academic and scientific cooperation represent some general topics under which we have contributed to the development of the poorer areas of the continent. Given the vulnerability of the continent to so many natural disasters, my country has come up with financial and humanitarian assistance, including grants, on almost every occasion. Furthermore, in order to promote and facilitate economic and commercial relations, my Government has allocated a $200-million line of credit for Africa.

Finally, the African renaissance, the rebirth we have all been talking about in recent months and days, can be initiated and undertaken in all earnestness only by Africans themselves and by African countries, individually and collectively. The New Partnership for Africa's Development embodies all these elements and is a step in the right direction. As far as the United Nations system is concerned, it should undertake to integrate all its various plans, programmes and initiatives into a comprehensive policy framework comprising all political, economic and social components and with clear, well-defined roles and mandates for the relevant executing agencies and departments. Yes, there is a way forward for Africa. Let us all seize the moment and start on that road forward.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Souef Mohamed El-Amine, Minister of State and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, la Francophonie, the Environment and in charge of Comorians living abroad of the Comoros.

Mr. El-Amine (Comoros)

My delegation is pleased to address the issue of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Designed by Africans for Africans, this new framework for development, with all of its objectives for remedying the continent's major problems, has today crystallized our leaders' awareness of the vital need to take in hand the destiny of our countries. Stifled by the debt burden, shaken by violence of all sorts, weakened from all standpoints by war, decimated by such diseases as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and marginalized by a world trade system that is little inclined to recognize their efforts and constraints, these countries hope to find their salvation in this new initiative.

It must be recognized, however, that this initiative has no guarantee of viability except insofar as it is supported by our partners. That is why, in expressing our gratitude for this opportunity to introduce our programme, it is our hope that the international community will become effectively involved in this process through consistent support. We further hope that a real partnership, without exclusions, can be established between us and our partners and that the United Nations, for its part, will see in this initiative a framework for the extension of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s through support for NEPAD. NEPAD defines sectoral priorities within a regional framework that are also part of a global context, in keeping with global concerns.

In the framework of the implementation of its sustainable development policy, NEPAD will have to take into account the specific case of small island States. United to Africa but cut off from it geographically, our small archipelagic States are sometimes the victims of their own isolation. Natural disasters constantly strike them, destroying their development efforts and their natural wealth, which for the most part involves their flora and fauna. Furthermore, the exploitation of our resources, their plundering by countries that have more powerful and more sophisticated means, and the pollution of our marine spaces along our coasts by large oil companies are phenomena that are growing and threatening the survival of human beings and of the species that constitute the sole resources of our countries. That is why we hope that these issues will attract the interest of all our partners in helping our island countries to establish mechanisms to monitor and protect our land and marine environments for the well-being of our peoples.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Joseph Philippe Antonio, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Haiti.

Mr. Antonio (Haiti)

I have the honour to address the Assembly on behalf of the 14 members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM): Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

We are happy to see you, Sir, presiding over this high-level meeting of the General Assembly to consider support to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). We also welcome the dynamic leadership demonstrated by African States as they prepare this new partnership.

Decade after decade, the African people have experienced the worst that civilization has offered. Official statistics show that over 1.3 billion inhabitants live below the poverty threshold on $1 per day, of which 350 million live in Africa. Africa's share in the global poverty figure increased from 25 per cent to 30 per cent between 1999 and 2002.

That situation prevails at a time when most African countries are moving towards economic liberalism, with a view to meeting the demands of the international financial institutions. However, those same statistics also show that since 1970 savings and investment have been decreasing in Africa. Africa's debt is estimated at $300 billion. It is a major obstacle to the socio-economic development of the continent. That situation has a serious impact on trade, direct investment programmes and the process of economic growth. Nevertheless, investment is the prerequisite for the creation of wealth capable of promoting economic growth aimed at sustainable development.

We must keep our eyes fixed on the goals set at Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg. We must all work together to liberate men, women and children from the extreme poverty that dehumanizes them. We must act now decisively and effectively to reduce the gap between rich and poor countries and to ensure that globalization benefits all humanity.

In that context, the CARICOM States welcome NEPAD with satisfaction and reaffirm their solidarity and full cooperation with the African Governments and peoples. NEPAD is an ambitious initiative that redefines a partnership of responsibility and commitment and attests to Africa's resolve to take responsibility for its own future. The challenge is indeed enormous. Overcoming it will require achieving and sustaining an annual growth rate of 7 per cent over the next 15 years. According to some estimates, more than $200 billion will be needed during that period just to reduce the effects of poverty.

This African initiative for Africa seeks to eliminate poverty and underdevelopment. It requires the full support of the international community, particularly donors. It is an opportunity to break with tradition and to invite all donors to coordinate support for Africa, taking into account the priorities set by the Governments and people of Africa, not on the basis of conditions imposed from the outside.

Like Africa, the Caribbean States believe that this is an historic opportunity to end the suffering of the peoples of Africa. The resources are available to do so. The CARICOM States are of the view that a firm commitment by the international community to translate words to action and by the continued responsible leadership in Africa to work steadily towards sustainable development in Africa will ensure its success.

We are confident that the peoples of Africa, with their energy and creativity, are yearning for an improvement in their quality of life, as they await the genuine support of their partners. We in CARICOM believe that this momentum must be capitalized on to facilitate a fruitful partnership in order to reduce the gap in Africa's development. Africa's precious resources have been exploited by the major industrialized economies for centuries. It is time that Africa's resources be utilized for the development of Africa.

In conclusion, in addition to supporting NEPAD, the international community has the moral obligation to support Africa in this effort. So many decades of unequal relations call for a new paradigm.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by Her Excellency Ms. Uschi Eid, Vice-Minister and Parliamentary Secretary of State of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

Ms. Eid (Germany)

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is a guiding vision for Africa's development in the twenty-first century. Wise and courageous African reformers have designed it for their continent. NEPAD recognizes that economic growth, sustainable development and an effective fight against poverty are based on the solid cornerstones of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and a social market economy. That interdependence is not a new perception. However, in NEPAD's case it does not remain a misty theory; rather, it becomes the guiding principle of practical policy. Thus, NEPAD is not only a programme; it is also a forum for reformed leadership in Africa.

NEPAD now has to grapple with implementation efforts. Visions of reform must be translated into everyday work. I wish my African colleagues the necessary patience, strength and perseverance. The German Government provides broad support to the African countries in this venture bilaterally, as well as within the framework of the United Nations. Africa and NEPAD can count on the solidarity of the international community. Germany considers NEPAD to be a basis for a new and enhanced partnership with Africa. With its new approaches, NEPAD opens up great opportunities for self-determined development.

This new way of thinking is already breaking ground. The best evidence of that is the African record of success in overcoming armed conflict in recent months. Let me just mention Madagascar, Angola and the peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That is the successful effort of African diplomacy, and we congratulate the African statesmen and politicians involved on that achievement. Furthermore, NEPAD has withstood the first test with regard to building and strengthening of African conflict-management institutions. The resolution adopted at the constitutive summit of the African Union in Durban to set up a pan-African peace and security council is a very tangible development of the peace and security initiative embedded in NEPAD.

It is important that NEPAD willingness to reform and its dynamism continue to hold sway. It is crucially important to NEPAD success that it maintain its clear profile and remain a programmatic platform and operative framework for visionary leadership in Africa. In Durban, the African Union agreed to the peer review mechanism developed within the framework of NEPAD. We welcome it, as good governance, democracy, human rights and corporate governance are becoming an issue of a form of dialogue among African States. The peer review process opens up substantial opportunities. If it is executed honestly, thoroughly and transparently, it will strengthen Africa's credibility in advocating sustainable reforms.

The Peer Review Mechanism thereby contributes to improving the general political and economic environment and to increasing the continent's attractiveness as an investment destination of great growth potential in qualitative terms. Hence it is important for as many African countries as possible to state their willingness to participate in the peer review and, if the process is put into effect, to do so as speedily as possible.

NEPAD, as a spearhead for reforms in Africa, is exposed to difficult challenges. These include the situation in Zimbabwe. Let me say that we are greatly concerned about what is happening there. The events in Zimbabwe jeopardize NEPAD's credibility and sustainability. It would indeed be desirable if Zimbabwe's neighbours were to react to the situation more distinctly and decisively. The irresponsible policy pursued by the Government in Harare puts prospects for development, and the stability of the whole region of southern Africa, at risk.

The international community explicitly endorses the beginning of a new African age of reform rung in by NEPAD. One thing is clear: the tremendous challenges Africa is facing can be mastered only jointly, in solidarity between the North and the South. As a member of the Group of Eight (G-8), Germany has accepted NEPAD's invitation to establish a new partnership based on a foundation of mutual responsibility and respect. With their Africa Action Plan, the G-8 heads of State and Government, meeting at Kananaskis, gave a political response to NEPAD as a political vision for the future of the African continent because we want a strong Africa.

The Acting President

Before giving the floor to the next speaker, May I remind representatives that the limit for statements in this debate is five minutes.

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Hans Dahlgren, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Sweden.

Mr. Dahlgren (Sweden)

The presidency of the European Union has already outlined the positive view of the European Union with regard to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). I concur with everything in that speech, and I will therefore limit myself to a few remarks.

We who speak today are all aware of the political and economic problems facing Africa. They are challenging our best common values. They are a threat to the security and welfare of us all. NEPAD has therefore been warmly welcomed as an expression of Africa's determination to assume strong leadership for poverty reduction and for development. African leaders have set an agenda for renewal of the continent based on African ownership and commitment. NEPAD puts the right focus on peace and stability, on democracy and human rights, and on good political and economic governance as prerequisites for development.

In realizing the objectives of NEPAD, one can build on important achievements made in recent years in the framework of the United Nations. The Millennium Declaration outlines what we have to do together. The Monterrey Consensus signals measures to be taken in the areas of mobilizing domestic resources, trade, private investment, debt relief and official development assistance. Add to that the outcome of the Johannesburg Summit. Much of this can also be found in NEPAD.

Now, how does one translate all these commitments into concrete action? There are several answers. One is by focusing, at the national level, on poverty reduction strategies as instruments to implement NEPAD principles and to realize national ownership of development. Another is by focusing on strengthening competence and capacity, on involving civil society and the private sector, as well as on partnership and coordination between African countries and their external partners, thereby making their joint efforts more effective. In addition, the focus should also be on the United Nations system's obvious role in coordinating and supporting the implementation of NEPAD.

NEPAD emphasizes regional cooperation, and Sweden stands ready to support that. We have recently adopt0ed a strategy for support to regional development cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa on the continental level through the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, as well as through subregional organizations. The focus is on conflict management, economic cooperation and integration, infrastructure and national resources.

Without peace and security, long-term development and poverty eradication are utopian ideas. With NEPAD, African leaders have shown their firm commitment to assume responsibility for peace and security on their continent, ranging from prevention to conflict resolution. Sweden strongly supports that ambition. Sweden also welcomes the decision of the African Union to establish a Peace and Security Council and to strengthen its work on conflict management.

Promoting peace and security in Africa will also continue to be a priority for the United Nations. In addition, the G-8 has made welcome commitments to develop, together with its African partners, a joint plan to strengthen African capabilities to undertake peace support operations.

Much of this may sound abstract, but there are also very concrete examples of what can be done. Look at Sierra Leone, a clear case of effective international conflict management where the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other partners have played a crucial role in turning a long-standing and bloody civil war into a credible peace process, culminating in peaceful elections in May this year. It is of crucial importance for me and my Government that the huge investment that has been made in human and financial resources in Sierra Leone, and the lessons learned from that success story, are not now be lost because of continued conflict in the Mano River Union area. Sweden and the European Union stand firmly behind ECOWAS in its efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in Liberia.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Affey, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Kenya.

Mr. Affey (Kenya)

Let me commend Mr. Jan Kavan on the able manner in which he has been steering the affairs of this session. It is a great honour for me, on behalf of His Excellency Daniel arap Moi, President of the Republic of Kenya, to address this high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). The decision by the General Assembly to hold this meeting is timely. It is also a recognition of the importance of NEPAD to the African peoples and their development partners.

Several decades after independence, African countries are still grappling with problems such as poverty, disease and illiteracy. Over the past decade, Africa has continued to sink further into the abyss of oblivion, owing to the marginalization brought about by globalization, the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the heavy debt burden and rising levels of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. For Africa to be able to surmount these problems, concrete measures are required in resolving the debt crisis, providing market access for African products, funding health services, developing infrastructure, protecting the environment, developing human resources and, especially, ensuring the education of our children. We should not lose sight of the fact that our future will depend on today's investment in our children. The health, education and general well-being of our children is therefore the foundation for Africa's development. We should strive to uphold children's rights in line with the millennium development goals and the goals set out in "A World Fit for Children", adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-seventh special session.

Africa has seen several initiatives aimed at resolving the myriad problems affecting the continent. However, none of them has been able to achieve the desired results, largely due to the lack of goodwill from our partners, the inadequacy of resources for implementation and the limited ownership and participation of African Governments and peoples. It is out of this frustration that African leaders have agreed on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as the continent's development blueprint, which places emphasis on the twin principles of ownership and partnership. It is worth noting that the priorities outlined in the NEPAD initiative are in line with the millennium development goals adopted by world leaders in September 2000 on the occasion of the Millennium Summit. The recent launching of the African Union by African leaders is testimony to the commitment of African leaders to strengthening the institutional mechanism for the implementation of NEPAD.

Kenya continues to play a major role in the NEPAD process. The President of the Republic of Kenya last June hosted the Eastern African summit on NEPAD, which came up with a way forward for NEPAD in the subregion. To ensure the integration of NEPAD into domestic policy and the participation of all stakeholders, a private-sector task force has been established, which is working with the Government in mainstreaming NEPAD priorities.

At the regional level, Kenya is committed to the principles of regional integration, one of the building blocks of the African Union. Kenya has actively supported and is a member of several regional economic integration blocs. In addition, Kenya has continued its efforts in peace-building in the region, as evidenced by its role in the Sudan and Somalia peace processes.

We in Africa were encouraged by the warm reception extended to NEPAD by the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council of July 2001, the International Conference on Financing for Development of March 2002 in Monterrey, the G8 summit and the recently concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development. We further commend the G8 for coming up with the plan of action for NEPAD adopted at Kananaskis, Canada, in July 2002. We are convinced that, if NEPAD is to succeed, the support of the United Nations and the international community is paramount. In this regard, this meeting should come up with a way forward for the support of NEPAD by the United Nations.

In conclusion, as we embark on the final review and appraisal of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, we expect NEPAD to take up its rightful position as the United Nations and the international community's policy document for Africa's development.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Habib Ben Yahia, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Tunisia.

Mr. Yahia (Tunisia)

Today, our Assembly is discussing a matter which is of paramount importance to the future of Africa.

My country has worked tirelessly to promote peace, security and development on our continent. We highly welcome the General Assembly's decision to devote a day's debate to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in support of our continent's development efforts. Africa has a great wealth of natural resources and human potential and is now determined to take charge of its own future and to rely on itself in facing the challenges before it. In that spirit, it drew on its fundamental beliefs to formulate NEPAD, which is strategic and comprehensive and seeks development based on African resources to avoid underdevelopment in an environment of peace, security and stability, which are prerequisites of any development effort.

In moving into this innovative phase, Africa is prepared to use its own resources. Attaining this ambitious programme, however, will be possible only with the help of the international community in the successful implementation of NEPAD as an expression of the African peoples' aspirations to a better future.

The Millennium Summit stressed the particular needs of Africa and affirmed the priority of African development. The heads of State therefore decided to take special steps in respect of Africa, including debt cancellation, improved access to markets, increasing official development assistance and promoting direct foreign investment and the transfer of technology. It was also decided to help the continent stem the spread of disease, in particular HIV/AIDS.

Africa appreciates the support voiced by many wealthy countries at the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development. Africa needs those promises to be kept as soon as possible, given the difficulties facing it. We were extremely pleased in that connection to note the positive response of the G8 to NEPAD. We also welcome the encouraging outcome of the 2000 Europe-Africa summit, the progress achieved at the France-Africa summit and the fruitful cooperation between Japan and African countries under the First, Second and Third Tokyo International Conferences on African Development. We also welcome the promising dialogue between China and Africa.

Our world today is increasingly interdependent. All of our interests are interlinked, as are our concerns. If allowed to continue, the imbalance between rich and poor could jeopardize security in the prosperous countries. It is essential to ensure harmonious development for the welfare of the entire human race. Solidarity is therefore a prerequisite for building the better world to which we all aspire.

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has long been aware of these truths. In the early 1990s, he spoke of the need to reach an agreement on peace, partnership and development between the developed and the developing countries. He has always stressed the positive impact of active solidarity between rich and poor and the value of mutual assistance among States through his initiative to establish a world solidarity fund to be used to combat poverty and exclusion. In that context, my country welcomes the regional and international broad support for this initiative and counts on the General Assembly's active assistance in ensuring that this humanitarian programme be realized as soon as possible.

We are meeting here at a time when hope is being reborn in Africa. In July at Durban, our continent entered a new phase of its history with the establishment of the African Union, thus attaining the aspiration of African peoples to solidarity and unity. Conflicts in many parts of our continent are now being resolved and Africa is recognizing the value of peace, democratization and good governance. The time has come to support Africa's efforts with the assistance necessary to pursue the promising impetus. We all hope for good results from this endeavour. I reaffirm Africa's and Tunisia's desire to build a world of peace, stability and harmony.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by Her Excellency Baroness Valerie Amos, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom.

Baroness Amos (United Kingdom)

This is an important occasion and it is entirely right that we should come together to consider how to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). The United Nations is the right place for us to do so.

Africa's problems are the world's problems. Conflict and State failure -- all too prevalent in Africa -- create poverty, refugees and opportunities for transnational crime. They can undermine the credibility of the United Nations and they may breed terrorism.

NEPAD represents a unique opportunity to address the challenges facing Africa. It defines a new approach to African development and holds out the promise of an end to conflicts which have devastated the continent and continue to hold back its development; of the entrenchment of sound economic and political governance which will root out corruption and secure justice; of the release of Africa's productive potential through access to trade; and of winning investment to build stronger economies. All these are vital and interconnected issues, but in the time available, I would like to focus on the need to resolve and manage conflict in Africa.

The Group of Eight (G-8) Africa Action Plan commits the world's leading industrialized nations to supporting Africa's efforts to tackle conflict and to address some of the causes and drivers of conflict in Africa that lie in the international sphere: for example, arms flows, the exploitation of economic resources by external actors and weak international conflict-management mechanisms.

Let me here pay tribute to the Secretary-General. He has demonstrated that with leadership, courage and commitment, results can be achieved. He has shown practical commitment to increasing the impact of United Nations operations on the ground, and he has our fullest support.

The United Kingdom is committed to supporting both international and African efforts to reduce conflict in Africa. This is an area where a common commitment and real political will can have a huge impact. We know that peace and security are the essential prerequisites for putting the continent on the road to sustainable development. Success in resolving Africa's long-running conflicts would transform the lives of millions of people, and we are taking concrete action to support efforts to tackle specific conflicts on the continent.

Sierra Leone demonstrates what can be achieved when Africa and the international community work in partnership. The country is at peace, refugees and the internally displaced are returning home and people are rebuilding their shattered society. We know that a long-term commitment is required. Peace will be secure only once the problems of weak governance, control over natural resources -- for example, diamonds -- and regional instability have been addressed.

I am also pleased that, with the establishment of a contact group, the international community and the United Nations should be able to give more effective and urgent assistance to regional efforts to resolve the conflict in Liberia.

In Sudan the peace process has undoubtedly suffered a setback with the escalation of fighting in the south and the suspension of talks. But we will continue to back the peace process as part of the international observer team supporting the negotiations of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. We are pressing all sides to return to the negotiating table, as that is the only way to achieve peace.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see hopeful signs of a major breakthrough due to African efforts. The United Kingdom has dispatched a joint mission with the United States to see how we can help the parties drive this forward. Looking ahead, we have begun to explore ways of working with our partners to assist the development of a new Congolese national army. We are committed to supporting a comprehensive and inclusive process of national and regional reconciliation. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as in Sierra Leone, we recognize the regional dimensions of the conflict and we have been supporting African and international efforts to address them, including the peace process in Burundi.

In Angola, we have seen significant steps towards a sustainable political solution. It is essential that the Government of Angola take effective action on economic reform and governance.

The progress we have seen in these, the most long-running and intractable conflicts in Africa, shows that things are changing. It is a sign that the NEPAD principles are being put into practice. We welcome this determination. We are ready to work with it to put an end to conflict in Africa. African has huge potential; together we can work to realize it.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Anastassios Yannitsis, Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece.

Mr. Yannitsis (Greece)

Earlier this morning, the Foreign Minister of Denmark, in his capacity as President of the European Union, made a statement with which we agree. I therefore wish only to make some additional remarks.

Greece welcomes the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as an African-led initiative that aims at the fulfilment of promises for Africa's development through domestic, regional and international partnerships. We believe we stand before a new concept that has to succeed in implementing development strategies and improving donor-recipient relationships.

There is an urgent need for a new age in Africa's development to emerge. In our effort to fight poverty we have as tools the lessons learned from the decade of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF), which showed us that ambitious goals for development and growth both inspire and serve to promote more committed efforts. NEPAD is the most pivotal of those goals. We welcome the inspiration provided by Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, as well as the decisions of the Organization of African Unity and the strong international support expressed at the Group of Eight (G-8) Summit held in Kananaskis, which adopted the Africa Action Plan. We also welcome the contribution of major United Nations conferences, including the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, as well as the European Union process for a new platform to further develop relations between the European Union and Africa.

African ownership, partnership among African countries and with the international community and shared responsibilities are key elements for NEPAD's success.

Halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 is a very serious and important priority of the international community.

Tackling the problems of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, along with dealing with such issues as the problem of external debt, the education of girls, human rights violations, limited resources, institution-building, bridging the infrastructure gap and creating larger markets in Africa, make up our main challenge. Our means lie within our political will, the accumulated experience of the agencies and organizations of the United Nations system and the coordinated efforts of all development partners. NEPAD gives us a chance to re-address, in a holistic and action-oriented manner, the problems that have afflicted the continent for centuries. With the identification of priority areas and with proposals for specific actions and programmes, Africa could assume an enhanced role on the global stage on the basis of sustainable, long-term development.

Last but not least, let me say that Africa's development will be one of the main priorities of Greece's agenda during its presidency of the European Union during the first half of 2003. We will do our utmost so that the upcoming European Union-Africa summit, to be held in April 2003, will not only increase cooperation between the two partners but will also produce tangible results to the benefit of the African continent.

Currently, Greece is contributing to the development of Africa through its participation in the European Union and through other international organizations. Furthermore, we are also contributing, within our financial means, to the Trust Fund for the Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa, to the Trust Fund for the Transport and Communication Decade in Africa and to the Trust Fund for African Development. We are hoping that in the next year we will be able to double our national contributions to those three funds.

We believe that if NEPAD is combined constructively with already existing strategies and efforts, it will make the vision of this initiative a reality and fulfil its goals by as early as 2015 for the benefit of all people.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Nobutake Odano, Director-General for African Affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan.

Mr. Odano (Japan)

It is my privilege to have an opportunity to talk about Japan's cooperation with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which is a bold initiative by Africans for Africa's future.

Today the world recognizes that the problems Africa is facing are great challenges not only for the region itself but also for the international community as a whole.

Japan has been making efforts to revive global interest in Africa's issues through the process of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) since the early 1990s, when "Afro-pessimism" and aid fatigue prevailed in the international community. We also believe the growing momentum within the Group of Eight (G-8) on Africa's issues, culminating in the G-8 Africa Action Plan, originated at the Kyusyu-Okinawa Summit meeting in 2000. That was where Japan, as the G-8 chair, took the initiative to invite leaders of African countries to an outreach session held in Tokyo. Japan had thus started to articulate the importance of African issues in the international arena within a new perspective. It therefore gives me great pleasure to discuss Africa's challenges today.

Japan promoted the TICAD process by hosting the First Tokyo International Conference on African Development in 1993, the second in 1998 and the TICAD ministerial-level meeting in 2001. Japan will convene TICAD III in October next year, which will mark the tenth year of the TICAD process. That process is a major pillar of Japan's cooperation for African development.

Throughout that 10-year period, Japan has consistently advocated the importance of ownership by Africa of its development and partnership with the international community which supports Africa's ownership. From that point of view, Japan welcomes the elaboration of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the tangible efforts Africa is making under NEPAD, and regards them as a clear demonstration of Africa's ownership. Japan appreciates African leadership. Japan also appreciates the decision of African countries to introduce the African Peer Review Mechanism in order to ensure their own steady implementation of NEPAD.

As for the partnership with Africa, Japan continues to support NEPAD through the TICAD process. Japan offered to all stakeholders of African countries and their development partners the first opportunity to discuss NEPAD together on the occasion of the TICAD ministerial-level meeting last year in Tokyo. Furthermore, in June this year, Japan convened a TICAD-NEPAD dialogue in New York and started the new initiative to strengthen synergy between TICAD and NEPAD. Many members will recall that the Plan of Implementation adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development explicitly mentions the TICAD process and regards it as an important initiative that supports NEPAD.

Keeping in mind the G-8 Africa Action Plan in response to NEPAD, Japan announced its programme of solidarity between Japan and Africa in June, which defines Japan's concrete action for cooperation on Africa. In addition, Japan's Foreign Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, delivered a policy speech on Japan's cooperation for African development at the joint invitation of the African Union and the Economic Commission on Africa when she visited Ethiopia three weeks ago. On such occasions, Japan reiterates its commitment to cooperation based on human-centred development, Asia-Africa cooperation and peace consolidation efforts.

First, with regard to human-centred development in Africa, Japan makes consistent efforts in sectors such as education and health, recognizing that human resources development is the foundation of nation-building. Since TICAD II in 1998, Japan has carried out a $740 million five-year plan of grant aid. That assistance has enabled 2.4 million children to study in classrooms, 2.9 million people to have access to safe water and 215 million people to benefit from improved medical conditions. Among Japan's educational initiatives in Africa is its decision to extend assistance worth more than $2 billion over the next five years to low-income countries, including countries in Africa.

Indeed, through the TICAD process, Japan promotes Asia-Africa cooperation. A symbolic project in that regard is New Rice for Africa. Japan wishes to see the development experiences of East Asia shared by Africans and others. Of course, private-sector cooperation for African development will be promoted through the TICAD process.

In conclusion, let me emphasize that there will be no stability and prosperity in the world in the twenty-first century unless Africa's problems are resolved. Despite the severe constraints surrounding its official development assistance, Japan remains determined to work with Africa. At the same time, development cannot be sustained for long unless the African countries address the challenges and regard them as their own. We hope this meeting will reaffirm Africa's determination to steadily implement NEPAD and the international community's determination to support NEPAD. Japan would like to renew its commitment to advancing together with Africa, hand in hand, leading up to the TICAD III meeting in October next year.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear a statement by His Excellency Mr. Peter Tesch, chairman of the delegation of Australia.

Mr. Tesch (Australia)

Australia warmly welcomes the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Australia believes that NEPAD articulates an integrated African vision for a new African future and a set of principles for achieving that vision. Created by Africans for Africans, it is a historic new partnership. Based on the principles of good political and economic governance, democracy and market-led economic growth, it deserves strong support.

NEPAD acknowledges that the primary responsibility for lifting Africa out of poverty lies with Africa itself. It is, therefore, qualitatively different from past initiatives designed to foster development in Africa that, regrettably, have failed to realize the goal of sustainable development.

Australia commends the forward-looking African leaders who recognized that development has to be underpinned by a strong commitment to international standards of good governance, sound economic management, respect for human rights and the rule of law, peace and security.

It is vital that these laudable principles be realized through real commitment by African countries to their implementation and, importantly, through support by the rest of the international community for that endeavour. Those commitments will be fundamental in helping Africa create an environment where new investment and economic growth can flourish. They will also assist in preventing and ending endemic armed conflict and in overcoming the development challenges that Africa faces.

Australia is encouraged by the commitments embodied in the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance, issued by the NEPAD heads of State in June 2002. We are also encouraged by the African Peer Review Mechanism. The early and consistent implementation of those principles will establish their credibility and will be a key part of the success of NEPAD. It needs to be said that the opposite would also be true.

NEPAD's focus on securing and reaping the benefits of further trade liberalization is clear-sighted, necessary and welcome. Trade liberalization represents one of the single most important steps that can be taken to help eradicate poverty and encourage sustainable development.

Australia is a leading advocate of trade liberalization, particularly in the field of agriculture, a sector of special importance to African countries. We have long advocated ending farm subsidies in developed countries. Not only are those subsidies hugely expensive -- the amount spent on them is more than Africa's combined economic output -- but they are also highly damaging to Africa's development prospects. Australia will continue to work with developing country partners to create a fair international trading system in agricultural products, including in the Doha trade round.

While trade liberalization and private-sector-led growth are crucial, we recognize the importance of development assistance programmes. HIV/AIDS is a serious threat to development and will remain a major focus of Australia's development assistance programme for Africa. Australia's other priorities, governance and education, including working through the African Virtual University in Nairobi, and efforts to bridge the digital divide are also relevant to NEPAD priorities.

NEPAD provides a promising and practical path towards Africa's sustainable development. The challenge for Africans, and indeed for all of us in the international community, is to combine our efforts to help make it work.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the chairman of the delegation of Qatar.

Mr. Al-Nasser (Qatar)

I should like to express my pleasure at participating in this high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to consider ways and means to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

First of all, on behalf of my Government, I should like thank the international community for entrusting the State of Qa