Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Rio Group on the agenda
item 96 entitled "Operational Activities for
Development".
The experience of Agencies, Funds and Programs of the United Nations
has ensured the implementation of useful
and successful projects in many countries. Latin America and the Caribbean
have not been an exception. In fact,
there are many areas in which the United Nations has worked: human resources,
institutional capacity, education,
environment, agrarian reform, urban development, gender equality and
woman's development, fight against
poverty, employment creation, among others. All these projects have
turn out as important instruments for national
empowerment and for the improvement of social development policies.
It is also important to highlight that the reforms taking place on
the Agencies, Funds and Programs will contribute
to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in the project implementation.
Despite of successful experiences and current reforms, resources for
operational activities are not sufficient,
particularly, core resources. The Rio Group is concerned with constant
decreasing tendency of contributions.
Even more, we are seriously concerned that this tendency is directly
affecting middle income countries like many
in our region.
It is necessary not only to revert that situation through a stronger
political will in favor of the Agencies, Funds and
Programs, but also to reflect on the appropriate criteria of assigning
the resources for development.
It is in this context that the Rio Group wishes to make an appeal
to the Executive Boards of Agencies, Funds and
Programs and donor countries to pay special attention to this concern.
The recent UNDP ministerial meeting was
a positive signal in this regard.
Besides increasing core resources, there is the need to find innovative
forms of financing operational activities, like
through cost-sharing programs and trust funds, as well as closer collaboration
with the World Bank, development
regional banks and stronger participation of private sector and civil
society.
The Río Group believes that financing operational activities
for development should be an opportunity for the
international community to put into practice the principle of shared
responsibility on matters like eradication of
poverty, the against illegal drugs, environmental conservation, social
development, humanitarian matters, and
peace, which are and must be issues of shared interest for all.
Mr. Chairman:
South-South cooperation is an important instrument, and certainly,
will be one of the main avenues of international
cooperation for development in the XXI century.
In this regard, The Río Group would like to highlight with
satisfaction the support given to the economic and
technical cooperation among developing countries by the GA and the ECOSOC
through the adoption of several
resolutions. The inclusion of some south-south cooperation initiatives
within the UN operational activities has
important advantages. It allows taking advantage of experiences, technologies
and human resources that already
exist in developing countries. Thus, desirable outcomes can be achieved
in an easier and faster manner.
During the last years, our region has financed south-south cooperation
not only through external financial
resources, but also through our own resources. Areas like trade, education,
environment, agriculture, health,
business management, sanitation, energy, and science and technology
have benefited from this cooperation. The
Rio Group believes in the great potential of this modality of cooperation
and it should be increasingly explored and
supported.
Mr. Chairman,
I would also like to emphasize two important concepts: national ownership
and national implementation of
operational activities. The use of national technologies and experiences
in the implementation of operational
activities ensures more efficient and rapid absorption of technical
cooperation. Therefore, projects should be
implemented with flexibility, so they take into consideration specific
characteristics, capabilities and needs of each
country.
Mr. Chairman,
The issues of development are still one of the main challenges faced
by the international community. In the nineties,
an extensive agenda was set in different UN Summits and international
conferences. Only the United Nations, with
its universality and neutrality can achieve this agenda. Therefore,
renovation of political and financial supports to its
Agencies, Funds and Programs its essential.
Thank you.
