STATEMENT
BY MR. MUHAMMED HAMDULLAH SAYEED, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, ON AGENDA ITEM 19 FOLLOW-UP TO AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OUTCOME OFTHE 2002 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE2008 REVIEW CONFERENCE AT THE SECOND COMMITTEE OF THE 65 THE
SESSION OFTHE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON OCTOBER 14, 2010
Mr. Chairman,
Allow me to begin by expressing my deep appreciation
of your stewardship insteering the work of the Second Committee. India aligns itself with the statementdelivered by Yemen
We
note with satisfaction the efforts made by the UN to follow up on theMonterrey Consensus and the Doha Conference including through the 4th High LevelDialogue on Financing for Development organised by the General Assembly in Marchthis year. At the recently held High Level
Review meeting on MDGs, the global fraternityhad once again emphasised the importance of adhering to the
commitments of theMonterrey
Consensus of 2002 and the Doha Conference of 2008.The Declaration adopted at the event stated in clear terms the role that
wasenvisaged for ODA, innovative
financing, domestic resources, debt relief, globaleconomic governance reforms and
international trade and investment to play in the context of achieving the Internationally Agreed Development
Goals.
Mr. Chairman,
The developing countries, especially
the LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and countries in Africa quite clearly cannot meet the MDG targets and other
developmental challengeswithout
external development assistance.These countries, in spite of their best efforts have not been able to
mobiliseadequate domestic resources to meet
their development needs due to lack of economicopportunities, limited policy space and weak productive capacities.The global financial crisis along with
the food and energy shocks has furtherweakened their resource base to fight hunger, poverty and disease. As the global economy contracted, the financing gap
for development inexistence prior to
2008 further widened. As of
2009, only five donor countries had met their ODA commitment of 0.7%.The aid flow to developing countries
last year stood at US$ 120 billion, representing0.31% of the total GNI of the donor countries and well short
of the 0.7% mark.
Mr. Chairman,
The commitment that the international
community made in Monterrey
Mr. Chairman,
The gap in financing for development has
led to a spurt in global discourse oninnovative and new tools of financing.India believes that innovative sources of financing must be expanded tosupport the global development agenda.
We compliment the work undertaken by GAVI to support its health initiative through the International Finance
Facility forImmunisation. Such
models could also be replicated to support global action in areassuch as education, food security,
environment and climate change.We are hopeful that the completion of an ambitious Doha Round, expansion
of aid for trade,
strong assistance from international financial institutions and policies of financial inclusion would strengthen the
capacities of developing countries to mobilizegreater domestic resources in the medium and long term. A comprehensive reform of the international financial architecture
to addresssystemic issues is
at the heart of general implementation of the financing fordevelopment process. India
Mr. Chairman,
The new tools of financing development
or strengthening the capacity of developing countries can at best bring additional resources. There is no
substitute tothe ODA
commitments for financing development.On its part, India Africa and beyond. Our companies
have invested more thanUS$ 15
billion in Africa in the last few years.South-South financial and technical
assistance may be expanding lately but itcannot be a substitute for the North-South commitment.
Mr. Chairman,
The financing for development process, as embodied in the Monterrey Consensusand the Doha Review Conference, is
crucial for attainment of our developmentaspirations. We must adhere to its principles in letter and spirit.
Thank you
