UN Economic and Social Council
June 30 - July 25, 2003

Agenda Item 6(a)
Follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development

Statement by
Claudia Serwer

Acting United States Representative to the
Economic and Social Council

Geneva, Switzerland

July 16, 2003

 

Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the floor to speak on follow-up to Financing for Development. Our work on this issue here in Geneva is not intended to debate or further elaborate the Monterrey Consensus but rather to talk about the role of this Council and its subsidiary bodies in pursuing this accord.

Monterrey represented a historic meeting of the minds on the crucial question of how nations and the international community could and would generate the resources needed to meet agreed development goals and objectives. What Monterrey did not do, however, was to establish a new UN commission or follow-up body. Instead, that role was given to both the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, as well as to the Secretary General and the Chief Executives Board.

Mr. President,

The United States is concerned about implementation efforts to date. In intergovernmental bodies, far too much time has been spent debating what Monterrey really meant, and the relative importance of various sources of development finance. Indeed over the last year, many intergovernmental meetings, and even conferences have spent far too much effort selectively quoting, spinning or paraphrasing the Monterrey Consensus.

Within the UN Secretariat, movement has been far too little and too slow to establish follow up mechanisms, build the Financing for Development Secretariat and resource it adequately for new programs. The time and effort of the Secretariat has been devoted overwhelmingly to servicing Commissions and following up other Conferences. One might wonder whether Monterrey should have established a new intergovernmental body. Our answer would be no; however, we have every reason to expect and insist that supporting and servicing the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly in their respective FfD follow-up roles will be a priority for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

If we are serious about the implementation of Monterrey, then we must ask what activities our subsidiary machinery will employ to this end. The agreements of Monterrey can only be implemented at the national level. We believe that UNCTAD, the Regional Economic Commissions, and the UN Development Programme all have crucial jobs in front of them to support developing countries' efforts to mobilize resources for development. A substantial shift in the technical cooperation activities of the United Nations toward support for mobilizing financing for development at the national level is key. Appropriate ECOSOC subsidiary bodies, including the regional commissions, UNCTAD and the funds and programmes should inform the Council, through their governing bodies, of efforts and proposals in this area. In future sessions, the Council itself must give greater direction and coordination to this priority.

For our part, Mr. President, the US government is deeply committed to this process. President Bush has made support for sustainable development a major goal of his national security strategy. In February, he presented his groundbreaking Millennium Challenge Account initiative to Congress, calling it a powerful way to draw whole nations into an expanding circle of opportunity, enterprise and freedom. The MCA should act as an incentive for countries to improve their policies and practices. It would help developing countries bolster their legal systems and finance investments in health, education and agriculture. It could also supply seed capital and help hardworking men and women harvest the self-respect that comes with earning a decent living.

The key concepts of the Monterrey Consensus are at the center of this dramatic new development tool. The MCA recognizes that development must primarily come from within, not be conferred from the outside. No one can develop a country except its own people. The MCA thus proposes a true partnership in which the developing country with full participation of its citizens proposes its own development priorities and plans.

To conclude, the United States is hopeful that the spirit of Monterrey will dominate our work, both bilaterally and in the United Nations and we look forward to the Council's returning to this topic next year, with, we expect, much more to report.
Thank you.