STATEMENT BY MR. GEORGE TALBOT, REPRESENTATIVE OF GUYANA, ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA ON AGENDA ITEM 97(d): SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND AGENDA ITEM 97 (e): EXTERNAL DEBT CRISIS AND DEVELOPMENT
New York, 8 October 1999
Mr. Chairman,
1. It an honour for me to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and
China on agenda item 97(d): Science and Technology for Development.
2. I wish to express our gratitude for the report of the Secretary-General
on this important issue. It is our hope that guided by the objectives
of the Vienna Programme of Action on Science and Technology for
Development and all other UN resolutions and decisions on this
question, our deliberations will help to lay the foundation for
a more proactive approach by the United Nations in this area.
Mr. Chairman,
3. We have become all too aware of the growing importance of knowledge
and technology to the economic and social development of countries.
Globalization of economic, scientific and technological activities
is now increasingly characterized by the emergence of knowledge-intensive
production and competition based on price and non-priced based
factors, including innovation.
4. Growth of knowledge-intensive production due to increased scientific
and technological interactions has accelerated the pace of economic
activities. The result is new forms of inter-firm cooperation,
networking and partnering. Policies at firm and government levels
are constantly in need of adjustment in light of the continuing
debate on appropriate policies for economic integration and growth
in a global, knowledge-based economy.
5. The stark reality, Mr. Chairman, is that developing countries
are for the most part being left far behind by these developments.
The gap in knowledge and technology has thus exacerbated the income
divide between developed and developing countries, with the threat
of further economic and social disparity.
6. We therefore underscore the importance of intensifying international
cooperation in this field. Such cooperation should enhance endogenous
capacity-building in developing countries, and promote, facilitate,
and finance the access to and the transfer of environmentally
sound technologies and corresponding know-how to these countries,
on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential
terms, as mutually agreed, taking into account their special needs.
7. We emphasize that adequate financial resources on a continuous
and assured basis should be made available to developing countries
to foster their science and technological development in support
of their development aspirations. The developing countries should
have access, inter alia, to new technologies without obstacles
such as export restrictions on new technology imposed under different
pretexts. It is imperative to address such exclusion in the development
of developing countries.
Mr. Chairman,
8. It is a source of deep concern to our Group that the United
Nations appears yet ill-equipped to deal with current challenges
in this field. It must be urgently strengthened in this area if
it is to effectively serve development in the next century. The
Organisation should play a central role in the promotion of cooperation
in science and technology, and in the enhancement of support and
assistance to developing countries in their efforts on this front.
Science and technology for development should therefore be a priority
issue on the agenda of the United Nations. Given its centrality
in a globalising world we might yet consider a review of the periodicity
of this item.
9. The forthcoming ECOSOC high-level segment will provide a special
opportunity to address issues of technology and development. It
is our hope that the leading-up to this meeting will provide us
opportunities to consolidate a new role for the UN in this area.
Mr. Chairman,
10. The Group of 77 and China emphasizes that efforts by the developing
countries towards achieving sustainable development objectives
can only be effective with simultaneous efforts towards accelerating
sustained economic growth and development of developing countries
through, inter alia, the creation of an enabling external economic
environment conducive to the development process in the areas
of transfer of technology, trade, finance and resolving their
external debt problem. We reiterate that the development and transfer
of environmentally sound technologies are essential components
of a successful strategy for sustainable development. In this
regard, external assistance for the promotion of technology centres
in developing countries has an important role to play.
11. The Group of 77 and China emphasizes the urgent need for international
support to regional and sub-regional cooperation initiatives involving
developing countries including through Economic and Technical
Cooperation among Developing Countries (ECDC/TCDC) modality as
a means of expanding not only transfer of technology but trade
and investment among those countries.
Mr. Chairman,
12. General Assembly resolution 52/184 on science and technology
for development covers a number of key issues, including those
pertaining to the mandates of the UN Commission on Science and
Technology for Development (CSTD) and its Secretariat in UNCTAD.
It addresses the importance of science and technology partnerships
for national capacity building; issues of biotechnology and its
impact on development with emphasis on food production; questions
relating to gender, science and technology; the need for a coalition
of resources; and the coordination of science and technology related
activities of the UN system. These issues remain valid and pertinent
as we consider future action in this vital area.
13. The Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD)
has an important role to play as a global forum for examination
of science and technology questions, improving the understanding
of science and technology policies for development and the formulation
of recommendations and guidelines on science and technology matters
within the United Nations system. In this context, we consider
that the Commission should be strengthened in order to increase
its efficiency and effectiveness including through a review of
its working methods and focusing its work more on facilitating
transfer of technology and capacity building in developing countries.
The Secretariat of UNCTAD should also be better equipped to provide
substantive servicing of the CSTD.
Mr. Chairman,
14. At the threshold of the new millennium, it is critical to
launch new measures for aimed at enabling developing countries
to address their pressing needs in this sector and to face the
development challenges ahead.
Mr. Chairman,
15. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China in respect of agenda item 97 (e), external debt crisis and development. I should like first of all to express our appreciation for the report of the Secretary-General, contained in document A/54/370 which provides a useful overview of recent developments in the debt situation of developing countries.
16. For the Group of 77 and China, the external debt problem is a serious impediment to development. Not only does it invariably impose a heavy burden on our countries by depriving them of significant resources for development, but it also often brings with it many negative conditionalities that constrain our autonomy of action. Obliged as they are to direct precious resources to service external indebtedness, debtor countries must curtail expenditures for basic health, education and infrastructure. A heavy foreign debt also undermines macroeconomic stability by increasing budget deficits and thus effectively impeding economic growth. We are therefore anxious to see an early and durable solution to the problem and hope that our deliberations in this Committee could take us closer to that goal.
17. True enough, there have been several initiatives over the years aimed at reducing the enormous debt overhang, which have brought some relief. Following the outbreak of the debt crisis in the 80's, we witnessed the efforts of the Paris Club, the Brady Plan of 1989, followed by a series of so called terms including Toronto, Naples and Lyon. Despite these initiatives, the problem persists. The Secretary-General reports that the total external debt of developing countries and countries in transition reached an estimated 2.5 trillion dollars at the end of 1998, a six percent increase over the 2.3 trillion in 1997.
18. The HIPC initiative launched in 1996 represented a first step toward a more comprehensive approach as called for by the General Assembly. As was soon discovered, however, it was too limited in its coverage, was loaded with conditionalities and slow to yield significant benefits. Following on the Cologne Initiative, the successor Enhanced HIPC Framework adopted at the recent annual meetings of the Bank and Fund is a welcome step forward. It holds out the promise of faster, deeper and broader relief. However, what impact will be made remains to be seen, and will depend on urgent implementation of its provisions.
19. Indeed, a critical factor to its success will be the provision of adequate financing. So far, this is yet to be assured. The Group of 77 and China remains concerned about the difficulties being encountered in securing the necessary funding for the enhanced HIPC Framework. We urge speedy action to mobilise the requisite financing for its implementation. In this regard, we note that many developing countries have already made pledges and contributions. We urge industrialized countries, particularly G-7 countries, to go beyond pledges made so far in order to assure the full and effective implementation of the Initiative.
20. At the same time, we must reiterate a fundamental principle, in keeping with previous resolutions of the General Assembly, that funding for the Initiative should not affect the support required for other development activities of developing coutnries. In this context, the Group of 77 and China welcomes the agreement reflected in the communiqué of the Development Committee that financing of debt relief should not compromise the financing made available through concessional windows such as the IDA.
21. It is also important to highlight in this context the need for special attention to the crippling debt burden borne by African countries, among which are most of the HIPCs. The Secretary-General has put forward a number of proposals in this regard, which warrant consideration by the international community. Among these is his call to convert into grants the remaining official bilateral debts of the poorest African countries.
Mr. Chairman,
22. A key lesson to be drawn from the incremental approach that has so far characterised debt reduction strategies is that the terms of debt relief have been inadequate at each point in the past years. It is now imperative that we find a more comprehensive solution to the problem.
23. Recent developments support the need for a more comprehensive approach. In the case of HIPCs, for example, the Interim and Development Committees have acknowledged that debt relief alone is insufficient to achieve the goal of poverty reduction. They have thus recognised the need for a broader strategy that encompasses a more explicit link within countries between debt relief and poverty reduction strategies and programmes.
24. A comprehensive approach must entail measures to address the debt problem of developing countries, such as the Least Developed Countries, non-HIPC low-income countries and middle income countries. We call attention to the urgent need to implement appropriate actions in favour of LDCs, in particular concerning their official bilateral, commercial and multilateral debt as agreed to in the Mid-term Global Review of Progress in the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s.
25. The Secretary-General's report has drawn attention to worrisome developments in the debt problems of middle income countries, particularly those in the lower middle income category, a number of which have been obliged, on account of the East Asian financial crisis, to seek new arrangements for debt rescheduling. The need for new arrangements for these countries as well as for the non-HIPC low income countries will have to be addressed. Special attention must continue to be given to countries in special situations, such as those ravaged by humanitarian disasters.
Mr. Chairman,
26. In our search for a more durable solution, we have given thought as a Group to some of the things that can be done. Perhaps one of these is to set new standards for determining the sustainability of external debt that are based on the fiscal consequences of the debt burden.
27. In that regard, the Group of 77 and China believes that the ideas advanced in the Secretary-General's report regarding sustainability criteria deserve careful consideration, in particular its conclusion in the case of HIPC that the new fiscal targets may yet be too high. To provide a clear and lasting exit from an unsustainable debt burden, debt sustainability targets should, as a matter of principle, realistically reflect the capacity to pay of the concerned debtor coutnries. We note with appreciation the decision by the Interim and Development Committees to reduce sustainability thresholds and believe that this question should be kept under review.
28. We would go even further to suggest that the debt government and the international institutions could agree on a multi-year fiscal scenario that addresses a number of principle among them: (a) macroeconomic stability consistent with non-inflationary financing (b) domestic rates of taxation consistent with rapid growth (c) adequate financing for core public goods, including education, public health and basic infrastructure; and (d) debt reduction as necessary to achieve these goals, taking into account the need for a realistic time path for budgetary and tax adjustments, as well as the magnitude of budgetary assistance that the debtor governments can expect from donor countries. This kind of debt reduction programme could then be presented to the Paris Club for consideration.
29. Beyond this, we will continue to advocate a global approach that contemplates not only the linkages within countries, but also the critical importance of an enabling international economic environment supportive of long term growth and development in developing coutnries. Without such holistic approach there is little hope of finding a practical and lasting solution to this persistent and pervasive problem.
30. Let me say in conclusion that the General Assembly has recognised the substantial contribution that an effective, equitable, development-oriented and durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countries can make to the strengthening of the global economy.
31. The international community must therefore urgently coordinate an effective debt reduction policy as we approach the new millennium.
I thank you.