STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL-NASSER, AMBASSADOR AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STATE OF QATAR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, CHAIRMAN OF THE GROUP OF 77, ON AGENDA ITEM 38 NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT: PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTATION AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT, AT THE 59TH SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (New York, 18 October 2004)

Mr. President,

I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on this important subject.

The Group of 77 is pleased to participate in the debate on this important agenda item at this session of the General Assembly. We do so against the backdrop of two reports of the Secretary-General: the second consolidated report on progress in implementation and international support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Progress on the Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa.

These reports have provided very detailed and rich insights into the progress made as well as challenges and constraints encountered in the past year in implementation of NEPAD and in managing and resolving conflicts in Africa. The two reports not only complement each other very well but also offer a balanced perspective on the efforts of African countries and the support by the international community for the economic and political development of Africa.

The Group is pleased to learn that African countries have made much progress in such priority areas of NEPAD as agriculture, infrastructure, environment and tourism, education, health, industralisation and science and technology. These areas are important for the growth and sustainable development of Africa. In particular, we note that African countries have demonstrated their determination to advance the implementation of NEPAD by the development of sectoral policy frameworks, by promoting specific programmes and projects and by establishing targets for expenditure on selected NEPAD sectoral priorities. It is significant that the sectors where targets of expenditures include agriculture, health, water and sanitation, and science and technology. These are among the critical areas for Africa's development.

The Group of 77 also applauds the progress that African countries have made in the past year in developing the African Peer Review Mechanism. Step-by-step, the institutional arrangements of the APRM have been put in place. The APRM is unique in that it shows Africa's commitment to improve and strengthen all aspects of its governance and do so through mutual learning and sharing of experiences. Even so, a well functioning APRM is a badge of honour that Africa will confer on itself not a prize to be given by its partners. Or even worse making the APRM a form of conditionality for supporting NEPAD.

NEPAD is based on the dual principles of ownership and partnership. Africa owns, lead and manage the process. Nonetheless, African leaders recognized the importance of international support as critical to the support of NEPAD. The international community has pledged that support in various forums and most notably in this Assembly, when it adopted the UN Declaration on the New Partnership for Africa's Development in resolution 57/2 and other subsequent resolutions.

Africa's developed country partners have an important role to play in fulfilling the spirit of partnership of NEPAD. As the report on NEPAD makes clear Africa's development partners have taken a series of international actions that will potentially benefit the implementation of NEPAD. In particular, we note the various initiatives and actions by the developed countries to support Africa through debt relief, trade, official development assistance and public policies to support foreign direct investment in Africa.

Yet, the SG report notes a fundamental policy challenge in international support for NEPAD is achieving coherence of policy actions in favour of Africa. The absence of coherence in areas of trade, debt and aid flows to Africa is undercutting international support for Africa. We fully endorse the recommendation that Africa development partners bring policy coherence in actions in Africa and to undertake concrete measures to accelerate the implementation of NEPAD by committing financial resources for the priority areas of NEPAD.

Equally important the Group of 77 appreciates the support that some of its members have extended to Africa through a variety of South-South cooperation programmes. This is consistent with the consensus resolutions that this Assembly has adopted in the past two years.

As regards the report on the causes of conflicts and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development, we note that there is progress being made in the implementation of the recommendations contained in his 1998 Report although, as we will see in more detail, progress is more steady in some areas than in others. As a result of the implementation of those recommendations, Africa is afflicted by fewer conflicts today than it did at the time of the publication of the original report in 1998, when 14 states were engaged in armed conflict and 11 experienced deep political turmoil. The report recognizes that the international community, African countries and Regional Organizations, have made serious efforts to deal with the scourge of conflict in Africa.

The Secretary-General notes further that while steady progress is noted in areas such as peace-making and peace-keeping, the progress in poverty reduction has been modest and slow, despite great efforts made by African countries to implement NEPAD and create an enabling environment for economic growth.

On conclusion, we wish to thank the UN Secretary-General for his support to the development efforts of the African Countries. We urge the international community, especially the donor states and institutions, the private sector and civil society to generously support this new political framework.

Thank you, Mr. President.