Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA-Africa)

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ANSA-Africa is a project of the Economic Governance Programme, IDASA

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Ministerial declaration of the 2007 high-level segment of ECOSOC as adopted on 10 July 2007
10 July 2007
UN Economic and Social Council

We, the Ministers and heads of Delegations participating in the high-level segment of the substantive session of 2007 of the Economic and Social Council, held in Geneva from 2 to 5 July 2007:
1. Having considered the theme of the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR): "Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development", the report of the Secretary-General on the subject and the contributions made leading up to and during the high-level segment,
2. Having also considered the theme "Strengthening efforts at all levels to promote pro-poor sustained economic growth, including through equitable macro-economic policies" and the report of the Secretary-General on the subject; and the contributions made during the high-level segment,
3. Reaffirming the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals,
4. Recalling also the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, including the development goals and objectives contained therein, and recognizing the vital role played by these conferences and summits in shaping a broad development vision and in identifying commonly agreed objectives, which have contributed to improving human life in different parts of the world,
5. Reaffirming that development is a central goal by itself and that sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental aspects constitutes a key element of the overarching framework of United Nations activities,
6. Recognizing that development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing,
7. Also reaffirming that gender equality and the promotion and protection of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to eradicate poverty and hunger,
8. Reiterating that eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in particular for developing countries,
9. Recognizing also that while globally extreme poverty is declining at a notable rate, progress has been uneven, and at the same time the number of people living in extreme poverty continues to increase in some countries, particularly in the least developed countries and in Sub-Saharan Africa,
10. Remaining concerned that many countries in Africa are currently not on track to achieve any of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration by 2015, and in this regard emphasizing that concerted efforts and continued support are required to fulfill the commitments to address the special needs of Africa,
11. Recognizing also that empowerment of the poor is essential for the effective eradication of poverty and hunger,
12. Recognizing that rural areas of developing countries continue to be home to the vast majority of the world's poor people, whose livelihoods depend to a large extent on agriculture,
13. Reaffirming the commitments to the global partnership for development as set out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,

Have adopted the following declaration.

We welcome the strengthening of ECOSOC, the holding of the first Annual Ministerial Review, including the voluntary national presentations made by Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Ethiopia and Ghana, and the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum;

We invite all countries to consider making voluntary national presentations in the future Annual Ministerial Reviews;

We also welcome the holding of the Civil Society Development Forum held on 28-30 June in Geneva;

We reiterate our resolve to strengthen our efforts to eradicate the scourges of poverty and hunger and make it the central priority of national development strategies and international development cooperation;

We recognize that sustained economic growth is essential for eradicating poverty and hunger, in particular in developing countries. We commit ourselves to promote sustained economic growth in developing countries, and recognize that national efforts in this regard should be complemented by an international enabling environment;

We reiterate that the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, particularly as they affect children, is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and that rural and agricultural development should be an integral part of national and international development policies. In this regard we call for increased productive investment in rural and agricultural development to achieve food security, and for enhanced support for agricultural development and trade capacity-building in the agricultural sector in developing countries;

We emphasize that, inter alia, increasing access through national action and international support, to safe drinking water, basic sanitation, energy, universal education, health care and social protection will reduce both inequality and poverty;

We reiterate the importance of taking measures at all levels to strengthen the development of non-agricultural sectors, in particular medium, small and micro enterprises;

We reiterate our strong support for fair globalization and the need to translate growth into reduction of poverty, and in this regard we resolve to make the goals of full and productive employment and decent work for all, including for women and young people, a central objective of relevant national and international policies as well as national development strategies, including poverty reduction strategies, as part of efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals;

We call for promotion and facilitation of, as appropriate, access to and the development, transfer and diffusion of technologies, including new and advanced environmentally-sound technologies and corresponding know-how to developing countries;

We call on all countries to adopt strategies for reducing urban poverty, call on the United Nations system and other relevant organizations to support developing countries in this regard, and invite the international financial institutions to support those efforts, as appropriate;

We reaffirm our commitment to prioritize actions and allocate resources to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in all countries and agree to undertake measures to increase access of malnourished people to food;

We reiterate that all countries should promote gender equality and empowerment of women, and, as called for, inter alia, in the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the outcome of the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly, identify and accelerate actions towards that end;

We recognize that micro-finance, including micro-credit can make an important contribution to poverty eradication and the empowerment of the poor, including through programmes that could facilitate productive self-employment, promote gender equality and reduce the social and economic vulnerability of the poor. We encourage all countries to facilitate the expansion of micro-finance, including micro-credit in order to service the large unmet demand among poor people for financial services;

We resolve to intensify our efforts towards the goal of universal access to HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010, enhanced access to affordable medicines, reduction of TB prevalence by half by 2015, and reduction of the large number of deaths from malaria, and other infectious diseases, including through increased resources; and in this regard, we welcome the commitment by the Group of 8 to increase funding to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis including the strengthening of health systems to sixty billion dollars in the coming years. We also resolve to continue efforts to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, and strengthen health care systems to help us meet the needs of our populations in all spheres of health, including sexual and reproductive health;

We emphasize the critical role of both formal and informal education in the achievement of poverty eradication and other development goals as envisaged in the Millennium Declaration, in particular basic education and training for eradicating illiteracy, and strive for expanded secondary and higher education as well as vocational and technical training, especially for girls and women, the creation of human resources and infrastructure capabilities and the empowerment of those living in poverty;

We reaffirm our commitment to achieve the goal of sustainable development, including through the implementation of Agenda 21¹ and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.² To this end, we commit ourselves to undertaking concrete actions and measures at all levels and to enhancing international cooperation, taking into account the Rio principles.³ These efforts will also promote the integration of the three components of sustainable development - economic development, social development and environmental protection - as interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars. Poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of and essential requirements for sustainable development;

We recognize the negative impact of environmental degradation and climate change on sustainable development, in all countries especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, small island developing states and African countries;

We recall the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,⁴ including the acknowledgement that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions;

We reaffirm that responses to climate change should be coordinated with social and economic development in an integrated manner with a view to avoiding adverse impacts on the latter, taking into full account the legitimate priority needs of developing countries for the achievement of sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty;

We look forward to measures to address climate change within the UNFCCC and to the COOP 13 Meeting of the UNFCCC and MOP 3 of the Kyoto Protocol in Bali, in December 2007. We also look forward to the Secretary General's High Level Event on 24 September 2007 in New York;

We reiterate the need to fully implement the global partnership for development and enhance the momentum generated by the 2005 World Summit in order to operationalize and implement, at all levels, the commitments in the outcomes of the major United Nations Conferences and summits, including the 2005 World Summit, in the economic, social and related fields and stresses that all countries should promote policies coherent and consistent with those commitments, including those systemic in nature;

We reaffirm our commitment to sound policies, good governance at all levels and the rule of law, and to mobilizing domestic resources, attracting international flows, promoting international trade as an engine for development, increasing international financial and technical cooperation for development, sustainable debt financing and external debt relief and enhancing the coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial and trading systems;

We reaffirm that each country must take primary responsibility for its own development and that the role of national policies and development strategies cannot be over-emphasized in the achievement of sustainable development. We also recognize that national efforts should be complemented by supportive global programmes, measures and policies aimed at expanding the development opportunities of developing countries, while taking into account national conditions and ensuring respect for national ownership, strategies and sovereignty;

We reiterate that in our common pursuit of growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development, a critical challenge is to ensure the necessary internal conditions for mobilizing domestic savings, both public and private, sustaining adequate levels of productive investment and increasing human capacity. A crucial task is to enhance the efficacy, coherence and consistency of macroeconomic policies. An enabling domestic environment is vital for mobilizing domestic resources, increasing productivity, reducing capital flight, encouraging the private sector, and attracting and making effective use of international investment and assistance. Efforts to create such an environment should be supported by the international community;

We acknowledge efforts by developed countries to increase resources for development, including commitments by some developed countries to increase official development assistance. However, we note with concern the overall decline in ODA in 2006, and call for the fulfilment of all ODA commitments, including the commitments by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for official development assistance by 2015 and to reach at least 0.5 per cent of GNI for ODA by 2010, as well as the target of 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent for least developed countries, and urge those developed countries that have not yet done so to make concrete efforts in this regard in accordance with their commitments;

We welcome the efforts by some developed countries, which are on target to meet the commitments made in terms of increased ODA;

We further welcome recent efforts and initiatives to enhance the quality of aid and to increase its impact, including the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and resolve to take concrete, effective and timely action in implementing all agreed commitments on aid effectiveness, with clear monitoring and deadlines, including through further aligning assistance with countries' strategies, building institutional capacities, reducing transaction costs and eliminating bureaucratic procedures, making progress on untying aid, enhancing the absorptive capacity and financial management of recipient countries and strengthening the focus on development results;

We resolve to ensure that existing commitments of additional external resources for Sub-Saharan Africa are fully implemented to promote achievement in that region of the Millennium Development Goals;

We call for the full, timely and effective achievement of the goals and targets of the Brussels Programme of Action,⁵ the Almaty Programme of Action,⁶ the Barbados Programme of Action⁷ and the Mauritius Strategy⁸ to address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States;

We emphasize the need to support the efforts of countries graduating from the list of least developed countries, in accordance with the smooth transition strategy⁹ for countries graduating from the list of least developed countries;

We reaffirm the commitments made in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration and the decision of the General Council of the World Trade Organization of 1 August 2004 to meaningfully integrate the developing and the least developed countries into the multilateral trading system, and calls for the successful and timely completion of the Doha round of trade negotiations with the full realization of the development dimensions of the Doha Work Programme;

We call for the early conclusion and successful development-oriented outcome of the Doha Round of trade negotiations adhering fully to the agreed mandate in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, in the framework adopted by the General Council of the World Trade Organization in its decision of 1 August 2004 and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration;

We call upon all countries to promote good governance, which is essential for sustainable development, and reaffirms that sound economic policies, solid democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people and improved infrastructure are the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication and employment creation and that freedom, peace and security, domestic stability, respect for human rights, including the right to development, the rule of law, gender equality and market-oriented policies and an overall commitment to just and democratic societies, are also essential and mutually reinforcing;

We resolve to pursue good governance and sound macroeconomic policies at all levels and to support developing countries in their efforts to put in place the policies and investments to drive sustained economic growth, promote small and medium-sized enterprises and employment generation and stimulate the private sector;

We reaffirm that good governance at the international level is fundamental for achieving sustainable development, that, in order to ensure a dynamic and enabling international economic environment, it is important to promote global economic governance through addressing the international finance, trade, technology and investment patterns that have an impact on the development prospects of developing countries, and that, to that end, the international community should take all necessary and appropriate measures, including ensuring support for structural and macroeconomic reform, a comprehensive solution to the external debt problem and increasing the market access of developing countries;

We reaffirm the commitment to broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in international economic decision-making and norm-setting, to that end stresses the importance of continuing efforts to reform the international financial architecture, noting that enhancing the voice and participation of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in the Bretton Woods institutions remains a continuous concern, and in this regard calls for further and effective progress;

We call for measures at all levels to promote pro poor growth in a sustained manner, and in this regard we underline the need for equitable micro-economic policies;

We recognize that poverty and inequality are a concern for all countries regardless of their level of development. We also recognize that middle-income countries still face significant areas of poverty and that efforts to address these challenges should be supported;

We acknowledge the vital role the private sector can play in promoting economic growth and eradicating poverty and hunger by generating new investments, employment and financing for development;

We recognize the role that public-private partnerships can play in our efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger and the need to ensure that their activities conform fully with the principle of national ownership of development strategies and that there should be effective accountability and transparency in their implementation;

We acknowledge the critical role of the public sector in promoting sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty and hunger;

We renew our commitment to continue to discuss innovative mechanisms for financing for development. We acknowledge the progress made in this area and invite countries to consider contributing in this regard;

We recognize, in this regard, the value of developing innovative sources of financing from various sources on a public, private, domestic and external basis to increase and supplement traditional sources of financing;

We request ECOSOC consider reviewing its existing mechanisms and where needed take appropriate action to ensure effective review and implementation of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields;

We look forward to our continuing engagement within the renewed and strengthened Economic and Social Council, to advance the achievement of the internationally-agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.