DEVELOPMENT: UNDP, Italy Set Example for Donors at South Summit

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 14 2000 (IPS) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Italian government issued an appeal for development aid by setting an example themselves, at a panel held parallel to this week’s South Summit of Third World nations in Cuba.

At a panel on “summits, commitments and cooperation”, the UN agency and Italy pledged 140 million dollars in development aid Thursday, in an attempt to encourage donor countries to revert the continued decline in development aid.

At the panel, held simultaneously to the Group of 77 (G-77) summit – the first ever held by the coalition of 133 countries of the developing South – the UNDP proposed a project that would channel 10 million dollars over the next three years towards reducing the risks posed by natural disasters in the Caribbean.

Italy, meanwhile, unilaterally pledged 130 million dollars in aid for the developing South this year. The fund is to mainly be used for local development projects and to assist population groups affected by catastrophes.

We are talking about “globalising governability” and “listening to the voices of the poor” in the process of implementing projects aimed at alleviating poverty, said UNDP administrator Mark Malloch.

Italy’s under-secretary for foreign affairs Franco Danieli called for “a new international strategy” entailing a “contract based on reciprocal commitments between the rich world and the poor world.”

Writing off the foreign debt of the poorest countries “is not sufficient in and of itself,” said Danieli. What is needed, he maintained, is a “coherent combination of economic and political reforms in those countries.”

Rich countries, meanwhile, should open up their markets to products from the South and provide debt relief, as well as investment in two crucial areas: education and health, he added.

Representatives of Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Canada attended the panel sponsored by the United Nations and Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration.

One of the key focuses of the panel was how to revert the decline in development aid – also one of the main objectives to be mentioned by the final declaration and action plan to be signed by the heads of state and government attending the South Summit.

The panel also aimed to encourage donor countries to commit themselves to the approach promoted by the UNDP and Italy, under which implementation of local development projects entails direct consultations with the beneficiaries.

Cuba has shown that poverty cannot only be measured by a country’s income, said Malloch, pointing to the results of a programme carried out in Old Havana in accordance with that new local participation approach.

The Un official said South-South cooperation was now one of the priorities of the UNDP. The best and most practical advice a developing country can receive is advice offered by another developing country, he said.

Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration Raúl Taladrid cautioned, however, that cooperation between developing countries could never replace the responsibilities of the North.

Taladrid presided over a meeting of experts that approved 118 cooperation projects among G-77 members Monday. The majority of the projects, 71, were proposed by Cuba, 27 were suggested by China, and the remainder were initiatives put forth by Colombia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

Cuba has always held that “no matter how poor or small you are, you can always do something for others,” said Taladrid. But, he underlined, that position “does not free the North from its responsibility to the South.”

The Cuban official pointed to the failure by industrialised countries to live up to their commitment to earmark 0.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product to development aid.

Announcing Italy’s pledge of development aid, Danieli mentioned the dangers that any crisis in the South would hold for the industrialised North.

That idea has cropped up repeatedly at the South Summit since Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque warned Tuesday that an increase in poverty could cause an even bigger wave of emigration, which would hurt the North as well as the South.

No country would be able to feel safe if there is strong international turmoil and an important part of humanity is left out of the vital flows of the economy, said Danieli.

Italy urged donor countries to take part in a special meeting on cooperation slated for June in Geneva, and to join the goup of countries willing to work together with the United Nations to promote international cooperation and aid.

DEVELOPMENT: UNDP, Italy Set Example for Donors at South Summit

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 14 2000 (IPS) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Italian government issued an appeal for development aid by setting an example themselves, at a panel held parallel to this week’s South Summit of Third World nations in Cuba.
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