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Mr. President,
It is a great privilege and honor for me to participate in this important
discussion under your stewardship.
2. Our discussion today focuses essentially on the inextricable link between
peace and development. The two reports of the Secretary-General — on the causes
o f conflict and promotion o f durable peace and sustainable development in
Africa; and on the progress in implementation and international support for
NEPAD — complement each other. The reports offer a comprehensive and coherent
picture of the continent’s efforts to resolve conflicts, stabilize peace, and
create the necessary conditions for development.
3. The Secretary-General has reported steady progress in the areas of
peacemaking and peacekeeping in Africa. It is heartening that, as compared to
1998, the number of African countries in a situation of armed conflict or facing
deep political crises has decreased. This is due, in part, also to the progress
in the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
African leadership and institutions are increasingly involved in seeking African
solutions to African problems. The African Union and its Peace and Security
Council are assuming important responsibilities. IGAD, ECO WAS and CEMAC are
making notable contributions to regional peace and security. The United Nations’
cooperation and coordination with these regional and sub-regional organizations
has considerably evolved. These trends are highly positive, and must be
sustained and further strengthened. We support the Secretary- General’s
intention to explore new ways of collaboration between the United Nations and
the African Union.
Mr. President,
4. While these achievements are impressive, new conflicts and complex crises
continue to afflict Africa. Risks of re-lapse into conflict are real. New trends
and sources of conflict present potential threats to peace and security. The
Secretary-General has mentioned poverty, and particularly youth unemployment, in
this context. He has also mentioned illicit exploitation of and trade of natural
resources as a major source of instability. We could not agree more. In our
view, many of the conflict situations in Africa today are the direct consequence
of the “politics of poverty and scarcity.” HIV/AIDS pandemic is another source
of destabilization; so are the demographic pressures and ecological factors, as
acknowledged in the report of the Secretary-General.
5. Pakistan is a significant stakeholder in the international community’s
investment in peace in Africa. We believe Africa’s potential cannot be fully
realized as long as conflict rages in the continent. Pakistan is convinced that
sustainable peace can only be assured by evolving a compre conflict, prevention
strategy, addressing the root causes of conflict, strengthening long-term
capacities for peaceful settlement of disputes, and mobilizing resources for
post-conflict peace-building, reconstruction and development The United Nations
system and the international community must work together to evolve a
comprehensive, integrated and coherent policy response.
Mr. President,
6. We are glad that efforts to build a viable and effective partnership to
tackle the myriad challenges in Africa are already underway. We commend the
African leadership for their vision in launching NEPAD -- an Africa-led,
Africa-owned, and Africa-driven initiative providing integrated and
comprehensive framework for Africa’s sustainable growth and development.
Fittingly, NEPAD sets out a broad vision for Africa’s future, outlines a
strategy for achieving that vision, and spells out a programme of action focused
on a number of key priority areas.
7. The Secretary-General’s report notes that NEPAD has made considerable
progress in developing sectoral policy frameworks, implementing specific
programmes and projects and establishing targets for expenditure in NEPAD
sectoral priority areas, including, among others, infrastructure, health,
education, agriculture, environment. This is indeed very heartening. None of
this could have been achieved without the determination and collective political
will of the African countries to make NEPAD work for development.
8. The progress is unmistakable, but unfortunately it is still far below the
real potential of NEPAD, which faces several constraints in the effective
execution of its programmes. The foremost, in this regard, is the serious
inadequacy of fiscal resources to meet the targets and the needs.
9. There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) would remain largely illusive for Africa unless something is done
to substantially enhance the existing development assistance flows to generate
the resources required for achieving the MDGs. Africa’s inability to realize
MDGs would also be seen as a failure of NEPAD.
10. The issue of resource flows has to be addressed effectively and
expeditiously with the support and assistance of the international community.
The Secretary-General’s report cites various actions taken by the international
community to bolster development activities and initiatives in Africa. But more
is needed and urgently.
11. An important endeavor, acknowledged in the Report, is the grant of debt
relief, including debt cancellation to Africa by the developed country partners.
This is a welcome development. Such efforts n eed to be further expanded to
cover other countries in Africa that are in financial distress.
12. The continuing rise in FDI flows into Africa is another encouraging sign,
even though the numbers are still insignificant in terms of global FDI flows. We
strongly feel that bolstering investments, expanding trade by allowing greater
market access to exports from Africa and building capacity and human resources
are the most important tools to put Africa on the fast development track. These,
we believe, should be the three main pillars for a strategic partnership between
Africa and the rest of the world.
13. We also see the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development, the
recent Asia-Africa Sub-Regional Conference, and other similar initiatives, as
important processes, which could complement NEPAD.
14. Policy coherence is as much a fundamental policy challenge for Africa as it
is for the rest of the developing world in the context of international support.
We would, therefore, like to take this opportunity to highlight the long
standing need for an integrated development strategy not just for Africa but
also for other developing regions.
Mr. President,
15. For its part, Pakistan has always actively supported initiatives that seek
to address the problems and crises faced by the countries of Africa. We have
also been a strong supporter of the effective and early implementation of NEPAD.
Pakistan has consistently supported the political and economic aspirations of
Africa. We are equally proud of our participation in several UN peacekeeping
operations in Africa. Our military and civilian personnel have been part of UN
operations in Burundi, DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, and Western Sahara.
16. At the national level, the Government of Pakistan has been successfully
running a special technical assistance programme for Africa since 1986, a fact
acknowledged in the Secretary General’s report. Hundreds of young African
professionals in various fields have benefited from this ongoing programme.
Mr. President,
17. I wish to conclude by noting that conflict has sapped Africa’s potential for
too long. The peoples of Africa continue to suffer as a consequence. The
challenges that the continent faces are colossal. But Africa has the opportunity
t o finally turn a corner. NEPAD represents a realistic framework to meet these
challenges. Commitments are there, so are the plans. It is time to turn words
into deeds. This is a moral obligation as well as a political responsibility.
I thank you, Mr. President.