New Partnership for Africa’s Development

Statement by Dr. Asad M. Khan, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations on New Partnership for Africa’s Development: Progress in Implementation and International Support:[62(a)]; Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa [62(b)] (12 October 2006)

Madam President,

It is a great privilege and honor for me to participate in this important discussion under your stewardship.

2. Pakistan wishes to associate with the statement made by the distinguished representative of South Africa on behalf of G-77 and China.
3. We welcome the steady progress reported by the Secretary General in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary General on the causes of conflict and promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. The African leadership determined at addressing Africa’s problems, and the international community committed to support those efforts, have worked hand in hand to achieve that difficult progress.
4. Numerous daunting challenges nevertheless remain in the complex peace and security situation in Africa. The report of the Secretary General contains a set of pertinent and updated recommendations that take into account the developments in recent years. Considered together with the numerous previous recommendations that continue to be valid, these provide a solid framework for action in the years ahead.
5. We are of the firm belief that pacific settlement of disputes in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter is the best means of conflict prevention and resolution and should be increasingly employed. We appreciate the efforts for peaceful settlement under the auspices of the UN and the African Union.
6. One recent development and a concrete outcome of years of discussions and lessons learnt from conflict prevention, peacemaking and peacekeeping activities, is the establishment of the UN Peace-building Commission. Incidentally as we speak here today, the PBC is holding its first country specific meeting on Sierra Leone. As a member of the Commission, Pakistan is committed to contribute to its work and success.
7. Addressing the multifarious root causes of conflict remains a fundamental objective. This is vital to prevent relapse into conflict and pertinent for immediate and long-term recovery in post conflict situations.
8. UN peacekeeping is an indispensable tool for restoring peace and stability in conflict situations and has particularly proved its utility and effectiveness in the African continent. Pakistan is committed to supporting the UN’s peace efforts in Africa. Pakistan is a leading troop contributor and is participating in six of the seven current peacekeeping operations in Africa with over 9000 personnel.

Madam President,

9. New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), as rightly pointed out by the Secretary General in his report, represents a paradigm shift in the way African Governments and peoples conceive their development strategy.
10. In its fifth year of implementation now, NEPAD has generated a new momentum of action for Africa’s development by making considerable progress in developing sectoral policy frameworks, implementing specific programmes and projects and establishing targets for expenditure in sectoral priority areas, including, infrastructure, health, education, agriculture and environment among others.
11. The Secretary General’s report cites various actions taken by the international community including progress made in extending and deepening debt relief, rising investment flows- although still insignificant in the global context- to African countries to bolster their development endeavors. We are happy to note this positive trend signifying that the implementation deficit, commonly seen in the context of the wider global development agenda, does not afflict Africa as much.
12. However, there is also growing 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.
13. Pakistan strongly feels that further 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.

Madam President,

14. Pakistan has consistently supported the political and economic aspirations of Africa. We also support effective and early implementation of NEPAD. We have actively supported and contributed to efforts for promoting durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.
15. Apart from our contribution to UN peacekeeping in Africa we also provide bilateral assistance in economic, social, technical and military spheres to a number of African countries in the context of South-South cooperation. The Government of Pakistan has been successfully running Special Technical Assistance Programme for Africa since 1986. Hundreds of young African professionals from public and private sector have received training under this programme in different fields including public administration, management, banking, customs, accounting and diplomacy. We plan to further enhance the scope of this programme in the years ahead, as an expression of our support to Africa’s development.

I thank you.