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Statement by Hon. Jakaya M. Kikwete (MP), Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Republic of Tanzania)
at the International Conference on Financing For Development
Monterrey, Mexico March 21
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Your Excellency Vicente Fox. President of Mexico.
Your Excellency Kofi Annan. Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
Your Excellencies. Heads of State and Government
Your Excellencies Heads of Delegations
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mr. President.
It is an honour and privilege for me to take this opportunity to
add Tanzania's voice in congratulating you and other members of the
Bureau upon your election to preside over this important
Conference. I am confident that you will guide our work to fruitful
conclusion. In the same vein, allow me to express my sincere
appreciation for the good work done by the two Co-chairmen and the
Bureau of the Preparatory Committee. Their tireless efforts have
made this Conference possible. I am optimistic that the outcome of
this Conference will commensurately reward their hard work and
dedication.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the Government and
the people of Mexico for hosting this Conference and for putting at
our disposal such excellent facilities. This affords us a serene
atmosphere for successful deliberations. My delegation and I, are
deeply touched by warm hospitality being accorded to us since we
set foot onto this great country.
Mr. President,
My President H.E. Benjamin Mkapa very much regrets that he could
not attend this important Conference because of unavoidable reasons
but sends his best wishes. He trusts that his colleagues and
members of the United Nations, family gathered here will live up to
the expectations of millions of people who remain victims of
poverty and deprivation.
Mr. President,
We have come to Monterrey with hopes and expectations that this
Conference will provide an opportunity to further the cause of
getting comprehensive resolutions to the complex development
questions facing mankind today. In particular this Conference is
expected to give practical answers to issues related to the
eradication of poverty. It is quite opportune indeed, that this
Conference demanded by the Group of 77 two decades ago, is being
held two years after the Millennium Summit of 2000 at which world
leaders agreed on the Millennium Declaration which made poverty
eradication the central focus for our development efforts in the
new century. The Millennium Declaration spelt out clearly in the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that abject poverty will have
been eradicated by 50% by 2015. This generated hopes to those
countries and peoples who are victims of poverty. This meeting,
dedicated to finding the means to implement the MDGs raises our
expectations to even greater heights. We sincerely hope that we
will not be let down either by the conclusions or later by the
conclusions not being implemented.
Mr. President,
The, implementation of MDGs will require substantial. new and
additional resources from both domestic and external sources. The
World Bank estimates that 30 billion US dollars will be required
annually for a period of thirty years to meet this goal. The United
Nations estimates that some 50 billion US dollars will be required
annually up to 2015, of which. 10 billion US dollars will be spent
on stemming and reversing the surge of HIV/AIDS.
This may appear not to be a small task but I believe it not an
impossible one. Fortunately this is a world has tremendous wealth
especially in the developed countries of the North. What is 50
billion US dollars to the European Union countries which spend 1
billion US dollars a day on agricultural subsidies which they can
do without. That money alone is equivalent to seven years budget of
financing the Millennium Development Goals. If one were to combine
that with the huge surpluses in the US, Japan and other non-EU
developed countries the resource requirement to implement the MDGs
should not be a headache. Perhaps what is required now is greater
political will and commitment. Recent decisions taken by the
European Union and H.E. President George W. Bush of the United
States are steps in the right direction and are welcome indeed.
My delegation came to Monterrey with high expectations that this
Conference come will up with a clear message of hope that the
implementation of the Millennium Goals is doable. Also that there
are concrete plans of action and proper follow-up mechanism is put
in place.
Mr. President,
Sustainable debt financing on the part of the developing countries
is an important element for mobilizing resources for public and
private investment. We greatly appreciate the steps taken by the
international community to resolve the problem of unsustainable
debt of the highly indebted poor countries in the framework of
enhanced HIPC Initiative. This initiative is expected to provide
broader, faster and deeper debt relief and is premised on the
assumption that once an HIPC country reaches 'completion point, its
`debt becomes sustainable. This assumption, however, raises a
number of issues which need to be considered:
At completion point, the debt relief delivered is only that of the
Multilateral Financial Institutions and the Paris Club creditors.
Non-Paris Club creditors, including commercial creditors are not
providing relief as assumed in the debt sustainability analysis.
Exclusion of domestic debt and contingent liabilities in the debt
sustainability ' analysis is a concern of the HIPCs, because of its
implications for fiscal resources available for financing poverty
reduction.
We encourage donors to provide financial assistance, to the extent
possible through grants. In this connection we have taken keen
interest in the United States proposal to "stop-the-debt" for the
poorest countries. We eagerly look forward to gaining more
understanding of the proposal.
Mr. President.
Tanzania like many other countries does recognize the role and
importance of trade in promoting faster economic growth and
development of nations. However, in the case of Least Developed
Countries, the key issue in trade development is the need to
address supply side constraints. The market access opportunities
for LDCs can only be effective if LDCs are assisted to build their
capacities to produce tradable goods of higher value and acceptable
quality at competitive cost. Certainly I do not foresee a
prosperous. modern, poverty-free and debt-sustaining Sub-Saharan
Africa surviving on exports of raw cashew nuts, coffee, tea,
cotton, cocoa, while importing everything else in the form of
industrial goods from abroad, using the foreign exchange earned
from primary exports.
Assisting-, LDCs in this regard is in line with the Programme of
Action adopted in Brussels and as reiterated at the WTO Ministerial
Meeting in Doha in November 2001. It is therefore in order that the
Monterrey Conference adds its voice on the need to assist LDCs to
build their capacities to fully utilize their potential. In this
respect Tanzania welcomes assistance from our cooperating partners
in the development of physical infrastructure to open up the
potential in the agricultural sector; to assist in value addition
especially in agro-processing and manufacturing in general and to
provide technical assistance and training through the Integrated
Framework for Trade Development. Such assistance is crucial if we
are to be fully integrated in the Multilateral Trading System.
Mr. President,
Despite measures to grant tax and quota-free access to European and
American markets exports from developing countries face trade
barriers because of subsidies exercised by developed countries and
other non-tariff barriers such as use of environmental issues by
the same. Subsidies for agricultural products pose an impossible
challenge in, our attempts to export farm produce to European
markets. And, yet it is in this area where we have comparative
advantages if given an opportunity for fair competition. We look
forward to the day when this hurdle will be removed.
Globalization can only be an opportunity to all nations of the
world if developing countries are given a fair chance, within the
rules based on multilateral trading system, to enhance their
production capacities and to have predictable access for their
products and services. A scenario which developing countries are
required to open up their markets without meaningful access
opportunities into the markets of developed countries, inevitably
leads to de-industrialization in developing countries. This has
debilitating consequences in terms of growth. employment and the
whole fight against poverty.
Mr. President,
The role of Foreign Direct Investment as an important instrument
for implementing the MDGs cannot be over emphasized. Low levels of
flows of FDIs to the developing countries is not justifiable and if
left to continue the poverty situation in our countries will not
change. We expect this Conference to play a catalytic role in
encouraging increased flows. The majority of countries have carried
out political, social and economic reforms. A climate for
investment is conducive and returns are good. We appeal to
Governments of developed countries to take a more proactive role in
encouraging their private sector to direct more investments to
developing countries.
The media also has an important role to play in this regard. The
Western media for example. could give a place to the numerous
positive things happening in Africa instead of always portraying it
as a continent of conflicts and diseases. I believe this could pay
dividends in terms of increased investments. trade and tourism.
Mr. President,
In conclusion, my delegation considers the Monterrey Conference as
so critical to our common future that we cannot afford to fail.
This Conference represents a new dawn in the new millennium. My
delegation expects to see demonstrable commitment on the part of
developed countries to increase resources for the fight against
poverty. We also expect that those of us from developing countries
will make strong commitments to do our best to increase domestic
resource mobilization, uphold the principle of rule of law and good
governance, intensify the fight against corruption and put in place
conducive environment to improve effectiveness of aid and attract
investments.
I believe we will succeed.
"It can be done play your part"
I thank you.
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