The Agenda for Development, adopted by the General Assembly last June after intense and extended consultations, represents one of the most far-reaching agreements on the central issue of development ever attained by the international community. This comprehensive document not only addresses the familiar components of development, such as economic growth, trade, finance, science and technology, poverty eradication, employment and human resources development, but also places new emphasis on the role of democracy, human rights, popular participation, good governance and the empowerment of women. As such, it provides an all-encompassing framework for international cooperation on development _ a central and evolving concern of the United Nations since its inception.
The Agenda represents a major step in articulating an international consensus on the diversity of views concerning the fundamental goals of and requirements for economic and social development. It provides an action-oriented synthesis of the multifaceted agendas which were addressed by the major United Nations conferences of the 1990s, forging a coherent programme out of their interrelated Declarations and Programmes of Action. In particular, the Agenda highlights a new commitment to international development based on partnerships rather than on competing interests.
The Agenda for Development rightly views the emergence of globalization and interdependence as key features of the new international environment. On the positive side, increased trade and communications present opportunities for all nations to enjoy. But many long-standing problems -- and their solutions -- have increasingly taken on international dimensions as well. Environmental degradation, extreme poverty, sudden population shifts, massive human rights violations, illegal drug trafficking and organized crime are all threats to development that can no longer be resolved by national efforts alone, no matter how important those efforts may be. The way in which the world copes with this global interdependence to ensure equitable and sustainable development is one of the great challenges facing the international community.
In addressing this challenge, the Agenda for Development provides a blueprint for optimizing the efforts and the impact of the multilateral system as a whole. It is the clear recognition of the need for strengthened institutional cooperation that makes this Agenda different from previous agreements on development. The enhanced role in development efforts that it envisions for the United Nations system requires changes in this Organization and its relations with its many partners, including those in civil society. The Agenda is also, therefore, a prominent factor in the reform of the Organization. Its call for innovative approaches in work for development and for dialogue with all actors, public and private, is already reflected in the wide-ranging reforms now under way.
Development -- furthering the well-being of people -- is central to all that we undertake at the United Nations. The consensus reached in the Agenda for Development will guide our actions in this critically important field for years to come.
1. Development is one of the main priorities of the United Nations. Development is a multidimensional undertaking to achieve a higher quality of life for all people. Economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development.
Sustained economic growth is essential to the economic and social development of all countries, in particular developing countries. Through such growth, which should be broadly based so as to benefit all people, countries will be able to improve the standards of living of their people through the eradication of poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy, the provision of adequate shelter and secure employment for all, and the preservation of the integrity of the environment.
Democracy, respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, transparent and accountable governance and administration in all sectors of society, and effective participation by civil society are also an essential part of the necessary foundations for the realization of social and people centred sustainable development.
The empowerment of women and their full participation on a basis of equality in all spheres of society is fundamental for development.
2. Building on the outcome of recent United Nations conferences and other relevant agreements, the Agenda for Development aims at invigorating a renewed and strengthened partnership for development, based on the imperatives of mutual benefits and genuine interdependence. It testifies to the renewed commitments of all countries to mobilize national and international efforts in pursuit of sustainable development and to revitalize and strengthen international cooperation for development. In that context, the Agenda for Development acknowledges the primacy of national policy and measures in the development process and calls for action towards a dynamic and enabling international economic environment, including, inter alia, an open, rule-based, equitable, secure, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable multilateral trading system and promotion of investment and transfer of technology and knowledge, as well as for an enhanced international cooperation in the mobilization and provision of financial resources for development from all sources, the strategy for durable solutions to the external debt and debt-servicing problems of developing countries and the efficient use of available resources.