General Statement by

Mr. Zephirin Diabre, Associate Administrator,

United Nations Development Programme

May 17, 2001 – LDC III Conference

(Check Against Delivery)

I arrived in Brussels only this morning but I have been following the conference closely through media stories and word-of-mouth reports. We must dispel the mood of gloom and despair in some quarters. Yes, the challenge of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2001 is huge, but we have much to celebrate in terms of the breakthroughs achieved to date in improving the human condition in LDCs and elsewhere. Let me take two examples:

Mamadou Traore – the first democratically-elected mayor of Kaniogo in southwestern Mali – is living proof that democracy at the grassroots can deliver better services and more dynamic development than the old system of government inherited from the days of authoritarian one-party state.

With a start up capital of US$500, Jean-Paul Ayessa of the Republic of Congo, has started a new life as a carpenter. He was a “Cocoye”, one of the 30,000 militiamen who fought one of Africa’s most debilitating civil wars, which ended less than two years ago. Ayessa is a participant in a UNDP initiative to reintegrate former combatants into society and encourage a speedy return to peace and democracy.

These are but two examples. There are lots more from Haiti to Laos and from the Gambia to Yemen. Initiatives increasingly emerge at the national, local and community levels – governments, civil society and the private sector joining forces to respond directly to problems facing the poor.

Helping LDCs accelerate growth and improve living conditions is UNDP’s core business. We will support LDCs in making progress on poverty eradication over the next decade to meet the target of reducing poverty by half by 2015. We are fully committed to supporting LDCs in improving their governance capacity. Earlier this week, the UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown launched the Democratic Governance Trust Fund with a window for LDCs. UNDP also plays an active role in the multi-donor Integrated Framework on Trade and Development to strengthen countries’ capacity to trade and participate in international dialogue.

We are grateful to the government of Norway for their contribution of $6.7 million to the Democratic Governance Trust Fund and to the Government of Sweden for increasing their contribution to LDCs by $400 million over the next decade.

Much more needs to be done to effectively improve the conditions of the people in LDCs. The challenge before us is huge. No single government or organization can do it alone. That is why a new partnership between the LDCs, bilateral donors and the United Nations is an imperative. Within LDCs, the government, the civil society and the private sector each have a role – internal partnerships among these three, combined with policy and institutional reform that foster democratic governance are needed for LDCs to fully benefit from globalization.

We must all combine forces to expand the successes on the ground. Helping LDCs build a better future will require actions both at the global and national levels. OECD countries must implement in full their stated commitments and offer duty- and quota-free access to LDCs. To bring the poor into the mainstream of the global economy, we also need to enhance south-south trade links and strengthen the capacity of LDCs to effectively participate in international trade agreements. Of course, LDCs themselves must create a favourable political environment to accelerate the pace of human development.

*******