Third UN Conference on LDCs                                  

2nd Meeting (AM)

DEV/BRU/3/Corr.1

15 May 2001

‘THE CHALLENGE OF ERADICATING POVERTY; INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY RESPONSE’ SPECIAL EVENT AT BRUSSELS CONFERENCE ON LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

   

CORRECTION

      In Press Release DEV/BRU/3 issued 14 May, the statement of Nigeria should read as follows:

 

 

OLESEGUN OBASANJO, President of Nigeria, said poverty was a denial of human rights.  As for the crisis of governance in many developing countries, he said the lack of transparency, accountability, political instability and the lack of democracy had contributed to impeding measures that could have been aimed at combating poverty.  Corruption was also anti-development.  Good governance should, therefore, be made an integral part of anti-poverty efforts, rather than just a condition for foreign aid.

 

He said more than 50 per cent of the countries that had just joined the list of LDCs were those where conflicts had raged for some time.  Many were also too handicapped to make it out of the LDC league without a lifeline of cooperation and development.  Poverty could be dealt with effectively through, among others, subregional and regional integration.  Concerning trade negotiation, implementation of the development dimensions in the various agreements, and the enhancement of market access in the areas of agricultural trade, textiles and clothing must precede, not follow, a new round of multilateral trade negotiation.  If appropriate related infrastructures were not put in place, market access by developing countries would be an exercise in futility.  Debt reduction or cancellation was particularly urgent.  Debt servicing choked the capacity of States to improve social and physical infrastructure.

 

He drew attention to the fact that foreign direct investment (FDI) flows were uneven and, in some instances, being reversed.  Official development assistance must be resuscitated.  In addition, it would not be possible to benefit from the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution and globalization if the necessary infrastructures were not in place.  Urgent, concrete action was needed by all to tackle the developmental problems of LDCs.

 

 

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