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Statement
by New York, 12 July 2005
Let me join other delegations in congratulating you on your election as Vice-Chair of ECOSOC. Allow me also at the outset to express my delegation’s appreciation for the comprehensive and detailed reports provided by the Secretary-General in response to implementation of General Assembly resolution 59/250 on the triennial comprehensive policy review (TCPR) of operational activities for development of the United Nations system. My delegation would also like to associate itself with the statement made by the distinguished delegate of Jamaica on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. As a central goal of the development cooperation of the United Nations system, the United Nations has time and again contributed to the strengthening of Indonesia’s capacity to eradicate poverty, pursue sustained economic growth and sustainable development through operational activities. However, in the face of a rapidly evolving international development architecture, the UN is faced with some challenges as well as opportunities in ensuring that its operational activities can continue to make a positive contribution towards development particularly in the context of the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs. Indonesia therefore supports continued strengthening of UN operational activities while adhering to the principles of neutrality, objectivity multilateralism and the ability to respond to the development needs of developing countries. We also see a strong need for full implementation of the triennial comprehensive policy review to complement the effective pursuit of the MDGs in 2015. Mr. Chairman, Despite the fact that there is a positive trend in the levels of ODA and the total value of contributions by UN system for development cooperation my delegation is concerned that donors tend to channel their contributions more to non-core resources, rather than core resources. While there is a pressing need to provide adequate resources for humanitarian assistance and improving security at the country level, my delegation believes that it should not lead to a reduction of resources allocated for long-term development assistance. It is my delegation’s view that the donor community must ensure predictable, continuous and assured funding in the future. It must be emphasized that such funding should recognize the legitimate development goals of recipient countries and available without conditionalities. The report on the management process for implementation of General Assembly resolution 59/250 has also provided us with guidelines, targets, benchmarks and time frames. However, my delegation would like to see specific benchmarks and time frames also incorporated for capacity building at country-level. To this end, I would like to emphasize that paragraph 32 resolution 59/250 stressed on the need for developing countries to have access to new and emerging technologies, requiring technology transfer, and technical cooperation. In collaboration with South Africa, Indonesia has been able to make its own contribution to the process of capacity building and technical cooperation. In April 2005, Indonesia held the Asia-Africa Summit, during which the leaders of Asian and African countries agreed to establish the “New Asian-African Strategic Partnership” (NAASP) as a framework to build a bridge between Asia and Africa covering three areas of partnership, namely political solidarity, economic cooperation, and social-cultural relations. The NAASP will promote practical cooperation between the two continents in areas such as trade, industry, investment, finance, tourism, information and communication technology, energy, health, transportation, agriculture, water resources, fisheries, human resources development, enhanced capacity building and technical cooperation (TCDC programmes) in order to create an enabling environment to the regions. In conclusion, Mr. President, it is our hope that the deliberation on the operational activities of the United Nations for international development will yield constructive inputs for better implementing the General Assembly resolution 59/250 on TCPR. Thank you.
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