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Statement by Mr. President, Speaking as a person from Asia, this meeting reminds me of the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung in 1955. Almost half a century ago, the Bandung Spirit, advocating the principles of solidarity for the promotion of political freedom and economic cooperation for development, was adopted. It can be still relevant today in helping to inspire cooperation and solidarity between the peoples of our two continents. Let me therefore welcome the establishment of the African Union and the launching of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), a holistic, integrated sustainable development initiative for the revival of economic and social development in Africa. NEPAD represents a call for a new relationship of partnership between Africa and the international community including multilateral organizations on the basis of mutual interest, benefit and equality to promote sustainable development and eradicate wrenching poverty. Taken together, NEPAD and the African Union, should help to advance regional cooperation in Africa and should facilitate Africa in speaking for itself with a strong, coherent and single voice. These initiatives would provide greater opportunity for the continent to better meet the challenges of the 21st century and better capability to reach the sustainable development goals as set out in the implementation document of the Johannesburg Summit. Moreover, they offer the possibility for the promotion of regional peace and security on the continent which are prerequisites for development. Mr. President Part and parcel for effective implementation of the New Partnership is the establishment good governance and regional peace and security. We are pleased to note that the new initiative is premised on African states making commitments to good government, democracy and human rights. These are critical prerequisite for moving development forward that are largely within the control of respective national governments. Mr. President, there are other issues, particularly those of finance and market access, that require the cooperation of the international community and multilateral organizations. Regretfully, such cooperation, despite major initiatives and promises, has been gravely eroded over the past decade. The gap between international commitments and results is particularly glaring in the case of Africa. Indeed, ODA decreased 43 per cent in Africa over the decade long life-span of the UN-NADAF. Moreover, crushing external debts levels have further undermined financing for development through the diversion of development resources. This adverse situation is most pronounced in the LDCs. Despite pledges of debt relief, especially through the Extended Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, most of which are in Africa, little or nothing significant has been achieved. In fact only a few countries had reached “completion point” as of April 2002. The international trading system, which holds out great hope for development, has largely failed the developing countries particularly in Africa. Trade opportunities under the UN-NADAF mechanism expanded far more slowly than expected. One of the persistent underlying constraints responsible for the weak performance of African economies is their heavy reliance on primary commodities. This is largely due to the deterioration in the terms-of-trade for commodities vis-à-vis industrial goods, and the punitive tariff barriers confronting processed and value added products from Africa. These were lessons well-learned from the implementation of the New Agenda. Thus, as is fully recognized by the African Governments there is an acute need for diversification as commodities alone hold few prospects for the future. Greater efforts towards diversifying exports under the framework of the New Partnership are therefore a critical way forward. But, diversification alone will not suffice. What is also crucial is a conducive external environment particularly one that provides ample access to markets. This has certainly not been promoted by the agricultural subsidies in rich nations which have not only shut out producers from developing countries, but those also depress prices. Proposals on the modalities of the United Nations future engagement with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development are outlined in the Secretary-General’s report. We welcome these relationships which will take place at the country, regional and global levels and hope that they will be further strengthened. Pledges have been made at the high-level meetings to reverse the declining trend of the Official Development Assistance, to open up developed country markets to developing country’s export products, and to reorient the world financial and world trade systems towards promoting sustainable development and addressing the development needs of developing countries. But, all these pledges have been made before. Now we must have action. To support the implementation of NEPAD we must strengthen international cooperation and multilateralism. As a unique reservoir of multilateralism, the UN is well positioned as a coordinator of the follow-up on major UN conferences and to support NEPAD and the development of Africa. It is our hope that we can translate the partnership and cooperation that drive NEPAD and African Union into broader solidarity by promoting cooperation with other sub-regional groups in Asia. Such cooperation and solidarity between our two continents would greatly reflect the message of Bandung Spirit. Indonesia stands ready to help strengthen such multilateralism and hopes that NEPAD will be successfully implemented. Thank you.
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