unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/16/89)
COMMITTEE PREPARING NEW INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Posting Date: 09/14/89 Source: UNITEX Network, Hoboken, NJ, USA DISCUSSES PROPOSALS FOR THE 1990s UN PRESS RELEASE: The Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole for the Preparation of the Internationa Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade this afternoon continued consideration of the structure of the International Development Strategy for the 1990s. Statements were made by the representatives of Bulgaria, on behalf of the Eastern European socialist States; France, on behalf of the European Community Denmark, on behalf of the five Nordic States; Japan; China; and the German Democratic Republic. Also making statements were the representatives of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speakers stressed that the problems of the developing countries should be taken into account in the formulation of the Strategy, with particular focus on such issues as population, poverty, ecological degradation and human resources development. There was general agreement that the new Strategy should be realistic and flexible, taking account of prevailing international economic conditions. The Committee will meet next at a date to be announced in the Journal. The Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole for the Preparation of the International Development Strategy (IDS) for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade meets this afternoon to continue its general discussion of the preparation of a new development strategy for the 1990s. The Committee, which began a five-day session yesterday, is charged with drawing up a progress report on the completion of the strategy for adoption by the General Assembly in 1990. Statements ETIENE NINOV (Bulgaria), speaking for Byelorussia, Hungary, German Democratic Republic, Poland, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia and his own country, said the IDS should be functional and should pursue more realistic and concrete aims, contributing to narrowing the gap between the developing and developed countries. Its main purposes and objectives should consist in the promotion of sustained development and qualitative growth of all States on the basis of a balance of interests. Sustained growth should take into account the integration of economic, social, sociological, energy and technical factors in the policies of all States. Attention should be given to internal and external aspects of development as well as a country's right to choose its own socio-economic system and development priorities. He said ecological problems and human resource development should also be considered in drawing up the IDS. Greater attention should be paid to the improvement of multilateral forms of official development assistance (ODA), through an expansion of aid co-ordination using United Nations mechanisms as well as consultations between donors and recipients. Special attention should be paid to the needs of least developed countries, many of which were in Africa. Long-term social and economic trends of development should be studied to enable problems emerging in the world economy to be identified and recommendations on dealing with them made. It was important that the potential of the entire United Nations system was utilized in the preparation of the Strategy. PAUL LEMERLE (France), speaking on behalf of the European Community, said that the Strategy's framework should be suited to its objectives and to world conditions. There was general agreement that development should come through sustainable economic growth; that economic growth should not place untenable burdens on its beneficiaries; that development strategies must be adapted to the evolving international economy and the preservation of the environment; and that development was, first and foremost, the responsibility of each State, whether developing or developed. The new Strategy, extending to the year 2000, should take account of changes that might occur within that period, thus avoiding the shortcomings of earlier strategies. Priority responses of the new IDS should focus on five areas. First, States should give priority to allowing conditions for economic growth to continue, through combatting deficits, inflation, and internal and external imbalances of all types; developing infrastructures to support investments; and, for developing countries, finding international markets and needed technical assistance. Secondly, priority should be given to the two local bases for autonomous development: institutions and * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-