UN: To upgrade meeting on financing for development

by Thalif Deen

New York, 26 Feb (IPS) -- Over the strong objections of the United States, a United Nations committee has decided to upgrade the status of an upcoming meeting on “Financing for Development” from a proposed “high-level inter-governmental event” to an “international conference”.

The decision to politically elevate the meeting will also pave the way for the participation of heads of state at summit level.

John Davison, the US delegate, told a meeting of the Preparatory Committee, comprising all 189 member states, that the United States would “disassociate itself from the consensus” that led to the decision. Davison said the United States had hoped that the “high-level event” would be held as a Special Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

He pointed out that current US legislation did not provide funding or payment of fees for UN conferences held in locations outside New York.  Davison said that this was not a reflection of disapproval of either Kenya or Mexico, the two countries that offered to host the conference.

He reiterated the US government’s “strong support for the development financing process” and assured the Preparatory Committee that the United States would continue to participate despite its reservations.

The Preparatory Committee Friday agreed, by consensus, to hold the conference “at the highest political level, including a segment at the summit level”.

The decision will have to go before the General Assembly for ratification shortly. But since the United States was the only country to object, the approval of the General Assembly is a formality.

At the end of a two-week-long meeting Friday, the committee opted for Mexico over Kenya as the venue for the conference. Mexico had the edge over Kenya because a UN panel which will recommend a series of proposals for the upcoming conference is being chaired by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Zedillo was appointed to chair the panel by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last month.

Last year the United States and other Western nations succeeded in downgrading the meeting by formally calling it a “High-Level Inter-governmental Event” primarily to avoid a summit-level conference where heads of state may decide on the radical restructuring of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to UN sources, this was perhaps the first time in the history of the United Nations that a UN meeting was officially designated as an “event”.

Addressing delegates last week, Davison said the United States was concerned that the development financing process might be used as a vehicle for the United Nations “to interfere in the governance and decision-making mechanisms of the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)”. He added:

“Any such attempt, if made, would seriously undermine not only the credibility of those institutions but also the United Nations’ work in development generally,” he said. “The United States would oppose any such attempt,” he warned delegates.

Meanwhile, the 133 developing countries of the Group of 77 (G-77) consider the upcoming conference “an important and unique event”.

According to Ambassador Bagher Asadi of Iran, Chairman of the Group of 77, developing countries,  for nearly two decades, have been calling for some sort of a conference to discuss their growing financial needs for development. But for a variety of reasons, it never materialised.  Now, finally, it has happened, he said. “The success of the event is not only important on its own right but is also symbolically important.  It should augur well for the future of international cooperation for development because it involves both North and South,” he added.

Ambassador Asadi said that virtually all of the key economic issues would be up for discussion, including trade, debt, official development assistance (ODA), mobilisation of national resources, financial cooperation, and the all-important and most controversial issue, namely, global financial architecture and reform. “It will be an important and heavy agenda because you will have almost everything,” he said.

He admitted that some of these issues would be “difficult and contentious”, but they will be “quite a big challenge” for the international community. “We believe that something substantial may come out of it. We would like to see a very successful event and a very good outcome,” he added.

Addressing the Preparatory Committee, Annan said that if all the international institutions worked together, and if the political will was mustered by all countries, there was a real chance that next year’s conference could mark a turning point in the fortunes of poor countries and poor people all over the world.