Statement by Ambassador Nassrollah Kazemi Kamyab (Islamic Republic of Iran), on behalf of the Group of 77, in the Second Committee on the agenda items:
   97 (a): women in development
   97 (b): human resources development
   97(c):High-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation
   for development through partnership
   97(d): implementation of the Declaration on international Economic Cooperation,
   in particular the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the
   Developing Countries, and implementation of the International Development Strategy
   for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade

New York, 6 November 2001

Mr. Chairman,

This is my honor today to speak, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on agenda sub-items 97(a): women in development, 97(b): human resources development, 97(c): High-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership and 97(d): ): implementation of the Declaration on international Economic Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries, and implementation of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade. At the outset I would like to begin by appreciating the Secretary-General for his reports on this sub-items.

In view of the accelerating changes in the global economy, gender mainstreaming should become an undeniable component in all aspects of financing for development both at micro and macro levels, in order to ensure women’s access to financial resources, taking into account that empowerment strategies should be an integral part of financial service delivery. Obviously, it is not sufficient to provide women with micro credit programmes aimed at subsistence, but micro credit programmes and small business ventures should be seen as catalyst to empower women and move them from subsistence activities to more established entrepreneurial ventures. Governments, the private sector and financial institutions need to consider the short-term and long-term goals of women’s access to financial services. Education and training, particularly as regards information and communication technologies, are essential for women’s empowerment and poverty eradication.

As we all know, many negative factors, both at national and international levels, are responsible for perpetuation of the situations where women are deprived from their invaluable role in development. Widening economic inequalities, unemployment, deepening of poverty, debt burden and low level of ODA are among contributory factors to these situations, which require renewed support by the international community , including the United Nations System, to help advancement of women worldwide.

Mr. Chairman, Turning to agenda sub-item on human resources development, let me first, express our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his report contained in document A/56/162 prepared in response to the General Assembly resolution 54/211. In the light of the twin challenges of eradicating poverty and advancing technology as being pivotal for the future of broader and more equitable human resources development , the report summarizes recent progress, and underscores strengths and shortcomings.

Only as little as a decade and a half ago, human resources was viewed narrowly in terms of training of qualified national personnel. Today, the concept has evolved into a much broader and complex socio-economic perspective calling for comprehensive strategies which balance local needs with global realities. As the impacts of globalization and fast-paced technological changes extend to the corners of the society, most flexible and adaptive human resource development strategies are required. However, adequate education and training is the bedrock on which all subsequent broader interpretations of human resources development must be grounded. Unless the education efforts is maintained, and closer attention paid to those most neglected at the base of the educational pyramid, gains already made will be quickly lost, and the foundations for human resources development inevitably weakened.

The overarching objective of human resources development should be the provision of necessary services for equipping people with the requisite skills and knowledge for competing in international market. Education, training and associated services, in the aggregate, and if well coordinated can form a strong and supportive human resources development web for all people as they each seek their own paths to sustainable livelihoods. Indispensable to the accomplishment of national human resources development policies is understanding which skills and knowledge are crucial to productive employment and economic growth, taking into account local and global conditions. As labor markets both shape and adapt to the emerging occupational structures of growing economies, human resources development strategies must balance the demands of new employment sectors with the supply of required skills. Access of developing countries particularly poor nations to information and communication technologies, on continuous basis, to reduce the digital divide and democratize the benefits of digital revolution, is of paramount importance in this regard.

Needless, to say that the success of human resources development is critically dependent on a conducive international economic environment. Since many human resources development problems go beyond what countries could tackle on their own, we believe that the international cooperation and mobilization of additional resources by donor community towards this issue should be increased. In this connection while intensifying their efforts, United Nations agencies needs to harmonize the initiatives on integration of human resources development into their operational activities, making them also adjusted to country specifics.

Mr. Chairman, The third item in our agenda is High-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership. During the second high-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership which was held last September we discussed the overall theme, “responding to globalization: facilitating the integration of developing countries into the world economy in the twenty-first century”, quite extensively and we will not replicate that discussion here again. Although our collective enterprise this year took place under very difficult circumstances and our high-level officials from our capitals couldn’t participate in our deliberation, nonetheless, we had a very good exchange of views on the various aspects of globalization and how to integrate the developing countries into the world economy. In our discussions the Group of 77 and China underlined that the still unfolding process of globalization continues to impact the overall situation on a global scale and affect the development policies of all societies, particularly in the developing world. What is important, though, is that globalization should not be seen as an inevitable blind force beyond the control of human beings or of countries. Rather, globalization is, to a large extent, an interactive process and the result of policy choices and decisions; a process that needs to be harnessed and even directed. We also believe that cooperation across the board, particularly between and within North and South, is an absolute necessity in order to utilize the tremendous potentials of this phenomenon and process for development, especially through strengthening interdependence and multilateralism.

The Group of 77 and China also underlined that integration of developing countries into the world economy in the twenty-first century should be seen as a comprehensive process, and it should be based on cooperation and partnership. Trade; investment, private flows and debt, international financial cooperation for development, and governance and participation of developing countries in the monetary, financial and trading systems, are, among others, some of the major elements for addressing the challenges before developing countries for integration into the world economy. We discussed the impact of each and every one of these important elements on the integration of developing countries in the international economy and we stressed the necessity to address them appropriately to utilize them for strengthening partnership and cooperation at various levels, particularly, at the global level. Moreover, in our deliberations we also considered the interactions among all these various components of global economy should be followed closely, while we also should look at the relevant rules, regulations, norms and standards as well as the structures and institutions that create them and shape them. In the second High-level dialogue we also discussed the information and communications technologies (ICT) revolution which has contributed enormously to the creation of the emerging global knowledge-based economy which opens vast new opportunities for economic growth and social development. The Group of 77 and China also underlined the importance of integration of the developing countries in this new and emerging knowledge-based economy with enormous potential benefits for development and the importance of providing necessary infrastructures and other sound policies at all levels to facilitate the access and efficient utilization of these technologies for those countries.

These discussions during the second high-level dialogue were very useful and necessary for creating better understanding among all development partners, developing and developed countries, and on the best options to promote development through cooperation and partnership. We are looking forward for an interactive dialogue in the third high-level dialogue in 2003 during the fifty-eight session of the General Assembly.

Mr. Chairman, The final item for our today’s discussion is the “implementation of the Declaration on international Economic Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries, and implementation of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade”, quite a long title for an item in our agenda but an important and interesting one for all of us in the United Nations. In December 1990, the General Assembly proclaimed the Fourth United Nations Development Decade starting the beginning of 1991and adopted the International Development Strategy for the Decade. The principles stated in that Declaration were recognized as the basis for this Strategy. The main goal of the Strategy and Declaration was to ensure promotion of development in developing countries including improvement of human and social conditions in those countries while creating sustainability of funding for these actions and endeavors by revitalizing economic growth in developing countries. During the last decade, through convening of the major United Nations conferences and summits as well as Millennium Summit , we have been able to reach agreement on a wide range of actions that should be undertaken by all partners to address many challenges before developing countries in various aspects of development in many fields, among others, population and development, social development, women and development, children summit, environment and development, human settlement, food summit, HIV/AIDS and addressing the problems of Least Developed Countries (LCD's). The outcomes of these major conferences were mainly focused on the promotion of human conditions in all related areas and poverty eradication through clear agreed actions at national, regional and international levels.

The major challenge for implementation of the outcomes of those remarkable conferences and summits has been lack of resources at the national and international levels. The Group of 77 and China believes, as the International Development Strategy for the Decade indicates, for achieving the ultimate goals of those conferences and summits we should witness a surge in the pace of economic growth in the developing countries; defining a development process that is responsive to social needs, seeks a significant reduction in extreme poverty, promotes employment and utilization of human resources and skill and is environmentally sound and sustainable; an improvement and reform in the international monetary, financial and trade systems so as to support the development process in developing countries; A setting of strength and stability in the world economy and sound macroeconomic management, nationally and internationally; a decisive strengthening of international development cooperation; and a special effort to deal with the problems of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Although a number of developing countries experienced higher growth rates in 1990s, nonetheless, the growth of per capita GDP for most of population living in developing countries has been very low or stagnant. Furthermore, most developing countries have not been able to achieve the goal of a 7 percent rate of growth of GDP necessary for their sustained financing of development. Moreover the Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been declining constantly during the last decade while we collectively agreed on specific target for provision of ODA by developed countries. The Group of 77 and China believes that the International Conference for Financing for Development, which will be held in March 2002 in Monterrey Mexico, has the potentials and the substantive agenda to address most of these challenges before developing countries to finance their development and we as development partners collectively should commit ourselves to make every effort to ensure that successful outcome of that conference will contribute enormously to the revitalization of economic growth and development of developing countries.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.