Promoting International Action to Provide Global Public Goods

Opening Remarks

By Mr. K.Y. Amoako
UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
Delivered by Josephine Ouedraogo, Officer-In-Charge of the Commission

United Nations Conference Center
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
28 January 2005

Honorable Ministers,
Distinguished participants,
Co-Chairs of the Task Force President Zedillo and Mr. Thiam,
Fellow members of the Task Force

Welcome to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Addis Ababa.

Let me first apologize for not being able to chair this meeting as originally planned. I had very much looked forward to it. However, due to a very unfortunate clash of commitments, I have instead had to attend the African Union Summit in Abuja, where I traditionally address the Executive Council.

Next, I want to express my profound appreciation to Sven Sandstrom, Director of the Taskforce Secretariat, who has worked so hard to make this meeting a reality. Sven, I am really sorry that I could not be in Addis Ababa to co-host and work with you in steering the discussions today.

We, at ECA, are most pleased to be co-sponsoring the Africa Regional Consultation of the Task Force on Global Public Goods in collaboration with the Task Force Secretariat, and the African Development Bank (ADB).

We are also very pleased that Africa's "anchor" institutions of regional integration - the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) - are well represented at this meeting for it is on their shoulders that the heavy burden of mobilizing sub-regional collective action to provide regional public goods in our continent lies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly outline why I believe the work of the TaskForce is of great relevance to Africa and also give some pointers on how this meeting can help to advance the agenda.

There is no doubt that Africa has much to gain from this initiative.

The six priority global public goods identified by the Taskforce, in its draft working paper and which I will now highlight, are all essential for Africa's progress towards the MDGs.

In some cases, they are more possibly relevant to Africa than any other region of the world.

First and foremost, we in Africa, obviously seek to benefit from a global system that robustly works to maintain and enforce peace and security.

Next, given our daily fight against the numerous devastating diseases that are burdening our families and governments as well as circumscribing our economic growth prospects, we seek to gain greatly from any upscaling in international efforts to control the spread of communicable diseases.

Additionally, with such a rich natural heritage, it is to our advantage to support international collective action to protect, preserve and exploit our commons - our biodiversity, forests, and natural resources. Without this, the chances of sustainable development in the region are slim.

Given the region's burden of debt and exposure to financial shocks, we have an interest in any reform of the IMF that will improve global financial stability and make it more, aligned with, and responsive to our needs.

Africa also stands to gain much from an open and fair international trading regime. In that regard, we are stridently pushing in the WTO's Doha Round for rich countries to break down their barriers and end their subsidies, particularly in agriculture.

Finally, with the knowledge gap between Africa and the rest of the world increasingly becoming an important factor in Africa's marginalization, we need to support Taskforce's call for the creation of a workable forum for international policy coordination and consensus on issues of private intellectual property and knowledge in the public domain.

Distinguished participants,

The mandate of the Task Force is ambitious - as you can see from the program of work of this consultation - and ambition is what is needed given the growing gap between supply and demand of global public goods and its consequences for progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

There, however, are numerous issues that must now be addressed urgently if we are to make effective progress in making this vision of improved international cooperation in tackling global challenges a reality.

Your views are crucial to giving the taskforce an African perspective on the way forward.

They include the following:

First, what are the reasons for the present undersupply of public goods in Africa? Is it because that there are too many incentives to free ride in the region? Or is it more a result of the fact that our "anchor" regional institutions are, for various reasons, unable to perform their core tasks in this area?

Second, what kind of enabling platform is most viable for ensuring a reformed global system that discourages free riding and fruitful cross-country dialogue and promotes more effective and respected anchor institutions?

Do you agree with the proposals the Taskforce plans to make regarding monitoring tasks to be undertaken by anchor institutions as well as those concerning new mechanisms for additional financing of global public goods and ideas to promote improved governance of key institutions?

Finally, your views on how this should be phased are also sought. Do you support the sequencing proposed by the Taskforce? Or do you have other suggestions?

Honorable Ministers,

Distinguished participants,

With these few observations, I hope that I have inspired you to carefully consider the draft strategy and action plan proposed by the Task Force, as it is very much a work-progress that stands to benefit from you input.

Sven Sandstrom, the Secretariat Director will shortly make a more detailed presentation to you on the preliminary recommendations of the Taskforce and you will later have an opportunity to also discuss the working paper and the six priority areas.

The working paper that you will be considering was informed by background papers prepared for the Task Force by renowned international experts, some of who are here with us at this meeting.

Permit me on behalf of the Task Force to thank them for their efforts.

As I mentioned earlier, the issues that you will be considering are critically essential for Africa's progress towards the MDGs.

For this reason, ECA is strongly committed to collaborating with all of you in promoting advocacy for regional and global collective action so that we can make the Taskforce's action plan for increasing the provision and impact of Global Public Goods a reality in the near future.