12-07-2005 - On operational activities of the United Nations for International Development Cooperation - Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

New York

Permanent Mission address: 150 East 42 Street, Level 33, New York, New York 10017 - Telephone: 1 212 351 6600 - Fax: 1 212 351 6610

12 JULY 2005, NEW YORK

Statement by Ambassador Gilbert Laurin
Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada
To the United Nations

on behalf of Australia, New Zealand and Canada
to the 2005 Substantive session of the Economic and Social Council

on operational activities of the United Nations for International Development Cooperation

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Mr. President,

As we said at the beginning of last fall’s Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) debate, our delegations are strong supporters of the United Nations operational activities. We provide significant amounts of core- and non-core funding to the UN Funds, Programmes and Specialised Agencies and are active participants in policy and programming discussions. Our support underscores our belief that the UN system has an important role to play in development, particularly in relation to progress on the achievement, in all countries, of the Millennium Development Goals. New Zealand, Australia and Canada strongly support the reform efforts ongoing within UN Funds and Programmes.

We are pleased to participate in this discussion on the implementation of the TCPR resolution. Implementation of the TCPR will contribute to efforts to address some of the key reform issues raised in “In Larger Freedom” - in particular, system coherence and improving the capacity of the UN system to help countries develop and implement national development priorities and plans that incorporate the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals.

Other key elements of ‘In Larger Freedom’ that are directly supported by the TCPR include use of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) as a results matrix to monitor and assess the performance of the UN system at the country level and hold its representatives accountable; and much needed efforts to strengthen the role and performance of the Residence Coordinator system. Additionally, we value the potential importance of South-South cooperation for sharing and building on appropriate solutions to common concerns and development problems.

For our part, we are committed, as member states, to coordinate our representation on governing boards and in other intergovernmental processes to ensure that we support and promote coherent policies across the system.

Mr. President,

Implementation of the TCPR also accords closely with the key elements of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which we also support. Ownership by programme countries of their development strategies; alignment of the UN system to support these strategies; strengthening development capacity (including public financial management capacity and procurement systems); harmonization through common arrangements and simplified procedures; managing for development results; and mutual accountability, are all common elements of the TCPR and the Paris Declaration.

Implementation is now the critical next step. We thank the Secretary General and the UNDG Office for the 4 reports under consideration. ECOSOC’s role is to now focus on issues of implementation and accountability. The Report of the Secretary-General about the Management process for implementing the TCPR (E/2005/58) is a very good start. But we believe that more detail is needed on targets, benchmarks, and time frames and how we measure progress against them. We therefore would like to see in the report on the update of implementation for the 2006 session of ECOSOC a more quantitative analysis of progress.

We also value the contribution of the comprehensive statistical data report (E/2005/57) to the debate on how the UN should be funded and look forward to further improvements in the next report.

The Report of the Secretary-General on funding options and modalities (E/2005/72) presents some interesting ideas which we will discuss at the General Assembly. We support the idea of a single UN “development product” at the global level reflected in paragraph 68 of the Report. This is consistent with the need, identified in the TCPR, to strengthen the UN at field level under the Resident Coordinator and the need to enhance the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) process. In this, the specialised agencies need to have an integral role.

We would also underscore that we see clear and mutually reinforcing linkages between continued efforts for UN reform; the demonstrated comparative advantage of the UN in development cooperation; concrete results in assisting developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development; and the overall resourcing of the UN funds and programs.

Thank you, Mr. President.