Summary: May 14, 2001: Speech by Mr. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission. The opening of the "3rd United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This conference comes at a crucial time for world development. Globalization and new technologies have become driving forces for global change. As a result, life has improved: but the gap between poor and rich nations is widening dramatically. In particular, the least developed countries - the LDCs - have so far been unable to benefit from these changes. Hunger, environmental degradation, the spread of disease and large-scale migration remain and are becoming worse. These problems are complex
and interrelated. But at their root lies the cancer of poverty. A cancer that urgently needs to be removed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is in our power to remove that cancer - and it is our duty and responsibility to do so. The European Community is keenly aware of that responsibility and has in the past borne its share of that responsibility with pride. With the Lomé Convention, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and now the Cotonou Agreement, we have pioneered a truly innovative approach to development co-operation. One that successfully combines aid and trade instruments. The EC today is one of the world's
largest donors of development aid. One of the key purposes for which that aid is used is to improve health in developing countries. The Commission has drawn up an ambitious five-year Programme of Action to fight communicable diseases that severely affect LDCs. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Just today, the EU Member States have given the Programme their full endorsement. I congratulate the Council on this timely decision, and I call on all our partners to join the EU in
implementing the plan. New drugs and vaccines are essential weapons in the fight against disease. So we need to intensify our research efforts. But medicines must also be affordable. The European Commission has been calling for an effective tiered pricing mechanism for key pharmaceuticals. I am very glad to see that the EU Member States have, today, agreed on this, and I urge all governments, industry and civil society to work together to make tiered pricing a reality. To further help the fight
against disease, the Commission has decided to completely untie EC drug procurement from all other forms of development aid.
But aid is not the only weapon in our war on poverty: debt relief and a fair trade policy are essential too. The Commission is already by far the largest contributor to debt relief managed through the HIPC initiative. Just last year, we announced that we were canceling 1 billion euros of LDC debt. Now we are going beyond that. To mark the occasion of this conference, the EU has decided today to forego payments on all outstanding LDC obligations arising from special loans provided under earlier
Lomé Conventions.
Where trade is concerned, the European Community has recently taken the groundbreaking decision to grant duty-free and quota-free access to all LDC products except arms. This means the poorest countries will soon enjoy unprecedented access to their largest export market. But if LDCs are to take full advantage of world trading opportunities, they need to be fully integrated into the world economy. So LDCs must have their place at the WTO negotiating table and a genuine say in setting world trade
rules. Globalization must be made to work for the good of all. This too is a priority for the EU as it seeks to launch a new trade round this year. The European Community is determined to go on leading the fight against poverty in the LDCs, giving our action maximum impact by focusing it on a limited number of sectors. Sectors such as education, health, gender equality, food security and - last but not least - good governance. Our efforts in these key areas will have even greater impact if the
EU Member States and other donors also concentrate on them.
Let me say a little more about good governance. We will win the fight against poverty only if the LDCs exercise good governance in all its aspects - democracy, citizen participation, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Corruption is an insult to the poor. The fight against corruption must be at the very heart of our development policies. So the European Commission will practice development co-operation in accordance with the principle of mutual respect. In other words, it will give
priority support to partners that show tangible commitment to the necessary internal reforms. The European Commission will review its partners' performance on a regular basis. There will be no blank cheques. But there will be constant dialogue, taking account of the reality of the situation so as to target the aid effectively.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Action by the European Community can only achieve so much. If poverty is to be truly eradicated, the whole of the international Community, including the LDC governments and civil society, must commit themselves to joint action. If this conference leads to that outcome, the EU will consider it to have been well worthwhile. This conference has the potential to be a truly landmark event. Why? Because it brings together not only UN agencies, donor states and LDCs, but also representatives of civil
society - including NGOs and the private sector. This effort to involve civil society is unprecedented and extremely important. Action on the ground in the LDCs can only be truly effective if the actors concerned - especially civil society - are fully involved in designing the action programme. A Global Programme of Action for the next ten years is needed, and this conference must produce one. The European Community will do all it can to bring this about. But the EU will call the conference a
success only if the programme agreed here is implemented and genuinely improves the lives of poor people. That - at the end of the day - is what matters. Behind all the trends and statistics we shall be discussing here are the stark realities of people's daily lives. People's desperate needs. People's hard struggles. People's hopes. Those people are looking to us. We cannot let them down. We cannot, we must not, dash their hopes. History must not say that we walked away from this conference and
failed to deliver the goods. The EU, for its part, is determined to deliver.
Thank you.
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