REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE Please, Check Against Delivery Statement by H.E. Victor Bernardo Deputy-Minister for Planning and Development of the Republic of Mozambique XII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Accra, Ghana, 20-25 April 2008
Mr. President Honourable Ministers Mr. General Secretary of UNCTAD Yours Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the People and the Government of the Republic of Mozambique, I would like to join the previous speakers in congratulating Your Excellency upon your election to preside over this XII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. We are fully confident that under your guidance, our deliberations will be crowned with success. Our congratulations are extended to all members of the Bureau to whom we wish excellent work. We also wish to pay tribute to your predecessor His Excellency President of the Republic of Brazil, for his commitment and personal dedication to the work of UNCTAD, and to all members of the outgoing Bureau, for the good work done since the last conference in São Paulo. 1
Let me also take this opportunity to express our renewed and sincere thanks and appreciation to the people and the Government of the Republic of Ghana for the warm hospitality that has been accorded to us since our arrival. Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Secretary General of UNCTAD for his continued personal commitment to the cause of just and inclusive global economy and efforts to strengthening UNCTAD with a view to bringing the organization to its core mandate and role within the context of the ongoing reform of the United Nations. I equally commend the representatives of member States, observers and International Organizations in Geneva, who have devoted their efforts in negotiating the theme and subthemes of this Conference, focusing on current and emerging challenges, and trade and development-oriented priorities as well. 2
Mr. President, In Mozambique, the prevailing peace and socio-economic stability has created a proper environment for increasing flows of domestic and foreign investments which are pivotal for economic growth and, therefore, for absolute poverty reduction. Mozambique economy has grown at very encouraging rates during the last five years. In 2006, the GDP growth was 8.5% in comparison to 7.9% in 2005. Agriculture, livestock farming and forest was the largest contributor with 2.5%; following by trade, 1.8%; industry, 1.1% and construction, transport and communication, 1%. The average economic growth from 1996 to 2005 was at 8.4%, which makes it the first country amongst 17 African countries who are non-oil exporters. Mozambique, like many other developing countries, is a beneficiary of preferential treatment by major developed 3
partners. However, our country has not been able to take full advantages of these preferential accesses both because of the supply constraints and the increasing use of non-tariff barriers. Mozambique also suffers from inadequate market structures and infrastructures; we remain outside important marketing channels that could give us access to developed countries markets. There is a need to revert this situation and we would like to count on our development partners to undertake the necessary steps so that trade can benefit all of us in the fight against poverty. Mr. President We are all aware that globalization offers opportunities and challenges for development. Thus, it is crucial that it must benefit all people and countries. Trade remains an important tool for the mobilization of resources for development. In this 4
regard, there is a need to establish a fair global trading system in which developing countries can be effective partners. Free trade as advocated nowadays is not really equal free. Agriculture subsidies and other trade barriers strongly continue preventing poor countries from gaining access to the most important markets. Meanwhile, poor countries open their own markets to developed countries exports. Mr. President Ladies and Gentlemen, We need to strengthen the role of UNCTAD to achieve tangible results on how to make the challenges and opportunities of globalization benefit all countries and peoples. UNCTAD has achieved positive results in many fields of institutional and capacity building, and remains an excellent framework for policy analysis and has an outstanding approach to issues related or connected to trade and development worldwide. 5
The Panel of Eminent Persons set by the Secretary General of UNCTAD in 2005, states in its report on Enhancing the Development Role and Impact of UNCTAD, and I quote: UNCTAD s core competences should be maintained and enhanced so as to reflect their inherent interconnectedness. The three pillars of the work of UNCTAD, namely research and analysis, technical assistance and consensus building through inter-governmental machinery, should be maintained. In this regard, the international community should strongly commit itself to, within the context of the ongoing United Nations reform process, strengthen UNCTAD and ensure that its core competences will remain and enhanced. UNCTAD and others UN agencies should play an important role to address and achieve durable solutions to the problems and needs of developing countries in its efforts to development, mainly, on international trade, infrastructure, investment, development and capacity building. 6
Mr. President, UNCTAD XII is taking place on African soil, a reason why we should discuss deeply new and emerging issues of concern for African countries, create a window for African countries to benefit from technical assistance programmes to enhance our human institutional capacities and better undertake development programmes with a view to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Climate change is another global problem and no single action will suffice to bring durable solutions for it. An international concerted action needs to take place in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and on the principals of the Kyoto Protocol, taking into consideration the fact that adverse impact of climate change falls disproportionately on vulnerable developing countries. 7
The international community should consider making available adequate financing for adaptation programmes to the impact of climate change for developing countries, provided that it will not affect negatively the resources for development programmes. It would not only help them to face the problem of climate change but also take appropriate development actions to protect the environment. Mozambique is also prone to cyclical natural disasters, floods, and draught, one of the consequences of climate change. Unfortunately, we still have in our memories a fresh example of the devastating impact of these disasters. Your Excellencies may recall cyclone Jokwe, which shook two central and northern provinces of Zambézia and Nampula, resulting in casualties and serious destruction of socio-economic infrastructures, such as schools, hospitals and health centres, roads, houses, water supply systems and transportation. 8
As a consequence of these shocks the Government of Mozambique was forced to divert resources from some development areas and allocate them in post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction programs, redesign certain aspects of our development strategy to include areas that we had deferred for future programs. On the other hand, natural disaster are likely to have caused a slow-down in the countries efforts to eradicate absolute poverty and foster development. Mr. President Mozambique has benefited from the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Program (JITAP) and the Integrated Framework. I feel myself honoured to express, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Mozambique, our appreciation to UNCTAD and to all donors whose generous contributions have enabled us to create and consolidate our institutional capacity to deal with complex trade and development challenges. 9
Initiatives like JITAP and Integrated Framework should be extended in scope and time, due to their valuable contribution in poverty eradication and development promotion. In this regard, we appreciate the introduction of the Enhanced Integrated Framework and we look forward to the Aid for Trade initiative, as part of the solution for our supply side constrains and development by mainstreaming trade in our development strategies. Mr. President Ladies and Gentlemen Let me conclude by saying that the Mozambicans are in charge of their own destiny. Our efforts can only succeed if all partners, including UN agencies, particularly UNCTAD, remain committed in supporting our development process at all levels. I thank you for your attention! 10