Letter to the Heads Of State And Government of the 'Group Of Eight'
United Nations (New York)
DOCUMENT
May 29, 2003
Posted to the web May 30, 2003
Kofi Annan
New York
I look forward to the informal summit with the leaders of a number of developing countries on 1 June, which you and your colleagues in the Group of Eight have kindly invited me to join.
This meeting is becoming a regular prelude to your own summit, and rightly so. As the leading industrialised countries in the world, you have a special responsibility in the management of the world economy, and billions of less fortunate people are affected by your decisions. It is entirely right that you consult their leaders before seeking to coordinate policy among yourselves. This year's meeting should have the additional value of enabling us to set aside recent differences and give due priority to the issues of poverty and development, which are of overriding importance for the great majority of the world's people.
In advance of the meeting, I would like to draw your attention to a few areas where your decisions will be especially important for the developing world.
Trade
Most important is trade, since it is mainly through trade that the peoples of developing countries can hope to share in, and contribute to, the general prosperity of mankind.
Eighteen months ago, in Doha, your representatives agreed on a new round of trade negotiations, in which, for the first time, the needs and interests of developing countries would be treated as a priority. In particular, your representatives agreed to confront the distortions of trade in agricultural products, caused by subsidies and a variety of tariff and non-tariff barriers, which currently make it so difficult for farmers in developing countries to compete in world markets. And they agreed to negotiate measures which, while protecting the incentives for vitally important medical research, would ensure that countries without sufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity of their own benefit from the same flexibility in protecting the health of their people as countries that do have such capacity.
Since then, key negotiating deadlines have been missed, and there is now a grave danger that the next ministerial meeting, in Cancún this September, will pass without those two vital promises being met. And yet the importance of meeting them can scarcely be exaggerated. Without it, the hopes of many millions of people will be dashed, and the developing countries will find it very hard to maintain their belief in an open market system governed by agreed rules that give a fair chance to all. At a time of weak economic growth, when it is so important to restore confidence in the world economy, that would be a tragic outcome indeed. But it need not happen, if together you summon the political will to give priority to a global interest shared by all peoples.
Africa's deadly triad
As you know, many countries - especially the least developed - will be unable to take advantage of trading opportunities unless they also receive direct help in building their capacity and overcoming the numerous obstacles that they face. Many of these countries are in Africa, which makes it all the more appropriate that you are supporting the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and have invited the five African leaders who initiated it.
In preparing for this year's summit, you have rightly focused on food security, the lack of which is at the heart of Africa's problems. Indeed, this crisis is inextricably linked to two others, by which Africa is especially afflicted: HIV/AIDS, and an emaciated capacity to govern.
Through malnutrition, food shortages make Africans more vulnerable and accelerate the progress of HIV/AIDS - affecting especially women, who now make up 58 per cent of Africans infected with HIV.
And in turn, AIDS weakens African agriculture - again, particularly through its impact on women, who account for eight out of every ten small farmers on the continent, and who traditionally provide the vital coping skills needed in times of food crisis.
By killing the most skilled and productive members of society, AIDS also undermines Africa's ability to develop and mobilize the institutions, skills and policies that it so badly needs to confront both the food crisis and the epidemic itself.
These three crises form a "deadly triad", each feeding on the others. We must make a concerted effort to confront them all at once through an integrated approach. Otherwise we will not succeed in overcoming any of them. Africa needs to increase its agricultural productivity, particularly of smallholders. More investments in agricultural research and in developing new, higher yielding crops adapted to African conditions are critical. This can only happen if we reverse the dramatic decline in public funds for agriculture.
Africa needs to fight HIV/AIDS with a concerted effort. It can do so only if resources are made available. The new Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been designed precisely as an efficient way for donors to ensure that such resources reach those who most need and can make best use of them. Sustained funding for it is a must.
Water
More than 2.2 million people, mostly children in developing countries, die every year from diseases associated with poor water and sanitary conditions. And by 2025, about two-thirds of the world's population will live in areas where water resources are under severe stress.
These are numbers we simply cannot ignore. Indeed, one of the promises given three years ago by the political leaders of the entire world, when they met at the UN Millennium Summit, was to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people in the world who have no sustainable access to safe drinking water. And last September, at the Johannesburg summit, they adopted a similar goal for sanitation.
There is a great deal to be done if those pledges are to be fulfilled. We need to improve the efficiency of water delivery systems in heavily populated urban areas. And for agriculture, which consumes about 70 per cent of all fresh water, we need to improve water use and produce more "crop per drop". We need to develop and introduce technologies for affordable sanitation and wastewater treatment. We need to fight water pollution. To accomplish all the above, we need to improve water management and governance. As agreed in Johannesburg, all countries should have integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans in place by 2005.
And all this will need more money. In fact, the world needs at least to double its spending on water infrastructure. Once again the developing countries look to you, the leaders of the world's most prosperous and powerful countries, for active support.
Aid
In dealing with all these problems, it is the peoples and Governments of the developing countries themselves who must make the main effort. But they need help - more help, and better targeted help, than they have so far received. This was very much at the core of what was agreed at last year's Monterrey Conference - which you all attended - and we need to keep that spirit alive.
There is some encouraging news - thanks in part to your own action. Last year the long decline in official aid flows was at last halted, and they rose to $57bn (from $52.3bn in 2001). But even if the noble commitments announced in Monterrey are fulfilled, the total will still fall far short of the $100bn per year that will be required, at a minimum, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals set by all world leaders three years ago.
We also need a strong partnership between recipients and donors to further improve the quality of aid. We have fortunately learnt much about what works and what does not. From the recipients' viewpoint increased predictability and stability of aid is vital.
I hope this letter will be helpful, and that your meeting will discuss, not whether we need to address these challenges but how we can resolve them.
Facts related to the letter of the Secretary-General to the G8, May 2003
Trade
$311 billion for agricultural subsidies were expended by the member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2001. Agricultural subsidies and other forms of tariff and non-tariff farm protectionism in the industrialized countries cost farmers and agro-industry in the developing countries upwards of $30 billion a year. Source: World Bank
Annual percentage growth in world trade
1994 10.5
1995 8.6
1996 5.5
1997 9.2
1998 3.3
1999 5.2
2000 12.3
2001 - 0.8
2002 1.9 (partly estimated)
Source: UN World Economic and Social Survey
Africa's deadly triad
More than two-thirds of the population of the 25 African countries most affected by AIDS live in the countryside. AIDS has killed around 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 in these 25 countries. It could kill 16 million more before 2020 - up to 26 per cent of their farm labour force. By 1999, 95 per cent of the world's 13.2 million AIDS orphans were from Sub-Saharan Africa. Food consumption has been found to drop by 40 per cent in homes afflicted by HIV/AIDS. Source: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
Water
More than 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water and sanitary conditions. 6,000 children die every day from diseases that can be prevented by improved water and sanitation. Over 250 million people suffer from such diseases every year. Source: United Nations Children's Fund
About 40 per cent of the world's population currently lives in areas with moderate-to-high water stress. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population - about 5.5 billion people - will live in areas facing such water stress. Source: Report of the Secretary-General on Comprehensive Assessment of Freshwater Resources
Water use increased six-fold during the last century, more than twice the rate of population growth. Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
About 90 per cent of sewage and 70 per cent of industrial wastes in developing countries are discharged without treatment, often polluting the usable water supply. Freshwater ecosystems have been severely degraded: about half the world's wetlands have been lost and more than 20 per cent of the world's 10,000 known freshwater species are extinct.
During the 1990s, about 835 million people in developing countries gained access to safe drinking water, and about 784 million gained access to sanitation facilities. Source: World Health Organization
Aid
Total official development assistance (ODA) outlays of OECD member countries, 1990 - 2001, in 2001 constant US dollars
1990 55.8 bn
91 57.8
92 58.2
93 53.4
94 53.5
95 48.0
96 47.3
97 44.1
98 48.8
99 49.1
00 51.8
01 52.3
Total 2002 outlay of $57 billion (in current dollars) is a 4.8 per cent increase in real terms over 2001. As a percentage of Gross National Income of the donor countries, aid rose to 0.23 per cent in 2002, as compared to 0.21 per cent in the three previous years, but still far below the ratio of 0.33 per cent consistently achieved through 1992. If promises made in the context of the International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, Mexico, March 2002) are fulfilled, ODA would increase in real terms by 31 per cent, and as a proportion of GNI would improve to 0.26 per cent, by 2006. Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Compiled 29 May 2002 by the UN Department of Public Information |
