DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Head Announces New Agenda For Development

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali Monday announced a new plan to resolve the global development crisis.

Boutros-Ghali released a 19-page report, calling for the creation of a new council of international development advisers, a world hearing on disarmament and development, and the outright cancellation of debts owed by the poorest of the poor countries.

The report, 'Agenda for Development', also urges the U.N. General Assembly to consider a proposal for an international conference on the financing of development

Mindful of accusations that the world body is hosting too many international talk-fests, Boutros-Ghali is calling for a common framework to implement goals established at U.N. conferences.

"Goals and targets should be synthesised, costed, prioritised and placed in a reasonable time perspective for implementation," he says.

Boutros-Ghali says the international community should also ensure that funding for peacekeeping, humanitarian emergencies, and the global environment is provided from "new and additional resources and not from development assistance".

The 132 developing countries of the 'Group of 77' have charged that the United Nations is spending more time and money on peacekeeping than on development. But Boutros-Ghali denies the charge, saying "it is time for the United Nations to realise its original mandate in the social and economic fields."

"Development should be recognised as the foremost and far- reaching task of our time," he says.

The report says that although better operational coordination and a top-calibre international civil service are essential, the effectiveness of development activities will ultimately depend on financial resources. It says the "most significant difficulty" facing U.N. agencies is the lack of resources for development.

Boutros-Ghali says that only four countries -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- have met the official development assistance (ODA) target of 0.7 percent of gross national product (GNP) adopted by the United Nations in 1970.

"Development assistance must be brought closer to the agreed targets, and its diversion to non-development priorities must be reversed," he says, noting the "urgent need" to increase the overall level of development assistance.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service