7 Dec 2011

GA / FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told a high-level meeting of financing for development that at a time of financial crisis, many developing countries need additional assistance, “yet most donor countries, faced with mounting debts, are tightening their budgets”. UNTV

Posted at: December 7, 2011 4:36 pm

Duration: 01:56

Available in: SD

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STORY: GA / FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT
TRT: 1.56
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 7 DECEMBER 2011, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

7 DECEMBER, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Zoom in General Assembly
3.	Pan left, audience
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"Many developing countries need additional assistance to cope with the impact of the crisis and to expand their social safety nets. Yet most donor countries, faced with mounting debts, are tightening their budgets.  They face a vicious circle of low growth, low revenue and high debt. In this difficult environment, it is critical that donor countries fulfil their commitments to official development assistance."  
5.	Med shot, European Union representative
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"While many developing countries have been leading economic recovery internationally, they continue to face a wide range of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, such as agricultural subsidies, as well as creeping protectionism. Moreover, after opening up their economies in the expectation that this would lead to export-driven growth, they are now being told to produce for their small domestic markets.  This is doubly dissatisfying: first, because it cannot generate growth at the scale necessary; and second, because these countries made a deliberate transition away from their former food and other productive capacities, and so now lack the ability to do so even if they wanted to."
7.	Wide shot, Lazarous Kapambwe walks up to the podium
8.	SOUNDBITE (English) Lazarous Kapambwe, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
"It is imperative that developed countries fulfil all their commitments regarding official development assistance. Commitments made must be commitments kept. Ensuring sufficient and reliable ODA flows is essential for many developing countries, in particular the least developed countries."
9.	Pan right, audience

STORYLINE:

A top United Nations (UN) official said today (7 December) that at a time of continued crisis and uncertainty, it is "critical that donor countries fulfil their commitments" to official development assistance (ODA).

During her opening address at the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development in New York, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro noted that poverty worldwide is on the rise due to high food and energy prices while in the Horn of Africa famine threatens more than 13 million people.

Migiro pointed out that many developing countries need additional assistance to cope with the impact of the crisis and to expand their social safety nets, while most donor countries, faced with mounting debts, are tightening their budgets.

The Deputy Secretary-General welcomed the recent decision by Group of Twenty (G-20) leaders to further strengthen global financial safety nets with a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending facility, but said that more needs to be done.

She stressed the importance of a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of trade negotiations and said that while many developing countries have been leading economic recovery internationally, "they continue to face a wide range of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, such as agricultural subsidies, as well as creeping protectionism."

Moreover, Migiro said that after these countries opened up their economies "in the expectation that this would lead to export-driven growth, they are now being told to produce for their small domestic markets."

She added that this was "doubly dissatisfying" as it cannot generate sufficient growth and because "these countries made a deliberate transition away from their former food and other productive capacities, and so now lack the ability to do so even if they wanted to."

The President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Lazarous Kapambwe, echoed Migiro's statement and said that it was "imperative that developed countries fulfil all their commitments regarding official development assistance" and stressed that "commitments made must be commitments kept."

The Dialogue's overall theme is "The Monterrey Consensus and Doha Declaration on Financing for Development: status of implementation and tasks ahead". The two-day event includes a series of plenary meetings chaired by the President of the General Assembly, at which ministers and high-level officials make formal statements. The second day will include three interactive multi-stakeholder round tables in the morning followed by an informal interactive dialogue in the afternoon, with the participation of all relevant stakeholders.