VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #1803/01 1991150
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181150Z JUL 07
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2364
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4759
INFO RUEHXX/IO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS GENEVA 001803 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR IO/EDA AND IO/T 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EAGR ETRD SENV ECOSOC UN
SUBJECT: ECOSOC LAUNCHES ANNUAL MINISTERIAL REVIEW, 
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered 
strongly-worded remarks at the July 2 opening of the UN 
Economic and Social Council's (ECOSOC) High Level Segment, 
stating that "existing trade barriers, agricultural 
subsidies and restrictive rules on intellectual property 
rights...make a mockery of our tall claims to eliminate 
hunger and poverty from our world."  Ban also made opening 
remarks at the July 5 ceremonial launch of the ECOSOC's 
"Development Cooperation Forum" (DCF), where he emphasized 
the importance of continuing to improve coordination of 
development assistance.  However, subsequent interventions 
at the DCF largely focused on familiar development policy 
issues including national aid targets, monitoring donor 
commitments, and the like.  The highlights of ECOSOC'S new 
flagship Annual Ministerial Review (of progress towards the 
Millennium Development Goals) on July 3-4 were voluntary 
national presentations by Bangladesh, Barbados, Ethiopia, 
Ghana, Cambodia, and Cape Verde on their national 
development strategies, with several presenting balanced 
reports on their development challenges including the 
importance of private sector growth.  Protracted 
negotiations over a draft Ministerial Declaration for the 
High Level Segment bore little resemblance to the 
encouraging discussions in the plenary hall, with the EU 
and G77 deadlocking over climate change, and the issues of 
official development assistance and the establishment of 
ECOSOC mechanisms to follow up major UN conferences 
requiring lengthy discussions.  Nonetheless, the final 
Ministerial Declaration, adopted by consensus almost a week 
behind schedule on July 10, contains helpful language on 
the importance of improving governance and facilitating 
private sector led growth, while limiting the Ministers' 
pronouncements on climate change to previously agreed 
language and a nod to major upcoming meetings.  End Summary. 
 
ECOSOC Launches Two New Forums 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) ECOSOC launched two new policy forums at its July 2- 
6 High Level Segment intended to strengthen the 
Organization's role in the development process--the Annual 
Ministerial Review (AMR) and Development Cooperation Forum. 
The DCF emerged from the 2005 World Summit, which called on 
ECOSOC to convene a biennial high level DCF to review 
trends in international development cooperation, promote 
greater coherence among development activities of various 
development partners, and strengthen the links between the 
normative and operational work of the UN.  The AMR has its 
origins in the World Summit as well as UNGA Resolution 
61/16 of 2006, which directed ECOSOC to hold "annual 
ministerial-level substantive reviews" as part of its high- 
level segment.  Although Austria sponsored a preparatory 
conference in Vienna in April 2007, the July 5 meeting in 
Geneva officially kicked off preparations for the first 
full-length DCF planned for New York during the 2008 ECOSOC 
(July) substantive session. 
 
¶3. (U) In his remarks at the July 2 opening of the High 
Level Segment, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon 
complimented ECOSOC for its "bold new initiatives to re- 
energize its functions and rejuvenate its mission." As a 
result, Ban noted, ECOSOC is well on its way to becoming 
"the global hub for devising and overseeing development 
policies and practices."  Ban noted that, at the midpoint 
of the "race to achieve the Millennium Development Goals" 
(MDGs), progress has been slow in some of the world's 
poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, even 
if the the MDGs "remain achievable in most countries...if 
political leaders take urgent and concerted action." 
 
¶4. (U) Ban noted that experience has shown that successful 
national development strategies must be aligned with the 
MDGs through internal effort, not imposed from outside.  He 
called on donors to meet the "0.7 percent official 
development assistance target", and urged them to "issue 
timelines for scaling up aid to reach their target 
commitments by 2010 and 2015."  As they do so, Ban 
continued, "they must also address the disparities in the 
global trade regime, which handcuff so many developing 
nations...Existing trade barriers, agricultural subsidies 
and restrictive rules on intellectual property rights 
reinforce global inequities-and they make a mockery of our 
tall claims to eliminate hunger and poverty from our 
world." 
 
Annual Ministerial Review 
------------------------- 
 
 
¶5. (U) The highlights of the first-time AMR on July 3-4 
were voluntary national presentations by Bangladesh, 
Ethiopia, Ghana, Barbados, Cambodia, and Cape Verde on 
their national development strategies.  In particular, the 
presentations by the first three countries were notable for 
their balanced approach and the importance they placed on 
macroeconomic stability and private sector led growth in 
both industry and agriculture. 
 
¶6. (U) In his statement during the AMR General Debate, 
Ambassador Terry Miller congratulated countries for their 
voluntary presentations, noted that robust economic growth 
and liberalized trade have underpinned much of the recent 
decline in poverty rates, and reiterated the U.S. 
commitment to the global partnership for development. 
 
Development Cooperation Forum Off to Slow Start 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7. (U) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon kicked off the 
ceremonial launch of ECOSOC's Development Cooperation Forum 
on July 5 with a reasonable case for discussion:  "Over the 
years...development assistance has expanded in a haphazard 
fashion...unnecessarily fragmented and complicated...The 
number of donors is increasing, and the interface with 
partner countries is becoming more demanding and 
multifaceted.  Donor policies and procedures are 
varied...harmonization is proving difficult.  National 
administrative systems are burdened with responding to 
different frameworks and to demands by various stakeholders. 
The emergence of new and increasingly specialized funds 
makes the system even more complex."  However, his 
prescription was that "...all stakeholders participate 
actively in building a broad consensus on the governance of 
international development cooperation."  He averred that 
the global effort to advance MDGs "...will bear fruit only 
if all the stakeholders -- Governments, UN system 
organizations, civil society, parliaments, private sector 
and academia -- understand that they are accountable to one 
another." 
 
¶8. (SBU) The notion that recipient countries should 
evaluate or grade donors and their assistance was an oft 
repeated theme of G-77 spokesperson Pakistani Ambassador 
Munir Akram during the DCF and ECOSOC's four-day High Level 
Segment.  Akram's remarks, prepared in response to the 
SYG's July 5 statement, criticized ECOSOC for its 
perfunctory oversight of bilateral cooperation, poor 
cooperation with technical and specialized agencies, and 
non-existent review of IFI programs.  The G-77, UN 
officials, and some European donors asserted repeatedly 
that donor targets of 0.7 percent are set in stone and are 
open to judgment by all. 
 
Tough Negotiations on Ministerial Declaration 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Negotiations on the Ministerial Declaration for 
the High Level Segment proved very difficult and exposed 
sensitivities on the part of delegations on several major 
issues.  Negotiations went nearly a week beyond the initial 
allotted time, with ECOSOC finally adopting the declaration 
by consensus at 8:00 PM on Tuesday, July 10, well after the 
end of the High Level Segment July 5, the traditional 
deadline.  The main battles on the text pitted the G77 
against the EU, with the United States and others in 
JUSCANZ occupying a more flexible middle ground. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Climate change, official development assistance 
(ODA), and follow-up monitoring mechanisms proved to be the 
thorniest issues.  In the end, climate change was by far 
the most difficult issue, with debate on this issue taking 
up the last two days of negotiations and turning into a 
prime example of the widening G77-EU conflict in the UN. 
Surprisingly, the EU showed itself to be very flexible; 
many were surprised to see how low its bottom-line 
positions were, when they finally revealed them after the 
protracted negotiations. 
 
¶11. (SBU) In contrast, the G77 had incredible difficulty 
with climate change, taking very rigid positions and 
proving unable to engage meaningfully in negotiations due 
to a clear split in the group.  India and China pushed 
narrow agendas focusing on restating at every opportunity 
the principle of "common but differentiated 
responsibilities", likely in hopes of bolstering their 
 
positions in climate change negotiations next fall.  The 
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and others, 
championed by Barbados, openly showed their anger at the 
way Pakistan handled the negotiation.  In one side meeting 
to hammer out language on climate change, the Chinese 
delegate said her government would rather not have the 
Ministerial Declaration than concede on key positions, 
particularly the reference to common but differentiated 
responsibilities. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Given the strong conflict between the EU and G77 
on the issue, not surprisingly the final climate change 
language in the Ministerial Declaration was very modest. 
It recognized the impact of climate change on all countries, 
including developing countries; restated agreed language 
from the UNFCCC on the global nature of climate change and 
the common but differentiated responsibilities and 
capabilities of respective countries; restated agreed 
language on the need to coordinate responses to climate 
change with social and economic development and the 
legitimate priority needs of developing countries for 
sustained economic growth and eradicating poverty; and gave 
a nod to upcoming climate change meetings, including the 
December 2007 meetings in Bali, Indonesia and the Secretary 
General's September 24 High Level Event. 
 
¶13. (SBU) After hours of fruitless discussions on ODA, 
Ambassador Miller negotiated mutually acceptable language 
with Pakistani Permanent Representative Akram which 
preserved U.S. interests and indicated clearly that the 0.7 
percent ODA target is not universally accepted.  The EU and 
others eventually accepted the joint U.S. - G77 proposal. 
Language on follow-up monitoring mechanisms also appeared 
headed for an impasse between the G77 on one side and the 
EU, Russians, and Japanese on the other.  In the end, 
however, the facilitator included in the final "take it or 
leave it" text watered down language on the issue omitting 
any specific new mandates for ECOSOC. (Note: Stronger 
language had actually been agreed in GA resolution 60/265 - 
on development follow-up.)  While sidestepping the issue of 
establishing follow-up monitoring mechanisms under ECOSOC 
for the time being, there is a real chance the topic may 
come up again in another ECOSOC resolution or in the 
General Assembly. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) The July 5 ceremonial launch of the DCF proved 
short on specifics while long on homilies and hortatory 
admonitions.  While no single item rose to the level of a 
"red flag," the general tenor of the remarks suggests the 
U.S. and other donors will need to maintain continued 
vigilance against efforts to impose "global governance" on 
donors and aid recipients, including the monitoring of 
bilateral contributions, whether they be made bilaterally 
or through multilateral institutions.  Based on the 
ceremonial launch, the DCF has a long way to go to deliver 
its promise of a dynamic forum to review trends and 
progress in international development cooperation, while 
giving member states an opportunity to exchange lessons 
learned and share best practices.  Although negotiations on 
the Ministerial Declaration were tedious, language on ODA 
and other issues will be useful in the debate in the run-up 
to the Financing for Development follow-up slated for late 
¶2008.  We are particularly pleased with the strong 
references in the text to good governance and the role of 
the private sector in driving growth and reducing poverty. 
 
Ban's Role 
---------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) That the relatively positive outcome of the High 
Level Segment came despite rather than because of 
leadership by the Secretary General is cause for concern. 
Ban's introductory statements were politicized and one- 
sided, focusing excessively on ODA and what he 
characterized as problems with intellectual property rights, 
and virtually ignoring the private sector and the importance 
of domestic governance.  His rhetoric was a throwback to 
a North/South dialogue that most members of ECOSOC have 
moved beyond.  We can only hope that his statements reflect 
the views of diehards in the UN Secretariat rather than his 
own personal ideas.