NETHERLANDS CALLS ON UN TO STREAMLINE ITS OPERATIONS IN POOREST COUNTRIES

NETHERLANDS CALLS ON UN TO STREAMLINE ITS OPERATIONS IN POOREST COUNTRIES
New York, Sep 27 2007 4:00PM
The United Nations would have more success in helping the world's poorest countries if its many agencies and programmes pooled their resources into a single plan rather than competed for funds and attention, the Prime Minister of the <"http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/62/2007/pdfs/netherlands-en.pdf">Netherlands told national leaders gathered at the General Assembly today.

Jan Peter Balkenende said it was time for the Member States of the UN to invest less time and energy in adopting resolutions and more in strengthening confidence and relations between poor and rich States.

"People and resources are scarce," he told the Assembly's annual high-level debate at UN Headquarters in New York. "We can only spend each euro once. If we want to achieve our common aims, like the Millennium Development Goals (<"http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals">MDGs), we need to coordinate our efforts."

Mr. Balkenende said that all too often "we have planted a forest of UN flags in various countries" to represent the work of individual agencies and programmes.

"We need a more unified approach in order to help the poorest developing countries more. We can work far more efficiently if we pool our resources in a single programme in each country. This makes demands on donors. Several countries – including the Netherlands – now fund various UN organizations on the basis of multi-year plans. I hope that others will follow suit."

The world body is running a "One UN" pilot programme in eight countries after the Secretary-General's High-Level Report on System-wide Coherence recommended such an initiative last year.

The programme, which is being piloted in Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay and Viet Nam, is designed to better coordinate UN operations and accelerate progress towards the MDGs by establishing a joint office for UN development agencies.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete told the Assembly that his country was pleased to be one of the eight countries in the "One UN" pilot.

"The One UN Programme is for us a logical development from the UN Development Assistance Framework (<" http://www.undg.org/index.cfm?P=232 ">UNDAF), a framework that is fully aligned with our national priorities," he said.

"The efficiencies in aid delivery expected through 'One UN' will certainly contribute to enhancing our capacity to attain the MDGs."

Mr. Kikwete called on UN Member States to give the world body the funds necessary to fully implement the project and he added that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (<" http://www.imf.org/external">IMF) could also assist in this goal.

"The project should not fail for lack of resources," said the President.
2007-09-27 00:00:00.000

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