TK Remarks @ African LDCs Meeting in Milan

8 June 2015 / By Tom Kaydor 

Introductory remarks by Hon. Mr. Thomas S.B. Kaydor, Jr., Deputy Minister for International Cooperation and Economic Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Liberia   

At the Ministerial Meeting of African Least Developed Countries on ‘Structural Transformation, Graduation and the Post-2015 Development Agenda’ in Milan, Italy.

During SESSION 3: ‘Means of Implementation’ in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda’ Co-facilitated by Mr. Thomas S.B. Kaydor, Deputy Minister for International Cooperation and Economic Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Liberia and Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General, UN-DESA

I call this meeting to order.

Hon´ble Ministers

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by thanking the Government of Italy and the Office of the High-Representative for the Least Developed Countries for convening this meeting.

I have the honour to co-chair this session with Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

I am pleased to co-chair this session in such a timely moment for all of us. Ongoing discussions on a Post-2015 Development Agenda already indicate that sustainable development will require substantial efforts on areas that go well beyond the MDGs. The timely fulfilment of commitments already made as well as additional resources will be of paramount importance to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Least Developed Countries.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) remains the most important source of public international development finance for all LDCs. Promoting structural transformation of their economies and building productive capacities requires resources that go beyond what is domestically available in the LDCs. Their limited access to international financial markets further exacerbates their difficulties in financing sustainable development.  ODA and debt relief are critical to overcome the finance gap faced by the LDCs.

Building capacity in the African LDCs for enhanced domestic resource mobilization is also of great importance. Improving the ability of the public administration in collecting taxes in a transparent, efficient and equitable manner can bring many benefits, besides increasing the resource base to finance sustainable development. Addressing illicit financial flows, transfer pricing and other practices that erode the tax base of the African LDCs will also require dedicated support from the multilateral system and development partners.

Leveraging additional finance from innovative sources can provide much needed resources to implement sustainable development in the African LDCs. Mobilizing private resources through blending instruments or public sector guarantees can also help increase access to credit to public and private actors in the LDCs. These instruments can reduce the risk associated to projects where there is not sufficient available private finance. In an environment characterized by constrained availability of resources, blending can be an effective tool in sectors that have high social impact or that are critical to the development strategy of the country. It is important, however, to carefully evaluate the context in which blending finance can be effective.

Promoting an environment conducive to productive investment that reverts into the productive fabric of the African LDCs and generate decent employment will be critical for implementing the SDGs. The African LDCs have committed themselves to continue strengthening national policies and regulatory frameworks for stimulating foreign investment in production. Despite all these efforts, the share of global FDI inflows in LDCs remains very low. The proposal of establishing an international investment support centre would greatly improve the ability of the LDCs to attract FDI.

African LDCs participation in global trade is very small and in most cases a few number of commodities represent an extraordinarily large share of exports. Trade, however, can be a catalyser for productive capacity building. Enabling African LDCs to improve their participation in global value chains and diversifying the composition of their exports are necessary steps to harness the potential of trade for poverty reduction and productive capacity building.

Building productive capacity in African LDCs will necessarily entail substantially strengthening the science, technology and innovation base of the African LDCs. The ability to acquire new technologies and to developed indigenous capacity on research and development must be greatly enhanced to support structural transformation in the African LDCs. The establishment of the Technology Bank and Science Technology and Innovation Mechanism for the LDCs would be an important element in overcoming the science, technology and innovation gaps in the LDCs, as mentioned by the Chair of the High-level panel of experts this morning.

I am extremely pleased to count today with such a distinguished panel. I look forward to hear from them concrete proposals, initiatives and mechanisms that could assist the African LDCs, their development partners and the multilateral system in raising the adequate level of resources to finance sustainable development, fosters structural transformation and promote the building of productive capacities in the African LDCs.

The specific questions that this session will address are:

-          How can we bridge the substantial finance gap required to foster structural transformation and promote building of productive capacities in the LDCs?

-          How can we ensure that ODA goes where is most needed? Would a target share of ODA to LDCs help to reduce their finance gap?

-          What are the mechanisms needed to facilitate leveraging additional development finance for the African LDCs? What would be the role of different stakeholders in supporting the LDCs efforts to increase access to development finance in the African LDCs?

-          How can we increase the share of FDI to the LDCs? What would be needed to ensure that FDI contributes to sustainable development and support the building of productive capacities in the African LDCs?

-          What are the policies and strategies needed to enhance the role of trade in productive capacity building in African LDCs?

-          How can we assist the African LDCs in improving their Science, Technology and Innovation base? What kind of mechanisms can bolster science, technology and innovation in African LDCs?

I have the honour to introduce Mr. Erik Solheim, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, who will deliver a keynote presentation.

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I would like to thank Mr. Solheim for his insightful remarks, which certainly help to frame the discussion.

Now I have the privilege to introduce our distinguished panelists.

-          Mr. Joakim Reiter, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD

-          Mr. Xiaozhun YI, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization

-          Mr. Mario Matus, Deputy Director General, Development Sector, WIPO

Please limit your interventions to 7 minutes.