This morning the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a dialogue with the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions on regional perspectives on the global economic and financial crisis, including the impact on global public health.

The crisis had disparate impacts across regions, subregions and countries, noted ECOSOC President Sylvie Lucas, opening the dialogue, and those heterogeneous impacts added complexity to the common goal of eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and promoting human development. The United Nations Regional Commissions had been actively monitoring the unfolding of the crisis, and its impact on their respective regions, and had produced important analytical and policy work and advice.

Bader Al-Dafa, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), said countries in the region varied in terms of their level of economic and technological development and there had been unequal progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Gross domestic product growth was expected to drop from 6.1 per cent in 2008, to 2.1 per cent in 2009, and trade revenues and foreign direct investment were also expected to drop. The fiscal pressures associated with the economic slowdown meant some countries might cut spending in health, education and social protection programmes. Maternal mortality was still a tragic reality, but good progress had been made with respect to child-health targets. Health-care systems in the region suffered from weak institutional capacity, risk of cost inflation and insufficient coverage. Without a renewed commitment from the international community to provide technical and aid assistance the achievement of the MDGs in the region would not be possible.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said the Asia-Pacific region had shown a remarkable crisis resilience, mainly due to economic reforms due to the crisis in 1997, and a policy space and macroeconomic management that had allowed policy managers to respond to the crisis with an aggressive expansion policy. The growing pressure of protectionism in developing countries was of great concern in the developing economies, as well as pressure in all countries of the region to implement protectionist measures to protect local employment. An early conclusion of the Doha Round, in accordance with its development mandate, was essential, as was the implementation of regional partnership agreements. China had determined one of the world's largest stimulus packages, and many countries had announced plans to use fiscal policies to boost domestic demand.

Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Europe, said their region was heavily affected by the impact of the global economic and financial crises, and the health sector was a major challenge. Though the region had some of the most developed countries in the world, it also had many official development assistance eligible countries, and countries in transition. One indication of the health shortcomings was the significantly rising social inequalities in health access and expenditures. With respect to HIV/AIDS, the prevalence of it in some of the Commonwealth of Independent States was as great as in many African countries. There was, however, progress in controlling tuberculosis in Central Asia. Public policy initiatives regarding road safety had also been successful in reducing fatalities, and the region had adopted regulations to limit the number of vehicles that emitted pollutant gases.

Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, said growth in Africa was likely to decelerate from 5.7 per cent to 2.8 per cent this year. That was a major setback, given that the region had had a growth of about 5 per cent since 2007. The main channels of transmission of the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on African economies included, among other things, decreased exports, increased stock market volatility, reduced worker remittances due to loss of jobs or reduced earnings of migrant workers, decreased foreign direct investment flows, a potential decrease in official development assistance for the financing of Government programmes, and an expected decrease in revenue from tourism. Overall reduction in income would result in reduced consumption of health services due to lack of resources to pay to access health services, and reduced consumption of other basic goods such as education, food and nutrition security that were essential for positive health outcomes. The African Development Bank had been able to implement emergency assistance programmes by reallocating resources, but there was a need to scale up such financing as the impact of the crisis continued to unfold on the continent.

Osvaldo Rosales, Director, Division of International Trade, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, on behalf of ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena, said that, during the period 2003 to 2007 the region had gone through a period of unprecedented growth. When the crisis broke out immediately after that – in September 2008 – it was felt by the decrease in financial flows, a drop in demand for products from the region, and drops in direct investment and tourism. The rate of urban unemployment was increasing where, for example in Colombia it was 10 per cent. Out the 12 million children born annually in the region, 200,000 died before their first 6 months, and that indicator would continue to worsen if no action was taken and HIV/AIDS prevalence had increased. In the medium term, to get out of the crisis, there were old and new forms of protectionism emerging, and he warned that it was important not to abandon competitiveness.

In the ensuing interactive discussion, speakers called for the strengthening of the role the Regional Commissions, and better coordination of them with the work of the Council. Many speakers asked for more advice from the Commissions on how to tackle the impacts of the crisis. Several asked for advice or assistance on specific areas related to their situations, such as how to cope with ageing populations in Asia, as well as the need for a more in-depth analysis of the affect of the crisis on small island countries, in particular the impact on the tourism sector.

Speaking in the interactive discussion were representatives of Belarus, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Namibia, Algeria, the Russian Federation, Malaysia, Bolivia, Sudan and Guatemala.

This afternoon, at 3 p.m., the Council will begin its coordination segment by hearing an introduction of the report the Secretary-General on the theme of the segment. From 4 to 6 p.m., there will be a panel discussion on the theme of “the role of the United Nations system in promoting sustainable development in the context of current challenges”.

Documents

The report of the Secretary-General on regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields (E/2009/15) examines how the different regions are being affected by the multiple crises, how they are responding, how these efforts and initiatives could be further enhanced, and how the five United Nations regional commissions are supporting Member States in these efforts. The report also covers developments in selected areas of regional and interregional cooperation, including other policy matters addressed during the regional commissions’ ministerial sessions, and further efforts to promote coherence at the regional level, including through the regional coordination mechanism convened by the regional commissions, as well as ongoing cooperation among the commissions.

The report on the economic situation in 2008-2009 in the Economic Commission for Europe region: Europe, North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States (E/2009/16) notes that, in 2008, the ECE region entered into what has been forecasted to be the worst economic downturn since the Second World War. Each of the subregions covered by the Commission is either experiencing or expecting to experience negative growth in 2009. The decline in growth has been accompanied by rising unemployment and by especially large declines in international trade and capital flows. Government fiscal positions have deteriorated significantly. In fact, the declines in economic growth in the emerging economies in the Commission area are likely to be greater than in the advanced economies where the crisis originated. As a result of tight economic integration and interconnected financial markets, the potential for adverse contagion in the emerging economies of Europe is considered to be quite high. Although relatively small, there remains a not insignificant possibility that there could still be a systemic financial meltdown throughout the European emerging markets, which would have significant and long-lasting global implications. In addition, if the consequences of the crisis are not properly addressed, social and political instability could arise in some of the emerging economies of the Economic Commission for Europe region.

The report, Overview of the Economic and Social Conditions in Africa 2009 (E/2009/17), notes economic performance in Africa declined in 2008 and is projected to slow steeply in 2009. For the continent as a whole, despite this decline, fiscal and current account balances have improved and domestic savings and investment rates increased owing mainly to high commodity prices in the first half of 2008. However, Africa’s average inflation rate rose significantly, threatening macroeconomic stability and food security in many countries. Also, economic performance in Africa, driven mainly by revenues from oil and mineral exports in resource-rich countries, conceals considerable variation across countries and remains insufficient for Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The continent needs short-term measures to mitigate the economic and social impact of the global downturn as well as long-term measures to accelerate and sustain broad-based growth and reduce vulnerability to external shocks. In addition to falling commodity prices, slowing official and private capital inflows threaten the recent achievements made by many African countries in terms of sound macroeconomic and public expenditure management and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The Summary of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2009 (E/2009/18) analyses how threats to development have affected Asia and the Pacific and considers ways of addressing them. The fundamental changes that the convergence of the crises has brought to macroeconomic policies present a unique opportunity for the region to reorient economic growth towards a long-term development path that is more inclusive and sustainable. Governments will be compelled to re-enter the macroeconomic landscape – this time, however, in a more modernized form, that is to say, in partnership with their peoples. Together, they will play a key role in forming and framing the region’s development path. Key concerted regional cooperation initiatives would bolster these actions.

The report, Latin America and the Caribbean: Economic Situation and Outlook, 2008-2009 (E/2009/19), notes that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Latin America and the Caribbean stood at 4.2 per cent in 2008 – the sixth consecutive year of expansion – yet at the same time marking the end of a period with few precedents in the economic history of the region. The projected growth rate for 2009 points to an increase in the regional unemployment rate, from an estimated 7.5 per cent in 2008 to as much as 8.6 per cent in 2009. Trends in the world prices of foodstuffs and fuels, however, are likely to bring about a marked fall in inflation, from 8.3 per cent in 2008 to 5.5-6 per cent in 2009. Although the region is better prepared to face the global economic and financial crisis than previous ones, there are a number of channels through which the economies are being affected. First, the slowdown in the world economy is lowering the volume and prices of the region’s exports, bringing down remittances and cutting foreign direct investment and demand for tourism services. The countries are also faced with more difficult access to external credit, the cost of which has increased. In 2009, growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to fall to a growth rate of -0.3 per cent. The Governments of the region should make every effort to deploy counter-cyclical policies in order to ward off an even sharper economic decline.

The Summary of the Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia region, 2008-2009 (E/2009/20) notes that, until the last quarter of 2008, member countries of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) exhibited steady economic expansion, boosted by higher-than-usual oil prices, except in conflict-affected areas. However, with the onset of the global financial crisis and the steep drop in oil prices, growth prospects for 2009 are becoming increasingly uncertain. Real GDP growth for 2009 is forecast to be about 2 per cent. Even before the crisis, the region as a whole had not been expected to meet the Millennium Development Goals in view of the faulty structure of existing policies. At the economic level, industrialization and full employment policies remain elusive goals. At the social level, there were some remarkable advances in the areas of health and education, but the regional starting point had been quite low, and, insofar as the “development as freedom” paradigm goes, the region is still far from realizing its developmental potential. In an ESCWA regional context, security should be understood in three ways: first, national security, including the protection of the right of the peoples of the region to self-determination; secondly, democratic security through the promotion of the citizenship rights of the peoples of the ESCWA countries and the institution of democratic accountability; and, thirdly, human security, particularly the right to social protection and decent employment, which should be promoted through regional regulation and economic integration. Such security measures, when considered in their entirety, will facilitate the transition to the new rights-based economic development strategy being proposed for the ESCWA region.

Statements

SYLVIE LUCAS, President of the Economic and Social Council, said most of the global challenges today were of a transboundary nature. It was hard to envisage an effective response to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change without considering the regional and subregional impacts and responses. Similarly, issues like energy efficiency and security, food security, trade, transport and infrastructure development could not be effectively and efficiently addressed without examining the regional and subregional contexts and solutions. Most recently, with the ramifications of the global financial and economic crisis being felt around the world, there was a premium placed on regional cooperation and integration in terms of coordinated macroeconomic and fiscal policies, intraregional trade, the promotion of regional infrastructure projects, and the role of the regional financial institutions.

The crisis had disparate impacts across regions, subregions and countries, and those heterogeneous impacts had added complexity to the common goal of eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and promoting human development. World leaders noted the value of regional and subregional cooperation efforts in meeting the challenges of the global economic crisis and encouraged enhanced regional and subregional cooperation, for example through regional and subregional development banks, commercial and reserve currency arrangements, and other regional initiatives, as contributions to the multilateral response to the current crisis, and to improved resilience to potential future crises. The United Nations Regional Commissions had been actively monitoring the unfolding of the crisis, and its impact on their respective regions. They had produced important analytical and policy work and advice, and had joined forces to produce a joint landmark publication on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis: Regional Impacts, Responses and Solutions.

BADER OMAR AL-DAFA, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), presenting the report for his region, said the impact of the financial and economic crisis in Western Asia impacted socio-economic development and public health in the region, which was composed of 14 countries. Although it enjoyed significant oil and gas reserves, the region was characterized by its arid environment and water scarcities. Countries in the region varied in terms of their level of economic and technological development; as a result there was unequal progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, including health. Further, the global economic and financial crises would also affect subregions unequally, where Yemen and Sudan were trailing significantly behind. The region also displayed high rates of population growth, with an estimate of 2 per cent, and was also characterized by a high youth population, which showed a growing proportion of the working age in the region. However, to reap the benefits, the region needed to tackle unemployment and development of health systems. Social policies and public health would need to adjust to the demographic shift with an ageing population. Gross domestic product growth was expected to drop from 6.1 per cent in 2008, to 2.1 per cent in 2009. Trade revenues and foreign direct investment were also expected to drop. The fiscal pressures associated with the economic slowdown showed that some countries might cut spending in health, education and social protection programmes.

Evidence suggested that there might be a delay in the social impact of the economic and financial crisis; however, the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggested that the crisis might increase the depth of poverty in the region. Prior to the crisis, unemployment in the region was the highest in the world – at 9.4 per cent – and, despite efforts to reduce unemployment and trends encouraging employment among the female population, unemployment among the youth was 25 per cent, Mr. Al-Dafa underscored. In Yemen and Egypt, over 50 per cent of household expenditures were on food, which showed that the effects of the crisis would greatly impact the most vulnerable groups; poor families would feel the impact on nutrition and health, especially children and pregnant women. Maternal mortality was still a tragic reality, and as the number of women ageing increased, public policy would have to focus on that Millennium Development Goal. But good progress had been made with respect to child-health targets. Health-care systems in the region suffered from weak institutional capacity, risk of cost inflation and insufficient coverage. Without a renewed commitment from the international community to provide technical and aid assistance the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the region would not be possible. The strengthening of the social protection system, integrating social development and health-care systems was ever more needed if these countries were to realize the Millennium Development Goals.

NOELEEN HEYZER, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), presenting the report for her region, said the current crises and challenges all had profound impacts on people's health and well-being. There was a fundamental link between health, sustainable development, and economic sustainability. Pandemics had the potential to bring the global economy to a standstill. But this was a world of disparities – not everybody's lives were improving fast enough, or in an equitable manner. Nor was this continuing improvement guaranteed, and the international community needed to have the consciousness of investing in affordable, effective and quality health care, which was dependent on the health of the economy, and the health of the planet. The Asia-Pacific region had shown a remarkable crisis resilience, mainly due to economic reforms due to the crisis in 1997, and a policy space and macroeconomic management that had allowed policy managers to respond to the crisis with an aggressive expansion policy. The region would be the locus of any world economic growth in 2009.

However, that growth was under great pressure. The growing pressure of protectionism in developing countries was of great concern in the developing economies, as well as pressure in all countries of the region to implement protectionist measures to protect local employment. An early conclusion of the Doha Round, in accordance with its development mandate, was essential, as was the implementation of regional partnership agreements. China had determined one of the world's largest stimulus packages, and many countries had announced plans to use fiscal policies to boost domestic demand. However, much remained to be done. Some economies had proved more resilient than others. major concern was rising unemployment. Many millions would experience rising income problems, and the need for social protection measures was acute. The crisis also threatened health achievements in several ways: health risks were increasing due to growing inequality, characteristic of the past expansionary period, and present income insecurity. The lack of a health focus in fiscal stimulus plans and increased debt threatened future health spending, and maternal, infant, and child mortality were the issues of greatest concern.

JAN KUBIS, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Europe (ECE), presenting the report for his region, said, unfortunately, his statement was full of worrying data and information that showed very clearly that their region was heavily affected by the impact of the global economic and financial crises, and that the health sector was a major challenge. As the first indication, the global economic and financial crises impacted the Europe region more than any other region. The region had some of the most developed countries in the world, but also many official development assistance eligible countries, and countries in transition. Speaking from a broader perspective, future capital inflows – a huge engine of growth –would be negative in 2009 and were expected to stay subdued indefinitely. That would heavily affect countries in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and others. Worldwide, the fall was between 5 and 8 per cent, which showed the impact of that very important source of income that underpinned the social stability and growth of the countries in the region. Unemployment would continue to rise and would reach double digits in the region. In the long run, increased deficits and debt meant that Government budgets would constrain future domestic public health investment and official development assistance.

Life expectancy was lower in the transition economies and had declined during previous economic downturns. Normally, an economic crisis had the greatest health impact on infants and the elderly. What was unusual for the region was that the hardest hit were men between the ages of 24 and 54, and thus the crisis had a large impact on economic output. Compared with the rest of the world, health expenditure in the transition countries was normal. Governments were increasingly looking to private sector companies for support. One indication of the health shortcomings was the significantly rising social inequalities in health access and expenditures. The share of private out-of-pocket health spending was high in transition economies, which had negative consequences for the poor, Mr. Kubis stressed. With respect to HIV/AIDS, the prevalence of it in some of the Commonwealth of Independent States was as great as in many African countries. There was, however, progress in controlling tuberculosis in Central Asia. Public policy initiatives regarding road safety had also been successful in reducing fatalities. The region had adopted regulations to limit the number of vehicles that emitted pollutant gases, and intended to deal with fuel quality as well. The improvement of energy efficiency of vehicles and encouraging alternative forms of fuel were also measures taken by the Commission. The region was heavily affected by the crisis, and in many respects faced the same challenges as other regions, and also through the work of ECOSOC they were trying to come with remedies and responses to improve the situation of global public health.

ABDOULIE JANNEH, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), presenting the report for his region, said the crisis presented some policy opportunities at the national, regional and continent levels. Growth in Africa was likely to decelerate from 5.7 per cent to 2.8 per cent this year. That was a major setback, given that the region had had a growth of about 5 per cent since 2007. It was insufficient to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The decline in economic growth was expected to be most severe in Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and the Sudan. The main channels of transmission of the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on African economies included decreased exports, increased stock market volatility, depreciation in foreign exchange rates of many African currencies, reduced worker remittances due to loss of jobs or reduced earnings of migrant workers, decreased foreign direct investment flows, a potential decrease in official development assistance for the financing of Government programmes, and an expected decrease in revenue from tourism.

The impact of the global financial and economic crisis on social development including the health sector in Africa was through two major channels: supply-side effects, directly affecting the operating environment for the health sector and other social development services; and demand-side effects, directly affecting the health sector by affecting the household characteristics and its ability to demand health services. Overall reduction in income would result in reduced consumption of health services due to lack of resources to pay to access health services, and reduced consumption of other basic goods such as education, food and nutrition security that were essential for positive health outcomes. African countries were constrained in their capacity to finance health, as evidenced by the low levels of public sector health spending in many countries. External resources accounted for a large proportion of health expenditures in Africa. The financial crisis was likely to negatively impact on official development assistance, which would translate to lower levels of external resources available to support health in Africa – yet Africa needed those resources in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The African Development Bank had been able to implement emergency assistance programmes by reallocating resources, but there was a need to scale up such financing as the impact of the crisis continued to unfold on the continent.

OSVALDO ROSALES, Director of the Division of International Trade at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), speaking on behalf of Alicia Barcena, ECLAC Executive Secretary, said that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, there had been reduction in the child mortality rates and reduction in HIV/AIDS. During the period 2003 to 2007 the region had gone through a period of unprecedented growth, with 2008 the fifth year that the GDP had been 3 per cent annually, which had not been seen since the 1960’s. When the crisis broke out immediately after that – in September 2008 – the crisis was felt by the decrease in financial flows, which were tightened, a drop in demand for products from the region, and direct investment and tourism dropped. Countries of Central America were resisting the effects of the crisis better than those of South America or Mexico. Latin America was also in a better situation than Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Central Asia. Imports had fallen by 35 per cent, manufactures dropped more in commodities, and exports to China had dropped to a lesser extent, as well revenues from tourism. Exports to the United States had dropped by 34 per cent. The macroeconomic framework was becoming much narrower: the fiscal deficit was 3 to 4 per cent of GDP and social policies had been implemented and new stimulus packages had decreased. Remittances had dropped by more than 7 per cent on average for the first quarter, which constituted a major component of the region’s GDP. Moreover, the rate of urban unemployment was increasing where, for example. in Colombia it was 10 per cent. The non-formal sector and poverty were directly related. The region did not have unemployment benefits in many cases, and there were anti-cyclical polices which brought about a decrease in investment.

On a somewhat more positive note, Mr. Rosales said the region had registered major progress towards the goal of combating under nourishment, as well as reducing child mortality. In order to reach the Millennium Development Goals in that regard by 2015, a rate of 5.6 per cent annually had to be met every year. Out the 12 million children born annually in the region, 200,000 died before their first 6 months, and that indicator would continue to worsen if no action was taken. HIV/AIDS prevalence had increased, experience had shown that men and women working in the sex trade were among the most vulnerable groups. Moreover, the increase in unemployment and poverty might lead to an increase in the sex trade and therefore increased cases of HIV/AIDS. In the context of the crisis, the drop in household income would reduce the income available to expend on health, and thus would contribute to increased levels of poverty. In the medium term, to get out of the crisis, there were old and new forms of protectionism emerging. It was important not to abandon competitiveness. Drawing upon the experience of development in the region, there was a need to build the best relations between the market and the State that was best for each region. Furthermore, it was also important to examine and discuss the consequences of climate change, as this region was the hardest hit by such experiences, the deforestation, drinking water and sewage had a affect on the vulnerable groups in society, which would not only promote growth, but also equity and innovation.

ANDREI SAVINYKH (Belarus) said that, in conditions of the financial and economic crisis, the role of the regional commissions could and should be strengthened. It was absolutely clear that they understood the specific characteristics of each region, and could make sense of the different factors impacting them, thus being able to provide more effective assistance in rebuilding the economies of the region and strengthening socio-economic development in the region as a whole. That was of key importance in strengthening the impact of the United Nations policies as a whole. The point of maximum efficiency between those different factors still remained to be defined. The particular role of ECE was important, as it drew up a large number of instruments that became global in significance and expanded worldwide. That was a very positive trend, which should be further encouraged and taken into account in planning the work of the regional commissions as a whole. The swift development of trade and investment between countries with transition economies and developing countries was also an important issue which should not be ignored.

CHRISTOPHER F. HACHETT (Barbados) believed that the regional commissions represented an important resource to help Member States analyse such problems as they were discussing today. It was interesting that one of the important areas identified in the presentations, and where for Barbados the economic crisis was most felt, was in the tourism sector. Barbados wanted to know if there were any further ideas on how the crisis impacted that area in particular, and if there were any responses to the decrease in employment in the tourism sector?

DONATUS ST AIMEE (Saint Lucia) said it was regrettable that the Executive Secretary of ECLAC could not attend. It was regrettable that, considering that almost half the members of ECLAC were English speaking, that the presentation had been made in Spanish, and the distributed text was also in Spanish, as that impeded interaction. A greater analysis in the sector that was of greatest importance to the small island States would have been appreciated (i.e. tourism), as would have been an analysis of their particular vulnerability, not just in the current crisis, but in terms of the climate, such as the recurrent hurricanes every year. The discussion in the analysis was very superficial. However, the report was not all negative, there were a couple of positive notes.

KAIRE MBUENDE (Namibia) said there was a common understanding of the crisis as it emerged from the presentations from the different regions – which were all affected, but in different ways. The fundamental questions remained – what was to be done? There were long-term and short-term measures to take, for instance regional integration. The growth rate in Namibia had declined by 3 per cent in the last year. The crisis was not of their making, and things that were beyond their control. The crisis was also combined with the oil crisis. After listening carefully to the presentations, he was still where he started. What were the one or two things in the long list of things to be done, which could possibly have immediate affects? With respect to health and meeting the Millennium Development Goals, it was striking that all the countries in Latin America and Africa were lagging behind on Millennium Development Goals 4 (reduce child mortality) and 5 (improve maternal health). Why was that the case? It was important for those countries to collectively mobilize to address those challenges together since they were a common challenge.

ATHMANE MEHADJI (Algeria) said with the international financial and economic crisis, there were difficulties in all regions of the world, and the problems that cropped up differed from region to region. Africa, which was the least-favoured Continent, was bearing the brunt of the crisis. With regard to the report of the United Nations Secretary-General that had been produced immediately before the crisis and included a rather pessimistic perspective on the Millennium Development Goals in Africa and the possibility of achieving them, the main donors to development finance found their finances now drying up. As some parts of the world were excluded from the world economy, the speaker was wondering about Africa's ability to stop the effects of the crisis and hang on to what it had already achieved with regard to the Millennium Development Goals. What were the short-term means identified to stop the effects of the crisis, and which stakeholders could be designated or nominated to improve the situation? If there were no resources, then a developing country could not come up with the finances that were necessary to guarantee universal access to a public health system.

DIMITRY BIRICHIVSKIY (Russian Federation) noted the significant contribution given to balanced policy advice in the trade and economic spheres in light of the global economic and financial crises. It was particularly noteworthy to look at the advice given at the Global Regional Conference in June 2009 in that regard. The Russian Federation supported the comment made by Belarus on the strengthening of the role of the commissions to draw upon the work of the regional commissions for the formulation of strategies, and to strengthen national health systems. It also thanked the commissions, and in particular ECE, for their help in holding a road traffic accident conference that would help contribute to better policies on road traffic safety in the country. Russia called for the continuing and strengthening of ECE. ESCAP was also thanked for their assistance in developing transport infrastructure, as well as developments in the energy sphere. Russia was interested in further enhancing the work of the regional commissions, and was actively engaged in doing so through multilateral assistance.

RAJA NUSHIRWAN (Malaysia), addressing a comment that an integrated economic and social policy was required to address this crisis, observed that the international community needed to think about long-term planning, as the crisis would not last forever, although its impacts would no doubt be long-lasting. Malaysia was focusing on three areas: the economic stimulus package; a new economic model for future development, based on innovation and creativity and a new focus on services; and the mitigating policies. Malaysia would not be reducing the budget for health services, and as a result of the crisis attendance in public hospitals had increased considerably. Yesterday, during a plenary session a statistic had been mentioned that it now took a shorter time for a larger proportion of the population to grow older, with the example of France and Thailand given. For a lot of developing countries, they needed to get rich before they got old, and the speaker wondered whether there had been studies or extrapolations on that fact and whether the regional commissions had done so, extrapolating whether this would be the situation over the next 30, 40 or 50 years.

LUIS PABLO S. OSSIO BUSTILLOS (Bolivia) said the world found itself in a particular situation. It had been agreed that the financial crisis, which was closely linked to the food and environment crises, would have affects on the poorest and most vulnerable countries. It was a source of concern that the origin of this crisis was not being taken into account. It was a crisis which the developing countries and least-developed countries were not responsible for, but their populations would be affected by them. There had to be a way of tackling those crises from a coordinated, pooled approach, with a global effort, thus avoiding sectorization in which each area sought to find its own response. There should be guidance to benefit all.

ABDELMAHMOOD ABDALHALEM (Sudan) was happy that as a blessing in disguise the regions were reading from the same page now, in addressing and providing solutions to the current economic crisis. The regional commissions were the window through which one saw the regional impacts of such crises. Sudan was recently visited by Bader Al-Dafa, Executive Secretary of ESCWA, and looked forward to greater involvement in the Millennium Development Goals Summit, and the South-South meeting in Kenya.

JOSE BRIZ (Guatemala) said, with regard to the presentation made by ECLAC, it was Guatemala’s impression that there was a very optimistic approach to the way in which the region was facing down the crisis. That caused doubt about what precisely had been spoken about over the past few days in the high-level segment in terms of where countries stood with regard to achieving indicators for the Millennium Development Goals, in particular concerning health. Guatemala was in a situation where it had very little margin for manoeuvre, and some were even speaking about an institutional crisis. That contrasted with the picture portrayed by the regional commission. There was a contradiction between saying there was a fairly good picture, when the indicators reflected a situation that was worse than the Asian region. Was there some sort of analysis done or being undertaken on what the impact of the anti-cyclical policies that some developed countries had put into place for the developing countries would have?

ABDOULIE JANNEH, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in closing comments, said the question was what to do now. Long-term strategies had not changed, the problem was now. One of the drivers of Africa's success over the past five years was that generally economies had been better managed, with greater socio-economic success, leading to increased stability. Africa should continue that good management of its economies, and ECA was committed to working with it in that regard. The resource flows to Africa had come from official development assistance, and there were assurances that that would continue and would not be reduced. There was support for the multilateral institutions, but the issue was how to put mechanisms in place so that Africa could benefit further from them. Africa also needed to put into place better mechanisms for domestic resource mobilization, and progress was being made in that regard.

JAN KUBIS, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Europe, in concluding remarks, said the comments were very helpful. He welcomed calls for the strengthening of the regional role of the commissions. That kind of encouragement was very much needed and strengthening their role, cooperation and relations at the country level would be focused on in the coming period. On global outreach, he was glad to hear the comment that many norms and standard setting that started in the region had spilled over to other regions. That was something that they would continue to do and cooperate in a targeted way with other commissions. For instance, that had already been ongoing with respect to road safety and energy. As regional coordinator of ECE, he was willing to discuss with the President of ECOSOC how to better coordinate, and increase interaction with the work of the commission and that of the Council.

NOELEEN HEYZER, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, in some final remarks, said in the 1997 crisis, Asia and the Pacific had traded itself out of the crisis. It could not do that this time. Because of the 1997 crisis, the area had created huge reserves, many of which were now being dipped into. There was also an intraregional inter-modal transport system, which linked some of the least developed countries to the richer, coastal areas, and also developed a network of dry ports and of economic corridors, which provided tremendous opportunities to develop the infrastructure for shared prosperity. ESCAP had also been working on trade facilitation, and to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade. Increasingly, it had become the platform in which the diverse countries in the region came together in a global dialogue that went beyond national strengths and into regional strengths. Asia-Pacific was also an area where green-growth initiatives were being examined, not just in terms of energy efficiency issues, but also initiatives that covered climate change as well as poverty reduction. The region was alert to increasing debt, and was working to prevent a new debt crisis, including a standstill in debt payments. A debt arbitration court for least-developed countries was also under discussion. The voices of the least developed countries and the small island States were being brought together with the developed countries in order to develop a true regional solution. The social foundation of recovery needed to be built.

BADER AL-DAFA, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, said, with regard to Namibia’s question as to how to find a way out of the crisis and the path to be followed in future, that he did not have much to add to what had been said by his colleagues. This was a very serious crisis which had affected all countries without exception. Today, the international community could not throw a stone at who was responsible for the crisis, as it should instead unite to cope with it. No region in the world was able to deal with the crisis effectively on its own, and that was why today all countries needed to work together to take appropriate measures, first of all to reduce the extremely acute effects of the crisis and, secondly, to unite efforts to find solutions. Many people in the world lived in poverty. The measures adopted to resolve the crisis were insufficient to date. What was needed was to strengthen the measures adopted earlier this year to reduce and mitigate the effects of the crisis. It should be examined from an international viewpoint.

OSVALDO ROSALES, Director of the International Trade Division of the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean, said in the light of the crisis it was necessary to develop associated programmes for tourism, focusing on States where there was a potential for demand. Linked programmes for the Caribbean as a whole, not just a single country package, were required, as were programmes for training at individual levels in order to improve the supply and offer. It was important to assess the competitiveness of the tourism sector at the regional and subregional level. Public spending should be given to micro-enterprises and ecological tourism. With regard to the comment on the language used for the presentation, the speaker agreed with Saint Lucia, and next time there would be an oral presentation in English. In 10 minutes it was very difficult to discuss all aspects of socio-economic development. The level of internal demand required protecting, thus there was a need for reactive fiscal stimulus programmes, as well as emergency policies, with appropriate macroeconomic management ensuring that inflation did not take off. There should also be political will within institutions to carry out these policies. At the subregional level, it was important to deal together with infrastructure tasks, which would stimulate regional exchanges, and to build networks of anti-cyclical financing that prevented crises on the balance of payments in developing countries. In terms of the global agenda, the international community should continue with regulatory changes to the financial system and the international economic system, combating protectionism and taking up coordinated positions on a South-South basis on climate change. Responses to the crisis had to be global: any response on a national or even regional basis could not deal with the full scope of the crisis, even if they were well designed.



For use of the information media; not an official record


ECOSOC09010E