Malawi

I am delighted to be participating, for the first time, in the deliberations of the General Assembly as head of State and Government of the Republic of Malawi. I should like to begin by joining others who have spoken before me in congratulating Mr. Jean Ping on his assumption of the high office of President of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session. I have no doubt that his election will provide an opportunity to increase global awareness of the enormous challenges that Africa and other less developed regions of the world are facing. I hope that, through him, the opportunity for the poor countries to fully participate in world economic prosperity will be enhanced. I also wish to avail myself of this opportunity to pay tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, for guiding the work of the fifty-eighth session with admirable skill and pragmatism. We also salute Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary- General of the United Nations, for the dynamic leadership skills that he continues to display in steering the affairs of the Organization. I have entitled my statement 'Sharing global prosperity'. I have done so in order to underscore the fact that one of the most daunting challenges facing the international community today is to achieve a balance in economic transformation and growth between the rich and the poor countries so as to eradicate poverty among the latter. In looking at the future of the United Nations, we need to take stock of the response to world poverty. I am aware that several attempts have been made by the international community to alleviate poverty - and the goal is still being pursued - but the results so far have been dismal. During the past 30 years, for example, the number of least developed countries has risen from 25 to 49. This means that globally, economic growth is in reverse gear. Among the questions we are asking with regard to the sharing of global prosperity is this: why 28 are the industrialized countries more prosperous, while in Africa and the rest of the developing countries poverty is increasing? In other words, why has globalization failed to achieve a more equitable distribution of global prosperity? In Malawi we have discovered that we need to seriously transform our economic structures in order to begin to provide and produce new wealth. This can be achieved by transforming the abundant agricultural commodities, raw materials and minerals into goods that can be traded globally. It is only by creating new wealth in rural areas that we can effectively eradicate poverty. Our major strategy is to gain a share in global prosperity by transforming Malawi from being an importing and consuming country to being a predominantly producing and exporting country. In other words, we must begin to position our economy to take full advantage of global trade. This will be achieved through intensive industrial research and the application of science and technology to the specific conditions in my country. Malawi - as in the case of most African countries - is richly endowed with a wide range of agricultural primary commodities, good soil and water resources that can enable us to develop viable agro- processing and manufacturing industries. The critical issue for us in Malawi, therefore, is the creation of new wealth as the basis for poverty reduction. In order to do that, we must encourage significant domestic savings, as well as inflows of resources, especially foreign direct investment. We in Malawi estimate that in order to alleviate poverty, we need to achieve an annual growth rate of at least 6 per cent over the next decade. In order to achieve that, we are determined to create conditions for sustainable macroeconomic growth through fundamental policy reforms to improve economic and political governance. We have put in place measures for the reform of the public sector, the agricultural sector and the private sector. We are also determined to improve good governance by stamping out corruption. To that end, we have adopted a zero-tolerance stance with regard to corruption. I am therefore happy to have signed, yesterday, the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Malawi is cognizant of the fact that our national vision must be fully supported by the international community. That is why Malawi joins the call for better market access and lower tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in industrialized countries. Malawi would therefore like to stress the need to advance the dialogue in the Doha development agenda. For their part, the industrialized nations need to seriously address the major concerns of the poor economies. The challenge for industrialized countries is therefore to share with the poor countries the prosperity that comes about through globalization, by assisting us to stand on our own and to develop appropriate technologies for transforming our agricultural raw materials, minerals and other natural resources into wealth. In Malawi, we believe that a partner who walks with you side-by-side down the road is better than one whom you have to carry on your shoulders. We want to walk with the industrialized nations; we do not want to be carried on their shoulders. Some positive efforts that Malawi welcomes towards global equity include the various initiatives taken by the Group of Eight countries aimed at addressing some of the concerns to which I have just referred. Among those are the United Kingdomís decision to significantly increase its aid and technical assistance to Africa; the reaffirmation of strong support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development; the decision by the United States Government to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act from 2008 to 2015; and the European Union's 'Everything But Arms' initiative, which seeks to enhance opportunities for increased access for African exports into the European market. Those initiatives are, indeed, encouraging, and my Government fully appreciates them. I wish, however, to appeal for those noble promises and commitments to be matched by action. We need proof that actions speak louder than words. The management of foreign debt is another positive way in which global prosperity can be shared. Our concern is that, in spite of numerous initiatives aimed at finding a durable solution to the debt problem, the world is nowhere near that solution. My Government is still allocating a significant amount of our resources to debt-servicing at the expense of investment in infrastructure, production and income 29 generation. Such diversion of resources has led, among other things, to the deepening of poverty and a lack of significant macroeconomic growth. However, Malawi, like other eligible African countries, had welcomed arrangements for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative. But the conditions for reaching the decision and completion points are so arduous that only a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa have managed to reach the completion stage. We believe that the preconditions for the HIPC Initiative are unrealistic. Surely, less stringent conditionalities would have enabled more countries to succeed. That notwithstanding, Malawi welcomes the measures by some bilateral donors to respond to the external debt crisis. In particular, I must mention the Government of Japan, which, a few weeks ago, cancelled a debt Malawi owed it, amounting to $256 million. I take this opportunity to thank Japan most sincerely for that gesture. We hope that other industrialized countries will follow this example. I referred earlier to the need for adequate donor support to sustain national initiatives. In that regard, I believe that the New Partnership for Africaís Development (NEPAD) provides a framework for sharing the responsibility for economic development between Africa and the rich countries. It is for that reason that Malawi has acceded to NEPADís African Peer Review Mechanism in a bid to put in place internationally accepted political and economic good governance. Our accession to the African Peer Review Mechanism is also a demonstration of our confidence in the NEPAD programme as a tool to enhance Africaís effective participation in global prosperity. Let me now turn to a global challenge that threatens all development efforts. This is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to pound incessantly upon the African economies, destroying the capacity of many countries to achieve sustainable economic development. Because it affects the most productive segment of our labour force, we are losing more qualified and experienced personnel much faster than we can train new ones. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Experience in dealing with this disaster in my country has taught us that HIV/AIDS is a medical crisis, an economic crisis, a social crisis and a political crisis. It is a medical crisis because no cure has yet been found for HIV/AIDS. It is an economic crisis because it is depleting financial and human resources for development while also devastating our national capacities for good governance. HIV/AIDS is a social crisis because of the stigma that makes the affected unable to be integrated into normal day-to-day relations as well as in the work places. HIV/AIDS has also created a large number of orphans that need to be cared for. HIV/AIDS is a political crisis because it threatens democratic institutions by killing politicians and others who are the voice of the people. Therefore, in order to deal with this pandemic, we have learned the imperative of adopting a holistic approach. It is for that reason that we appeal to the United Nations to collectively raise new awareness, new assumptions and new solutions. To that end, the United Nations ought to redesign its policy in providing support, care, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, alongside the provision of adequate, nutritious food and a proper diet. Before concluding my statement, I wish to raise another concern I have concerning the efforts towards sustainable growth and the development of the world. This relates to the need for world peace. One can hardly emphasize enough that, without global peace, there cannot be global prosperity. In that regard, I would like to welcome the efforts made by the Secretary-General, jointly with the Security Council, in taking a number of decisive steps towards conflict prevention, resolution and management around the globe. Turning to the specific issues of peace in Africa, I am concerned that sub-Saharan Africa has been and continues to be one of the most unstable and conflict- prone regions of the globe. The region also happens to be home to most of the worldís poorest people, who are living below the international poverty line. The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, in particular, is yet another sad chapter in the history of sub-Saharan Africa and one that the African people can ill afford. Africa and the international community must find quick and lasting solutions to the crisis in the Darfur region. I would like to conclude my statement by assuring the General Assembly that my Government fully endorses the proposals to reform the United Nations. We share the belief that a more representative 30 and democratic United Nations will enhance the efficiency and credibility of this global Organization. It will also enhance the efforts towards a just and more equitable sharing of global prosperity. May God bless the United Nations.