Statement by Dr. Arjun Karki, Chair and Spokesperson of the Civil Society Steering Committee, to the LDC Bureau closed group meeting during the UN LDC IV Conference, Istanbul, Turkey (9 May 2011)

Mr. Chairman Rt. Honourable Jhala Nath Khanal, Prime Minister of Nepal,

His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations,

Head of Delegations,

President Wolfensohn, Co-chair of the Group of Eminent Persons,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Civil Society Steering Committee and Civil Society Forum representatives gathered here in this beautiful city of Istanbul, I thank you for this invitation to address you. It is also a personal honour.

 We meet in the final days of a long journey to craft the new agenda for poverty reduction and sustainable development for the 48 Least Developed Countries of the world. We are grateful for your openness to civil society as partners in this journey. We share common aims for a transformative outcome in the Istanbul Programme of Action. We have a shared analysis of the failure of previous programmes of action to address the deep-seated inequities and injustices that have left LDCs still marginalized in the world economy. We stand with you as you promote and defend the vital interests of LDCs in these final days. And we look forward to a new spirit of partnership between government and civil society which is essential to achieve real change in the decade ahead.

We appreciate this opportunity for a dialogue on the strategies for change in these next few days, and the challenges that we face in implementing the outcomes from Istanbul. We have been supportive of the proposals put forward by LDCs in these negotiations, with specific targets and actions aimed at strengthening productive capacities, improving social and human development and building resilience in an increasing volatile and uncertain world. It is with shared disappointment that we see these efforts having been undermined by the unwillingness of development partners to come to this process with a willingness to commit to real action.

We recognise that it is important to reach agreement on a Programme of Action here in Istanbul, but we urge you to continue pressing for more tangible commitments that will provide a basis for holding development partners and others to account for delivery of their undertakings.

In particular, we would like to emphasize the importance of ensuring that there are tangible commitments to adequate, additional and predictable financing. We recognise the political pressures on development partners to deliver increased aid levels, and urge you to provide strong support for new financial mechanisms, such as a financial transactions tax. We urge you to secure a commitment to a process that will result in new debt cancellation without inappropriate conditions.

There are measures on trade that may still be possible to secure in the Programme of Action, particularly a stronger call for full implementation of 100% Duty Free Quota Free market access, improved rules of origin, action on implementation problems previously highlighted by LDCs, and retention of the policy space for LDC development in all trade negotiations. This is essential if LDCs are to be able to build their productive capacities in their domestic economies and not rely on the flawed assumption that foreign companies will deliver development.

In the drafting of the Istanbul Political Declaration we urge you to press for undertakings from development partners to processes for the delivery of long-standing commitments to provide support for LDCs and remove international impediments. As civil society, we share the aim of ensuring the graduation of at least half today’s LDCs within a decade, but there must be commitments to action that would make this a reality, rather than it remaining an empty aspiration.

A process of mutual and shared accountability would allow a stronger focus on the degree to which development partners have delivered on their undertakings. The political declaration could include a process to periodically review implementation of the Programme of Action, with reporting and peer reviews required of development partners as well as LDCs.

There are aims for enhanced economic growth in the Programme of Action, but we urge you to ensure these are the forms of growth that will provide benefits for the many, not just benefits for the few. The record of LDC growth over the past decade is that it has not translated into benefits for people who are lacking in assets and capabilities, people who are vulnerable and marginalised groups in society. All too often, the unique and valuable natural resources of the LDCs have been exploited and sold cheaply with high social and environmental costs, and few benefits to local communities and the domestic economy. We urge you to be specific in using the terminology of inclusive and poverty reducing economic growth throughout the Istanbul Programme of Action and Political Declaration. This would be supported by calling for a focus on job creation to provide opportunities and hope for the growing numbers of young people in LDC societies, sustainable livelihoods, respect for human rights in the workforce and decent work for all.

We also encourage you to ensure that the aims of sovereignty and country ownership are respected throughout the outcome documents, without onerous and inappropriate conditionality. We encourage you to emphasise that the aim of country ownership means inclusive ownership by all of society, not just government. This means a strong emphasis on democratic processes, development effectiveness, transparency and accountability.

We welcome the inclusion of agriculture and food security in the Programme for Action, but encourage you to include in the Political Declaration a paragraph recognising that access to affordable food and water are human rights, and they must not be undermined by unjust trade, land grabs, a lack of rights for small farmers, domination by powerful companies in supply chains and food speculation.

South-South cooperation will be crucial in the future development of LDCs, especially in the context of the likelihood that development partners will continue to fail to deliver on their commitments. We encourage you, in your discussions, to seek future mechanisms for enhanced South-South cooperation, and encourage you to include civil society.

In closing, I would like to report that we will be seeking, as civil society, to undertake awareness raising, education and campaigning that will build a strong global commitment to the measures that will allow the graduation of at least half of today’s LDCs within the next decade. We share your aim to support a transformative process of inclusive and just development that will allow ALL LDCs to graduate in the following years. In our world of plenty, we must consign the category of LDCs to history. We look forward to working with you to achieve these aims.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to address you.