Speakers in General Assembly address impact of globalization, AIDS and growing 'digital divide' on African development efforts; Assembly takes up implementation of UN New Agenda for Development of Africa in 1990s.

M2 PRESSWIRE-14 November 2000-UN: Speakers in General Assembly address impact of globalization, AIDS and growing 'digital divide' on African development efforts; Assembly takes up implementation of UN New Agenda for Development of Africa in 1990s (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

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African countries faced a "frightening spectre of total marginalization, even physical annihilation, in the aftermath of globalization and the HIV/AIDS pandemic", Nigeria's representative, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, told the General Assembly this morning. The Assembly was meeting to consider implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, including measures and recommendations agreed upon at its mid-term review.

The nature and pace that globalization had assumed was a source of Africa's progressively decreasing ability to attract foreign direct investment and official development assistance (ODA), he continued. Dwindling access to world markets and Africa's position on the wrong side of the "digital divide" further aggravated the continent's dismal situation. Its export revenues had declined steadily, from 3.2 per cent of the world's total in 1985 to 1.5 per cent in 1998.

The end of the cold war had not produced a peace dividend simply because many African countries had lost their strategic appeal, India's representative said. Structural impediments could have been overcome had the international community been responsive to the needs of Africa. Foreign technical assistance absorbed over 24 per cent of ODA, as more than 100,000 foreign experts in Africa cost about $4 billion per annum. Capital flight remained pervasive and was estimated at about the size of Africa's external debt stock at the end of the 1990s. That situation was complicated by the unwillingness of the foreign governments, in whose banks lay the preponderant portion of those amounts, to return that capital to the rightful owners: the people of Africa.

The representative of Burkina Faso said new strategies for sustainable development should be based on macroeconomic stability, an enabling environment guaranteeing investments and trade, and investments in human development sectors and basic infrastructure. The main objective of African politics today was the eradication of poverty. In that struggle, it was important to use approaches which integrated questions of population, environment and agricultural development. If African countries adopted adequate measures such as good governance, it was vital that donor countries mobilize their resources to aid in development without imposing conditionalities.

Norway's representative said the international trend of reduced disbursements of development assistance must be reversed. However, neither bilateral assistance nor multilateral arrangements could assume the responsibility at the national level. African countries themselves must show leadership to generate economic growth. Accountable democratic governments and the rule of law were vital elements in any development process.