Official Statements:

Statement by H.E. Mr. Yerzhan Kh.Kazykhanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, at the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Meeting general debate (Geneva, 4 July 2007)

 “Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development”

Mr. President,

Distinguished delegates,

Freedom from poverty and hunger is an objective towards which mankind has been striving for generations. Despite numerous efforts at the national, regional and international levels, poverty eradication continues to be the challenge of our time. Extreme poverty is a stark reality for more than one billion people who live on less than one dollar a day and every day suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Hunger claims tens of thousands of new victims, including children, a factor that jeopardizes the very concept of sustainable development, devised against all odds at the conferences, held in New York, Monterrey and Johannesburg. Moreover, hunger, poverty and social injustice create a threat to the security of states and entire regions of the world.

Kazakhstan shares the view that it is time to rethink our current conventional approach to the solution of the above-mentioned problems and to show political will to adopt new and reinforced measures to reverse negative trends in the process of achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

We believe that timely and full realization of the development goals and objectives, including the MDGs, is possible only through a firm commitment by United Nations Member States to global partnership for development at the international and regional levels.

In this context, my delegation attaches great importance to new functions of the ECOSOC- the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) and the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) – that have been mandated by the world leaders at the 2005 World Summit and will be launched at the current session to step up implementation of the UN development agenda.

We are of the view that national efforts should be accompanied by actions to create a favorable international environment. Trade is an engine for development and contributes to sustainable growth, generation of employment and eradication of poverty.  In this regard we stand for a global partnership for development through the establishment of an open, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory trade and financial system.

We consider further liberalization of trade and the WTO membership as a key element of the general development strategy of the country. Kazakhstan is in the final stage of accession to the WTO. By joining that organization, we aim to create conducive environment for sustainable economic growth, through external trade and complete restructuring of domestic goods and services production, in accordance with its rules, standards and mechanisms. We hope that Kazakhstan will be able to join the WTO under the terms that do not undermine its basic economic development priorities. Kazakhstan requires longer transition periods in a number of key areas and more flexible measures in the agricultural sector.

We are convinced that the issue of poverty and hunger eradication should be addressed through determined and consistent implementation by the international community of its earlier commitments made, in particular, in the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, the Barbados Programme of Action for Small Island Developing Countries and the Almaty Programme of Action for the Landlocked Developing Countries. These commitments should be met to the full extent. We also underline the importance of adhering to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Transportation infrastructure is a key factor of successful economic development. As a member of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries, Kazakhstan stands for taking into account, fully and consistently, the interests of that group of countries in the process of decision-making in the area of economic development, international trade and interregional cooperation. The integration of landlocked developing countries in the global trading system is crucial for economic growth and eradication of poverty.

Those and other issues were among the key items of the agenda of the 63rd session of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific that has been held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 17 to 23 May 2007. As a host country, Kazakhstan is proud that the UNESCAP session adopted a number of documents, including the Almaty Declaration, in which the Member States of the Commission agreed upon on concrete measures aimed at eradicating poverty and hunger, in particular through regional and global partnerships for development.

Mr. President,

It is widely known that success of poverty eradication depends very much on several interrelated and mutually reinforcing factors, such as economic growth, employment, decent work, advancement of vulnerable groups, including youth and women.

Creation of conditions for getting good education that will meet the challenges of our time is crucial for economic development and eradication of poverty.

It is obvious that economic growth itself is not sufficient to reduce poverty. It is extremely important to focus on social justice in economic policies and ensure the quality of growth as well as fair distribution of its benefits.

We need to tackle the problems of the Middle-Income Countries (MIC). There is an indisputable need to continue support for MICs in their development and poverty eradication efforts. The very fact that 41% of the world’s people living on less than two dollars a day live in MICs make the international community’s support for this group of countries essential in order to consolidate and make irreversible their achievements in terms of development. Moreover, taking into consideration their higher level of capacity building, research and technology, if MICs are helped to reach their potential, they can become important sources of South-South cooperation, research and technology transfer.

Kazakhstan is a Middle-Income Country where a number of MDGs have already been achieved and which has been invited to start implementing “MDG Plus” strategies involving higher targets.

As a result of successful implementation of a National Programme on Poverty Eradication, Kazakhstan has been able to halve, in five years, the number of people with income below the subsistence level.

In order to tackle the issue of poverty in rural areas, a National Programme on Development of Agricultural Land till 2010 is focused on effective, balanced and sustainable development of rural regions.

We are convinced that provision of productive employment and decent work is an essential part of poverty eradication policy. In this regard, the Government pays special attention to the development of the private sector and microfinancing, as a best practice of combating poverty. It intends to improve further arrangements to provide financial resources to the poor, especially to those living in the rural areas and to women. Wider access to credit, enhanced legal framework of microcrediting, raising awareness of the principles of provision and use of microcredit will continue to be priority tasks for the Government in the years to come.

Small and medium-sized companies, the self-employed and individual entrepreneurs are consistently the best source of employment creation and poverty eradication. Development of small enterprises by women, through improved access to finance, technology and training, has an important impact on poverty eradication.

I would also like to refer to the “World Economic and Social Survey, 2007: Development in an Ageing World”, which has been prepared as a background document for this meeting. Over the last decades, more and more countries have faced an increase in the number of older people in their total populations, which is called population ageing. For my country, population ageing is a relatively new phenomenon. However we believe that national policies in many countries, including Kazakhstan, need to incorporate ageing and appropriate support mechanisms for older people into social and economic planning. In this regard, my delegation fully supports the Survey's recommendations concerning the necessity to address the needs of older people by improving their living standards and social status.

In conclusion, Mr. President, I would like to reiterate our conviction that the United Nations should continue to play a critical role in ensuring steady progress towards global partnership for development and implementation of the outcomes of global forums.

Kazakhstan hopes that the outcome of High Level Meeting will provide a much-needed impetus to our joints efforts to address critical issues in our action against hunger and poverty.

Thank you for your attention.

Date of issue: 2007-07-04