General statement by the Head of the Cameroon Delegation on the occasion of the Twenty-Seventh Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development

Rome, 18-19 February 2004

Mr, Chairman of the Governing Council,
Mr. President of IFAD,
Your Excellencies
Honourable Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The year celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of our institution is now behind us and we have had on that occasion, the opportunity to appreciate the concrete actions taken by our institution in the fight against hunger and rural poverty.

Two years ago, we inaugurated a new approach to guide the deliberations of the Governing Council, whereby the interactive dialogue is centred on a specific theme. This approach has shown to be very productive. This year’s theme “Trade and Rural Development: Opportunities and Challenges for the Rural Poor” is in line with the growing interest the world is putting today on the negotiations on international trade on agricultural commodities. The debate on this topic will therefore, we presume, be open, franc and free from self-centred considerations.

Mr. Chairman,

May I now seize this opportunity to congratulate you and the Vice-Chairs for your brilliant election and to assure you of our full support throughout your term of office.

Mr. Chairman,

In line with this year’s these, allow me to share with all, some considerations we regard as essential in understanding the link between trade and rural development.

The Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger and poverty is a common concern of developed and developing countries and poverty eradication is now put at the centre of the dialogue on development Trade agreements conducted at regional and/or international levels should be regarded as instrument to enhance trade, foster economic development and integrating developing countries into the world trading system. This integration will open a path for fair and balanced trade amongst all countries, thus remove discriminatory barriers to trade.

We remain concerned about the difficulties in reaching agreements within the context of the World Trade Organization negotiations on trade carried out in Monterrey, Doha and Cancun. We believe the positive outcome of these negotiations will benefit the rural poor. There is no doubt in our mind that we need to rethink the various aspects in trad negotiations such as market access, exports subsidies and domestic support that bring a lot of distortions in international trade.

As the world is focusing today on poverty alleviation with a growing recognition of the centrality of rural development as key to positive and sustainable changes in the status of the rural poor, the international community shall organise itself to put in place enabling conditions that will help the rural poor to have access to productive and technological resources and to diversify their market capabilities. This may also require a lot of determination, commitment and political will from governments of developing countries. If the North-South cooperation in this regard is highly solicited, the South-South agreement shall be equally worked out so as to maximise the chances of success of the incoming rounds of negotiations.

At the local level, the organisation of the rural poor is paramount and IFAD can continue to play an important role by ways of enhancing capacity building in developing countries through their rural organisations. The rural poor in developing countries, who happen to be the main beneficiaries, have themselves a lot of potentialities in terms of knowledge and skills on which we can capitalize.

Mr. Chairman,

Let me now recognize the important work of the President and the entire staff of IFAD have undertaken since the conclusion of the negotiations of the sixth replenishment of IFAD resources in 2002. In fact the necessary strategic and policy issues approved by the Governing Council under the framework of the sixth replenishment are in the making. The buoyant activities within IFAD are a testimony of the desire for this organisation to move ahead and to build a brighter future for itself and the target population it intends to serve.
The ongoing process of the Field Presence Pilot Programme approved at the seventy-ninth and eightieth sessions of the Board of Directors will pave the way for the enhancement of IFAD field presence and participation in policy dialogue in developing countries.

The agenda for this session of the Governing Council makes provision for information of the governors on the Status of the development of the Performance Based Allocation System. We appreciate this sense of transparency. We however suggest that the implementation of the system should not create unwanted disparities in the allocation of resources amongst countries. This instrument which intends to become a universal tool used by the international finance institutions shall operate within the mandate of IFAD, which is to combat rural poverty. This mandate is specific and differentiates IFAD from other international finance institutions.

Our expectations on the findings of the Independent External Evaluation of IFAD are very high, because that is the only way to assess the past performance of our institution and to draw lessons from that.

The efforts of IFAD to participate in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative (HIPC) are warmly appreciated and need to be supported by donor countries. Those countries that are already partaking in these efforts should be given open recognition and encouraged to continue.

Mr. Chairman,

We were informed that effective contributions and instruments of contributions for the sixth replenishment of IFAD resources have crossed the critical threshold of fifty percent of the total amount of the replenishment to make it effective and conclusive. This is good news and we are looking forward to launching the seventh replenishment.

We are pleased to note that despite the financial difficulties and budgetary constraints, which most of the developing countries are experiencing, they have made tremendous efforts to increase their participation in the Fund’s resources. This is particularly the case of my country, Cameroon, which has increased its contribution by twenty-five percent.
The need for more resources for the functioning of our institution can never be overemphasised and we are anticipating a higher demand for increased resources in the seventh replenishment.

Mr. Chairman,

In a global and liberalised economy, regional efforts taking into consideration the livelihood and purchasing power of the rural poor merit some attention.

In discussing Trade and Rural Development, we must take full cognisance of the central place of the Regional Strategies being put into motion, to help booster regional integration. In the case of Africa, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) is today the framework with which regional strategies are developed for coordinated development efforts.
The NEPAD is now at the threshold of implementation of its programmes and projects and needs less theoretical and rhetoric wishful thinking, but more action. The countries that have already committed themselves to support NEPAD activities should now pursue this will by effectively intervening in the execution of its programmes and projects.

We commend the desire of IFAD to reach and sign an agreement with the Secretariat General of NEPAD. In this context the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) shall serve as the reference guide for this agreement.

Mr. Chairman,

Before we close our statement, allow us to make a little reference to the problems of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The prevalence rates reached in many developing countries are alarming. The threats to the development efforts of these countries are exacerbated by the fact that the most affected segment of the population is the most productive. It is therefore essential for IFAD to incorporate the HIX/AIDS dimension in all its programmes and projects.
Thank you very much.