Statement by Under-Secretary of State Ole Moesby on behalf of the Nordic Countries

Rome, 18-19 February 2004

Mr Chairman,
Mr President,
Distinguished Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to address the Governing Council of IFAD on behalf of the Nordic countries: Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and my own country Denmark.

The 27th Governing Council of IFAD takes place at a time when the framework of IFAD as concerns its resources and its programme of work seems to be calm and stable. The 6th Replenishment of IFAD was declared effective in December. The 80th meeting of the Executive Board finalised decisions on important policy issues discussed and agreed during the replenishment process. The Executive Board adopted the field presence pilot programme and initiated further steps in the implementation of the results-based management. Furthermore the Executive Board adopted a biennial budget that clearly reflects the commitments of the organization to activity based budgeting. We have also noted that the independent evaluation of IFAD is well under way.

With the committed and constructive work of IFAD staff and management, important steps have been taken to implement the actions formulated and agreed upon during the replenishment process. We applaud IFAD for this.
Looking forward, it is encouraging that ECOSOC had chosen “Promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development” as its theme at its high level segment in Geneva in July 2003. This clearly reflects the re-emerging Political consensus on the importance of rural agricultural development. A consensus which we staunchly support and are anxious to consolidate.

In the report to the high level segment, to which IFAD prepared a first draft, the secretariat underscored rural development as indispensable for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report also concluded that agricultural and rural development needs to be further mainstreamed into development policies. This demonstrates the major challenges we are still facing. The key element in the Nordic support to IFAD is therefore to assist the Fund in contributing to the challenging task of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and to meet the needs for development with concrete actions and in partnership with others.

The first Millennium development goal: to reduce poverty by half comes close to the heart of IFAD’s mandate. Some 75% of the extremely poor people live in rural areas in development countries. More than a billion people live on less than one dollar a day. The right to sufficient and safe food as a basis for good health and well-being is a human right. In fighting and alleviating rural poverty IFAD should use its experience and innovative role to demonstrate its advantage as a financing and development institution in rural areas, and its unique understanding of the needs of rural populations.

In this context special attention must be given to the empowerment of women as they form the overwhelming part of the labour force in the rural areas of developing countries. A decisive task for IFAD is e.g. to contribute to creating greater access to financial services and labour markets for poor women. Women’s right to possess and inherit land are also important issues in agricultural development. IFAD has a key role to play in this respect.
We find it very important that the knowledge and insight of IFAD, in close dialogue with the developing countries themselves, be increasingly channelled into processes of formulating Poverty Reduction Strategies and similar national development plans. All donors, including the Nordic countries have an obligation to work together to improve coordination at the country level. This is also true for IFAD. Harmonization among the multilateral development institutions is particularly important in making international development efforts work.

The fact that IFAD is a small financial institution makers it all the more important to bring its experience with rural development into play in the efforts to strengthen coordination and harmonization at the country level. In this respect we encourage IFAD to contribute with its knowledge to e.g. Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs) initiatives, which under the right circumstances could be a promising tool for enhanced development effectiveness. Furthermore, the adopted field presence pilot programme as well as further steps to implement result-based management will provide is with important tools and lessons. We look forward to participate activitely in the process.

Mr. Chairman, at this juncture the situation for IFAD is rather stable. But the challenges as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals are huge. And next year we can expect that negotiations on a new replenishment process will commence. At that time we will also know the results of the independent evaluation.

Important new ships have recently been set afloat and we will follow the navigation closely. Even with the best prospects for the future, it seems clear that we are in for the long steady haul in the year to come. The Millennium Development Goal will not be achieved overnight, and harmonization efforts in support of this are still to be strengthened. IFAD has however, a lot to offer in the processes ahead.

In the anniversary statement t he Governing Council the president of IFAD said: “We are proud of our achievements. We are eager to do more”. The Nordic Countries support this and pledge their continued participation in the work of the Fund in its efforts to meet the challenges.

Thank you.