Mr. Chairman,
Its establishment provided resurgent Africa with leadership in social and economic develop
ment. Economic and social programmes devised and activated by ECA have indeed been instrumental in the tremendous upsurge of development activity all over the vast continent.
This has strengthened the bonds of fraternity, fostered a sense of solidarity among all
national economic crisis with its ominous implications insofar as the vulnerability of the
«
developing countries, including countries in Africa, is concerned. This aspect was very em
phatically and convincingly highlighted in yesterday's keynote address by Chairman Men-gistu Haile Mariam and other distinguished speakers. There has been a substantial decline in concessional aid flows for development, a hardening of the conditions for financial assis
tance and increasing obstacles imposed by developed countries On access to international capital markets. The difficulties of the developing countries have been particularly exacer
bated by the collapse of commodity markets. The prices of primary commodities have touched an all time low. Exoort prices of primary commodities declined by 7 per cent in 1981 and by a further 9 per cent in 1982. The initiative taken to stabilize commodity prices and address other problems related to commodities in the form of an integrated programme for commodities under UNCTAD has not made much progress. Trade conditions are severely adverse and are characterized not only by protectionist barriers imposed by developed countries resulting in a decline in the exports of developing countries but also by contraction of commodity markets, the collapse of commodity prices and organization of the manipulation of food supplies aggravate this serious situation. According to recent FAO data 40 million people — half of them children — die every year from hunger and starva
tion.
The position of the least developed among the developing countries is most unenviable in the present situation. At the UN Conference held in Paris in 1981, a Substantial New Programme of Action was adopted providing for international measures covering various sectors. The implementation of this Programme has, however, not been encouraging. It is to be hoped that the world community will pay attention to the urgent fulfilment of its com
mitment as envisaged in the Programme.
The situation, insofar as Africa is concerned, is further aggravated by the policies and practices of the racist regime of Pretoria which is not only continuing to pursue its bar
barous acts of oppression and discrimination against the overwhelming majority of the 183
population of South Africa but is also perpetrating increased acts of military, political and economic destabilization against its independent neighbouring States. It is also fraudulently attempting to perpetuate its colonial domination in Namibia.
We are meeting here soon after the conference of the Heads of State and Government of the non-aligned countries held recently in New Delhi which considered at great length the serious situation confronting us. The conference resolved that it is urgently necessary to rapidly promote the democratization of the international system to usher in the new inter
national economic order. The Heads of State and Government of the non-aligned countries agreed on the steps to be taken to promote co-operation in economic and other fields with the object of strengthening their independence and reinforcing the position of the develop
ing countries so that they can negotiate with, the developed countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The Heads of State and Government called upon the world community as a whole to provide adequate financial aid and other resources for the advan
cement of the developing countries. We must prevent the rich nations, in the midst of the common crisis which we all face, from reverting to the catastrophic bilateralism of the 1920s and 1930s rather to enlightened multilateralism. The present crisis has demonstrated the in
adequacy of the existing world economic system. A thorough-going restructuring through a process of global negotiations is necessary. The developing countries need help in the solu
tion of their acute balance of payments problems without interrupting their development process. We need to immediately convene an international conference on money and finance with a view to comprehensively restructuring the international monetary and finan
cial system. Negotiations must commence immediately for the adoption and effective im
plementation of a programme of immediate measures in favour of developing countries.
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Indian delegation would like to emphasize that all these are matters which must receive consideration in the deliberations of this Conference with a view to examining what can be done by the Economic Commission for Africa to implement these agreed upon ideas without which its various programmes for economic development in the continent could be
come abortive.
Economic co-operation among developing countries is an important means of building collective self-reliance. We must intensify the activities aimed at ECDC. India is actively engaged in co-operation with other developing countries. Over the last three decades, India has gained substantial experience in planning, implementing'and evaluating numerous pro
grammes for rural development. India's development strategy clearly recognizes the urgency of integrated rural development for the eradication of poverty. This was reflected in the 20-point programme announced by the Prime Minister of India. The Integrated Rural Develop
ment Programmes of India are intended to reach 15 million families during the Sixth Five-Year Plan period, i.e. 1980-1985. The success that we achieved in the past continues to
strengthen our resolve to meet the challenges in the future. We are now increasingly sharing our experiences in the field with various countries in Africa.
India's interest in promoting economic co-operation with developing countries, including African countries, is evidenced by our active support for the setting up of a project development mechanism for techno-economic co-operation among develbping countries.
The speedy implementation of this proposal could, by identifying viable projects, contribute towards the development of the South. We also hope that the draft statutes for the setting up of a centre for science and technology for non-aligned and other developing countries would be approved at an early date.
184
India has an intensive programme for TCDC. During the last year, this has included the in-field training in India in various disciplines of about 1,500 professionals from other developing countries and the deputation of a large number of Indian experts to such countries. This is besides the nearly 400 trainees from entitled developing countries who have done courses in India during the year under such programmes as SCAAP and the Colombo Plan. All this is quite apart from the several thousand foregin students in Indian universities.
Mr. Chairman,
India's commitment to Africa goes back to the days when India identified itself with the African cause through Mahatma Gandhi who began his epoch-making struggle for the freedom and equality of all peoples on the African soil. Since then, India has been in the vanguard of developing countries to achieve their common objective of raising the standard of living of the vast masses of deprived people in the world. We are committed to the prin
ciple of collective self-reliance for developing countries and have repeatedly expressed our solidarity with the fraternal countries of Africa in their struggle for development and economic prosperity. On this happy occasion, we solemnly reaffirm this commitment. I have no doubt that Indo-ECA projects will expand and multiply in such a way as to become a model for South-South co-operation.