United Nations

DEV/2555
14 November 2005

Contributions Promised by 21 Member States at 2005 Pledging Conference for United Nations Development Activities

NEW YORK, 11 November (UN Headquarters) -- Twenty-one Member States announced their pledges in support of United Nations development activities and elected officials during this morning's annual Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Opening the 2005 Conference, Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, stressed that higher contributions for United Nations country activities, especially "unearmarked or core resources", had remained vital in responding to challenges of the new Millennium.  United Nations bodies should focus on developing national capacities at the country level, implementing reforms to increase country operational efficiency, and introducing good management.

He noted that gross regular income for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had surpassed the 2004 interim target of $800 million in its Multi-Year Funding Framework, and that it was likely to exceed the 2005 target of $900 million.  While the Programme had a long way to go in reaching the $1.1 billion target of the Funding Framework by 2007, it should be on track to achieve it.

Unfortunately, he said, the UNDP had continued to rely heavily on a limited number of donors, with the top 10 providing about 85 per cent of regular resources in 2004.  Its regular income had remained vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.  While the 2004 level of regular resources was approaching the Multi-Year Funding Framework target, it was imperative to reduce vulnerability through multi-year funding commitments.

Turning to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), he said that body's regular resource contributions from Governments had come to $438 million, an increase of $35 million over 2003.  The proportion of regular resources to total income had deteriorated over the past few years, with the largest ever -- 40 per cent of total income from regular resources and 60 per cent from other resources -- being reached.

For 2005, UNICEF's medium-term strategic plan had "forecast a target" of $455 million for regular resources income from Governments, or a 13 per cent increase over the $403 million in regular resources income from Governments in 2004.  With increased and predictable regular resources, UNICEF would be able to support national capacity development, and use other additional resources in agreed areas of providing for children.

As for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Mr. Civili said its resources, core and non-core, last year had reached a total of $506.1 million, the Fund's second highest amount ever.  About three quarters -- $332 million -- was for core resources, a 13.7 per cent increase from the previous year.  Resources this year should pass the $400 million mark, including over $354 million in core resources, and $131 million in co-financing resources, as of 1 November 2005.

In closing remarks, Mourad Wahba, Director of the Division for United Nations Affairs of the UNDP, speaking on behalf of UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş, said that poverty reduction and democratic governance had accounted for two thirds of total programme expenditures in 2004, while almost 90 per cent of regular resources were allocated to low-income countries, and close to 50 per cent to Africa.

He said the favourable trend in resources had shown that significant progress had been made in joint efforts to rebuild the UNDP's core funding base.  Following this year's annual funding session, some 19 countries had announced an increase in their contributions for 2005, while 31 countries had maintained their level of contributions, and 13 programme countries had resumed their contributions in 2005.

Jun Kukita, Senior Programme Funding Officer, Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, speaking on behalf of UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, expressed concern over the continuing decline in the proportion of regular resources to total resources.  In 2005, that proportion would be even lower for regular resources, owing to extraordinary support received from both public and private sectors for emergencies such as the tsunami disaster and South Asia earthquake.

Jean-Noel Wetterwald, Chief of the Resource Mobilization Branch of the UNFPA, speaking on behalf of UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, said the increase in core resources had been mainly due to increased contributions from 11 major donors, as well as the favourable exchange rate for the euro and other currencies against the United States dollar.  Equally important, multi-year pledges had increased from 20 in 2003 to 47 this year, which had allowed the agency to manage its cash flow and programmes more effectively.

Also today, the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities adopted its draft report.

At the outset of the meeting, the Conference elected Aminu Bashir Wali (Nigeria) as President of the 2005 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, and Hamidon Ali (Malaysia), Tiina Intelmann (Estonia), and Paulette Bethel (Bahamas) as Vice-Presidents.

Announcing pledges this morning for contributions in specific amounts were representatives of India, Russian Federation, Singapore, Kuwait, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Turkey, Djibouti, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Iran, South Africa, Myanmar and Morocco.

The representative of Viet Nam said his country's pledge would be the same as last year.

The representative of China said his country would announce its pledge once it had been approved.  Lebanon's delegate also spoke.

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