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Mr. Chairman,
Let me begin by thanking the Secretary General for providing us with
comprehensive reports on agenda item 54 (a-d).
2. Pakistan would like to associate itself with the statement made by the
distinguished representative of Jamaica on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
3. The world history to a large extent is a history of human migration. This age
of globalization and the availability of rapid communications and transportation
options, thanks to the technological revolution, have only intensified the
process of migration.
4. Consequently, the number of migrants has gone up from 82 million in 1970 to
200 million today. It is now 3% of the world population, with one in 35 people
an international migrant. Yet ironically, migration issues, despite their
intrinsic importance and cross-cutting nature, only get sporadic and sparing
attention.
5. Pakistan attaches great importance to the issue of migration and welcomes the
convening of the High Level Dialogue by the General Assembly on International
Migration and Development in 2006. We thank the Secretary General for his report
on the modalities for the high level dialogue. We are confident that the
dialogue will provide a unique opportunity for the international community to
set the foundation for enhanced international cooperation by comprehensively
addressing the multi-faceted phenomenon of international migration. We will
constructively engage with others to expeditiously finalize the arrangements and
modalities for the dialogue.
6. Foremost, the dialogue should help de-mystify the debate and myths created
around this critical issue. We strongly believe in the need for more intense
international cooperation and collaboration on international migration.
7. We are glad to note that international migration is one of the two new
important elements introduced in the development section of the 2005 World
Summit Outcome. The other being employment and job creation. We are confident
that the forthcoming High Level Dialogue should be able to further flesh out the
decision taken by our leaders. We may even consider including migration into the
matrix of development goals.
Mr. Chairman,
8. Pakistan has also read with great interest the comprehensive report presented
by the Global Commission on International Migration. The report is timely and
its analyses should help sharpen the focus on international migration at a time
when it is most needed. We are examining the report with the seriousness that it
deserves.
9. People do not leave their hearths and homes unless they have to or unless
they are forced to. The economic disparities and inequities in the international
system do contribute to the global migration patterns. Denial or lack of market
access to the exports of poor countries and trade distortive agricultural
subsidies are critical factors in perpetuating poverty and unemployment in the
developing countries that lay at the root of migration.
10. The Commission has also recognized the important linkage between
international trade and migration and has called for greater efforts to bring to
a successful conclusion, the WTO negotiations on services under Mode-IV dealing
with the movement of natural persons. It is indeed ironical that while a lot of
energy and resources are spent on securing the free movement of goods, very
little is being said or done to facilitate the movement of persons - another
factor of production. We must do something to cure this anomaly to secure a
truly fair and genuinely development oriented global trading regime that deals
equally and equitably with the movement of goods and services, including that of
labour.
11. In stressing the need for greater coherence and coordination, the Commission
has correctly noted that important decisions taken in areas such as development,
trade and the labour market are rarely considered in terms of their impact on
international migration.
12. We need to address the factors that trigger migration. We support the
Commission’s recommendations for the states and private sector to consider
introducing temporary migration programmes as a means of addressing the economic
needs of urgent and destination countries. We feel that exploring and
facilitating channels for regular migration will help maximize the developmental
impact of migration both in the receiving and sending states as well reduce
human trafficking and abuse of migrant rights.
13. The Commission has also rightly noted that the international community has
failed to capitalize on the opportunities and to meet the challenges associated
with international migration. It has called for more thinking on devising
strategies to rectify the situation. The lack of capacity and absence of policy
coherence and coordination undermines our ability to deal with migration issues.
Most importantly, we need the political will to act and to devise realistic and
doable strategies to deal with the situation at hand. This calls for a global
partnership and a multi-stakeholder approach.
14. We believe that without the requisite machinery and institutional support it
will be difficult to generate and sustain the much needed coherence and
coordination on migration issues. We are, therefore, ready to look at the
various ideas including the proposal by the Commission to establish an
international global migration facility.
15. The Economic and Social Council, being the forum responsible for
coordinating economic, social and environmental policies should also be able to
play an important role in furthering the global discourse on migration
particularly in the light of the Summit decisions on strengthening ECOSOC.
54(b): Science and Technology for Development
Mr. Chairman,
16. Development and poverty alleviation today depend on the ability of nations
to transit from agriculture-based to knowledge-based economies.
Industrialization is the key to high GDP growth. And this can be achieved only
through production of high value-added goods. Thus, the most critical component
for socio-economic advancement now is knowledge and innovation.
17. Regrettably, the development promise of science and technology, remains
unfulfilled for the poor of this world. The rich are getting richer and the
poor, poorer. Technology, instead of bridging the gap, often becomes a great
divider. The growing technological divide between the developed and the
developing countries must be bridged. Creating links between knowledge
generation and development is thus one of the greatest challenges facing
developing countries.
18. Our leaders at the 2005 Summit, recognizing the importance of science and
technology as vital for the achievement of development goals, called for
strengthening and enhancing existing mechanisms and for considering initiatives
to support research and development. They also called for promoting and
facilitating access to the development transfer and diffusion of technology to
the developing countries. The Summit Decisions should hopefully provide the
necessary impetus for urgently needed actions in this important area.
19. The President of Pakistan chairing the Global Roundtable Forum on Investment
and Innovation: Scaling Science and Technology to meet the Millennium
Development Goals held in New York on September 13, 2005 presented a set of
proposals for specific national and international actions to help the developing
countries effectively use science and technology to achieve their development
objectives and goals. The actions suggested for the developing countries at the
national level were as follows:
Developing countries should adopt strategies for technological learning and
institution-building. These strategies should involve continuous interaction
between government, industry, academia, and civil society.
Mainstream science and technology and innovation into national development
strategies.
Establishment of business and technology incubators, export processing zones and
production networks.
Structure their trade policies in ways designed to acquire technological
capabilities. In this context, incentives for Foreign Director Investment could
place a premium on technology transfer and diffusion.
20. At the international level, following actions were proposed to advance the
contribution of science and technology to development:
The United Nations and international financial institutions should direct
greater resources to promoting the application of science and technology and
technological innovation in developing countries.
International rule-making and standard setting activities should respond to the
concerns of developing countries. The developing countries should be enabled to
participate fully in standard setting bodies.
The agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, and other
intellectual property laws, should be reviewed with a view to enhancing their
contribution to development.
The UN should initiate a process to identify developing country research and
development needs and to niche opportunities for development taking into account
the natural resources and other assets of individual countries.
A Global Research and Development Fund should be created.
Global campaign should be initiated for human resource training for MDGs
achievement.
Developed countries and advanced institutions can provide scholarships to
developing countries.
Centres of Excellence in areas relevant to agriculture and industry should be
established in the developing countries through external cooperation. Similarly,
high quality “virtual universities” and virtual means of research could be
created to spread knowledge, innovation and technological application.
21. We are ready to engage with the other Member States to translate these
suggestions into concrete policy actions.
54(d): Preventing and Combating Corrupt Practices and Transfer of Funds of
Illicit Origin and Returning Such Assets to the Countries of Origin
Mr. Chairman,
22. Corruption including the problem of the transfer of funds of illicit origin
is an evil which threatens the peace and prosperity of societies across the
globe. It is a pervasive phenomenon, which afflicts both the developed and the
developing countries.
23. Recognizing the adverse impact that corruption can have on development, our
leaders expressed their resolve to make the fight against corruption a priority
at all levels.
24. We have taken a number of measures at the national level to fight corruption
and are addressing both preventive and curative aspects of this problem.
25. Corruption, however, is a trans-national crime that calls for concerted
international action, particularly measures to return illegally acquired assets
to the countries of origin. We strongly feel that efficient and prompt return of
such assets acquired through corruption to the countries of origin acts as a
major deterrence against corrupt practices.
26. We thank the Secretary General for undertaking analysis, in his report, of
the impact of corruption and that of the outflows of assets acquired through
corruption on economic growth and sustainable development. The report
acknowledges that corruption poses a severe threat to sustainable development.
The report also notes that proceeds derived from corruption have a cancerous
effect on economies and politics worldwide. IMF estimates that the total
money-laundered annually is in the range of $ 600 billion to $ 1.8 trillion with
a significant portion of it involving funds derived from corruption. We hope
that the elements examined in the Secretary General’s report in the context of
the impact of corruption on development could be further amplified and analysed
more extensively in future. This becomes imperative in the light of the decision
of our leaders on assigning top priority to tackling corruption.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.