Committee: United Nations General Assembly

Topic: MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Country: the Republic of South Africa

Delegate: KHIEU Suntheng

The Millennium Development Goals come from the UN Millennium Declaration signed by 189

countries and further agreement by member states at 2005 World Summit. A total of eight MDGs

were identified and served as an expression of a minimum commitment to the global

development agenda which means to meet developmental needs of the people. Among all the

MDGs, the eighth goal which is the develop a global partnership for development is so critical to

realizing all the MDGs. Thus, the Republic of South Africa urges international community

especially from the developed countries to provide more official development assistance (ODA)

to developing countries and debt relief for developing countries.

Africa’s recent MDG performance in 2013 has shown that the global partnership for

development goal status is off-track. This could be explained by the Europe continues to struggle

with its sovereign debt crisis, and inflation rates increase; thus, ODA to developing countries has

fallen. In a more detailed figure, ODA in 2012 stood at $126 billion which was 4 per cent less

than in previous year. More than half the 15 African landlocked developing countries saw a

decrease in ODA. As prospects for external funding become more uncertain, developing

countries will need robust strategies to address their financing needs.

Following to the United Nations commitment to provide 0.7 per cent of their countries’ gross

national income (GNI) to developing countries. In 2011, net total ODA was $134 billion, or 0.31

per cent of donors’ combined GNI. By 2012, it had shrunk to $125 billion, or 0.29 per cent of

combined GNI. Indeed, most DAC countries did not meet the commitment in 2012. Therefore,

the South Africa would like to call on the developed countries to increase their ODA in

accordance to 0.7 per cent of their countries’ gross national income (GNI) annually.

Asides from the above, developed country imports from developing countries remained largely

unchanged in 2010. Even in an era of reforms in African continent, some developed countries

still take protectionist measures. For example, from the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity

Act (“AGOA”), there is an increasing trend in exports of goods and products to the U.S. market,

especially textiles and clothing, nuts, beans, and tobacco. However, we still faces a number of

constraints in exporting to the U.S. market that will affect its ability to attain the MDGs. The

problems include supply-side constraints, high administrative demands by the U.S. government,

the high cost of credit, and competition from low-cost producers of textiles and clothing

produced elsewhere. Thus, we would like to encourage all the developed countries to further take

more steps in providing the technical assistance and ICT (Information and Communications

Technology) into the Africa due to the importance of these and to the improvement of capacity-

building of our products.

Relating to the debt issues, debt still continues to inhibit growth and wealth redistribution by

reducing the amount of money available to governments for investment in social services and

welfare. Following the 2005 Gleneagles’ G-8 Debt Deal which is a step to grant a full

cancellation of debt to all severely indebted poor countries, the deal only cancels $40 billion out

of Africa’s burgeoning debt stock of over $330 billion which represents less than ten percent of

debt cancellation required for poor nations to meet the MDGs in 2015. Therefore, the Republic

of South Africa demands for 100% unconditional cancellation of debts.

Reaching at the final remark, the Republic of South Africa would like to express our satisfaction

toward the strong relation between North and South, and the South-South cooperation. We

further believe this is not about charity, but is driven by the pursuit of strategic political and

economic interests of the all nations. Finally, we expect to reach the positive responds toward the

developmental concerns that the South Africa have mentioned earlier.