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| Kathmandu Thursday March 28, 2002 Chaitra 15, 2058. |
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Developed nations agree to
raise ODA to LDCs
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 27: The representatives of
developed countries participating in International Conference on Financing for Development
recently held in Monterrey, Mexico have agreed to increase the flow of Official
Development Assistance (ODA) to the least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Talking to the pressmen at the Tribhuvan
International Airport on his return after participating in the conference, Finance
Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said that the global environment has become more favourable
to provide more aid to the LDCs.
He also said that the developed countries have
agreed to provide assistance equivalent to 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to
the LDCs.
"The Monterrey declaration has clearly
stated that such pledge of the developed countries due to which, the ODA to the LDCs
including Nepal will increase in days to come," Mahat said. .
Since the industrialist countries have
reiterated their commitments to slash the current poverty rate to half by 2015 and the
strong realisation among the developed countries on the need to fight against poverty, the
international environment in increasing ODAs has become more relevant, he said.
Minister Mahat also informed that despite the
commitment of the industrialist and developed countries to allocate 0.7 per cent of their
gross national products for ODA to LDCs, European Union expressed their commitment to
allocate only 0.39 per cent of their GNP till 2006.
However, the EU said that it is committed to
arrange an additional 9 billion Euro in aid to the LDCs for coming four years. Similarly,
the United States has also pledged to increase the ODA by US $ 2 billion for next two
years. "These are very positive developments for the LDCs including Nepal,"
Minister Mahat said.
Presently, EU has been providing ODA to LDCs
equivalent to 0.3 per cent of GNP while it is 0.1 per cent for USA. However, Finland,
Norway and Sweden are among the few countries, which have been providing 0.7 per cent of
their GNP for ODA. Norway, during the meeting vowed to increase the amount of ODA to fight
against soaring poverty of LDCs.
However, the developed countries have put some
conditions to increase their ODA to LDCs. They stressed the necessity of good governance,
control corruption and taking appropriate policy for ensuring maximum utilisation of the
aids. During the conference, some of the developed countries had stressed that the LDCs
should not only be concentrated on income distribution but should also make efforts in
enhancing domestic production.
The conference also agreed to provide duty- and
quota-free access for the production of LDCs into the market of developed countries. The
LDCs also expressed their concern over the growing difference between the committed amount
and real flow of ODA.
Commenting on the present economic status of the
country, Dr Mahat said that despite satisfactory macro-economic situation of the country,
the development activities of the countries have been badly affected due to the ongoing
Maoists insurgency. "The slowing down development activities will be accelerated soon
after the terrorist activities are brought under control," he said.
He also informed that the US government has
indicated that it is providing an additional aid worth US $ 12 million to Nepal for the
next two years.
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