Second Committee: challenges of global financial integration stressed.

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, on 16 December adopted the United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions (resolution 51/191). Under the Declaration, States pledge to deny the tax deductibility of bribes paid by any private or public corporation or individual of a Member State to any public official or elected representative of another country. They also pledge to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials, and agree that any action they take to establish jurisdiction over acts of bribery of foreign public officials in international commercial transactions should be consistent with the international legal principles regarding the extraterritorial application of a State's law.

On the recommendation of its Second Committee (Economic and Financial), the Assembly also endorsed the outcome of the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX), which took place in Midrand, South Africa, in May 1996 (51/167). In the three-part text, the Assembly stressed there was an "urgent need" to continue trade liberalization, including through a substantial reduction of tariff and other barriers to trade. In emphasizing the importance of strengthening the international trading system, it said the World Trade Organization provided the framework for an open, rule-based, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system.

In all, the General Assembly adopted 28 proposals of the Second Committee and the Economic and Social Council, acting on a wide-range of economic and financial issues, including the external debt problem of developing countries, global financial integration, international trade, environment and sustainable development, and follow-up to major world conferences.

On macroeconomic policy, the Assembly (51/166) expressed concern that some developing countries "have become more vulnerable, in the course of liberalizing their external economic and financial regimes, to the volatile fluctuations of private capital flows in international financial markets". Global financial integration should constitute an important element of the dialogue between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, and strengthened cooperation between them required an integrated approach. (The issue is expected to receive attention at the Economic and Social Council's high-level segment later this year when discussion will focus on "Fostering an enabling environment for development - financial flows, including capital flows; investment; trade".)

Pursuing "effective, equitable, development-oriented and durable" solutions to servicing the external debt of a number of developing countries - traditionally, a complex issue - "can contribute substantially to the strengthening of the global economy and to the efforts of developing countries to achieve sustained economic growth", according to the Assembly (51/164), which also welcomed the recent Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative endorsed by the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund and the Development Committee of the World Bank. The Initiative is designed to enable eligible, heavily indebted poor countries to achieve a sustainable debt situation.

In the 1990s, the net transfer of resources from the Bretton Woods institutions to developing countries "has been negative in real terms", the Assembly pointed out (51/165). There was a need to ensure the flow of substantial resources to developing countries through an expansion of multilateral credits, the promotion of foreign direct investment, and an increase in concessional and non-debt resources, it stressed. Attracting private capital flows - an important external source of financing for sustainable development - required sound fiscal and monetary policies, accountable governmental institutions, and transparent legal and regulatory regimes.

Acting on matters referred to it by the Council, the Assembly endorsed the Washington Declaration on Protection of Marine Environment from Land-based Activities and the Global Programme of Action adopted by an intergovernmental conference held in Washington, D.C., last year (51/189). It also called on Israel not to exploit or endanger the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan (51/190).

In trade-related actions, the Assembly called on the United Nations system to study ways of promoting more effective cooperative arrangements between land-locked States in central Asia and their transit developing neighbours (51/168). Developed countries were urged to continue to support the commodity diversification efforts of developing countries, especially African countries (51/169).

In its consideration of sustainable development and international economic cooperation questions, the Assembly called for implementing commitments agreed to in the Declaration on International Economic Cooperation, in particular, the Revitalization of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries and the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade (51/173).

Recognizing the need for ensuring favourable conditions for market access of exports from countries with economies in transition, the Assembly requested United Nations bodies to provide policy advice and technical assistance to the economies in transition "on the social and political framework for economic and market reforms" (51/175).

The date of the special session to review the implementation of Agenda 21 was set for 23 to 27 June 1997, under the terms of another resolution (51/181). Also considered was how to ensure the participation by major groups, including non-governmental organizations, and the Assembly President was asked to propose modalities for such involvement.

Countries were urged to make additional contributions for the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) (51/176). The Assembly also endorsed the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda adopted by the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (Istanbul, June 1996) (51/177).

Concerned about the lack of progress in areas such as malnutrition, maternal mortality, sanitation and girls' education, the Assembly invited Governments to increase budget allocations to basic social services for covering the special needs of children in order to facilitate achieving the goals set out in the 1990 World Summit for Children (51/186). It also decided to convene a special session of the Assembly in 2001 to review the achievement of those goals.

Acting on other issues relating to follow-up to major United Nations conferences and conventions, the Assembly:

* Welcomed the outcome of the World Food Summit (Rome, 13-17 November 1996), urging the international community, including financial institutions, to cooperate in implementing the Plan of Action (51/171);

* Invited the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to provide the Assembly, at its June special session on Agenda 21, with information on experience gained under the Convention to date (51/182);

* Welcomed the entry into force on 26 December 1996 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (51/180);

* Invited States to ratify and/or accede to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (51/184);

* Called for financial and technical support to ensure the implementation of the International Framework of Action for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, in particular, to translate the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World, adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, into concrete programmes (51/185);

* Urged support for small island developing States in their efforts to adapt to the sea level rise that would be experienced as a result of greenhouse gases already emitted into the atmosphere (51/183);

* Decided that the theme for the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty shall be "Eradicating poverty is an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind" (51/178).

The Assembly also encouraged the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to pursue its ongoing task of promoting throughout the United Nations system a greater awareness of the crucial relationship between culture and development, taking into account the diversity of cultures (51/179). Also adopted were texts relating to the United Nations Training and Research Institute (51/188) and the United Nations University (51/189).

RELATED ARTICLE: 'We Improved a Lot of the Resolutions', Says Second Committee Chairman

"It is important to achieve a 'North-South partnership' on international economic matters", Arjan Hamburger of the Netherlands, Chairman of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), told the UN Chronicle.

"That is why the resolution on international trade and development was a sort of breakthrough: the resolution was introduced by the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, and was co-sponsored by the United States, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation and Norway.

"I think that we improved a lot of the resolutions. Their number dropped from 43 in 1995 to 28 in 1996. Most were shorter, and there seems to be some potential for further clustering and rationalizing, which in my view could also lead to a more manageable and transparent process of negotiation," the Chairman stressed.