UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary, Bader Omar AlDafa considered that the world financial crisis comes as proof to the economic interconnectivity of the globe. "The effects of the crises are not limited to a country without another, and the increasing development challenges affect development capacities worldwide. Thus, any progress we make in financing for development can have a positive effect on donor and receiving countries alike", he said.
In Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, (29 November-2 December), AlDafa tackled "International Financial and Technical Cooperation for Development", from the angle of UN-ESCWA member country development aids, in a roundtable discussion on 1 December 2008. In his intervention, AlDafa noted that official development aids takes up a crucial role in financing development in developing countries, namely the least developed ones among them. "The goal set by advanced countries was to offer 0.7 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries was not honored, although over 30 years have passed since its adoption. Developed countries are invited to achieve this goal by 2015", he said, adding that economic cooperation among developing countries "plays a vital role in financing development on one hand and in integration among these countries on the other".
AlDafa had also taken part in the meeting held by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concerning the world financial crisis. In the statement he delivered at the meeting, he said that UN-ESCWA countries are now more integrated into the global financial system, which makes them more vulnerable to the crisis. AlDafa suggested short and long-term solution, where the region’s countries, oil-exporting countries particularly, concentrate on their stable supply of monetary liquidity and on providing liquidity support for nations in difficulty. Some of the long-term solutions he advanced concerned monetary and economic integration.
The Executive Secretary also made an intervention in the meeting on "The Role of Regional cooperation and Global Partnership in Financing for Development", (30 November). UN-ESCWA was assigned as a focal point for this event, in which AlDafa spoke of "The Role of Arab Development Funds in the ESCWA Region". "ESCWA can work closely with Arab Development Funds in several areas, including: research on key elements in FfD Agenda; assisting member countries in identifying priorities and resource requirements; monitoring and assessing impact of aid; and providing technical assistance", he said.
