INTERVENTION BY THE HOLY SEE
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 69th SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

STATEMENT BY H.E. ARCHBISHOP BERNARDITO AUZA,
APOSTOLIC NUNCIO, PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE UN

New York
Monday, 9 February 2015

Means of Implementation
for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda

Mr. President,

My delegation welcomes this discussion on the Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The financial resources required to achieve the post-2015 agenda are formidable. In infrastructure alone, the investments are estimated to be in the order of five to seven trillion US$ annually. A recent World Bank study estimates that the annual infrastructure investment requirements for Africa would be US$ 95 billion. These estimates highlight the magnitude of the challenge facing the majority of countries in the world in obtaining the financial resources necessary to implement successfully the post-2015 agenda.

In particular, the financing needs of the least developed countries require special attention, not only because of the scarcity of their domestic resources, but also for their lack of ability to access other financing sources. For this reason, my delegation would strongly encourage that particular attention be given to the financing needs of the least developed countries at the upcoming Third Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. My delegation would also encourage a careful review of how some developing countries have successfully mobilized financial resources for large infrastructure investments, with a view to the possibility of replicating their success in other countries. 

Technology transfer, while implying a complex set of regulations, is key to accelerating the technology and innovation capacities of developing countries. On the one hand, this requires the developed countries to share their technology. On the other hand, developing countries must prioritize technology development in their programs, budgets and partnerships with private technology companies. As in the area of harnessing financial resources, my delegation would also encourage studies on how some developing countries have succeeded in attaining scientific and technological advances and make them accessible to their citizens, in order to find out how these experiences can be made profitable for other countries still struggling to build such capacities. 

As regards strengthening of capacities, we know that weak institutions result in weak implementation and, even more tragically, in waste of already scarce resources and limited capacities. Strong institutions can maximize results of even limited resources and capacities, thereby incrementing resources and capacities: in a word, development. These are key lessons we learn from carefully observing why some countries succeed and some do not. Weak institutions, scarce resources and limited capacities usually go together. Thus, the challenge would be how to assist in a more effective manner the least developed and many developing countries to strengthen their institutions, so that they can maximize internal and external resources and capacities. 

My delegation believes that “best practices” already exist in these three elements of harnessing financial resources, technology transfer and strengthening of capacities, which are critical for the implementation of the post-2015 agenda. We need to identify them and make use of them for the benefit of those countries which still struggle to develop themselves. 

To ensure that no country is left behind and that the post-2015 development agenda be truly transformative, my delegation strongly suggests that these three elements be seriously and consistently considered in upcoming and future discussions.

Thank you, Mr. President.