Madam Chair,
In Monterrey in 2002 and in Doha in 2008 we reached consensus on who is responsible for what in mobilising and using financing for development. This consensus is at the heart of our global partnership for development and needs to be assessed continuously in light of the evolving weight in the world economy. Strong economic growth and increased revenues have played a critical role in ensuring that we are on track to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. We call upon developing countries to mobilise even more of their domestic resources in the fight against poverty. By broadening their tax base, by fighting corruption and by increasing transparency and improving accountability.
We have agreed that ODA plays an essential role as a complement to other sources of financing for development. ODA will continue to be a critical element in financing for development in particular for LDCs and countries in conflict or in transition from conflict. Norway has raised its official development assistance to above 1% of gross national income. We encourage other member states to keep their part of the financing deal. Especially in these trying times.
Madam Chair,
A crucial part of the efforts to mobilise resources for development is to curb illicit financial flows out of developing countries. These flows, which are often facilitated by tax havens, are estimated to be many times higher than total global official development assistance. Curtailing them is absolutely vital.
The size of the poverty challenge also requires us to scale up innovative financing. During the opening week of the UN General Assembly several countries, including Norway, agreed to work to introduce a levy on financial transactions. The levy would be applied on a large scale, and to a wide range of transactions that could provide stable and substantial financing for development.
Finally chair,
We must all pull together in implementing the Monterrey Consensus, the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development, as well as the Outcome Document of the MDG Summit. The G20 has taken on a critical role in coordinating actions to speed up the global recovery from the financial and economic crisis. These actions have a bearing on our collective ability to meet the international development goals. But these actions could be even more effective if they were better coordinated with other Member States. We therefore believe that our common efforts would be enhanced by closer collaboration between the G20 and the UN. Norway supports the efforts of the President of the General Assembly in this regard.
Thank you.