UN Under Secretary calls for Africa to Unite to benefit from Globalization

Dervis was speaking at a Public Lecture at a National University in Mozambique, attended by the academic community, development partners, civil society leaders and the general public, while on a three day visit to the country early October.

“The most important challenge of our time is to reduce inequalities, both within and between countries, and building a more inclusive globalization. Unfortunately globalization, in its current form, has altered the world economy creating winners and losers and Africa must unite to address this imbalance and have a strong presence in the global stage”, said Dervis.

Acknowledging that the world economy has made some progress, where the average per capita income has been growing more then ever before, the UN Under Secretary, noted that some developing countries have moved very fast and they are almost at the same level as the developed nations. Paradoxically, some countries and their impoverished populations particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are being left behind and further away economically from the richest countries.

“Cleary I have hope in Africa. Africa is making progress and wants to be a positive player of globalization but many countries can not do it alone. Africa must unite and the compact with its development partners must be strengthened,” he observed.

The Millennium developments Goals (MDGs) represent the type of compact needed to move Africa forward, where the countries in the region undertake to improve their national systems, institutions, policies, while the international community supports them by providing funding, technical assistance among others, he explained.

Kemal Dervis, who is also the Chair of the UN Development Group, a committee consisting of heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments on development issues in countries worldwide, also held talks with President Armando Guebuza, Prime Minister Luisa Diogo and members of the Development Partner Group in Mozambique. In a town hall meeting with all UN staff, he addressed issues related to the UN reform process of which Mozambique is one of the eight pilot countries.

He also visited a police academy where the UNDP supports the government to train 1200 new recruits to the national police force and a millennium village supported by several UN agencies.

Dervis congratulated Mozambique for being a peaceful country and for the economic gains made in the last 15 years since the signing of peace accord that ended the country’s civil war. He reiterated the UN commitment to supporting the government in addressing the challenges the country faces, namely in capacity building, combating HIV/AIDS and in averting and mitigating the impact of global warming and other natural disasters.