Last week, just before the G8 Summit in Italy, the second global review of Aid for Trade was held at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. Aid for Trade is an initiative that started in 2005 through the WTO framework in recognition that developing countries lack the basic infrastructure and capacity to take advantage of the market access opportunities resulting from trade negotiations — that in fact, changes in the international trading system have significant costs to developing countries — and that normal aid programmes have not been able to deal with these. The second global review aimed to evaluate the progress of the initiative and scrutinize how it is being implemented on the ground.

During the high level event, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described aid for trade as “promising and life saving” for poor countries. At the same time, he expressed concern recently that the initiative will fall short by some $20 billion. WTO chief Pascal Lamy said that the global trading environment has worsened dramatically since the first review a year ago, and that the Aid for Trade initiative is “urgent and essential today.”

Despite the economic downturn, several donors responded positively to this call – Japan unveiled a new development initiative for trade under which it will provide $12 billion through bilateral assistance for trade-related projects over the next two years. Announcements of substantial commitments by the UK (£1 billion per year), the Netherlands (€550 million per year) and France (€850 million per year) were also welcomed.

The report, co-published by the WTO and OECD for this event, says the initiative has achieved remarkable progress in a short time: partner countries are mainstreaming trade in their development strategies and clarifying their needs and priorities; donors are improving aid for trade delivery and scaling up resources. In 2007, as was the case in 2006, aid for trade grew by more than 10% in real terms and total new commitments from bilateral and multilateral donors reached $25.4 billion, with an additional $27.3 billion in non-concessional trade-related financing. But the report warns that maintaining the momentum will be difficult in this current economic recession, and that the quantity and the quality of aid, including aid for trade, are now more important than ever for economic growth and human welfare.

-Mikiko Imai

We spent yesterday in the United Nations headquarters in New York for the UN Conference on the global economic crisis and watched the opening plenary session live on a big screen in a designated room with our NGO colleagues.

Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, the President of the General Assembly, stated at the outset of his speech that we are meeting because “we are going through the most singular moment in human history when our common future is at stake.” He said we must acknowledge that the current economic and financial crisis is the result of “an egotistical and irresponsible way of living, producing, consuming and establishing relationships among ourselves and with nature that involved systematic aggression against Earth and its ecosystems,” which masked social imbalance and global social injustice. He called for “a sustainable way of life,” which stems from a shared vision of the values and principles that promote the well-being of present and future generations, and a creation of a new global ethic to share our common global good that is the “Mother Earth.” This should be extended in dealing with the concerns of environment as well as humanitarian issues including poverty, which is a “time bomb” against humanities of all societies. He concluded his moving speech with a plea that that we “arm ourselves with solidarity and cooperation in order to make a qualitative leap forward to a future of peace and well-being.” You can read a transcript of his speech here.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also raised concerns that the world is “still struggling to overcome the worst ever global financial and economic crisis since the founding of the United Nations more than 60 years ago.” He called the international community to take three urgent actions. First, he stated the need for real time data on the vulnerability of the crisis to the poor. In this regard, he informed us that the UN is leading the construction of a global crisis alert mechanism. Second, the international community must keep their commitments on their development targets including the 2005 Gleneagles commitments made by the G8 leaders. Third, he called for the international community to work together to reform the world institutions. “The world institutions created generations ago must be made more accountable, more representative and more effective.” Ban Ki-Moon also said he had just sent a letter to leaders of the G8 urging “concrete commitments and specific action to renew our resolve.”

Yesterday afternoon, we attended a dialogue between the civil society participants and the Commission of Experts on the Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial Systems, convened by the President of the General Assembly. Professor Joseph Stiglitz, the chair of the commission, gave an overview of the recommendations that was released ahead of the Conference and answered questions from the civil society participants. He called for a package of strong, coordinated and effective actions to stimulate the global economy and a number of systemic reforms of the current financial systems, including the creation of a new global reserve system to better deal with risks, and better surveillance systems. He criticized the recent G20’s attempt in tackling the financial crisis, as follows– grants should be provided to the poor rather than debt-incurring loans, their agreements on regulation were more cosmetic than real, and too much of the new resources to the poor will be provided by the IMF, who has been criticized for imposing harmful conditions in return for IMF funding. In his closing remarks, Stiglitz reminded us that the financial crisis is an opportunity for us to change the current skewed global financial and economic system, but that there is a real danger that real reforms will be blocked by a number of governments who do not want to make those changes. Encouragingly, the Commission added that continuous pressure by civil society on governments to make the necessary reforms will be vital in preventing this from happening. The Commission’s report can be found here.

Check back for more updates from the UN!

-Mikiko Imai

Last week I attended a high-level taskforce meeting on climate change and innovative financing that was part of the 62nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. This precedes a big conference in Paris this week on innovative financing for health.

Dr Philippe Douste-Blazy, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the UN in charge of Innovative Financing, proposed the creation of the I-8 Group for the Millennium Development Goals, which brings together United Nations agencies and civil society representatives.

The 8 finance mechanisms are (be prepared for a mouthful):

1. The International Finance Facility for Immunization, supporting the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations
2. UNITAID
3. The Advance Market Commitments for vaccines
4. The ‘Debt 2 Health’ initiative of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
5. (PRODUCT) RED
6. The Responsible Social Investment initiative of the Agence Française de Développement
7. The use of revenues from the Carbon Market
8. The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health

Last week’s meeting in Geneva was the first meeting of the group. And it was certainly an impressive set of people sat around the table, including Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the UN), Dr Margaret Chan (Director-General of the World Health Organization) and Michel Sidibé (Executive Director of UNAIDS).
Due to the current economic crisis, Ban Ki-moon pointed out that traditional forms of financing for health are under threat as commodity prices are falling and overseas development assistance is under pressure. He made a plea for innovative ideas and for innovative financing to close the gap between what is available and what we need to meet the Millennium Development Goals. He also emphasized that there is a need for creativity around innovative financing and new opportunities but that it is also critically important to strengthen current mechanisms.

Margaret Chan noted that there were 19 men around the table and only one woman, herself. She talked about maternal mortality and made the stark point that in some countries, women are not allowed to give birth when in labour unless they have the permission of the man.

Michel Sidibe, followed on from Chan, and said that this meeting could not have been more timely. The AfDB recently projected that another 27 million people in Africa are at risk of ill health and poverty. Predictable and sustainable financing is key and this innovative financing scheme must help build a fairer globalization. He concluded by saying the following: “If we are going to reach the Millennium Development Goals, we must avoid duplication, resist competition, and put people at the centre”.

-Eloise Todd

Prime Minister Gordon Brown undertook a whirlwind pre-G20 tour from 24th to 29th March which took him to Strasbourg, New York, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Santiago.

In New York, Gordon Brown met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and in the press conference afterwards both of them said they were committed to helping the world’s poorest nations at the G20. Ban Ki-Moon wrote a letter to all the leaders of the G20 in which he asks them to commit to a large fiscal stimulus for developing countries. He said:

‘G20 countries should commit to sustaining an international stimulus package on top of their national stimulus packages. It needs to be of a very substantial size.’

In the third leg of his trip, the Prime Minister held talks with the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as leading business figures. On Friday, Mr Brown and President Lula agreed to call for countries breaking free-trade agreements to be named, and for the G20 to provide $100 billion in trade credit.

In the final leg of the tour, Gordon Brown met President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and discussed the key issues covered by the London Summit, including avoiding protectionism during this financial crisis. Whilst in Chile, Prime Minister attended the Progressive Governance Conference, which was also attended by Presidents Bachelet and Lula, Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. For more information on this conference, see here.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first meeting earlier this week with President Obama comes amidst a deepening global economic crisis. The two pledged a new era of international cooperation and the pointed to the work jointly to find solutions.

President Obama said:

We talked about the economic crisis and how that’s affecting not only developed countries, but very poor countries around the world, and the potential threat to food supplies if it continues to worsen, and the need for international coordination.

The UN Secretary-general, who has said we also need to be concerned not only with Wall Street or Main Street, but those who have no streets,” emphasized that:

Leaders of G20 should not lose sight of the challenges and plight of hundreds of hundreds of millions of poorest people of the developing countries who have been impacted by this economic crisis. The leaders of industrialized countries should keep their commitment on Millennium Development goals and official development assistance, and help developing countries overcome food security and also help them to adapt and mitigate climate change.

His visit comes on the heels of more bad news about the crisis. According to a World Bank study prepared for next Saturday’s meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in London:

The global economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time since World War Two, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential. World Bank forecasts show that global industrial production by the middle of 2009 could be as much as 15 percent lower than levels in 2008. World trade is on track in 2009 to record its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses in East Asia.

This is especially troubling for those least responsible for the crisis — the extreme poor. The study goes on to warn of financing shortfalls of anywhere between $270-700 billion as commodity prices continue to decline, global trade collapses, trade finance and private capital flows dry up and remittances drop.

And according to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “The worst of the crisis is still to come,” specifically in Africa. The poorest countries lack the social safety nets to deal with the crisis and are becoming increasingly dependent on overseas development assistance.

Unfortunately even before the financial crisis hit, rich countries were falling short of their commitments by about $39 billion a year. At least in the U.S., the President’s budget (PDF) goes against the tide. It designated $51.7 billion for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs, a $4.5 billion increase from fiscal year 2009.

As the situation continues to spiral download, some people are looking to the April 2 G20 summit in London to provide a more pro-poor response. Both the UN Secretary-general and President Obama will participate in the G20 meeting.

-Anita Sharma, UN Millennium Campaign

Today is the 20th annual World AIDS Day – a day to recognize progress in fighting the disease, but to also recommit to the long road ahead. For over 14 years, UNAIDS has helped to provide strategic direction and current data to those fighting the pandemic. UNAIDS has grown to around 700 employees, but it is still not well known to most people. Today seems like an appropriate day to describe it.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, was created to coordinate global action against the AIDS epidemic. Established in 1994 by a United Nations resolution, it starting its work in 1996 and now operates in more than 80 countries worldwide. AIDS funding has increased almost forty fold since 1996, when the figure stood at roughly $260 million, to nearly $10 billion in 2007.

UNAIDS plays a unique role in the international community, rallying ten distinct UN agencies to work together to combat AIDS. The program focuses its work in five key areas: leadership and advocacy, strategic information and technical support, tracking monitoring and evaluation, civil society engagement and mobilization of resources. With the help of its partners, UNAIDS works to prevent the spread of HIV, support those infected with the disease, lessen the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS, and reduce the socioeconomic and human impact of the epidemic.

Dr. Peter Piot has served as the Executive Director of UNAIDS since it was started. Dr. Piot successfully organized the first ever UN sessions to discuss AIDS, including the 2000 UN Security Council and the 2001 UN General Assembly. At the end of this year, Dr. Piot will be stepping down from his UNAIDS post and taking on a position as the first Director of the new Institute for Global Health at Imperial College London. As the head of the largest organization devoted to a single disease, the new Executive Director will face many challenges and opportunities as UNAIDS responds to the challenge of the AIDS epidemic.

Today, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon named Michel Sidibe the new Executive Director of UNAIDS. He is currently the Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS and will assume his new post on January 1st. You can read his full biography and a press release here.

- Rena Pacheco-Theard

I thought I should share some inside skinny on the week we spent in New York September 22-26 at the UN’s special summit on the Millennium Development Goals. We went there to try to attract some attention to – indeed celebrate – the efforts against extreme poverty in recent years, and to call for an acceleration of that progress.

Bono was frantically blogging for the Financial Times in every spare second throughout the week on his way to and from meetings with various leaders. The meetings were many: with Spanish President Zapatero to plan for their E.U. presidency in 2010; with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia to discuss their remaining private commercial debt (think that’s sorted now); with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to push on the overall Millennium Goals project; and with President Sarkozy of France and President Barroso of the EU to push Europe on delivering an extra billion euros from the EU budget to fight hunger and invest in agricultural productivity in Africa. Bob Geldof arrived a few days into the melee and participated on the opening panel of the Clinton Global Initiative, popped up on CNN, and met with Mayor Bloomberg, Bill Gates and others along the way.

One highlight was unveiling our “Celebrate Accelerate” video to a crowd of activists and leaders (including Bill Gates, Bob Geldof, Jeff Sachs) honoring the “quietest storm in town”: the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Another, was dropping in on the “In My Name” launch where we regrouped with will.i.am and other activist allies.

An important part of the week was passing over ONE members’ hunger petition, with 50,000 signers, to Bob Orr, the Assistant Secretary General. The petition targets Ban Ki-moon, and all the G8 leaders, asking them to finance the current $1 billion gap in worldwide agricultural financing.

In addition to all of this, Kim Smith and a team of staff and volunteers brought the ONE Bus to town and, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg, parked it in some highly visible locations in the city.

By September 26th, it was clear it had been a decent week. In total there were $16 billion worth of commitments, some old, and some new, focused largely on building upon success to get more kids in school; eliminating malaria deaths by 2015 (yes, that’s got chutzpah – but by acting together it can be done); and renewing efforts against maternal mortality and hunger.

By investing in the fight against extreme poverty we can create new and stable markets where currently there are none; build strong global growth engines that can keep the global economy going when some of us falter; ensure strong health systems; and ensure that other’s instability doesn’t become ours. Above all – because it’s morally the right thing to do.

So now this piece of the campaign goes on to upcoming votes in Brussels on agriculture funding, and a key meeting about financing for development that is happening in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East, at the end of November. We’ll keep you updated on both.

-Jamie Drummond