Madagascar, 2008

Eight years ago in this very Hall, we, the leaders of the

world, solemnly adopted the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs). Three years ago, we reviewed the

Goals to assess the progress made thus far. We realized

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that the Goals were in danger of not being attained by

the year 2015, and we all acknowledged that we would

be able to achieve them only through a considerable

increase in our efforts.

Have we been able to deliver on those promises

and commitments? I am afraid that we have not. In

fact, the situation is more complex now than it was

three years ago. We are facing a global food crisis, a

global economic crisis and a global security crisis, with

war and political hostilities spreading throughout the

globe. In spite of efforts to reduce the divisions

between the rich and the poor, the progress we have

made so far on the MDGs has fallen far short of the

targets we established.

Those global crises are of such importance that

they are threatening to delay the achievement of the

MDGs beyond 2015. It would be a major mistake if we

were to do nothing to prevent that from happening. We

must remain focused on the achievement of the MDGs.

I highly appreciate the aid and assistance provided by

donors and international organizations. Those

institutions and their programmes are making a

difference in the daily lives of people throughout

Africa, including in Madagascar.

In Madagascar, for example, under-five mortality

rates have dropped from 159 to 94 per 1,000. Primary

school enrolment has increased from 67 per cent to

more than 92 per cent. A million Malagasy have risen

out of poverty in the past five years. None of that

would have been possible without the support of the

international community.

Unfortunately, official development assistance

continues to shrink, while the aid provided by the

international community remains insufficient. The

target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income

allocated to official development assistance was set

with a view to achieving the MDGs in the developing

countries. In his report on Africa’s development needs

(A/63/130), the Secretary-General rightly stresses that

most of the wealthy donor nations have failed to

deliver on their promises to help the world’s poorest

countries. The same report estimates that donor

countries must increase aid by $18 billion a year in

order to honour their pledge to provide $50 billion

dollars by 2010.

In Africa, we continue to bear the consequences

of those broken promises. Africa cannot break the

vicious cycle of poverty: families have difficulties

feeding themselves and the number of families with

access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

infrastructure is very small. I call upon all donor

countries to honour their promises and to demonstrate

leadership by explaining to their people why

supporting the MDGs and the fight against poverty is a

moral obligation and essential to creating a more stable

and peaceful world.

We are all aware of the current world food crisis.

For us and other countries, it is a heavy burden that

poses many new challenges. The global food crisis is

partly the result of the domestic agricultural subsidies

and tariff protection practices of developed countries,

which for many years have discouraged agricultural

production in developing countries. In Africa, we find

ourselves in very difficult circumstances. Because we

have such low agricultural output, we are dependent on

the global marketplace to feed our people. With

commodity prices soaring, however, we cannot afford

the basic food items needed to survive. We are in an

unprecedented crisis. Rising food prices are pushing

more people into absolute poverty.

The international community needs to take urgent

and coordinated action to counter the negative impacts

of increasing food prices on poor and vulnerable

countries. Global trade policies must foster food

security for all. Developed countries must reform their

agricultural subsidy policies and amend the strategies

and practices that increase the volatility of

international prices. The international community must

also help African countries to expand agriculture and to

strengthen agricultural investment and the infrastructure

needed for rural development.

The new agricultural development strategies must

address the need for environmental management,

sustainable development and the resistance of crops to

disease and climate change. Given the impact of global

climate change, maintaining healthy biodiversity is

critical to sustaining future production performance.

Small subsistence farmers, representing 80 per

cent of Africa’s population, are key to its development.

We must support them through a variety of

programmes focused on training, access to finance and

equipment, and marketing and distribution processes.

Those small subsistence farmers must be an integral

part of, and benefit from, a new model of agricultural

production, economic development and environmental

management. In that regard, I appreciate the true value

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of the new dynamic of the Food and Agricultural

Organization’s pragmatic approach.

I would like to speak about what we are doing in

Madagascar to address the challenge of food security.

Our chief intention is to make Madagascar’s

agriculture more productive, more sustainable and

more open to innovation and entrepreneurship, as the

initiative Future Farmers of Madagascar shows.

For example, we are promoting the widespread

use of the System of Rice Intensification, developed in

Madagascar in the 1980s, an eco-friendly method of

production that is an important part of the natural

revolution, recently launched in Madagascar. That

revolution is based on sustaining our natural resources

and maintaining an ecological balance. It respects the

soil, the environment and the people. At the moment,

as rice is the staple food of the people of Madagascar,

we are trying to keep the domestic rice price at an

affordable level to protect the most vulnerable layers of

the population.

In addition to that food crisis, we are confronted

with other important challenges: climate change,

increasing energy prices, unpredictable financial

markets and other threats to our peace and security.

What are the consequences of those threats and

challenges?

First, those threats have a severe impact on the

education, health and well-being of the population. In

short, they have a very negative impact on our

development. Secondly, those challenges are now

competing with the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). Many of the resources dedicated to achieving

the MDGs are now being directed elsewhere. They are

being used to reconstruct countries destroyed by war or

that have collapsed as a result of social conflicts. They

are also being used to stabilize the food markets, meet

energy demands and tackle climate change issues.

I understand that countries devastated by wars

and other armed conflicts, by environmental disasters

or by famine need assistance. I understand, and I

support reforestation efforts and the need for new

hydro-energy plants. What I do not understand,

however, is that all those challenges and threats offer

reasons for countries to abdicate on their promises of

doubled aid for education, health and infrastructure, in

order to achieve the MDGs in developing countries,

especially in Africa.

For that reason, I have repeatedly stressed the

importance of international assistance, especially the

need to increase, improve and better coordinate that

assistance, if donors are to meet their previously

agreed pledges. There are links between the MDGs and

the political, economic, environmental and other

challenges I have mentioned. Therefore, more

investment towards achieving the MDGs will

contribute to addressing those challenges. In fact,

improving the situation of the most dominated is one of

the best means to solve them.

However, we must realize that those challenges

will not be solved by simply shifting resources from

one problem to another. It is clear that those other

challenges require additional resources and a better

coordination of efforts. Africa has been hit harder than

any other continent by the food crisis, by higher energy

prices, by environmental degradation, by disease and

by social and political destabilization. That is why I

would like once again to reiterate the need for a new

Marshall Plan for Africa.

It seems that many world leaders, and public

opinion, have forgotten or neglected the MDGs. We

cannot fill one group’s basket with the advantages of

globalization while we empty the basket of another

through the cost of globalization. It is increasingly

clear that domestic interests are serviced at the cost of

international needs. The outcome of the latest round of

the World Trade Organization proved that. The lack of

shared decision-making power in international

institutions and global forums is a significant obstacle

to making progress in developing countries and to

achieving the MDGs. I would like to see a United

Nations that can mobilize the resources and political

will to tackle the toughest of problems — and succeed.

I am optimistic. I believe that we can turn the

situation around. I appeal to you as leaders of the

world. Everyone needs to contribute more goodwill,

more motivation, more technical assistance, more

coordinated efforts and, above all, more financial

resources to the international basket. If you want to do

so, if we are all committed to doing so, we shall be

able to confront those crises together and achieve the

Millennium Development Goals, and I am sure that we

are going to win.

The recent fourth Tokyo International Conference

on African Development provides an encouraging and

promising example of our partners’ commitment and

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willingness to advance the development agenda of

Africa and to achieve the MDGs. More and more

foundations, such as the Gates, Rockefeller,

MacArthur, Better U and Clinton Foundations, and

others, are playing a vital role in Africa. All those

initiatives are much appreciated.

Madagascar has embarked on the path of

transformation. To accelerate and better coordinate our

development process and to make a quantum leap

forward, we have created the Madagascar Action Plan,

or MAP. It is a bold and ambitious, five-year plan that

aims to promote rapid growth, lead to the reduction of

poverty and ensure that the country develops in

response to the challenges of globalization and in

accordance with the national vision, Madagascar

Naturally, and with the Millennium Development

Goals. To implement the plan we have mobilized the

whole population, whose active participation

strengthens its sense of national pride and country

ownership.

To help it move further on that path and to

achieve the MDGs, the international community must

double its efforts in Madagascar. For our part, we are

resolved to assume our responsibilities, build trust with

our partners, strengthen our capacities, promote

democracy and good governance and take control of

the future of our country.

It is crucial to share the responsibility and to

prove our ability for leadership in achieving the

Millennium Development Goals. I am calling on the

leaders of the world to confront the challenge of

transforming our thinking and our actions towards

development to build a new Africa that becomes a

continent of hope and opportunity.