Development is the only way to ensure peace, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has told the United Nations financing development summit in New York.
Manuel was speaking in his capacity as special envoy of the secretary general of the United Nations on financing for development in the review of progress on agreements reached at the Monterrey consensus on development in 2002.
”Development is the only certain pathway to peace and security … Monterrey made a choice in favour of peace and development,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery.
He asked whether there was real substance to the consensus forged at the Monterrey summit.
”Have we succeeded in changing behaviour? Have we acted to choose peace and development? Or has development once again been demoted behind the seemingly more urgent priority to make war?”
Manuel said world military expenditure was estimated by the Stockholm Institute to have been $1,3-trillion in 2007, and he compared this with the $104-billion spent on official development assistance.
Aid flows had dropped by 4,7% in 2006 and a further 8,4% in 2007.
”The Stockholm Institute reports that military expenditure increased by 3% in 2006 and by 6% in 2007 … These cold facts suggest that since Monterrey we have done the opposite of what we said we would do,” he said.
The food and fuel shocks and global financial turmoil were a sign of ”the consequences of broken promises”.
”They are a signal of our failure, but also a timely call to action; a message from providence urging us to respond with the necessary haste and foresight,” Manuel said. — Sapa