The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its resolution 46/151 of 18 December 1991, the annex to which contains the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s,
Also reaffirming its resolution 45/253 of 21 December 1990 on programme planning, in which the economic recovery and development of Africa are spelt out as one of the five overall priorities reflected in the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997,
Recalling its resolutions 45/178 A to C of 19 December 1990 and 45/200 of 21 December 1990 on the critical economic situation in Africa and on commodity problems, respectively,
Taking note of decisions 92/19 of 26 May 1992 and 93/17 of 18 June 1993 adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme on the New Agenda,
Taking note also of resolution CM/Res.1415 (LVI) of 28 June 1992 of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity on the New Agenda,
Noting the continuing efforts of the Secretary-General to ensure the successful implementation of the New Agenda,
Convinced that growth and development on a sustained and sustainable basis can come about only as a result, inter alia, of the full participation of the people, particularly women, in the development process,
Recognizing the persistent efforts undertaken by many African countries to implement political and economic reform policies, and reaffirming the crucial importance of adequate social services and facilities to meet the basic needs of the populations and economic human-centred development, further recognizing the importance of good governance to meet overall development objectives,
Mindful of the need for African countries to diversify their economies, particularly their primary commodities, with a view to modernizing African production, distribution and marketing systems, enhancing productivity and stabilizing and increasing African export earnings in the face of the persistent decline of the prices of many primary commodities and the continuous deterioration in the terms of trade of African economies,
Reaffirming the importance of addressing the challenges facing African agricultural sectors, inter alia, drought, desertification, land degradation, locust infestation, land management and incentive structures, so as to achieve African food security as outlined in the New Agenda,
Deeply concerned by the constrained financial resource flows to Africa aggravated by rising debt and debt-service obligations and low private investment flows, and noting that Africa is the only continent experiencing a negative net transfer of resources in the 1990s,
Acknowledging the positive impact of substantive official development assistance transfers to Africa,
Reaffirming also the commitments on resource flows, including private direct investment, as contained in paragraphs 29 and 30 of the New Agenda,
Mindful of the need for African countries to increase and mobilize internal resources for sustainable development through, inter alia, policies for the promotion of domestic savings, improved and accessible banking facilities and further improvements in traditional practices of capital formation at local levels,
Taking note of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held on 5 and 6 October 1993, and of the Declaration adopted at that Conference,
Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the preliminary consideration of the implementation of the New Agenda, the report transmitted by the Secretary-General on the need for and feasibility of the establishment of a diversification fund for Africa's commodities, and the report of the Secretary-General on financial resource flows to Africa,
1. Reaffirms the high priority attached, in the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997, to Africa's economic recovery and development, including the effective implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s as integrated in Programme 45;
2. Notes with appreciation the establishment of a panel of high-level personalities to advise and assist the Secretary-General on African development, in particular on the implementation of the New Agenda, and requests that this panel continue to meet regularly under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General and that its recommendations be made available to the Member States;
3. Commends African countries for the actions undertaken to promote an economic environment conducive to growth and development, in conformity with their commitments under the New Agenda, and calls upon them to pursue vigorously those responsibilities and commitments in order to achieve growth and development on a sustained and sustainable basis;
4. Urges all United Nations organs, organizations and programmes to integrate the priorities of the New Agenda in their mandates, to allocate sufficient resources for their operation and to improve further the use of available resources;
5. Recommends that, as part of capacity-building assistance, interested African countries be assisted in the monitoring of the impact of the work being undertaken in the context of the implementation of the New Agenda and in ensuring the participation of community-based groups, particularly women;
6. Renews its call upon the international community to pursue vigorously its responsibilities and commitments under the New Agenda in order to provide full and tangible support to the African efforts;
7. Recognizes the importance and high priority to be given to African regional and subregional cooperation and integration, and urges the United Nations system and its organizations to allocate sufficient technical and financial support to African regional economic groupings, including the African Economic Community, in order to contribute to their effectiveness in the process of African economic development;
8. Urges the multilateral financial institutions, recipient countries and donor countries, within the conceptual framework and design and
9. Invites the preparatory bodies of all forthcoming conferences of the United Nations system to take into account the specific needs, requirements and priorities of the African countries, as outlined in the New Agenda;
10. Invites the Secretary-General to strengthen the capacity and capability of the Secretariat to raise international awareness of the urgent international and African actions needed to overcome the economic crisis in Africa, and to reinforce the capabilities of the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the least developed countries to follow up, monitor and evaluate implementation of the New Agenda and, in the process, provide an effective framework for the Economic and Social Council to consider the implementation of the New Agenda in 1995 as part of its high-level segment, as well as for the General Assembly to conduct a mid-term review of the implementation of the New Agenda in 1996, in accordance with paragraph 43 (b and c) thereof;
11. Calls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations to work in close coordination and cooperation with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, in particular, on the follow-up to and review and evaluation of the implementation of the New Agenda;
12. Welcomes the report prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and transmitted by the Secretary-General entitled "Need for and feasibility of the establishment of a diversification fund for Africa's commodities";
13. Affirms the need for further efforts to promote the diversification of African economies;
14. Stresses the importance that the Secretary-General, Africa and an increasing number of countries attach to the necessity of the proposed establishment and operationalization of a diversification fund for Africa's commodities;
15. Stresses also the need, in developing diversification projects and programmes, to make full and effective use of existing funding mechanisms;
16. Stresses further the need to fill gaps that may exist in the funding available for diversification of related activities in Africa;
17. Decides to address rigorously the full range of issues related to the diversification of African economies, with particular attention to the issues outlined in paragraphs 14, 15 and 16 of the present resolution, and for this purpose to convene in the first quarter of 1994, on the basis of background documents to be prepared by the Secretary-General, intensive consultations involving concerned and interested States, together with relevant financial institutions and United Nations organizations, including, inter alia, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization;
18. Decides also to take full account of the conclusions of those consultations in determining, during its resumed forty-eighth session, the appropriate actions to be taken to strengthen support for the diversification of African economies, including the proposed establishment of new funding arrangements, together with the organization of follow-up activities, such as seminars or expert workshops;
19. Encourages African countries to establish national diversification councils, as recommended in the report transmitted by the Secretary- General, including representatives from the Government and the private sector;
20. Urges the international community to increase financial resource flows to Africa, as these are crucial to regenerate growth and sustainable development of the African economies, to provide effective support to the political and economic reforms in which many African countries are now engaged and to help cushion adverse social impact;
21. Reaffirms the recommendations stipulated in paragraphs 23 to 28 of the New Agenda concerning Africa's debt problem, and in that context invites the international community to address Africa's external debt crisis and debt problems of African countries, including continuing to give serious consideration to the proposal for the convening of an international conference on Africa's external indebtedness;
22. Urges States to implement the undertakings they have made to attain the agreed international targets of devoting 0.7 per cent of gross national product to official development assistance and 0.15 per cent to least developed countries as soon as possible and to provide a better environment for the realization of the suggested estimate of the need to achieve an average of a 4 per cent real growth in annual financial resource flows to Africa, as outlined in paragraph 29 of the New Agenda;
23. Requests the Secretary-General to undertake a study, in consultation with relevant financial institutions, recommending appropriate measures further to improve financial intermediation systems and practices in African countries to be submitted to the General Assembly at its fiftieth session, which should take into account an in-depth analysis of the current traditional systems and practices of capital formation at the local level and the kind of support measures the international community could provide;
24. Urges African countries to continue their efforts for the improvement of the investment climate, and urges donor countries to support those efforts by, inter alia, providing increasing assistance to human resources development and to the rehabilitation and development of the social and economic infrastructure;
25. Requests Governments and organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, within their respective spheres of competence, to take appropriate measures in order to implement the commitments contained in the Tokyo Declaration of 6 October 1993 and to take other initiatives, as may be necessary, with the participation of interested parties from Africa and the international community, to ensure an effective follow-up of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development;
26. Decides to include an item entitled "Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s" in the agenda of its fiftieth session.
87th plenary meeting
23 December 1993
