Toespraak Ploumen tijdens het Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

Toespraak | 16-04-2014

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The power of business has been unleashed. Asia, Latin America and especially Africa are economically booming. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in a time span that was inconceivable only fifteen years ago. The world community is rapidly becoming ever more closely entwined. Regional and global value chains are becoming the main engines of national growth.

At the same time, economic growth does not benefit everyone; there is no automatic trickle down to all levels of developing societies. In fact, income inequality is rising and poses the single most dangerous threat to social order worldwide. And we face climate change and tremendous pressure on our natural resources. For the poorest countries and fragile states, ODA will remain crucial for their development in the foreseeable future, as long as the private sector is shying away.

So this is the challenge that we face and the opportunity that we have: to turn the unleashed power of business towards inclusive and sustainable growth.

How can we do that? Official Development Aid has too little impact in isolation. Private flows are not necessarily geared towards inclusiveness and sustainability.

The only way to achieve inclusive, sustainable growth is to combine public and private flows, as well as public and private thinking power, in real partnerships.

Since Rio in 1992, a great wealth of partnerships has sprung up. This is very encouraging. And we have learned a lot about how partnerships work.

However, to deal with the challenges we face and to take the opportunities we have, we need to scale up and innovate.

Which tools do we have to accomplish that? Let’s start at the national level.

A good business environment is the basis. The private sector is the engine of economic growth and job creation and most technology transfer occurs through private investment. A robust and secure domestic environment will promote foreign direct investment, encourage entrepreneurship and grow local business. It is encouraging to see that developing countries with sound policies have gained access to international capital markets.

Governments can partner with business to maximize the positive social and environmental benefits of private sector operations. Such partnerships are stronger if civil society and knowledge institutions are part of them.

So how do we build up and scale up these partnerships?

This is where the roadmap which was prepared for this focus event comes in. The road map gives an overview of the enabling environment which is needed to make these partnerships a success and helps to understand which actions are needed to scale up. The roadmap builds on our experience with partnerships and it offers us a common agenda for increasingly effective public private cooperation. It is a tool to build up and scale up partnerships in a structural way.

Now let’s look at the international level.

A good trade environment is the basis. An open, fair and sustainable trading system is needed. This will give countries better opportunities for new sources of sustainable income in the long term. Breaking non-tariff barriers, improving access to special and differential treatment for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and full duty-free and quota-free access for LDC exports are crucial. And we need to build on the Bali agenda, because some countries will need additional support to improve their institutions and business environment to better reap the benefits of free trade.

In a good trade environment, regional and global value chains can become strong engines of growth. By focusing on international corporate social responsibility in their value chains, and including social and environmental costs in their management plans, business can play a pioneering role in bringing about change at the international level.

This has inspired me to advocate for the inclusion of social and environmental standards in trade agreements, at the OECD Global Forum in June.

Even in a good trade environment, investments for inclusive sustainable growth need a push. The key is to build investor confidence and reduce risk. Measures such as equity funds, guarantees, co-investment, concessional finance, subsidies that enhance returns or Public Private Partnerships can all act to encourage investment in sustainable development activities.

We need these investments if we want ambitious goals for the Post 2015 agenda. We can only reach those goals if we work together with the private sector in partnership.

So how do we scale up such international partnerships?

I believe that we have many good international partnerships, but that they would gain strength if they would be pulled together around goals. Building on successful partnerships and filling the gaps between them is the tool to reaching our goals.

For example, we have strong and innovative partnerships around food security and nutrition. The Global Alliance to Improve Nutrition (GAIN) is a public-private alliance to reduce malnutrition through sustainable strategies aimed at improving the health and nutrition of populations at risk. As a result, 321 million women, children and girls are consuming more nutritious foods. This will allow children to develop their full brain potential and to participate fully in building up their economy as they grow up.

Grow Africa is a public – private initiative of the World Economic Forum to transform African Agriculture. It has mandated the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative IDH to link an investment portfolio of $3.5 billion, pledged by multinationals, to national investments by six African countries. These joint investments are aimed at inclusive green growth.

These large numbers are encouraging. To reach Zero Hunger in our lifetimes, we can build on such partnerships and fill the gaps between them.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

We know how to create good business and trade environments and we have the tools to build up and scale up the partnerships we need.

So we are ready to turn the unleashed the power of business towards inclusive and sustainable growth.

As incoming co-chair of the Global Partnership, I am looking forward to working on this. I want to meet this challenge and seize this opportunity, together with you.

Thank you.