Thank you for the document with your priorities as future agents of change.
I agree with you that the time has come to do something about the problems on the list. The problems are intertwined. They represent key challenges but also opportunities. In several instances we are already deeply involved in trying to deal with them.
I very much welcome this week’s economic analysis of global challenges. The list of challenges reflects the fact that poverty is our Global Public Enemy Number One. But let us not forget that global poverty has been on our Most Wanted List for a while. Poverty means lack of economic resources but it also means lack of drinking water, a clean environment and schools.
Shared views by the ‘Dream Team’ of top economists who have gathered here to reach consensus can help us make even better informed decisions in future. However, it will take more than a Copenhagen Consensus to make our shared dreams come true. Even full agreement amongst the world’s leading experts would not imply that a global consensus had been reached nor that prioritisation was a done deal. Global problems are complex and intertwined, not unlike Rubik’s Cube: once you think one side is sorted out, problems arise on the other side.
We need to agree not only on the cost of providing, say, clean drinking water vis-à-vis basic education for all. We also need to agree politically on the relative importance of water and education. Cost is a highly relevant consideration but it is far from being the only one.
We may decide to spend resources on the protection of a certain species of animals although you would be hard pressed to point out the immediate economic rationale. What is the value of a frog? Not high, I guess. What is the value of a stork? Much higher, I guess. But without frogs, no storks!
Consensus amongst economic experts can and should qualify the democratic process but never replace it.
Making decisions on how best to spend our limited resources is no easy task. But it is what politics is all about. We are all entitled to contribute, each from our point of view. As the generation next in line to inherit the global challenges, your perspective is a particularly valuable - one that needs to be taken into consideration.
As tomorrow’s decision makers, you have an important contribution to make to the discussion on global prioritisation of today’s challenges and resources.
As today’s politicians, we have an important role to play in making the choice on how to meet the challenges and making resources available. Our job is to hand over the globe in a better state than we received it.
I can assure you, that the Danish Government will continue to play an active part in the fight against hunger, ignorance and disease. We will live up to our international obligations and continue to spend well above the UN target of 0.7 per cent of our GNP in support of global sustainable development.
In practise, focus will be on schools, child immunisation and promotion of human rights in the developing world in order to combat poverty.
I know you have discussed HIV/AIDS this week. AIDS highlights the complexity of the global challenges and raises difficult questions of cost and benefit. The economic rationale behind prevention rather than treatment may seem obvious. However, especially in the severely affected countries the human suffering and the threat of a breakdown of the societies points to the need for treatment today as well. Getting the balance right is one of those challenges that goes well beyond economics.
Youth participation is key to development which is essentially about improving living conditions for future generations. New guidelines for Danida support to children and youth will be published later this summer. One of the challenges is not only to design programmes for young people, but to involve youth as active partners in the development process.
Education stands out as the key prerequisite for youth participation and informed choice. We are prepared to play our part by increasing our support to more and better education. This year, Danida initiates five new education sector programmes with our partners in Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua. By 2008, education will be the largest single sector in Danish bilateral development cooperation.
Involving young people as active partners again raises the point of prioritising challenges. When you involve people, you must be prepared to listen to them. You may and we may analyse global challenges and conclude, what the priorities should be from our point of view.
However, in the global effort to combat poverty the key word is partnership. It is not up to us to prioritise in splendid isolation. Global priorities are necessary but more often than not national ownership has proven to be of the essence. Thus, it is not least our partners in the developing world, who can use the outcome of Copenhagen Consensus to reconsider their current policies and priorities – bearing in mind the lesson from Rubik’s Cube.
I thank you once more for your list of priorities. Making priorities helps us not to spend all our money on small problems and forget the big ones, because they are too expensive. We cannot spend the same money twice. Therefore we have to know, what the problems are, and choose our efforts conscientiously.
Your forum has reminded us of the democratic necessity to involve tomorrow’s decision makers. I wish you – the agents of change and leaders of tomorrow - every success in your future endeavours.
