Abstract
The first version of the international volume target—1% of developed countries’ NNI in private and official transfers to the developing countries—was formulated by the UN General Assembly in December 1960 and reinforced the following year in the strategy set for the DD1, the 1960s. During that decade, OECD’s DAC operationalized the target, focusing on the official transfers (0.7% of GNP) and monitored the follow-up by its members. The origin of the idea, and the evolving target during subsequent development decades and into the new century, is described and discussed, with an emphasis on its role in the UN Millennium Development Strategy.
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Notes
- 1.
According to Hans Singer—since the early 1950s for years a core operator within the UN development system—the idea emerged from a group of economic advisers on the president’s staff (Singer 2006). In his speech at the UN, President Kennedy’s main concern was security policy—threats to peace emanating from so-called wars of liberation in Southeast Asia and the Berlin crisis. Only two paragraphs (72 and 73) were devoted to development (Stokke 2009: 602–603).
- 2.
In both resolutions, the primary responsibility for “the economic development of the less developed countries, whether through the creation of appropriate social and economic conditions or the generation of internal capital, is and must remain theirs” (UNGA resolution 1711 [XVI]).
- 3.
As Secretary-General U Thant said in his report on the first half of the development decade: “In international society no one is ultimately responsible. There is no government to take the final praise or blame. […] There is no conductor. Nor can there be a question of central guidance at this stage” (ECOSOR/4071).
- 4.
In 1950, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution stating that the amount of private transfers to developing countries (the preferred strategy of the dominant Western governments) could not meet the existing needs. Public transfers were necessary (UNGA resolution 400 [V]).
- 5.
The process within the UN system is detailed in Stokke (2009: 43–129).
- 6.
The first member countries of the DAC (established 13 January 1960, as the Development Assistance Group) were Belgium, Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Italy, Portugal, the UK and the US—along with the European Economic Community. Japan was invited to join and did so the same year, as did the Netherlands. The following year, Denmark and Norway became members, followed by Australia, Austria and Sweden in 1963 and Switzerland in 1966. New Zealand became a member in 1972, Finland in 1973, Ireland in 1982, Luxembourg and Spain (and Portugal, for the second time) in 1990, Greece in 1996 and South Korea in 2010.
- 7.
From the very beginning, the cold winds of the emerging Cold War set the temperature in the debates involving this policy area, as illustrated, inter alia, in the debates in ECOSOC on the establishment of EPTA (interventions by Mr. Tsarapkin [USSR] and Mr. Katz-Suchy [Poland]) (ECOSOC , Official Records, eighth and ninth sessions, 381–383, 397, 413–418, 432–435). In the United Nations, the representatives of the Soviet-bloc countries followed a consistent policy line when the UN first established development programmes and—later on—norms for bilateral and multilateral development assistance: they abstained or voted for the resolutions but made it clear, in the debates or when explaining their votes, that the commitments did not apply to their governments. They emphasized that they carried no responsibility for the situation prevailing in developing countries; that responsibility belonged exclusively to the Western colonial powers and their imperialistic or neocolonial policies.
- 8.
DAC’s annual report for 1961 opened with the following statement: “There are few issues of such fundamental importance for world peace and prosperity as that of aid to the less-developed countries. The very existence of the Development Assistance Committee is a demonstration of the increasing significance which the developed, capital-exporting countries attach to their aid policies and to the working-out, as far as possible, of a common approach to aid questions” (OECD 1962: 7). The purpose and aim of the DAC are apparent in a resolution adopted by its member governments in March 1961, calling upon members “to agree to expand the flow of resources to the less-developed countries, to improve the effectiveness of development assistance, and to provide for increased assistance in the form of grants or loans on favourable terms. All the Member Governments have accepted this common aid objective” (Ibid: 9).
- 9.
OECD (1962: 9–10).
- 10.
Idem.
- 11.
The target was almost reached in 1961—0.95% of the DAC countries’ combined net flow of total official and private financial resources in relation to their GNP. Several countries performed above the 1% target (percentages within parentheses): Belgium (1.35), France (2.10), Germany (1.02), Netherlands (1.61), Portugal (1.63), Switzerland (2.19) and the UK (1.17)—and some of these continued to do so during the following years (OECD 1972: table 8). The target was, as we will see, adjusted by UNCTAD I (1964) and UNCTAD IV (1968). In 1969, the Commission on International Development found it “ironic to note that the total flows actually did exceed 1 per cent of combined national income in the five years preceding the adoption of the target by DAC [in 1964, as defined by UNCTAD]. Since then, the target has never been met” (Pearson et al. 1969: 144).
- 12.
OECD (1962: 13). The report stated: “By far the largest part of the official contributions of several D.A.C. Members is already [in 1961] in the form of grants or loans on very lenient terms, e.g. Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands and the Development Fund of the E.E.C. Since 1961 the US has been making some loans through the Agency for International Development at ¾ of one per cent for a period of up to 40 years. This is part of the explicit US policy of making loans repayable in dollars at favourable terms, rather than grants and loans repayable in recipients’ currencies.”
- 13.
OECD (1965) Annex B. The recommendation, adopted by the Development Assistance Committee at its 58th Session on 22 and 23 July 1965, included the following points, in paragraphs 9 and 10:
-
9. Some Members already extend a very large (70 per cent or more) proportion of their total official assistance in the form of grants or grant-like contributions.
-
10. Other Members, who are not covered by paragraph 9, should endeavour to so improve their terms that they reach the 1964 D.A.C. levels of performance regarding the respective proportions of total official assistance extended as grants or loans at the terms mentioned in the second and third sentence of paragraph 7 [involving interest rates (3% or less) and repayment periods (25 years and more)] as well as weighted average grace period mentioned in that paragraph [about 7 years].
-
- 14.
In the Second Committee of the General Assembly, Canada and New Zealand recorded reservations about the deadline, Italy about both the volume target and the deadline, and Japan and the UK about the volume target. France, too, found the volume target for ODA too high (United Nations 1972: 305ff).
- 15.
UNGA resolution 2626 (XXV): [44]–[48]. Reference was made to the commitment of DAC countries to “consider measures” that aimed to soften and harmonize the terms and conditions of assistance to developing countries (Ibid: [44]).
- 16.
Developing countries would “adopt appropriate measures for inviting, stimulating and making effective use of foreign private capital, taking into account the areas in which such capital should be sought and bearing in mind the importance for its attractions of conditions conducive for sustained development. […] Efforts will be made to foster better understanding of the rights and obligations of both host and capital-exporting countries, as well as of individual investors” (Ibid: [50]).
- 17.
UNGA resolution 35/56, Annex: [19], [52]–[80]. It stated (Ibid: [98]): “A rapid and substantial increase will be made in official development assistance by all developed countries, with a view to reaching and, where possible, surpassing the agreed international target of 0.7 per cent of the gross national product of developed countries. To this end, developed countries which have not yet reached the target should exert their best efforts to reach it by 1985, and in any case not later than in the second half of the Decade. The target of 1 per cent should be reached as soon as possible thereafter. The efforts of developed countries will be greater, the lower their relative performance. Developing countries in a position to do so should also continue to provide assistance to other developing countries.”
- 18.
The US argued that ODA was not necessarily the most appropriate remedy for the problems of this special category of countries. Belgium and Luxembourg stated that the 1% target was unrealistic, given the difficult budgetary situation they were experiencing. The Federal Republic of Germany opposed the higher target in view of the uncertain world economic development. France and Ireland stated that the volume target could not be considered an agreed international target, while Italy stated that it should only be considered as a future indicator. Also Japan had reservations, with regard to both the time frame and the 1% target itself (United Nations 1983: 500–502).
- 19.
Ibid.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
UNGA resolution 43/197, adopted in a recorded vote by 148 votes to 0, with the US abstaining.
- 22.
UNGA resolution S-18/3. The optimism was reflected in the introduction: “We, the State Members of the United Nations, solemnly proclaim our strong commitment to a global consensus to promote urgently international economic co-operation for sustained growth and development of the world economy and, in particular, to the revitalization and economic growth and development of the developing countries so as to realize the basic rights of all human beings to a life free from hunger, poverty, ignorance, disease and fear. […] This is a time of positive transformation in international relations.”
- 23.
UNGA resolution 45/199, Annex. “Aid programmes of donor countries have in many cases remained at low levels and need to be substantially improved in the 1990s. Official development assistance has, on average, remained at only half of the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product. Donor countries should, in the 1990s, implement such undertakings as they have made to reach or surpass this target, as well as the targets for the least developed countries as adopted by the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries. There should also be a continued improvement in the quality of aid as well as in its utilization” (Ibid: [15]).
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
For a description and discussion, see Forster and Stokke (1999).
- 26.
- 27.
UNGA document A/56/326, italics in original. The General Assembly recommended that the UN system consider the road map “a useful guide” for the implementation of the declaration (UNGA resolution 56/95).
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Stokke, O. (2019). The Evolving International Volume Targets. In: International Development Assistance. EADI Global Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06219-4_2
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