October 9, 2014 – Washington, D.C.
Check Against Delivery
Friends, distinguished guests, I am pleased to welcome you to today’s conference on The “Major Drivers for the Development Agenda”.
It’s a pleasure to be here with you today and to have so many of the key players in both policy and the private sector in the room. We have a very exciting program before us.
I would also like to thank CSIS for welcoming us in their brand new facilities.
And more importantly, for partnering with Canada to make this conference a success.
Before we proceed with our first panel, I would like to say a few words about Canada’s contribution to development in the last couple of years.
Today, more than 1.1 billion people around the world still live in extreme poverty, trying to survive on less than $1.25 a day.
How to keep these billion people from losing their daily struggle is a complex challenge that pushes us to redefine our approach to international assistance.
Since 2006, Canada has long been at the forefront of international development.
For me, this means going beyond the boundaries that have traditionally defined how development is done.
At the core of our efforts lies a commitment to new partnerships and constant innovation.
It's a commitment to smart development that evolves with the rapidly changing development landscape.
It is in this spirit that Canada is happy to organize with CSIS this event today.
As many of you know, international assistance is not what it used to be.
Indeed, a great deal has changed since Canada began officially pursuing international development in the late 1960s.
Today, developing countries are increasingly driving global growth, and using economic development, trade, and investment to fuel their own progress.
The importance of development assistance has decreased compared to other resources, and foreign direct investment to the developing world now outpaces assistance by a five to one margin.
Eliminating extreme poverty and promoting global prosperity are two sides of the same coin.
Partner countries in Africa, for example, have long said that they need more than just development assistance.
They need access to the knowledge and expertise that can help them to mobilize their own resources and capabilities.
They want private sector investment so they can reinvest the public revenues into the health and well-being of their own citizens.
I think Canada is in an especially good position to help developing countries to meet these challenges, both institutional and economic.
Canada weathered the global financial crisis better than most of our trading partners, because Prime Minister Harper had a plan.
Today, Canada has the best employment record in developed countries. Nearly 1.1 million jobs have been created since the recession.
Canada’s experience can definitely be an asset for several developing countries.
Canada was one of the first donors to promote the central role of sustainable economic growth in international development, and it remains a priority.
More recently, when our government merged the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade with the Canadian International Development Agency, it was to capitalize on the full potential of the interrelation between foreign policy, development and trade.
We are now beginning to reap the benefits of this merger.
We believe that this coherence will lend greater weight to our efforts at all levels.
As Minister for La Francophonie, I can now attest to the benefits of the merger in this specific area.
With its partners, for example, Canada is currently leading an effort to ensure that La Francophonie adopts an economic strategy.
The reorganization of the Department allows Canada to push for a strategy that will consider the different levels of development of Francophone countries, while we ensure that trade and development are on equal footing.
We have demonstrated commitment to international development since the earliest days of our government.
In the 2006 budget, our government reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to double international assistance to $5 billion in 2010-2011.
But it was also clear to us that, to give a new impetus to our international assistance, we had to make some changes to existing policies and practices.
At that time, Canada’s assistance was too scattered among too many countries and too many themes.
Moreover, this situation was noted in a critical report by the OECD on Canada’s aid policies.
In 2007, we therefore adopted an aid effectiveness action plan.
We then decided to focus our energy and efforts geographically and thematically where Canada could take a leading role.
And I think that no example can illustrate this success better than our global leadership role in maternal, newborn and child health since 2010.
Before Prime Minister Harper drew the world’s attention to the crucial issue of maternal, newborn and child health, we were having trouble reducing maternal and child mortality.
Thanks to the Muskoka Initiative and the resulting global action, maternal mortality rates are going down, and millions more children are able to celebrate their fifth birthday.
It is our top development priority that I am proud to say was reinforced by Prime Minister Harper in May at the Saving Every Woman, Every Child global Summit in Toronto.
Heads of government, industry, and civil society organizations came together to build consensus on how to redouble international efforts to reduce the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns, and children under the age of five in developing countries, within a generation.
The Summit reaffirmed that we are on the right track.
That saving every woman and every child is within arm’s reach.
And that re-doubling our efforts is a necessity if we are to meet our goals.
It also reaffirmed that this issue must remain at the centre of our post-2015 global development agenda.
In Toronto, the Prime Minister announced that Canada will provide $3.5 billion, over five years, to support maternal, newborn and child health.
This commitment will build momentum in the global effort to save the lives of millions of babies, children and mothers, and help them to grow and thrive.
We already saw results two weeks ago in New York when President Kim of the World Bank and other leaders, including Prime Minister Harper, announced the founding of the Global Financing Facility For Every Woman, Every Child.
As a founding partner, Canada will contribute $200 million toward the facility, as part of our $3.5-billion commitment announced at the Toronto summit.
Housed at the World Bank, the Facility will provide the critical financial infrastructure to mobilize the capital required to scale up health services for women and children. In particular, the new Facility will establish a multi-donor platform to help developing countries to build and strengthen their CRVS systems.
Development has now become a global endeavour in which partners from a cross-section of areas work together to meet the needs of the world’s poor.
It used to be squarely the domain of government development agencies, charities, and international organizations.
Canada is furthering its development priorities by working closely with a multitude of partners.
There is no one type of partner that alone can enable us to overcome all challenges.
Each stakeholder has its reason for being.
As I said earlier, we know that sustainable economic growth drives poverty reduction, and the private sector drives economic growth.
It is thus vital to partner with the private sector to raise people from poverty and set them on the path to prosperity.
Meaningful jobs, better education and training, and improved health and nutrition for mothers and children can all lead to an increased likelihood of overcoming poverty.
And these are all increasingly attainable when the private sector is better connected to global development efforts.
Since I became Minister of International Development, one of my priorities has been to make sure Canada is at the forefront of the efforts to leverage local, Canadian, international and multinational private sector actors.
It is why I was proud to be named chair of the Redesigning Development Finance Initiative, or RDFI.
The RDFI is a joint global project between the World Economic Forum and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Its main objective is to expand the pool of foreign and domestic capital to help accelerate social and economic progress.
And its main tools are:
- identifying and testing innovative public-private finance models;
- and scaling-up blended finance partnerships.
That being said, I recognize that we have some improvements to make on this front.
The Canadian private sector does not participate in development to its full potential.
Many have identified the lack of a Canadian development Financing mechanism to explain the situation.
This is something I have taken seriously and I’m currently consulting to see how best respond to the situation.
Many other non‑traditional partners can help Canada to overcome the challenge of development.
There is no doubt that innovation is vital to the achievement of development results.
Canada’s scientific and technological community is one of our greatest assets.
Since the Department has long been active in developing countries, it has a very unique perspective of the field.
I want the department to connect our S&T ecosystem with the needs of the developing world.
There is also the influx of immigrants from other countries, which has created diasporas, or expatriate communities, whose activities have an impact on development.
With transfers totalling nearly $24 billion in 2012, Canada is the third largest source of remittances to developing countries.
These remittances help to reduce poverty and meet basic needs in several developing countries.
There must be greater recognition of this significant contribution by our fellow citizens, and we cannot do without this valuable cooperation.
Diversifying our partnerships is crucial to the future success of our aid program, and there is no lack of opportunity to do so.
But it is just as important to maintain the quality and strength of our longest-standing partnerships with civil society.
For this reason, as Minister, I have made great efforts to establish ties with civil society.
I had often heard people talk about how our partner organizations splendidly represent Canada in the world.
Since becoming Minister of International Development, I have had the chance to see this with my own eyes.
Through their activities to assist poor and vulnerable communities, partner organizations embody Canadian values worldwide.
I know that, by working with our traditional partners in civil society, we can have a great impact on development.
As a nation, as a people, Canadians are motivated by the need to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
However, we must never lose sight of the fact that citizens expect Canadian aid to deliver tangible results.
We are better equipped today than ever before to reduce poverty and to invest our development assistance funding where it will have the greatest impact.
Canada will lead by focusing on the impact of its activities.
By developing innovative solutions that can change lives.
My hope is that today’s conference will contribute to the development of such innovations, in Canada and around the world.
Thank you.
