26 July 1991

31st plenary meeting

1991/50. Special assistance to Namibia

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling resolution 1 of 14 September 1990, adopted by the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Paris from 3 to 14 September 1990, in which the Conference recommended that Namibia should be given special consideration in support of its economic and social development and invited the General Assembly to consider, in accordance with established procedures, the question of the inclusion of Namibia in the list of the least developed countries,

Recalling also the Declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the Least Developed Countries, issued at their meeting in New York on 1 October 1990, in which, inter alia, the General Assembly was invited to consider the matter,

Welcoming General Assembly resolution 45/198 of 21 December 1990, in which the Assembly decided to give Namibia special consideration in support of its economic and social development, in accordance with the resolution on economic assistance and least developed country status for Namibia adopted at the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries,

Also welcoming the recommendation of the Committee for Development Planning that the international community adopt special measures in favour of Namibia for a period of years in order to assist it in mobilizing its considerable economic potential as a newly independent nation,

Taking into consideration the urgent need of Namibia for assistance in its efforts to reconstruct and strengthen its fledgling economic and social structures,

Taking note of and welcoming the recent decision of the European Community to accord Namibia a status equivalent to that of a least developed country during the first five years of the fourth Lome Convention concluded between the Community and the States members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and signed on 15 December 1989,

Taking into account decision 91/14 of 25 June 1991, adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, in which the Governing Council decided to extend special assistance to Namibia during the fifth programming cycle equivalent to that given to a least developed country,

Noting in particular that full information on per capita income level and other economic and social indicators of direct relevance to consultations within the Committee for Development Planning will not be available until the results of the forthcoming national census, which is being organized with the assistance of the United Nations Population Fund, are published in April 1992,

1. Considers that Namibia should be given special consideration in support of its economic and social development;

2. Urgently appeals to all States Members of the United Nations and to the international economic and financial institutions concerned to respond generously to the needs of Namibia and to provide assistance on a bilateral/multilateral basis;

3. Invites States, organizations of the United Nations system and other donor agencies to grant Namibia for a number of years, as is already being done by the European Community, assistance of a scope comparable to that given to a least developed country, in order to take into account the conditions that exist in Namibia and to assist it, as a newly independent country, to mobilize its economic potential.