THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

SECOND COMMITTEE
SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE DIGITAL ERA LDCS

The past couple of decades has witnessed tremendous growth in the capabilities and reach of
information and communication technologies. The internet especially has become a critical
enabler of social and economic change, changing how government, business, and citizens
interact providing new ways of attending development challenges. Sustainable development has
been a focus of international public policy since the Earth Summit in 1992. It identifies three
core objectives for human development – economic growth, social inclusion and environmental
sustainability. Only by pursuing these together can the world achieve ‘development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. In September 2015, a UN summit placed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the
heart of its Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will guide development until 2030. The 2030
Agenda takes into account the environmental dimension, emphasizing the link between the fight
against poverty and the preservation of the planet, in the face of climate change. It identifies five
pillars of sustainable development: planet, population, prosperity, peace and partnerships.

France’s development policy falls within the international framework set by the 2030 Agenda for
sustainable development, adopted by the United Nations on 25 September 2015. In 2003 France
launched the ADEN project which contributed $7.3 million to sub-saharan Africa, its three main
goals was to provide IT equipment and internet connections, organise training in the technical
and admentrive field, and ​supporting the development of local Internet use and applications to
benefit to the community​. The French Development Agency has also adopted a strategy in 2005
to provide funding for the groundwork of projects involving the laying of submarine cables,
Mobile telephone development projects to extend internet network into unprivileged areas, as
well as providing many forms of institutional, commercial, and technical support. France is the
Fifth largest global donor, from 2013 to 2015, French bilateral aid helped put 2.6 million
children in primary and middle school, gave 3.8 million people access to a sustainable source of
clean drinking water and supported the development of 150,000 small businesses. France has
renewed its pledge to scale up its official development assistance worldwide, which stood at
$10.2 billion of gross national income in 2015, 22% of which went to the least developed
countries.

France would like to reaffirm the message that there can be no development without security and
no security without development. France recognizes the difficulty for LDCs to fund sustainable
development, and the security threats that LDCs are facing. France calls upon the entire
international community to help fund LDC’s to assist development and to ensure peace,and to
help the international community to reach our sustainable development goal worldwide.