National Responsibility

The principal and most consistently 1 recommendation of the world conferences was that countries must take full responsibility for their own development. National responsibility for national development is the necessary consequence of 2 . The Mon-terrey Consensus states that 'Each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development, and the role of national policies and development strategies cannot be 3 . National development strategies and policies are therefore critically important. This was reflected most recently at the 2005 Summit when Member States agreed on a target date of 2006 for all developing countries to adopt and start implementation of these strategies to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the MDGs(Millennium Development Goals). The automatic 4 of that principle is that each country must be free to determine its own development strategy. It is essential that all donors and lenders accept the principle of country ownership of national development strategies. This implies the acceptance of the principle that development strategies should not only be 5 to country circumstances, but also be prepared and implemented under the leadership of the governments of the countries themselves. The 2005 World Summit also acknowledged, in this regard, that all countries must recognize the need for developing countries to 6 a balance between their national policy priorities and their international commitments.