“If inequalities continue to widen, development may not be sustainable,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the General Assembly’s thematic debate on inequality. “That is why equity is emerging as a central plank in discussions on the post-2015 development agenda.”

Ban stressed the importance of reducing inequalities at a time when the world is being affected by a series of significant changes, including economic instability, the impact of climate change, and political unrest in many regions.

“Societies where hope and opportunities are scarce are vulnerable to upheaval and conflict,” he said. “Social and economic inequalities can tear the social fabric, undermine social cohesion and prevent nations from thriving. Inequality can breed crime, disease and environmental degradation and hamper economic growth.”

Ban noted that the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been “remarkably” successful, but added that progress has been uneven, and underlined the importance of the post-development 2015 agenda addressing these inequalities and promoting shared prosperity.

Agreed upon by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000, the MDGs set specific targets on poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/AIDS and malaria reduction, and a global partnership for development. The post-2015 development agenda is expected to build on the progress achieved by the MDGs.

“We need solutions to the economic and financial crises that will benefit all,” he said. “An inclusive approach to sustainable development; greater efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; more investment in health, education, social protection and decent jobs – especially for young people.”

General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić noted that the achievement of the universal transition to sustainability requires a greater commitment from countries to bridge the divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, and urged Member States to work together to tend to the needs “of the increasing many that have been left behind.”

Jeremić also warned that refraining from addressing this issue would bring about an era of global discontent that would have profound consequences across the world.

Fully incorporating the fight against inequality in the sustainable development agenda, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which countries agreed on last year at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), will be critical, he added.

The World Investment Report 2013, produced by the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), adds that the majority of ‘greenfield’ investment in the least developed countries (LDCs) – new investment or expansion of existing investment in recipient nations, as opposed to investment through mergers and acquisitions – originated in other developing economies, led by India.

Subtitled Global Value Chains: Investment and Trade for Development, the report notes that growth was led by strong gains in Cambodia (where inflows were up 73 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (96 per cent), Liberia (167 per cent), Mauritania (105 per cent), Mozambique (96 per cent), and Uganda (93 per cent).

However, 20 LDCs reported declines in FDI, the report states, adding that the trend was particularly pronounced in Angola, Burundi, Mali, and the Solomon Islands.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commended the report, calling it a “source of reflection and inspiration” for meeting today’s development challenges.

“The 2013 World Investment Report comes at an important moment. The international community is making a final push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015,” he said, referring to the anti-poverty targets known as the MDGs.

“At the same time, the United Nations is working to forge a vision for the post-2015 development agenda. Credible and objective information on foreign direct investment (FDI) can contribute to success in these twin endeavours.”

Global FDI, Ban noted, declined in 2012, mainly due to continued macroeconomic fragility and policy uncertainty for investors, and it is forecast to rise only moderately over the next two years.

“Yet as this report reveals, the global picture masks a number of major dynamic developments,” he said. “In 2012 – for the first time ever – developing economies absorbed more FDI than developed countries, with four developing economies ranked among the five largest recipients in the world.

“Developing countries also generated almost one third of global FDI outflows, continuing an upward trend that looks set to continue.”

The report notes that while the estimated value of announced greenfield investment projects in LDCs declined, developing economies – with 59 per cent of the value of greenfield projects – were the largest such investors in LDCs in 2012.

In terms of share of greenfield projects in LDCs in 2012, companies from India were responsible for 20 per cent of total value, according to the report. In addition to their scale, India’s investments in LDCs have been diversified geographically and sectorally, it adds.

Among the destinations of large-scale projects, in 2012 Mozambique was the largest recipient of Indian greenfield investment (45 per cent), followed by Bangladesh (37 per cent) and Madagascar (8 per cent).

In Africa, greenfield investments from India were targeted at the east and south of the continent. These projects were not limited to large-scale investments in extractive and heavy industries, but also extended to smaller ones in pharmaceuticals and health care.

In Asia, while Bangladesh was the only LDC where Indian greenfield investment was announced during 2012, Indian projects were spread over various industries, including automotives, information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and tyres, the report says.

“As we enter 2013, there is no let-up in humanitarian needs in the world,” the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, told journalists in Rome after she and other senior UN and humanitarian aid officials launched the appeal.

She added of the people in need, “They are displaced from their homes, hungry, unprotected and vulnerable, living with the consequences of natural disasters and violent conflict.”

The funding call is made under the annual Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) that, since its launch by the UN General Assembly in 1991, has become a central tool used by the world body and other aid organizations to plan, coordinate, fund, implement and monitor their activities.

This year’s total will fund emergency relief in 12 African countries, and another three in Asia, as well as the occupied Palestinian territory, according to a news release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Amos also heads.

“Working jointly in these 16 countries, we are strengthening our response,” said the Executive Director of the UN World Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, who joined Amos in launching the appeal.

“We are meeting the urgent need for food security and nutrition, shelter, water, health and other basic needs, while simultaneously helping communities recover from emergencies,” she added while also stressing that a “unified response can save lives and help communities become more resilient.”

In her remarks, Amos said the appeal was directed at governments, private individuals and businesses, among others, as she called on them to “contribute to saving lives in 2013.”

She highlighted that 520 UN agencies, non-governmental and other aid organizations had come together to launch the call with the aim to “deliver aid in an effective and coordinated way.”

She also noted how international responses both buttress and enhance local efforts, which she saluted, saying that communities, civil society organizations, businesses, local and national governments were the “first responders, and, throughout a protracted crisis, important providers of support and help.”

OCHA identified the 15 target countries in addition to the occupied Palestinian territory as Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Amos detailed the pressing needs in some of those countries, saying that a million children in Yemen were suffering from acute malnutrition, 1.7 million people in Niger faced food shortages, and a half a million people driven from their homes in South Sudan needed help in addition to some two million people in that country who did not have enough to eat.

The humanitarian chief pointed to several more crises in Africa as she responded to one journalist’s question about the focus on that continent.

“I think many people have forgotten that there are continuing needs in Darfur,” she said of the western Sudanese region stricken for years by ethnic-based strife. She also highlighted humanitarian crises arising from recent strife in both Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Amos stated that last year’s CAP appeal for $7.7 billion to help 51 million people in distress remained 40 per cent underfunded.

“This means that people in need in some parts of the world have not been able to get the help they would have had we got the money,” Amos said, adding that it was too early to tell how the global financial crisis might affect funding levels this year.

“We will make the case in a vigorous way,” she added. “These needs are real; they can be seen by anyone; we recognize the difficulties that many countries face with respect to the ongoing situation, but, at the same time, we are talking about people who are extraordinarily vulnerable around the world.”

In response to a question about Syria’s exclusion from the 2013 CAP, Amos said that a separate revised appeal would be launched on 19 December for the Middle Eastern nation, where internal conflict has spawned massive humanitarian needs. She noted that a current appeal to help pay for humanitarian operations inside Syria is asking for $348 million.