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EU Presidency Statement - General Debate

I have the honor to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.

This second committee starts with great expectations and we hope we will achieve good results.

• First, we have a great bureau to take up the good work done by the previous bureau on making our work more relevant and effective. We welcome the new working methods. They inject a dynamic approach into our work. We wish to express our support for the chairman, who has been closely involved in the work of the second committee, and who knows us well. He has the vision and creativity -together with his colleagues in the Bureau- to make our new methods work, with the support of the strong and able Secretariat we have the pleasure of working with. We also welcome the effort to get to work as soon as possible and will do our utmost to help respect the deadlines indicated in the Programme of Work.
  
  
• Because, second, we have a lot of work on our plate. Next year we will take stock of progress on implementing the Millennium Declaration and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the progress made in the integrated and coordinated follow up of the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN summits and conferences. This General Assembly has the crucial task of shaping the summit with its focus on the whole UN agenda, including an important development focus, and we expect this summit to give additional relevance to the work we are undertaking this autumn in the Plenary as well as the 2nd and 3rd Committee.
  
  
• As far as this Committee is concerned, the review of issues such as Financing For Development and TCPR comes at a time when we need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the UN system in order to be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. And when we discuss sustainable development we will focus on how to take the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation forward. The EU is convinced that the Second Committee is united in its aim to enhance the development impact of the UN's work on the ground. The follow up of the Monterrey Consensus and the recommendations we can bring to the system through TCPR are important inputs towards achieving this common vision. The EU is firmly committed to this.
  
  
• Third, we need to take stock at the end of this session and see how we can further improve our working methods. UNGA resolution 58/316 urges us to do so before April. The EU looks forward to establishing a "question time" and supports the use of interactive debates and panel discussions, which can lead to more candid and effective interactions on crucial issues. On these issues we have made important progress. We hope we can report success and that we can build on these achievements. In particular, we would like to build on the experience of this UNGA to consider ways of making further progress in the area of documentation, with the aim of producing coherent flagship reports on the main topics we discuss that will have lasting impact and influence. Coherence also requires that we continue on the path we have chosen, looking further into logical ways to cluster our agenda. We have made significant progress, and we may learn from the experiences of this UNGA to explore the synergies between different topics even further. The EU will do its part for increasing the focus of our debates, with substantive contributions on the issues.
  
  
• Finally, part of that coherence already now of course is the need for a good working relationship with the third committee. The third committee discussion on social issues for instance relates very closely to the second committee discussion on globalization.

Once again this autumn, we will deal with issues crucial to our world. The cause of development deserves our full attention and commitment. We aim for a second committee that sends clear messages and that reaches out to all partners in the development debate. We accept the challenge of giving policy guidance and aim to meet the goals we have set ourselves.

We stand ready to get going and work with you all.


* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process

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