Prodi visit to UN Organisations in Geneva

On 24/25 January 2001, for the very first time, a President of the European Commission (EC) pays an official visit to the UN Organizations in Geneva. President Romano Prodi will meet the various Heads of UN and other International Organizations. The visit represents an important step in the reinforcement of cooperation between the EC and the UN as the EC is also committed to address the challenges of globalization, coherence and governance in a concrete manner. The visit follows the meeting of President Prodi with UN SG Kofi Annan (October 2000) during which both parties had discussed ways to enhance mutual dialogue and coordination.

Reinforcing Partnerships with the International Organizations in Geneva

President Prodi will meet the new High Commissioner for Refugees M. Ruud Lubbers - to reiterate the Commission's support to UNHCR core international humanitarian mandate, while discussing ways to engage in a new partnership. He will also meet the leaders of the Red Cross family, M. Jakob Kellenberger (ICRC) and M. Didier Cherpitel (IFRC).

President Prodi will meet Mrs. Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the field of Human Rights and to talk about the substantive preparations of the UN World Conference against Racism (Durban, September 2001), where the Commission contributes about 70 % of the costs of the preparatory process.

The visit of President Prodi will be an occasion to discuss with M. Rubens Ricupero - the SG of UNCTAD - the preparation of the Third UN Conference on LDC´s - Least Developed Countries - (Brussels, May 2001) that is hosted by the European Union and supported by a 7 million Euro contribution from the Commission.

President Prodi will meet M. Mike Moore, Director General of WTO, to discuss the prospect of a New Round and to explore the WTO's role in the global architecture that should be emerging to adequately respond to the challenges of globalization.

Recent initiatives such as access to medicines fighting communicable diseases in the context of poverty reduction, negotiations on the Tobacco Control Convention will be the focus of the President discussion with the Director General of the WHO, Dr Gro Harlem Mrs. Brundtland. The Commission has a longstanding cooperation with the ILO. The President will meet the Director General, M. Juan Somavia, to address more particularly trade and social development.

As a follow up of the recent meeting in Brussels, President Prodi will meet Dr Kamil Idris Director General of WIPO to enhance further cooperation in the field of protection of intellectual property. The President will meet Mrs. Danuta Hübner, Executive Secretary of ECE that plays an important role in bringing European economies closer together.

Mr. Vladimir Petrowsky, Director General of the UN Office in Geneva will host a lunch with all UN Heads in order to discuss issues of mutual interest.

A press conference with President Prodi will be held at the UN on 25 January, at 12.15.

Background Note

Reinforcing EC-UN co-ordination is very high on the agenda of the European Commission, particularly since the new momentum created by the high level meeting between the Commission and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (October 2000) where both parties indicated their wish to enhance EC-UN cooperation and to identify policy issues of common interest. The strengthening of the EC cooperation with the UN is also a priority for the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. Within a more and more globalize world, the Commission attaches great importance in striving for coherence in international governance. A great number of dossiers dealt with by the EC and the UN are of interdisciplinary nature, which President Prodi will discuss with the concerned Heads of Organizations in Geneva.

The EU as such is a major donor to the UN system. EU Member States are together the main contributors to the UN Budget (more then 35 %). The EU is also providing more then half of the ODA Official Development Assistance about 55 % of the world total.

The United Nations is one of the key partners of the European Commission in the humanitarian field. Since its inception in 1992, the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) has approximately devoted one third of its funding to projects of UN humanitarian agencies, especially UNHCR. The Commission has initiated in December 2000 a strategic programming dialogue with major partners to ensure the more predictable and consistent funding that key multilateral agencies have been requesting. President Prodi will meet the new High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers to discuss policy matters and especially ways to enhance our partnership, to which the Commission is strategically committed. In this context, he will also meet with the leaders of the Red Cross movement.

The UN is an important interlocutor for the Commission in the field of development. The EC is mainstreaming its development policy with international and regional bodies in order to concentrate efforts on the fight against poverty. President will meet M. Ricupero, SG of UNCTAD, in order to take stock of the preparation of the Third UN Conference on LDC (May 2001, Brussels), that is jointly organized by the EC and UN. In view of this Conference and in order to obtain tangible results, the EC proposed in September 2000 a groundbreaking plan to provide full access for the world's 48 Least developed Countries to EU markets covering all goods, except the arms trade.

The European Union is founded on the principle respect of human rights. Also the fight against racism and xenophobia is one of the principles of the EU´s external action. At the Nice European Council, the EU Heads of State and Government decided upon a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. President Prodi will discuss these developments with Mrs. Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Discussions will particularly focus on the preparation of the World Conference against Racism, one of the major UN events to take place in 2001, with an active involvement of the EU.

Following the visit of Commissioner Lamy to Geneva (November 2000), President Prodi will meet Mike Moore, Director General of WTO, to discuss the prospect of a New Round of negotiations. He will also explore the role of WTO in the global architecture that should be emerging to adequately respond to the challenges of globalization.

President Prodi will meet Dr Kamil Idris, Director General of WIPO. They met recently in Brussels where they discussed already ways to enhance cooperation between the EC and WIPO. In Geneva, President Prodi intends to address more particularly intellectual property issues which have raised the interest of the broader public, such as the protection of the traditional knowledge and genetic resources, the follow up of the recent WIPO Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances that took place in last December in Geneva and the reform of the Patent Cooperation Treaty which will have a direct impact on the proposed Community Patent.

As to the issue of global governance, cohesion and coordination, recently a number of useful initiatives have been taken in this field, with the active participation of the Commission, such as the very important dossier of access to medicines, where the EU, G8, WHO, WTO, the industry and the civil society have been working together in a manner that respect a comprehensive approach. President Prodi will particularly follow up on this issue and the negotiations on an Tobacco Control Convention - with Dr. Brundtland, Director General of the WHO, with whom the Commission just concluded an exchange of letters concerning consolidation and intensification of cooperation between the two Organizations.

Another example of coherence is he issue of social implications of globalization, which has put the relationship between the ILO, the WTO and the EC in a new perspective. During recent high-level meetings, the Commission underlined that with regards to key areas of interest to the ILO (e.g. fundamental principles and rights) the objectives of the EC and the ILO are convergent. A renewed cooperation agreement between the two Organizations is currently being finalized. President Prodi will more particularly address trade and social development with the Director General of ILO, M. Somavia.

President Prodi will meet Mrs. Hübner, Executive Secretary of the ECE Economic Commission for Europe - an Organization that plays an important role in facilitating the Central and Eastern European countries in the transition to market economies and thus their economic integration in the European Continent.

The outcome of the visit of President Prodi to Geneva will constitute a useful input for the Communication that the European Commission is presently preparing on "Building a Real Partnership with the United Nations" to be presented to the Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Parliament, in the course of spring 2001.

ECE Economic Commission for Europe
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
ILO International Labor Organization
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHCHR United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
WHO World Health Organization
WIPO World Intellectual property Organization
WTO World Trade Organization
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/see/index.htm

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