Sumario: March 21, 2002: The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, will attend the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico (Brussels)
The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, will attend the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico on Friday 22 March. Upon departure from Brussels he issued the following statement.
"Monterrey Conference must not be seen as an isolated event. The road to Monterrey comes from Doha, Qatar, where a new round of multilateral trade negotiations was launched last November. It continues to Johannesburg, South Africa, where further efforts to reach sustainable development will be made next August.
The real question today is how we govern globalization so that it can profit as many people as possible. Monterrey should be seen as a step on the road that leads for a new era of shared responsibility.
The European Union pledges to do its part. Our message is based on trade, finance and aid, environment and better global governance.
We are committed to negotiate constructively in the multilateral trade negotiations. We are determined to continue to open our markets in the framework of balanced negotiations.
The European private foreign investments in developing countries are by far the most important with more than 73 billion Euro a year. We import annually more than 400 billion Euro worth of goods from these countries. We stand ready to do more in order to help attract our investments by improving the domestic policies of the countries and by enlarging their markets through regional Free Trade Agreements.
The Union is the biggest donor of Official Development Aid. We deliver more than half of all the aid in the world.
The engagement of the EU governments to reach the level of 0.39 % from present 0.33 % by 2006 is a step in the right direction and it shows that we are serious. This commitment means that Europe will dedicate each year around six billion Euro more than today to the fight against poverty.
All in all, the cumulation over the four years will bring around 20 billion Euro more to development assistance.
We will also present proposals with a view to improving global governance. Developing countries have to take their share of responsibility in improving their own conditions for living.
Industrialized countries have to ensure growth and stability, open up their markets and support reforms undertaken by the developing countries with increased financing, investments and public development assistance. And all of us have to work together to ensure the social and environmental sustainability of our policies."
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