EU Presidency Statement - 2nd Committee General Debate

EU Presidency Statement at The Second Committee General Debate by HE Sir Emyr Jones Parry, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, 60th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York

Mr Chairman

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

I would like to thank Under Secretary General Ocampo for his statement and wish you, Mr Chairman, a successful stewardship of the Second Committee.

In many past years, this General Debate was the first opportunity to get together after a long summer break - perhaps for the first time since the closure of ECOSOC.

2005 is different.

First, 2005 is different because many of us have spent a large part of the summer working together in New York. In the run up to and at the Summit, we debated most of the core 2nd Committee issues in one form or another.

2005 is also different because we have made significant breakthroughs in key areas.

In 2005, we reaffirmed commitments to implementing the outcomes of the major UN conferences. We committed to strengthening the global partnership for development for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in Africa. We did this in various groupings and meetings, such as the European Council and at the G8, South-South and AU Summits this summer. Our leaders did so collectively at the UN World Summit last month.

We now have to implement these commitments. Developing countries and countries with economies in transition should adopt comprehensive national development strategies and strengthen domestic policies to create the conditions for poverty eradication, sustainable development, growth, and the achievement of the MDGs and related goals. Donors must support them by fulfilling their commitments to provide more and better aid, debt relief and trade reform. The UN system needs to support country-led efforts with more effective, efficient, coherent and coordinated operations at the country level.

Mr Chairman

Significant new commitments were made this year on Financing for Development. These were announced at a series of FFD meetings in April, June and at the Summit last month. On ODA, the EU set timetables to reach the 0.7% ODA/GNI target by 2015 and committed to double EU aid by 2010 to over $80 billion a year. Taken with other donors' commitments, this means that global aid will increase by around $50 billion a year by 2010. We have also taken important steps this year on aid effectiveness, debt relief and innovative finance. We will return to these issues in more detail in the Financing for Development and macroeconomic debates later this month.

Trade also loomed large in all the major meetings this year. It still does. The EU is clear that trade is critical as an engine for development, and we look forward to a successful WTO Hong Kong Ministerial this December. We will also return to Trade issues later on in the 2nd Committee.

Important agreements have also been reached on sustainable development and environmental issues. Amongst them, on climate change the UN Summit drew important conclusions regarding the urgency and importance of global action. We look forward to the opportunity provided by the forthcoming UNFCCC conference in Montreal to carry forward negotiations on long-term measures to combat global warming. We will address these and other sustainable development issues next month in 2nd Committee.

In reaffirming our overall commitment to the Millennium Development Goals - central to so much of our work - we also made specific commitments at the Summit in key areas. For example, on education, we undertook to scale up resources for the Fast Track Initiative. On health, we committed to: strengthen health systems; get as close as possible to the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010; and to achieve the Cairo goal on universal access to reproductive health by 2015, integrating reproductive health into MDG strategies. We also reaffirmed the need urgently to address food security and rural and agricultural development. These are all important steps forward for our 2nd Committee agenda.

Mr Chairman

The question now is what does all this mean for the work of the 2nd Committee this autumn?

The EU strongly believes that the work of this Second Committee should reflect the Summit's significant agreements in the area of development, as well as their implementation. In the weeks ahead we must focus and prioritise on areas where we can add value. We will set out more detailed thinking on this in the debates that follow under the respective agenda items.

The EU also remains determined to strengthen and revitalise our Committee and improve its working methods. More is not always better. Fewer and more focussed reports and resolutions can enrich the quality of our work. Rationalisation of the agenda should continue - including through greater clustering of items and sub-items, and biennialisation and triennisalisation as appropriate. We should have fewer long debates with prepared statements; more interactive and stimulating panel discussions. Earlier facilitation across groups can avoid creating or perpetuating artificial differences between us. And we should all support you and the secretariat in observing the timetables and deadlines you have set for our work.

Mr Chairman,

The EU fully supports the calls of the outgoing and incoming Presidents of the General Assembly to revitalise our work. And we are committed to helping you and your Bureau in building on the efforts of the outgoing Bureau in this area. We hope all our partners will join you in this.

Thank you.


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

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - Explanation of Position: Preventing and combating corrupt practices and transfer of assets of illicit origin  (13/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Global Partnerships (16/11/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Globalisation and Interdependence and ICT for Development  (27/10/2005)