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EU Presidency Statement - Special High Level Meeting of ECOSOC

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the countries associated with the EU- Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey declare that they align themselves with this statement.

The EU welcomes the Spring High Level Meeting of ECOSOC with the Bretton Woods Institutions and the WTO as forum to promote and make stocktaking of the Monterrey Consensus. The role of these Institutions is critical in the development process and we look forward to benefit from their expertise and know-how.

We also welcome the participation in this process of the civil society and the private sector. Their contribution is very important both in terms of substance and ideas and by the creation of positive and transparent atmosphere in the society at large that favors and promotes the goals of the Monterrey Consensus.

The European Union is convinced that we must continue the new partnership for development that we laid out in Monterrey. The Monterrey Consensus represents an important step for the international community, bringing concrete commitments for a partnership for development and recognising the role of all relevant stakeholders. This partnership compact that is the Monterrey Consensus is critical for the implementation of the outcomes of all major UN conferences and summits in economic, social and related fields, particularly the World Summit for Sustainable Development, under the overarching framework of the Millennium Declaration. In order for us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and lift more people out of poverty, implementation has to be successful. The EU is committed to this goal.

At the outset we find it important to reaffirm some of the basic principles we agreed there:

• As each country is primarily responsible for its own economic development, sound national macroeconomic environment and an enabling investment climate are the basis for sustainable development and economic growth. In a conducive environment, the private sector is a potentially very strong driving force for development
  
  
• Trade and integration in the world economy are essential for economic growth. The important occasion at the WTO Cancun ministerial meeting to progress in all areas of the Doha Development Agenda should not be missed. We are committed to work with partners and use the coming months to ensure progress under the Doha Development Agenda, so as to make the WTO Cancun Ministerial meeting a success on the way to the timely conclusion of negotiations. The EU will work to fulfill commitments according to the Doha Development Agenda.
  
  
• We are committed to helping developing countries benefit from trade. A key element is enhanced trade related capacity building in particular to address supply side constraints. We will provide increased support for trade related assistance and we are now implementing a new EU strategy for this. Regional integration and support to south-south trade is also essential in this context. The EU has made this one of its priorities and is working towards that, not least through the negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries.
  
  
• To achieve the MDGs, increased ODA is also essential. The European Union is already the largest provider of official development assistance to developing countries. The EU MS are in the process of increasing heir official development assistance and remain committed to collectively reaching an average of 0.39%/GNI by 2006 as a first step towards reaching the 0.7 %/GNI target. This should lead to billions more in aid per year.
  
  
• We are however also convinced that a significant increase in overall ODA must be accompanied by greater effectiveness and accountability in ODA financed programmes as well as greater harmonisation of donor policies. We have committed to make concrete progress on harmonisation before 2004 and have initiated actions in that regard both at the EU level as well as at the level of our MS. A pilot initiative has been launched together with four countries. Based on the results of those pilots the EU will finalize an action plan and decide in May 2003 on clear measures to be taken to make progress on co-ordination of policies and harmonization of procedures. We also welcome the progress made in work conducted in the OECD/DAC and confirmed at the recent Rome High Level Forum.
  
  
• Developed countries may also contribute to development financing by assessing alternative financing instruments and by working actively to further clarifying issues related to Global Public Goods. The EU will continue to take an active part in discussion of these ideas and will continue to support the work of the International Task Force.
  
  
• We welcome the major progress made so far in the context of the enhanced HIPC initiative and recognize the need for more work on the issue of debt sustainability, in particular for non-HIPC low-income countries facing exceptional circumstances.
  
  
• The European Union is in favour of working towards coherence and a participatory process at the global level. We welcome the efforts to strengthen the voice of developing countries in international economic decision-making as discussed this weekend in the Development Committee. The WTO decision to facilitate LDC accessions is also important. IMF and the World Bank should continue to play an important role in strengthening the international financial system. The cooperation among the UN, International Financial Institutions and the WTO is key to this. We welcome their ownership of the Monterrey Consensus and their will to implement it.

The European Union looks forward to staying engaged in the follow-up to the Monterrey Conference. We will undertake a first review of our own follow-up to Monterrey in May. We are also looking forward to the High Level Dialogue at the upcoming UN General Assembly as an occasion for stocktaking, and we will present our views there on progress made and future steps.

Meanwhile we are confident that the spirit of Monterrey will help us succeed in Cancun. Monterrey was created in a true spirit of partnership, and we look forward to working with all our partners in the Monterrey Consensus on its implementation.

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