ECOSOC 27TH JULY 2007

General Segment



The following draft resolutions have been adopted by the Council:

Ø Item 4. The role of the UN system in promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all
Draft resolution submitted by the Vice-President of the Council, Hilario G. Davide, Jr. (Philippines), on the basis of informal consultations, on the role of the ECOSOC in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes and the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits, in light of relevant GA resolutions, including resolution 61/16.
Document E/2007/L.32
Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Hilario G. Davide, Jr. (Philippines), on the basis of informal consultations on the theme of the 2008 coordination segment
Document E/2007/L.33

Ø Item 6. Implementation of and follow-up to major UN conferences and summits
(a) Draft resolution submitted by Mexico, on the follow-up to the international conference on financing for development
Document E/2007/L.31
(b) Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès (Haiti), on the basis of informal consultations, on the implementation of the programme of action for least developed countries for the decade 2001-2010
Document E/2007/L.36

Ø Item 7. Coordination, programme and other questions
(h) Joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Draft resolution submitted by Australia, Barbados, Benin, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Document E/2007/L.23

Ø Items 7(e). Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the UN system
And 14(a). Advancement of women
Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès (Haiti), on the basis of the informal consultations, on Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the UN system
Document E/2007/L.28

Ø Item 13. Economic and environmental questions
(a) sustainable development
- Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès (Haiti), on the basis on informal consultations, on the Report of the Committee for development policy on its ninth session
Document E/2007/L.34
- Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès, on the basis of informal consultations, on the Report of the Committee for development policy on its eighth session
Document E/2007/L.35
In consequence, the draft resolution submitted by the US, on the report of the Committee for development policy on its eighth session, Document E/2007/L.9, has been removed.
- Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès, on the basis of information consultations, on the UN Public-Private Alliance for rural development
Document E/2007/L.37

Ø Item 14. Social and human rights questions
(a) Advancement of women
Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès, on the basis of informal consultations
This draft resolution has been adopted by the council as emendated by the secretariat: Future work to strengthen the International Research and Training Institute for the advancement of women, on the behalf of the Group of 77 and China
Document E/2007/L.29


The following points have been deferred by the Council to the next session of ECOSOC:

Ø Item 13. Economic and environmental questions
(e) Environment
Report of the SG, on the products harmful to health and the environment
Document E/2007/62
(g) Public administration and development
Recommendations contained in the Report of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration, on its sixth session
Document E/2007/44
(h) International cooperation in tax matter
Draft resolution submitted by the VP of the Council, Léo Mérorès, on the basis of informal consultations, on the Committee of experts on international cooperation in tax matters
Document E/2007/L.30
And the programme budget implications thereto contained in the document E/2007/L.16

Ø Item 14. Social and human rights questions
(i) genetic privacy and non-discrimination
Report of the SG on Genetic privacy and non-discrimination
Document E/2007/65 and Add.1 and Add.2



Statement by Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary General for economic and social affairs, delivered by Mr. Nikhil Seth, Director, Office of ECOSOC support and coordination, department of economic and social affairs,

There are four clear messages that have come out of the discussions during the Development Cooperation Forum’s launch.
Firstly, a key challenge in cooperating for development lies in making the process truly country-driven and inclusive.
Secondly, predictable and stable funding coupled with effective monitoring of aid quality should be seen as essential components of efforts to enhance the impact of development cooperation.
Thirdly, the growing importance of South-South and triangular cooperation cannot be overemphasized.
Finally, broad agreement exists on a number of principles on promoting effective and coherent international development cooperation.
The spirit of partnerships was a defining feature of the substantive session.

The other segments of the Council covered a wide range of issues. Indeed, the 2006 Ministerial declaration has truly mobilized the UN system and governments in making employment and decent work a central objective of their policies and activities.
The Council’s work in the humanitarian segment has moved from strength to strength.
This year is one for TCPR and thus an important policy year for the UN’s operational activities.
Moreover, by extending the mandates of the Ad-hoc Advisory groups on Haiti and Guinea-Bissau, the Council has once again established the unique contribution it can make to the long-term development of such countries.
The Council has had a successful session, and this would not have been possible without the active support of civil society.
Moreover, some of the issues also required urgent action. First, the innovation, energy and dynamism that the council has witnessed in the high-level segment need to permeate other segment as well, particularly the general segment.
Second, the Council needs to decide on the multi-year programme of work for the Annual Ministerial Review.
Third, the Council would welcome early volunteers for the National Presentations during the Reviews. The council take also this opportunity to thank the Netherlands for its offer to make a presentation next year.
Fourth, countries should convene regional consultations for the Annual Ministerial Review and symposia for the Development Cooperation Forum.
To conclude, the Council needs to pursue each of these issues with vigour, intensity and a sense of urgency.



Closing remarks by H.E. Mr. Dalius Cekuolis, President of ECOSOC

There were two possible future scenarios for ECOSOC; one was for the Council to gradually drift towards irrelevance and oblivion, and the other one was for the Council to thoroughly renew itself in order to fully meet the high expectations under which it was established. This session has contributed to promoting the second scenario.
Indeed the Council should be the central platform for realizing the UN development agenda.
The high point of the Annual Ministerial Review was the national presentations by the Ministers of six developing countries, which became an occasion for knowledge sharing and information exchange.
By selecting related themes for the AMR, the Council has effectively tackled one of the fundamental issues of development, “poverty eradication”, from various perspectives.
Moreover, the Ministerial Declaration, adopted by consensus, sends the important message that the international community is united in dealing with the obstacles in the realization of MDG-1.
The agreement to further extend the Council’s Ad Hoc Advisory Groups on Guinea-Bissau and Haiti is a clear recognition of the useful contribution ECOSOC can make by promoting an integrated approach in the area of post-conflict peace-building.
But, the positive outcome of this session reflects both the thorough preparations and the full and active engagement by all stakeholders throughout the process.
It is absolutely critical for the success of the next sessions that all stakeholders remain actively engaged in their preparations and the session itself.

ECOSOC 26TH JULY 2007

General Segment


Morning Session

The purpose of the meeting was the examination of several items of the agenda.

Item 7 on coordination, program and other questions. The following points has been examined:
- Point (c) concerning international cooperation in the field of informatics (action on draft resolution E/2007/L.24). As no objections had been made, the resolution was adopted.
- Point (g) concerning an ad hoc advisory group on Guinea-Bissau (action on draft resolution E/2007/L.27). As this resolution has budget implications, the secretariat took the floor for explaining that the resource requirements to undertake the consultation mission is estimated at $ 35,800 and would provide for travel, daily subsistence allowance and terminal expenses ($ 27,100 for 3 members of the advisory group and $ 8, 700 for one staff member of the department of economic and social affairs).
Then, the chairman, who spoke on behalf of Haiti, welcomed the adoption by consensus of this resolution and hopped Guinea-Bissau will quickly recover stability.
Finally, the representative from Guinea-Bissau underlined that it was important that this resolution was adopted by consensus. He also stressed that it means that government must make the utmost efforts to eradicate poverty and ensure transparency of public funds asset. He also expressed that parliamentary election, which should be organized next year, will be very important to consolidate democracy.
- Point (h) concerning joint UN program on HIV/AIDS (action on draft resolution E/2007/L.23). The delegate from Thailand recalled that universal access to treatments and care form a part of MDG’s.
As the relevant delegations was not ready in this point, the chairman decided to take it up tomorrow.
- Point (i) concerning the calendar of conferences and meetings for 2008 and 2009 in the economic, social and related fields (action on draft resolution E/2007/87 and E/2007/L.10). As no objections had been made, the resolution was adopted.

Item 10 on regional cooperation (action on draft resolution E/2007/L.12 on Europe-Africa fixed link through the strait of Gibraltar). As this resolution has budget implications, the secretariat took the floor for explaining that budgetary provisions have already been made for the activities. As no objections had been made, the resolution was adopted.

Item 13 on economic and environmental questions. The chairman only focused on point (d) concerning human settlements (action on draft resolution E/2007/L.25). As no objections had been made, the resolution was adopted.
Item 14 on social and human rights questions. . The chairman only focused on point (c) concerning crime prevention and criminal justice (action on recommendations contained in document E/2007/30). As this resolution has budget implications, the secretariat took the floor in order to recommend for adoption of the chapter 1 of the report of the commission which contains the financial implications of the whole draft resolutions and resolutions.

Thereafter, the draft resolutions number 2, 3, 4, 5 (on child justice reform) and 6 (on access to legal aid particularly in Africa) was adopted as a whole. Nevertheless, the US delegate said he had serious concerns about the capacity of ECOSOC to change anything on these matters.

Afternoon Session

Item 9 : Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and People by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations
Action on draft resolution E/2007/L.19

The President opened the meeting by asking if any delegations wanted to explain their choice before the vote on the resolution.

New Zealand explained that its country had a long experience concerning the functioning of the specialized institutions of UN for the Non-Self-Governing territories. They also reaffirmed their position in favour of the decolonization and in this regard, welcomed a future referendum in Tokelau. Thus, they announced that their vote would be in favour of the resolution.

Portugal on behalf of EU, notified that as the precedent years, EU will abstain on this resolution, as for EU the issues broached in it weren’t a matter for ECOSOC.

USA strongly affirmed they weren’t against the autonomy of Non-Self-Governing territories but will abstain as they didn’t like the approach unique adopted in the resolution and regretted also its politicization.

Then the vote was carried out.

El Salvador : Yes Rumania : Abstention
France : Abstention Russian Federation : Abstention
Germany : Abstention Saudi Arabia : Yes
Greece : Abstention Somalia : Yes
Guinee : Yes South Africa : Yes
Guinee Bissau : Yes Sri Lanka : Yes
Guinea : Yes Sudan : Yes
Tahiti : Yes Thailand : Yes
Iceland : Abstention United Kingdom : Abstention
India : Yes USA : Abstention
Indonesia : Yes Algeria : Yes
Iraq : Yes Albania : Abstention
Japan : Yes Angola : Yes
Kazakhstan : Abstention Austria : Abstention
Lithuania : Abstention Barbados : Yes
Luxembourg : Abstention Belarus : Yes
Madagascar : Not present Benin : Yes
Malawi : Not present Brazil : Yes
Mauritania : Yes Canada : Abstention
Mexico : Yes Cap Verde : Yes
Netherlands : Abstention Tchad : Yes
New Zealand : Yes China : Yes
Pakistan : Yes Costa Rica : Yes
Uruguay : Yes Cuba : Yes
Philippines : Yes Tcheq Republic : Abstention
Portugal : Abstention Congo : Yes
Denmark : Abstention

IN FAVOUR : 33 AGAINST : 0 ABSTENTION : 19

Resolution adopted.


The President asked if there were any delegations which wanted to explain their vote after the vote.

Russia explained they abstained because for them the exam of this very political issue within ECOSOC led the Council in a other way from its main preoccupations : the economic and social issues.

Argentina affirmed their support to the autodetermination of populations but reminded everyone that if the GA recognized this principle, it had no value in the cases of disputes concerning sovereignty. Thus, concerning the Malawines Islands, the settlement of the situation resides in the negotiation between the UK and Argentina.

Item 13.i) : United Nations Forum on Forests

This issue has been deferred to the next substantive session.

Item 14.b) : Social Development

The president asked if there were any delegations which wanted to express themselves before the vote.

Pakistan on behalf of the G77 and China, affirmed they were supporting the social development and asked each delegations to vote in favour the resolution, in order to obtain a consensus on this issue.

Then the vote was carried out.

Cap Verde : Yes
Tchad : Non present
China : Yes
Costa Rica : Yes
Cuba : Yes
Tcheq Republic : Yes
Congo : Yes
Denmark : Yes
El Salvador : Yes
France :Yes
Germany : Yes
Greece : Yes
Guinee : Yes
Guinee Bissau : Yes
Guinea : Yes
Haihiti : Yes
Iceland :Yes
India : Yes
Indonesia : Yes
Iraq : Yes
Japan : Yes
Kazakhstan :Yes
Lithuania : Yes
Luxembourg : Yes
Madagascar : Not present
Malawi : Not present
Mauritania : Yes
Mexico : Yes
Netherlands : Yes
New Zealand : Yes
Pakistan : Yes
Uruguay : Yes
Philippines : Yes
Portugal : Yes
Rumania : Yes
Russian Federation : Yes
Saudi Arabia : Yes
Somalia : Yes
South Africa : Yes
Sri Lanka : Yes
Sudan : Yes
Thailand : Yes
United Kingdom : Yes
USA : No
Algeria : Yes
Albania : Yes
Angola : Yes
Austria : Yes
Barbados : Yes
Belarus : Yes
Benin : Yes
Brazil : Yes
Canada : Yes

IN FAVOUR : 49 AGAINST : 1 ABSTENTION : 0

Resolution adopted

The President asked if any delegations wanted to take the floor to explain their vote after the vote.

USA explained that the text had been adopted in the Commission of social development in precipitation. According to the USA, this document is not as much as relevant as one could expect it to be, in view of the importance of the subject. That’s why USA had asked for a vote. Indeed they wanted to show officially their disagreement. Thus, they will reopen some parts of the text for the debate in the GA.

Portugal on behalf on EU, expressed their satisfaction concerning the content of the resolution but regretted that USA dissociated themselves.


Item 14.c) was adopted without any objection nor vote.


Item 11 : Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan.

The President asked if any delegations wanted to express themselves before the vote.

Israel affirmed that this resolution was subjective, and that once again the agenda was exploited. Indeed, according to Israel, the resolution doesn’t show the violence perpetuated against Israel nor the violence inter-Palestinian. Israel stressed the lack of equilibrium of the resolution. Israel delegate unlighted that the real objective of this resolution was to blame and condemn Israel for political reasons. In this regard, they asked all delegations to vote against it.

Thailand highlighted that the current situation in the occupied territories was quite preoccupying and asked all delegations to adopt this resolution with consensus in order to show their support to Arabian populations.

Portugal on behalf on EU, thanked all the co-sponsors for their respect during negotiations. He reminded the assembly that EU was the best contributor concerning the assistance for Palestinian population. Unfortunately concessions made weren’t enough to EU.

Then the vote was carried out.

Tcheq Republic : Abstention
Congo : Not Present
Denmark : Abstention
El Salvador : Yes
France : Abstention
Germany : Abstention
Greece : Abstention
Guinee : Yes
Guinee Bissau : Yes
Guinea : Yes
Haiti : Abstention
Iceland :Abstention
India : Yes
Indonesia : Yes
Iraq : Yes
Japan : Abstention
Kazakhstan : Yes
Lithuania : Abstention
Luxembourg : Abstention
Madagascar : Not present
Malawi : Not present
Mauritania : Yes
Mexico : Yes
Netherlands : Abstention
New Zealand : Abstention
Pakistan : Yes
Uruguay : Yes
Philippines : Yes
Portugal : Abstention
Rumania : Abstention
Russian Federation : Yes
Saudi Arabia : Yes
Somalia : Yes
South Africa : Yes
Sri Lanka : Yes
Sudan : Yes
Thailand : Yes
United Kingdom : Abstention
USA : No
Algeria : Yes
Albania : Abstention
Angola : Non present
Austria : Abstention
Barbados : Yes
Belarus : Yes
Benin : Yes
Brazil : Abstention
Canada : No
Cap Verde : Yes
Tchad : Non present
China : Yes
Costa Rica : Yes
Cuba : Yes

IN FAVOUR OF : 29 AGAINST : 2 ABSTENTION : 18

The President asked if any delegations wanted to explain their vote after the vote.

Canada said that the resolution wasn’t reflecting the true role of the two parts.

USA also affirmed that the resolution wasn’t reflecting the complexity of the Palestinian conflict. According to them, the resolution is subjective.

Japan stressed the lack of equilibrium of the resolution and said that the evolution of the situation on the field wasn’t reflected in it. Then, they said that ECOSOC wasn’t the appropriate place to take political decisions.

ECOSOC 25TH JULY 2007

General Segment


The chair began the session by giving the floor to delegations on the item 14 entitled “Social and human rights questions”.

The United States first expressed its concerns about the draft resolution proposed under the sub-section of social development. The representative stated that his country had disassociated itself from part of the final text and asked that it should be reviewed further before it was to be put for adoption before the council.

China made a statement on the sub-section of Narcotic drugs, commending the action of the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) and expressing its continuing support.

Sri-Lanka took the floor to respond to the statement made earlier by the Assistant High Commissioner for refugees under the sub-section on UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The representative expressed concerns about the recent trend of equating and clustering of countries as a means of expressing the nature of different humanitarian situations, which would not be helpful in carrying out the Inter-Agency and partnership approach chosen in Sri-Lanka. He requested that the UNHCR and other humanitarian partners acknowledge the uniqueness of the country’s situation and the existing structures and partnerships already in place to deal with it.

Pakistan, responding on the matter put forward by the United States, stated it was neither entirely satisfied with the whole document. However, the representative pointed out that it had been approved by consensus and that the United States had also participated in the negotiations. Consequently, he disagreed with the proposed decision to put the document for further review.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) took the floor and mentioned the forthcoming 30th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which would gather the governments and the IFRC with its worldwide network of National Societies in November, and constituted a forum of intensive examination of humanitarian challenges in the modern world. The theme of the conference will be “Together for Humanity”, with a general debate centred on four major issues; environmental hazards (including climate change), migration, violence and emergent and recurrent diseases.

The Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice (IPJJ) made a statement on the sub-section on crime prevention and criminal justice. The panel welcomed the draft resolution and expressed particular support to its focus on comprehensive national action plans on crime prevention and child justice reform. The representative also commended the draft resolution for its explicit support to the work of the Panel and encouraged the members of the ECOSOC to adopt the resolution.

The Judicial Commission for the Auto-development of the First Andean People (CAPAJ) expressed itself on the sub-section on the report of the Permanent Forum on indigenous Issues. The representative first emphasised the necessity for the Indigenous People to have the control of its lands and natural resources and that no project affecting them should be put into practice without their free and informed consent, as approved in the Human Rights Committee under its resolution CCPR/C/CHL/CO/5. Consequently he urged that the report presented by the Permanent Forum, which was strongly related to that UNHRC resolution, should be taken into consideration.

Thereafter, the secretariat made oral statements, which gave an account of the financial component of the draft resolutions respectively on sub-sections on Narcotic Drugs and Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The resolutions were then adopted.

The chairperson then directed the debate on the item 7 on “Coordination, programme and other questions”. Under the sub-section on the Long-term programme of support for Haiti, the secretariat made an oral statement illustrating its budget. Canada then expressed appreciation to Barbados, Costa Rica, France, Ghana and Mexico, which had added themselves to the list of co-sponsors of the resolution. Additionally, the Philippines, Bolivia, Cape Verde, El Salvador and Paraguay also took the floor and requested to be included on the list of co-sponsors. The resolution was thereafter adopted. Brazil highlighted its historical links with Haiti and expressed its enchantment to participate in the project, which encompassed a broad range of sectors. Speaking as the representative of Haiti, the chair expressed gratitude to Canada and all the sponsors for their support.

Sudan then introduced the draft resolution on item 4 on “Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan”. South Africa expressed the will to be included on the list of co-sponsors. The chair acknowledged the introduction and stated that action on the draft resolution would be taken the following day.

Algeria raised a point of order, after the distribution of two statement delivered by Morocco on their right to reply on the issue of Western Sahara. The ambassador noted that the text in the second statement was not true and asked for the secretariat to provide transcript of the whole exchange in which the issue between Morocco and Algeria was raised. Morocco also took the floor to request to the secretariat a similar demand.

ECOSOC 24TH JULY 2007

General Segment

Afternoon Meeting

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss about the implementation of the declaration on the granting of the independence to colonial countries and peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations.

First of all, Ms Toledano, the representative of Cuba, presented a draft resolution entitled “support for non-self governing territories by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations” and which the goal is the recognition by those organisations of the legitimacy of these people’s aspirations to exercise their rights to self-determination. The resolution requests to those agencies to maintain close contact on these matters and to facilitate the participation of these territories in the relevant meeting. As no objections had been made, the resolution was adopted.

Thereafter, the chairman decided to review on draft resolution E/2007/L.19 trough examination of items 7(e), concerning the mainstreaming of gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the UN system, 13(l), on women development, and 14(a), focused on the advancement of women.

First, the representative of Mexico drawn up a panorama of women situation which is still worrying (poverty, inequality in job access…). Indeed, according to him, there is still a gap between the commitments undertaken and the reality (sexual violence…). He observed that despite all, he had seen some advances in this field. However, progresses made are limited in particular in areas not linked directly with women issues.

Then, the delegate of Chile said that his country carried out a reform concerning women situation through a change of the current national health and pension organization. Indeed, the government created a system of minimum benefit paid more balanced. This pension aim all women, workers or not, to permit them to live in dignity. Moreover, the government also created a women national council in order to bridges gaps on women situation and make reports on this field.

The Iraqi representative was very proud to say that the new Iraqi constitution will fully devote gender balance trough the article 20.

Thailand expressed that, even if her country is not yet member of HCR, Thailand fully support declarations concerning women issues. She emphasized that progresses have been made concerning violence against women thanks to education’s reform which promote information on women’s role in the society.
The representative of Paraguay stressed the importance to strengthen legal and social conditions to reach this gender perspective. He also underlined the necessity to take into account the orphans and elderly situation which is often forget.

Finally, the chairman proposed the adoption of a draft resolution on the situation of Palestinian women.

The delegate of Pakistan expressed that a similar resolution already had been made by his country in March of this year which faced a great success.

Finally, the resolution, after a vote, had been adopted with 38 votes for and 2 against (USA and Canada).

The US representative took the floor in order to explain his vote. He deplored that the situation of Israeli women is fully ignored by international community whereas she hugely suffer as well. He also expressed that this resolution only aim to undermine the efforts made for peace.

The last speaker, the representative from Israel, was stricken by this adoption which is not universal. According to him, this resolution does not take into account terrorism.

ECOSOC 23RD JULY 2007

General Segment


Morning Session


The President opened the Session by giving the floor to the representative of the Special Committee on Decolonization to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 9.

Ms. Rebecca Hernandez Toledano underlined the great importance of item 9 for the peoples of the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories. She acknowledged the various UN programmes, funds and specialized agencies which were providing assistance to the Non-Self-Governing Territories. She stressed the positive example of support provided by the international community to Tokelau, which is actively pursuing its decolonization, with the administering Power, New Zealand, as a genuine partner in the exercise. She also welcomed the leaflet published last March, entitled “What the UN can do to assist Non-Self-Governing Territories”. To conclude, she emphasized the readiness of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization to continue to engage in fruitful cooperation with ECOSOC on their common endeavour to assist and support the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The representative of the Regional Commission of New-York presented the Secretary General report on item 10. He said that for a long time the Regional Commissions were deepening the cooperation between them. The report highlights the activities of the 2005-2006 period which were especially consisting in promoting regional cooperation and encouraging South-South cooperation. He stressed that the Regional Commissions were a useful tool for the development. The current aim is to renew relations between the different Regional Commissions. He finished his speech by underlining the intensification of the Regional Commissions work in the regions.

Then, the general debate was opened on the three following items: 9, 10 and 11.

Russia was the first delegation to take the floor by expressing itself on item 10. Russia pronounced itself in favor of regional cooperation in order to reach a better economic stability of the countries. The delegate reminded everyone that Russia was very active in CE committee as in CESAP and was contributing in an important way to the development of needy countries. He affirmed that its country had engaged itself to give a contribution of $1.2 billion by 2008. He concluded by expressing his hope concerning a good development of the relations between Asia and central Europe. He also hoped that the contribution of Russia in both Committees will continue to be considered as a positive one.

Then, the representative of the Regional Commission presented the Secretary General report on item 11. According to the report, the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel continues to make worse the Palestinian situation especially in health, education and security fields. He listed all demolitions, destructions and territories seizures made by Israel in Palestinian territories. Then, he spoke about the exploitation of farmlands and about many traffic barriers implemented by Israel. All this leads to the fragmentation of the Palestinian economy. He also evocated the problem of water and underlined that since the legislative elections of 2006 the budget situation was worst, according to FMI it suffers from a decrease of 60%. The immediate need of the situation is forcing the UN to take court term decisions at the expense of long term decisions which would be more efficient to resolve the situation.

Then, the general discussion was opened.

The Palestinian delegate took the floor and did a long virulent blame of Israel actions towards Palestinian people. He qualified the situation of the worst kind of foreign occupation. He asked Israel to respect the international law and urged the international community to act strongly in order to reach a peace process. In this regard, he welcomed the peace conference proposed by G.W Bush, which would take place in the middle east and hoped it will lead to the end of the occupation of Arab territories.

Syria also expressed itself on item 11, by saying this report was only a drop in the ocean compared to Israel practices. Syria especially took into consideration the occupation of Golan and its consequences on Syrian population (education, water…). The delegate reminded that this occupation had been considered as null by the UN. He called the Council to put an end to Israel practices.

Belarus, still on item 11, took the floor to express its anxiety concerning the situation in Palestine. The delegate underlined that Israel practices were opposite to international law and were affecting especially child and women. Belarus reasserted its sustain to the Palestinian people and asked ECOSOC to act against this situation.

Then, Israel took the floor. He started by making clear he didn’t want to answer nor to the Palestinian accusations nor to Syria’s ones, as they were false and based only on their own imagination. He expressed its disappointment to see that once again the forum was exploited. Indeed, according to him, the situation is only a political one and not an economic one. Thus, it is counterproductive to examine these questions within ECOSOC. He accused the report to be sullied by fairness. He welcomed the point dealing with the problem of inter-palestinians violence and explained that the increase of dead people was due to the inter-palestinians struggle. Thus, all this violence lead Israel to strengthen its security. But he deplored that the report didn’t make any differences between the situations reigning in Golan, Gaza and Cisjordania and that it was ignoring Hamas’ role. He advanced that the aim under this resolution wasn’t to obtain a better economic situation for Palestinian people but to do a calumny of Israel. To conclude, he said that Israel will continue to fight in order to improve the life of Palestinian people.

Cuba called for an increase of material solidarity towards Palestine. He blamed Israel and required the creation of an independent and sovereign state for Palestine, with oriental Jerusalem for capital and with the restitution of all occupied territories. He hoped that an exacting resolution will be voted.

Algeria criticized the international community for its lack in courage to remedy to the situation and deplored the refuse of dialogue between Israel and Palestine.

China, on item 10, expressed its attachment to the regional cooperation.

Indonesia said they were shocked by the impunity of Israel acts. The delegate said Indonesia fully sustain the struggle of Palestinian people to life in a independent state but specified that peace process should begin within the Palestinian entity.

Saudi Arabia expressed its hope that the Council will put an end to the suffering of Palestinian people.

United States expressed the difficulty to place itself in such a debate which seemed to be more anti-Israelian that pro-Palestinian. They affirmed that politicized resolutions weren’t useful. They said they were sharing the difficult situation of Palestinian people but that Palestinians had to make a choice: the one of tolerance or the one of violence. And Hamas made the one of violence. The delegate reminded everyone that its president G.W Bush had made a proposition of a conference and he put his hope in it.

Then, Morocco delegate instead of presenting his resolution project asked for its right to answer because of some slanderous made by Algeria. Followed a rough discussion between us, Morocco accusing Algeria to have done a connection between Palestinian people and occidental Sahara population ; Algeria affirming he had been misunderstood.

Then, after having both sold out their right to answer, Morocco did the presentation of its project resolution of the tunnel under Gibraltar. He underlined the fact that such a tunnel would be really useful and advantageous for the economic and social development of the region.

Before the document was adopted, United States asked if it will have an impact on the budget and the Secretariat answered by the negative.

Then, item 7 was presented by the executive Director of UNAIDS. The report concerns the last two years and shows that progress have been made. In many populations in East Africa, the Caribbean and some parts of Asia, HIV infection levels are falling. Investment in AIDS has increased but 18 billion $ are needed to counter the epidemic effectively. The director said they were increasing and strengthening their action at the national and regional level and between the different organizations.

Then the general debate was opened.

According to Belarus, a better rational strategy is needed to prevent the infection, especially Belarus stressed the importance of the national strategy. Then, Belarus presented its programme of action and said they were proud to have the leadership position in oriental Europe area in AIDS prevention.

Algeria said that the elevated cost of the therapy was a danger for the poorest affected by AIDS. Then, he presented its country programme of action to fight against epidemic.

China welcomed their excellent cooperation with UNAIDS and did a presentation of its programme.

United States spoke about G.W Bush’s urgency plan and stressed the necessity of having precise informations. They also underlined the crisis of human resources in health field, especially in African countries.

Thailand said the strengthening of the national capacities was a key factor; they also welcomed the external evaluation of the UNAIDS.

Sudan affirmed they were trying hard to fight against AIDS but they would like more financial help. He underlined the lack of resources his country was suffering.

Guyana insisted on the importance of the regional cooperation to fight against AIDS. Indeed 2% of the Caribbean population is affected.


AFTERNOON SESSION

ITEM 13: Economic and Environmental issues

This session started with the report on “the 15th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development”. Then UN Habitat presented their report, in which they expressed their worries about increasing urbanization and the spread of slums in developing countries (94% of people living in slums are in developing countries). These slums are breeding grounds for crime, violence, urban poverty and pollution. Therefore, cities are an important challenge for the realization of MDGs. UN Habitat advised issuing guidelines and reinforcing the private sector and local authorities. Finally, the Secretary of the Committee for the transport of dangerous goods presented his report and called for an increased participation by developing countries.

The general debate started with the intervention of Pakistan, on behalf of the G77 and China. It expressed its disappointment about the lack of agreement in the last session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) because it dealt with subjects of critical importance like air pollution, climate change, energy for sustainable development and industrial development. The G77 is firmly convinced of the benefit of the sustainable approach but countries must ensure that the priority problems of poverty, hunger and under development remain the center of our attention. Moreover, the G77 and China think that the implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Capacity Building and Technology Transfer will be a good test to measure the seriousness of the commitments made. Finally, it stated that climate change is a huge challenge and developing countries can’t reply to it alone. Therefore it called for coordinated, comprehensive action and a global partnership.
On the report of UN Habitat, the G77 fully supports the implementation of the UN Habitat agenda and welcomed the consensus obtained at the 21st session of UN Habitat.

Switzerland justified its refusal of the final document of the Commission on Sustainable Development by saying that the commitments made were less than those already made, for example, at the World Summit of Johannesburg in 2002. Switzerland supports the reforms and new strategies implemented by the PNUE on water and mercury. Concerning the United Nations Forum on Forests, Switzerland supports the creation of the non-legally-binding instrument for the managment of forests despite its non-innovative nature.

Iraq explained that it had created a national committee for sustainable development for a better sharing of benefits among the population. However, it said that environment issues should be considered as lower priorities than social and economic ones. Indeed, development obectives are, for Iraq, of utmost importance to lower the violence in the country. It also explained the problems encountered in the country due to the lack of social and environmental infrastructures as a result of the war, and how the agriculture sector has almost stopped due to the toxic missiles. Iraq asked for more involvement by the United Nations in Iraq and said that aid was urgently needed.

Barbados said that the last Commission on Sustainable Development wasn’t a failure because a consensus was found on the necessity to combat climate change. It asked for a coordinated action in this issue and reminded that climate change is a survival problem for Barbados. It advocated a legally binding instrument for the lowering of emissions.

Kenya asked for a simplified access to energy through technology transfer, capacity building from developed countries. It also highlighted the importance of prevention and upgrading of slums. On the environment issue, Kenya supports the idea to facilitate the UNEP mandate. It also asked for a legally binding instrument on forests.

Belarus called for a more rational use of energy and the development of new energies to protect the environment. Belarus is still actively working to reduce the impact of the Chernobyl catastrophe and also encourages savings in the use of electricity and gas.

Bolivia highlighted the problem of pollution in developed countries and of degraded environment in the developing countries. According to them, environment is not a priority compared to hunger and unemployment. However, development must be considered in relation to the protection of environment and sustainable development.

The Russian Federation expressed its disappointment about the lack of consensus at the last meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development. It also supports the creation of a forum on forests.

China asked for more wisdom between countries to find a consensus on environmental issues. It also considered itself as an example of a developing country that paid particular attention to environmental issues. It finally supported the reforms brought by the 24th session of PNUE and advocated an increased role for this organisation.

USA regretted that no final decision could be found at the last meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development but reminded the assembly that the text satisfied a great majority of the countries including the USA. They also criticized the actions of ECOSOC on the issue of climate change, considering that it is not part of their mandate and that another board already deals with it. Therefore, ECOSOC didn’t have appropriate expertise (USA claimed that the results of ECOSOC were false and exagerated) and duplication of the discussion is nonsense.

Portugal, on behalf of the European Union and the candidate countries, explained that the final report of the CSD did not meet the aspirations and the expectations of the European Union. However, the EU is conviced that a multilateral decision is needed on this issue.

The development of more precise criteria to enter or leave the list of LDCs was discussed after the concerns expressed by Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Cap Verde (that will leave the list this year and will therefore receive less aid). Benin suggested creating a committee that will meet every 3 years and that will decide which countries can be upgraded. It also congratulated Samoa for its success but reminded the assembly that the economic vulnerability of these countries should be considered when they leave the list of LDCs.

ECOSOC 20TH JULY 2007

General Segment


Morning Session
Introductory remarks on the annual overview report of the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) for coordination for 2006/2007
By Mr. Adnan Amin, Director, CEB Secretariat

The report highlights the major developments in inter-agency cooperation within the framework of CEB and its High-Level Committees on Programmes (HLCP) and Management (HLCM) during the period covering the fall 2006 and spring 2007 sessions of CEB.
The CEB’s work over the reporting period was characterized by a renewed sense of urgency and a strong sense of common purpose enabling the Board to take a more ambitious approach to both policy development and implementation to enhance the strategic contribution of CEB to addressing the global challenges that the international community is facing.
Major topics addressed included the new mandate entrusted to ECOSOC, the evolution of concept of the one UN at the country level, mainstreaming the employment and decent work agenda, aid-for-trade and the Brussels Programme of Action for Last Developing Countries.
The new mandate of ECOSOC provided new opportunities for a more meaningful policy dialogue between the Council and the UN system on system-wide coordination and policy coherence that will be further developed over time.
CEB member organizations underscored the need for better ways of engaging the UN system in a real dialogue with Council’s members across all the ECOSOC segments.
With regard to the One UN at the country level, the CEB recognised that the principal determinant of the perceived effectiveness of the UN system among both donor and developing countries was the effectiveness of its work at the country level.
In the implementation of the pilot approach, the Board recognized the crucial role of Resident Coordinators and resolved to ensure that clear and coherent direction was provided to them and an appropriate framework developed for managing their work.
The Board endorsed the establishment of an evaluation process for the pilot projects to benefit from a well defined laerning process.
The CEB’s considerationof employment and decent work provides a good example of the increasing importance of developing system-wide responses in CEB to key intergovernmental mandates.
Moreover, the CEB’s discussion on Aid-for-Trade was aimed at developing a common understanding among its members and to ensure a full involvment of the UN system to support the objective for the Aid-for-Trade initiative that arose from the Doha development round.
The challenge to the system was to maximize the productive aspects of trade liberalization while also dealing with negative impacts.
A consistent theme of the CEB has been the need to substantially improve its functioning in light of an increased sense of opportunity and expectation for a more effective response to major global issues, and to ensure that all the analytical and operational capacities in the system are brought to bear on meeting those challenges and maximising the System’s resonsiveness to the needs of member states and the international community.
The Board agreed that the key issue central to the functionig of CEB included the harmonization of business practices, systems and procedures across the system, effective responses to global policies issues, and country level operation.


Introduction of the Report of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haïti, by the delegation of Canada

The ad hoc advisory group on Haiti is composed of the Permanent Representatives of Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Haiti, Spain and Trinidad and Tobago to the UN.Its mandate has been extended to the purpose of following closely and providing advice on Haiti’s long-term development strategy to promote socio-economic recovery and stability.

Ø Economic and social development of Haiti: status and prospects
· Macroeconomic performance
The group note the positive and sustained progress made in the field since the transitional government of 2004, leading to an increased growth rate of 2.5 per cent expected for fiscal year 2006 and a dicrease in the inflation rate from 38% in 2003 to 8.6% in February 2007.
These are the results of important reform efforts carried out in the field of economic governance.
Haiti has started to realize the dividends of those efforts, which were acknoledged by most donors at the International Conference for the Economic and Social Development of Haiti, held in Madrid in November 2006.
But, despite thi situation, it should be borne in mind that Haiti’s economic governance structures are extremely limitated.
· Persistence of negative social indicators
Social indicators for Haiti remain persistently low or in decline, particularly in Health.
Poverty remains endemic. In fact, Haiti is not in a position to reach any of the MDGs by 2015.
During its visit in 2007, the group witnessed the extend of both urban and rural poverty.
In addition to these difficluties, some continuing socio-economic trends in Haiti will have long-terme consequences for the capacity of the coutry to emerge from widespread poverty, in particular:
- the continued increase in Haiti’s population
- the living conditions of children and youth
- the feminization of poverty
- the increase in violence and organized crime
- continued environmental degradation
· Prospects for long-term development: the engines of growth
The ad hoc advisory group identified three sectors with just that potential, which the government is willing to promote: tourism, agriculture and the textile/assembly industry.
The geographic situation of Haiti makes it a natural destination for large-scale tourism, a sector that declines over the years with repeated political turmoil and the consequent degradation of tourism infrastrucutre.
Because Haiti is primarly an agriculture country, promotion of this sector is a necessary stage of its development.
Haiti has also development potential in the industrial sector because of the low cost of manpower and the potential to generate many jobs.

Ø Need for institutional capacity-building in Haiti
· Weakness of state institutions
The Haiti public sector is characterized by the scarcity of civil servants and their concentration in the capital, Port au Prince.
The President and the Government, supported by UNDP, have established mechanisms to launch a reform of the civil service, to improve the management of human resources in the public sector and to harmonize the methods of work among ministries.
Among public institutions, those in charge of enforcinfg the law while ensuring respect for the rule of law deserve specific attention.
The strenghtening of law enforcement institutions requires concomitantly an improved justice system which, compared to the police force, has not received a similar level of support from the international community.
The Parliament, which was duly elected, last year, has a decisive role to play in the processes of institutional reform that require new legislation.
The Group therefore supports the idea of the Parliament receiving appropriate support from development partners, including through the strenghtening of “parlementary unit” within MINUSTAH.
· Consequences for aid management and delivery
Since 2004, international development partners have resumed a strong involvement in Haiti, aware of the fact that political stability and development are interconnected and that the situation in the country will remain fragile as long as basic socio-economic development concerns are not properly addressed.
It is important to define immediate short, medium and long terme action and to start with easily achievable goals.
Thus, one of the most visible consequences of the weakeness od State institutions is a large number of non-governmental organizations active in Haiti.
Continuing to invest in the capacity-building of Haitian institutions is essential and that is true for the three branches (executive, legislative and judicial) and for the various levels of government (central, deconcentrated and decentralized).

Ø Recommandations
· The group is encouraged by the evolution of the situation, including in the security sector in haiti and calls on all national stakeholders to continue reforms for the long-terme development of the country
· The group also calls on international stakeholders to stay the course and to consider increasing their suppot for Haiti
· It is imperative that Haiti remain on the international agenda and that appropriate support be given to the country, in particular by means of a strong UN presence on the ground through MINUSTAH.


Introduction of the draft report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group of Guinea-Bissau, by the delegation of South-Africa

The report describes the situation in Guinea-Bissau and provides highlights of the work of the group over the last year.
The country has been affected by tensions among the major political parties.
A new crisis erupted on March 2007 when a new coalition of parties within the Parliament passed a motion of non-confidence against the Prime Minister. On April 2007, Martinho Dafa Cabi was appointed by President Viera as the new Prime Minister. The group is hopeful that this new start will be used by all national stakeholders as an opportunity to achieve political and institutional stability.
A new issue of concern to the advisory group is a marked increase in drug trafficking.

Economic and social situation
The economic and social situation in the country has continued to deteriorate.
The recent pace of economic growth has not been sufficient to slow the deterioration of living conditions. The cause of this phenomenon was attributed by IMF to deteriorating terms of trade resulting from a dramatic rise in oil prices and a significant drop in the export of cashew nuts.
The government has been unable to generate adequate revenues owing to lower-than-expected taxes on cashews export and fees from fishing licenses.

International donor support to Guinea-Bissau
International donor support continues to remain critical in helping the government of Guinea-Bissau to meet its short-terms priorities.
The Government presented its poverty reduction strategy paper, its security sector reform plan and its 2006 and 2007 draft budget, which, combined, totaled for around $540 million.
The security reform plan is based on the following strategies:
· resizing the defence and security sector to bring it in line with the country’s needs
· modernizing the sector in line with its role
· clarifying the status of former national freedom fighters
· strengthening the participation of the sector in consolidating sub regional security
· building capacities in the justice sector
· involving civil society in the implementation of reform in this sector

Donors contributed a total of $262.5 million (48% of the fund request, including $233.1 million to support the implementation of the poverty reduction strategy papers), and $29.5 million for budgetary support for 2006 and 2007.

However, Guinea-Bissau has been unable to clear its fiscal gap for 2007.
Another key factor affecting the disbursement of pledges was the difficult political climate in the country.

The UN system continues to provide support to Guinea-Bissau in several areas, as education, health or food security.

The group stressed the importance of an orderly political evolution in the country, in accordance with the procedures and requirements contained in the Constitution.

Short-term priorities and medium-term prospects
The most urgent need is the disbursement of funds pledges at the 2006 donor round-table conference.
The group welcomes the formation of the new Government and its emphasis on national reconciliation and believes that this is an opportunity to strengthen political and institutional stability.
The report of the group in 2006 pointed to the need for short-term solutions to help the country manage its unsustainable debt.
Another critical short-term need is the implementation of security sector reform.
Progress over the medium-term requires that fund pledges for the implementation of the national poverty reduction plan be disbursed.
The Group once again stressed that putting Guinea-Bissau on a path of internally driven, sustainable development will require a comprehensive economic diversification strategy, supported by the international community, including the UN system.
Another critical challenge has been poor management in public administration.

Conclusions and recommendations
Guinea-Bissau continues to face serious challenges, which should be addressed on an urgent basis if violent conflict is to be avoided.
In the light of recent difficult circumstances, the Group is of the view that is would be useful to continue to monitor the situation, in particular the close link between emergency economic needs and political instability.
The Group also believes that there is room to further expand its interaction with national authorities and its collaboration with other organizations in support of Guinea-Bissau.
In conclusion, the advisory group would like to draw the attention of the Council to the importance of a coherent international response to countries in crisis.

Afternoon Session

This session of the ECOSOC was devoted to the issues of non governmental organizations (NGOs). The Council had first to deal with the recommendations of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which recommended 92 applications for consultative status in its regular session of January 2007 and 89 applications in its regular session of May 2007. The Consultative status was actually granted to all the NGOs recommended by the Committee, including the Geneva International Model of United Nations (GIMUN) – a student run NGO seeking to promote the aims and purpose of the UN - in the application of which the author of this report has been deeply involved.

Two questions in particular were debated and deserve to be mentioned here: on the one hand, two NGOs concerning gay and lesbian issues (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights and the Coalition gaie et lesbienne du Québec) had seen - as usual for the NGO dealing with this kind of topics - their application being refused by the Committee on NGO. But the question was here put into voting thanks to the western countries (Canada and Portugal in the name of the EU), which were deploring a kind of discrimination by the Committee, and in both cases the recommendation of the Committee was reversed. A first resolution was adopted with respect to the Coalition gaie et lesbienne du Québec the Consultative and as second one was also adopted with respect to the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights the status. These resolutions actually do not grant the Status to the NGOs, they just mean that their applications will be discussed in another session of the ECOSOC. On the other hand, the Council has to deal with a problem caused by an NGO called “Liberal International” (LI), whose representative supported the accession of Taiwan to the WHO during the Human Rights Council session of Mars 2007. China first wanted to withdraw the Consultative status of Liberal International and definitely exclude the NGO from the ECOSOC fora, but a compromise was finally found and the Consultative status of LI will just be suspended for one year. Many western countries deplored this decision, arguing that no fault had been committed by LI. The Agenda of the 2008 session of the Committee on NGO was finally adopted.

ECOSOC 19TH JULY 2007

General Segment


SUBSTANTIVE SESSION ( afternoon session)
Implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits: Review and coordination of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010.

Introduction by the Chairman :
He announced that item 6(b) was on the agenda and gave the floor to the director of OHRLLS for her presentation of the report of the Secretary general (document A/62/79-E/2007/63).

Ms. Zamira Eshmambetova, director of the OHRLLS, affirmed that the reports was showing that strong economic performance of LDCs continued but she pointed out that overall social-economic performance on African LDCs had been significantly compromised by continuing population growth, driven by the highest in the world fertility. Indeed, the African LDCs populations are the youngest in the world with a medium age of 19 years old. This suggests that many LDCs are still at the first stage of demographic transition. But by 2050, the children’s proportion in LDCs should decrease and the one of elderly people increase. According to the report, this change of the population structure will provide the LDCs with a demographic window of opportunity or “the first demographic dividend”, when every percentage point increase in the economic support ratio translates into an equivalent increase in the income per effective consumer. Then, she underlined that although agriculture is the backbone of economy in many LDCs, productive absorption of labour within agriculture wass not occurring and more poor people were seeking employment outside agriculture. Thus, low agricultural productivity, environmental degradation and challenges associated with climate change combined with rapid urbanization and fast population growth could lead to food shortages, disruption of food supplies and famine in LDCs. Achieving the objectives of the Brussels Programme requires greater donor focus on enhancing the productive capacity of the LDCs, in particular in agriculture. The report shows that only 6 out of 22 donors met the 0.20 per cent target. She concluded by saying : “commitments were made, goals and targets were set, it’s now time to act”.

Then the general discussion was opened.

Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, notified that the report of the secretary general didn’t address the implementation of the Brussels Programme for Action from the perspective of the development partners including the results achieved by them in the fulfilment of their commitments. Then, Ms. Farhat Ayesha stressed that very few LDCs will be able to meet the objectives, goals and targets of the Programme of Action (POA) if the current trends persist. According to her, whereas the LDCs have made tremendous efforts to build an enabling national environment for the implementation of the POA, the responsive support from their development partners in terms of fulfilling their commitments made in the BPOA is insufficient and at times completely lacking. She also raised the fact that despite contributions by many donors, the non mobilization of needed resources did not so far allow adequate representation of LDCs in the ECOSOC substantive sessions. She concluded by affirming that the group was deeply concerned at the decision to assign to the High representative additional functions, which would seriously undermine the realization of the specific objectives assigned to his office.

Benin on behalf of LDCs, said that the analysis and conclusions of the report didn’t stress enough the partners’ actions for development in LDCs. He reminded that one of the objective of the BPOA was the promotion of a shared responsibility between the LDCs and their development partners. Then, he announced that in regards of the decrease of the voluntary funds allocated to permit to LDCs to participate to ECOSOC sessions, they will be forced, if the current trends continued, to strongly ask for an inscription of it in the ordinary budget of the UN. To conclude, he also expressed his disagreement concerning the decision to assign to the High representative additional functions, which would seriously undermine the realization of the specific objectives assigned to his office.


Venezuela highlighted that the progresses made have been unequal. Then, he called for a strategy of development which would correspond to their specific needs. States should be able to establish their own national strategies. He also insisted on the fact that efforts to diminish the debt mustn’t affect the development of LDCs. He informed everyone that during the 2000-2006 period, his government allocated important amounts to LDCs, but they did it without as some perverted states or international organizations do it, impose conditions on them.

Bangladesh expressed the anxiety of its country about the fact that the major part of LDCs didn’t benefit from globalisation. He said that Benin is an example which was showing that a country could make important progress by itself. He gave the example of the micro credit which has been implemented in Benin. But if the main cause of the developments lays in the national government actions, a favourable international environment is also crucial. Thus, he called for a decrease of the customs duties to the access of the developed countries market and for a favourable approach of the challenges of the climate change for developing countries. He concluded by disagreeing with the decision to assign to the High representative additional functions.

Republic equatorial of Guinea started it speech by reminding everyone that a few years ago Guinea was one of the more poorest country in the world. But nowadays if it’s a medium intermediate country, it still exists a gap between the level of the economic growth and the standard of living of the population, even if the government decided to allocate great amount of resources in the social field and for infrastructures. Thus, it will be unfair that Guinea get out of the LDCs group whereas their main resources is an exhaustive one : the fuel. In this regard, he called the international community to react to its situation.

Turkey announced its help accorded to LDCs has considerably increased this last years and reaffirmed its sustain to LDCs. Turkey also called for a better implication of developed countries.

Nepal regretted that although many LDCs countries have made progresses in the field of good governance it was not the case in the economic field and the competitive one, thus they still couldn’t take benefit from globalization. He also affirmed that LDCs must have a preferential access to developed countries markets.

According to Sudan, the issue is to know what will happen after 2010. Then, he wondered if donators’ help has been sufficient comparative to the sincere commitments of LDCs (good governance, macro economic plans, economic reforms etc). To conclude, he assured that his government tried hard to maintain the peace in the region but called for the delete of its debt.

China reminded everyone that only four LDCs have reached the objectives, so as a consequence the help for development has to be strengthened. According to China, developed countries should implement “avantages tarifaires” and “préférences commerciales” to influence a sustainable development in LDCs. Then, China said that its government implemented the commitments of the POA andis about to delete African LDCs debts which are without interests.

According to Guinea, small states have to be considered as a specific category in the process of help for development. Guinea also affirmed that the revitalisation of agriculture should be in the heart of the Brussels programme.

Luxembourg welcomed the new importance attached to agriculture. Indeed, agriculture concerns an important part of the population in LDCs, and this field has been during too long time neglected both by north and south countries. Then, he wondered if the commercial rules in force are favourable to LDCs development.

UNESCO told the assembly how they cooperate with the LDCs : in assisting them to ensure their environmental sustainability, to strengthen their access to information, to integrate in education the theme of sustainable development, to reduce their vulnerability to natural disasters, to support them in their initiatives to establish efficient sectoral cultural policies.


MEETING GROUP 77


The Mexico resolution titled “Follow-up to the international conference on financing for development” was on the agenda.

The Chairman pointed out that many paragraphs have been taken in precedent resolutions.

Concerning the new elements and additions, on the P2, the members accepted the reference “2006/45 of 26 July 2006”.

On the P4, P5 and P6 no comments were made.

Concerning the OP4, they asked for its delete and decided to add on the OP3 as a (f) item the following amendment : “Contribute to the review conference of the meeting preparatory process in Doha in 2008.”