Summary: September 20, 2004: STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BY THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS, H.E. DR. BERNARD BOT. 'HIGH LEVEL MEETING OF WORLD LEADERS FOR ACTION AGAINST HUNGER AND POVERTY' (New York)
I have the honor to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, 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, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.
The EU welcomes this opportunity to discuss the fight against hunger and poverty and issues of financing for development.
The EU welcomes in particular the initiative taken by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to convene this high level meeting and we support the important final declaration to be submitted today.
Next year when we meet in New York it will be for the 2005 major event, with the participation of heads of state and government. At this meeting, we will review progress in honouring all of the commitments of the UN Millennium Declaration. The EU is committed to a strong development focus of the summit.
In 2005 we will reinvigorate our efforts to implement the Millennium Declaration, achieve the Millennium Development Goals and fulfil the promise of our Monterrey partnership commitments. Already, it is clear that we face a very significant challenge in achieving the MDGs in sub Saharan Africa. Instability, regional conflicts and the scourge of HIV-AIDS have added to the development challenge. They urgently need to be addressed in order to save millions and make development possible.
The integral implementation of the Monterrey Consensus will be crucial if we are to make the necessary progress. We expect that developing countries fulfil their part of the Monterrey commitments by achieving an enabling environment with good governance and optimal domestic resource mobilisation. Developed countries have important commitments to fulfil as well.
The EU itself has a strong commitment to its own responsibilities under the Monterrey Consensus. Immediately before Monterrey, the EU Council adopted the "Barcelona commitments." The European Commission reports annually and publicly on their implementation, while recognising the significance of the Monterrey Consensus for achieving the MDGs.
First, on the quantity of Official Development Assistance, all EU member States have reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the UN ODA goal of 0.7%. As a first significant step, at Monterrey, the EU made a collective commitment to achieve an EU average ODA of 0.39 percent of the Gross National Income by 2006. The member States, individually, also committed to increasing their ODA volumes to at least 0.33 percent of the Gross National Income by 2006. The EU is on track to meet its ODA
commitment.
Second, we need to focus on the quality of our assistance. In addition to increased resources, it is essential that developing partners make aid more effective. This means translating the Rome Declaration on Harmonisation into practice. It requires enhanced joint planning between donors, led by recipient governments and focused on alignment with nationally owned development strategies such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, as well as alignment with country systems and procedures.
Thirdly, we need coherence and development focus in our overall policies. Specifically on trade, the EU at Monterrey committed itself to trade related assistance to developing countries, in addition to the EU's commitment to an open, equitable, rules-based and non-discriminatory trading system and a successful Doha Development Round. This summer important progress has been made towards a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round. We are committed to making Doha a success for
developing countries.
Fourth, the EU remains committed to finding solutions to unsustainable debt burdens, and is committed to the enhanced HIPC initiative.
In addition, in order to achieve the MDGs, the EU looks forward to reviewing proposals for innovative financing with great interest, and will judge them on their merits, their practical feasibility, additionality, predictability and sustainability of financing they may provide. The EU welcomes the opportunity to study them thanks to the study sponsored by Brazil, France, Chile, Spain, as well as other initiatives by EU member states, and the UN study requested in the Monterrey Consensus. These
will help clarify the issues and map the opportunities.
In closing, the enormous challenge of achieving the MDGs calls for a strong partnership between all development partners, on the basis of the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcomes of the other major UN summits and conferences. As the UN Secretary General said in Monterrey at the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002:
" --- we live in one world, not two - no one in this world can feel comfortable, or safe, while so many are suffering and deprived."
Let us use the year we have until the 2005 major event to our advantage, and build further momentum in the fight against poverty and hunger.
* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process
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