Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

First, please let me apologise for not being with you today. I had planned to attend the meeting, but have been kept away by the 2005 World Summit in New York .

It is as always a great honour to be part of this conference and to address this distinguished gathering. Attendance at this year's conference exceeds that of previous years and includes more national mine action directors than ever before. This is an indication of the success being achieved and the determination of affected nations to rid your countries of these lethal weapons.

This is the first conference in four years without Martin Barber, the former Director of the UN Mine Action Service, who retired earlier this summer. We are grateful for his consistent guidance and patient insight over the years. As you may know, replacing him has been a more difficult task than any of us would ever have imagined. In two successive selection procedures, we identified a suitable candidate. They were both highly qualified people, who at the last minute, were compelled to take other offers. We have initiated a third selection process and hope to finalize this process quickly so that we can move to the next phase of mine action challenges.

What are these challenges?

I'll start by talking about legitimacy. Interesting debates can take place as to what is most important: legality, legitimacy or popular support. I am using the word legitimacy here to mean all of these requirements. The bottom line is that the people of the country concerned must see that this intervention from outside their borders is meant to help them, all of them, and to help their country without fear or favour. Mine Action programmes must be legitimate at national, local and community levels. The Forum of Mine Affected Countries, which was established earlier this year in New York , provides an important forum in ensuring legitimacy of our actions, and I applaud UNDP for its commitment in supporting this initiative.

The other crucial challenge we face, is to build mine action programmes through local ownership. It may sound like a cliché, but it isn't and I'll explain why. The responsibility to address the mine problem lies primarily with the governments of the affected states and it is only by exercising this responsibility that mine affected states can convincingly sit at the head of the table and guide the assistance partners in addressing this problem. You will be discussing shortly possible frameworks, legal and institutional, to bring about the best possible collaboration amongst assistance partners, donors and national governments. It will be an important discussion, one that I am sure will produce interesting options. If we agree that mine action is a necessary precursor to post-conflict reconstruction and development, then mine action must be integrated into national reconstruction and development plans at the earliest possible opportunity. Again, we look at mine affected states to lead this process vis-à-vis the United Nations partners, donors and financial institutions.

Of course, we need to resolve the apparent disconnect between political and security policies of affected states on the one hand and UN mine action assistance policies on the other. The UN has taken a step in the right direction by re-defining its coordination policy. The 1998 inter-agency policy on "Mine Action and Effective Coordination" was revised earlier this year to better match the realities on the ground, and establish more clarity on "who in the UN does what, when and where." Appropriately coined by the Angolan Permanent Representative to the UN as the "yellow book," it provides affected states with clarity on what you can expect from the UN. We are working on translating the document into Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish, so that it may be more easily understood by our national counterparts.

The other point I would like to highlight to you is the contribution that mine action can make to lasting peace in post-conflict situations. The challenge before us is not to under-estimate the confidence building potential of mine action in these situations and the exponential benefits that can be derived from it, especially when programmes are nationally managed and led.

Allow me also to speak on what we have done in peacekeeping to support mine action programmes. This year, the Security Council has taken a bold step, in Sudan , by mandating the UN Mission to assist the parties to the comprehensive peace agreement in humanitarian mine action activities. This sets an important precedent, and I hope we can push forward similar mandates in future missions, should the need arise.

As always, we need to give serious thought to resources available to fund mine action programmes around the world. It is no secret that we are reliant on international donors to support our efforts and we must continue to build strong and credible programmes to instill in donors the confidence that their money is well spent. It is, of course, helpful if donors can see willingness from the affected state to contribute its own resources to mine action efforts, no matter how large or small they may be. The process of preparing the Portfolio of Mine Action Projects is an important means to ensure that a national strategic plan serves as the basis for the country-wide funding appeal. In other words, mine action should be demand driven , and not supply driven.

In mine action we are now faced with a crucial challenge against time. In the post-Nairobi context and in the Ottawa framework, the first countries required to be "mine-free" have less than four years to do so. Some countries have already indicated that this goal is achievable. For others this is an ambitious target and requires a realistic and inclusive approach of strategic planning and priority-setting. We need to get smarter and swifter at what we do. Many of you have prepared strategic plans or have joined the "Completion Initiative" for that purpose. It is a step in the right direction. The UN's new five-year mine action strategy, which will be developed in the coming months and will outline the UN's work until 2011, will need to incorporate these "end state" requirements.

Dear colleagues,

The few points I have raised may be summed up in simple words: get the job done building local ownership and with a light international structure.

This conference is about finding solutions to the common problems that you all face. Many of you have been dedicated advocates of mine action for years, others are new to the field. But, you are all united in your cause. It is your participation that will make this conference a success. I urge you all to share your wisdom, and engage in frank discussion and constructive advice over the next few days.

Thank you.