UNITED
NATIONS  GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
INFORMAL
HEARINGS OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND BUSINESS SECTOR
ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT
CIVIL
SOCIETY HEARING
SPEAKING
NOTES FOR THE CHAIRMAN
28 OCTOBER 2003
Good
morning ladies and gentlemen,
As President
of the General Assembly and Chair of the Civil Society Hearings
which we now launch, I am deeply encouraged by the continuing
interest and contribution of civil society in the critical
matters addressed by the International Conference on Financing
for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002.
May I say how pleased I am by the participation of civil
society representatives from around the world - I warmly
greet you on this occasion.
At the
FfD Conference, the global community made significant efforts
to disentangle the knotty problem of development financing,
so as to address the significant range of new and emerging
challenges to development, particularly in the developing
world. One and a half years after Monterrey and two days
before the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development,
this Hearing provides an invaluable forum for review, from
the civil society perspective, of the overall impact of
Monterrey.
One
commentator has said that duty is what we expect from others.
If I might take the liberty of adjusting the commentator's
observation, I would say that duty is more that our expectation
of others - it is what we ourselves are prepared to do.
Indeed, Civil Society organisations have been responsive
to their duty in respect of Monterrey. They have proven
their capacity to provide constructive inputs and expertise
to, and have presented proposals for, the financing for
development processes from the beginning.
We are
all conversant with the action that the FfD Conference determined
should be taken over a broad range of areas, by United Nations
member states, the United Nations system, other intergovernmental
and regional organisations and civil society to deliver
the commitments made at Monterrey. From this perspective,
the Conference was a beginning. The emphasis has now shifted,
from making decisions to implementing those decisions. We
have had more than one year to commence our implementation
initiatives. These hearings will no doubt contribute to
our overall evaluative process.
The first of your two panels today addresses the theme,
"A Review of Progress and Setbacks since Monterrey".
I very much appreciate the balance in this theme. For too
often our enthusiasm to identify obstacles prevents us from
reaching important conclusions about the progress we have
made. For after all, we learn from setbacks, but we build
on progress.
The
theme of the second panel, "Strengthening the
Role of the United Nations in Democratic Global Governance:
Towards New Arrangements at the United Nations",
touches on the important issue of United Nations revitalization
and reform. This is currently a major preoccupation for
member states and the United Nations system. What both panels
conclude will be important to the work we are doing here
at the United Nations, as we seek to move forward in accord
with commitments made at Monterrey.
As you
are aware, each Panel Session will have its Moderator, who
will introduce the panellists, set the ground rules for
the session and moderate the discussion. Each panel session
will last for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
Before I pass the floor to the Moderator of the first Panel
Session, I wish to advise that my duties will shortly take
me back to the Plenary, where I am presiding over an important
debate on United Nations reform, including revitalization
of the General Assembly, reform of the Security Council
and other reform issues.
It is
now my pleasure to call on the Moderator for the first Panel
Session, Mr. Roberto Bissio, the Executive Director of Instituto
del Tercer Mundo. Sir, I give you the floor, and ask that
in turn, you turn over to the Moderator of the second Panel
Session, Ms Emira Woods, Co-Director of Foreign Policy in
Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, whom I am pleased
to recognise at this stage in the proceedings.
I wish
you, Mr. Bissio and you, Ms. Woods and all participants
successful and enriching Hearings.
I thank
you.
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