Statement on Behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the Closing Plenary Session of the Follow-Up International Conference to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus
2 December 2008, Doha
The Secretary-General regrets very much not being able to be
with us at this closing plenary meeting today. Therefore, on behalf of
the Secretary-General, I would like to say just a few words.
First, to reiterate our deep gratitude to the Emir, government
and people of Qatar, for their generous hospitality and the excellent
arrangements they have made for holding this Conference. Our people at
the United Nations have been working closely with the Qatari
authorities for several months, in order to make this happen. And we
have consistently been shown extraordinary cooperation and a
disposition to spare no effort to make this Conference a great success.
And a great success it has been. We can now safely say that
the document that has just been adopted represents an important
milestone in the struggle for development, and that it adds significant
value to what we achieved in Monterrey almost seven years ago. On every
aspect of the financing for development agenda, we can identify areas
in which there has been progress. Perhaps this progress has not been as
much as we would have wanted. But that is precisely one of the reasons
why we came to Doha, to reiterate our political commitment to this
process and to show our determination to continue to carry it forward.
We now have our marching orders. And you can be sure that the
Secretariat of the United Nations will fulfill its responsibilities
with utmost dedication.
The success, of course, belongs most of all to the Member
States themselves. It is they who constructed it, they who worked
laboriously to reach it, and without their political will, it could not
have been achieved.
We would also like to recognize the key role played by others
in this process. I would just like to mention here, the key role of the
President of the General Assembly and his two Facilitators, the two
Special Envoys of the Secretary-General, and many officials of the
United Nations system. We also cannot fail to recognize the crucial
role played in this process by the other stakeholders, including many
intergovernmental and regional organizations, civil society
organizations and the business community.
Once again, Mr. President, thank you very much. Let us
celebrate today and get back to work tomorrow.
