General Assembly Session 55 meeting 45

Mr. Schumacher (Germany)

Good morning, Mr. President. I think before I start my speech I should compliment you on your tough guidance and the good example you are setting, and I do hope that very soon the rest of the audience will follow and will recognize how important it is today that we should not squander our time when important issues are at stake.

I have the honour today of introducing agenda item 173 entitled "Towards global partnerships". After an intensive round of informal talks, we were encouraged by many delegations of all regional groups to introduce this new item to the agenda of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly.

The ensuing intergovernmental exchange of views was extremely helpful. We based our initiative on three fundamental assessments, which I would like to outline very briefly. First, globalization has become a fact of life; it offers great new opportunities, but also has brought along the danger of "new divides". Its benefits are considerable, but they have so far been very unevenly distributed among the regions of the world. Therefore, new partnerships are needed to bridge these gaps. No Member of the United Nations -- no region -- should be left out of this process.

Secondly, globalization has led to the emergence of new global players, in particular from the private sector, who must accept their share of responsibility for the aforementioned objectives. From this follows the need for new partnerships and enhanced cooperation between these actors, the United Nations and its Member States.

Thirdly, this cross-sectional issue is such an important one that all United Nations Member States should be involved from the very beginning. Thus, it is high time to open the debate within the General Assembly, and this is what we have done by introducing the new agenda item and by referring it to the General Assembly and not to an individual committee.

Based on the statements by our heads of State and Government at the Millennium Summit and on the reactions we have received so far on our project, I trust that there is broad consensus among Member States on these three assumptions. Accordingly, the Millennium Declaration explicitly states the need for strong partnerships with the private sector and with civil society organizations. Thus, agenda item 173, "Towards global partnerships", actively pursues the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

Germany follows with interest the manifold strategies for an increasing variety of partnerships between the United Nations and other relevant partners outside the United Nations system. No body is better suited than the United Nations and its General Assembly to observe, discuss and guide these developments. It is in this light that I would invite you to evaluate our resolution's initiative, "Towards global partnerships". Once negotiations are finalized and the informal negotiations are pending, Germany wants to introduce the text under this agenda item and take action on it. We are confident that we will be joined by a large number of co-sponsors.

We have chosen a rather procedural approach for this draft resolution. As a first step, more information, clarity, transparency and coherence in action are required. The draft resolution envisages three requests addressed to the Secretary-General, the first of which is to seek the views of Member States on how to study, promote and enhance cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant actors, in particular the private sector. The second request is to seek the views of those partners on how to render their cooperation with the United Nations more effective. And, thirdly, the submission of a report to the next General Assembly is requested on this matter.

As negotiations are still pending, I do not want to get into the details of the draft resolution now. Many Member States have already contributed to the drafting process. I would invite all interested delegations to join us in this important endeavour. It is worthy of our best efforts, as a considerable impact on our common future is at stake.

The United Nations will benefit from the private sector, and vice versa -- tomorrow even more than today. We, the Member States, must make this partnership and these partnerships successful by being an active, creative and guiding part of it.