General Assembly Session 56 meeting 107

The President

Members will recall that, at its 95th plenary meeting, held on 11 March 2002, the Assembly decided to consider agenda item 107 directly in plenary meeting.

I give the floor to the representative of Mexico to introduce draft resolution A/56/L.81.

Mr. Aguilar Zinser (Mexico)

It is particularly gratifying for the Mexican delegation to present for the consideration of the General Assembly draft resolution A/56/L.81, entitled "International Conference on Financing for Development", sponsored also by Venezuela, which in its capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, played a fundamental role in the final phase of the negotiations of the Monterrey Consensus; Denmark, which is currently President of the European Union; and Australia, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Macedonia, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.

The Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development constitutes the culmination of an important historic process that places the fight against poverty at the centre of world development priorities and of the international community's concerns. It is also the crystallization of an immense effort, because the fight against poverty is being conducted under the leadership of the United Nations and with the energetic and resolute mobilization of the entire structure of the Organization.

With that concept in mind, the idea of holding a conference on financing for development had circulated in the General Assembly Hall for decades, and was a focus of attention for many of the fine minds that have preceded us. But it is at this point in history, in a combination of circumstances determined by the current interdependence and globalization, that our collective will has made it possible to build this process in order to move forward along new paths towards the pursuit of equitable and human development on a global scale.

It has taken many years of collective effort by the community of nations, along with the support and resolve of the Secretary-General and his team, to take this first step towards placing the issue of poverty at the centre of international cooperation, thereby breaking with the old inertia and opening up significant political spaces. The United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, in association with regional development banks, United Nations regional commissions and all other relevant actors -- including parliamentarians, civil society and the private sector -- will now be able to harmoniously promote the comprehensive agenda of financing for development that emerges from the Monterrey Consensus. However, it will be necessary to persevere and make further progress. This is the beginning. In moving forward with the vision of the Millennium Summit, the great collective challenge of Monterrey will be to transform our political platform into concrete, ambitious, effective and wide-scale activities. That should take place within a framework of joint international responsibility. In adopting the draft resolution before us today, we will be taking the first step both in that process and in the implementation of the commitments and agreements contained in the Monterrey Consensus.

Mr. Vallenilla (Venezuela)

It is an honour for Venezuela to be a sponsor of the draft resolution contained in document A/56/L.81, entitled "International Conference on Financing for Development". Venezuela participated actively throughout the process that for many years cleared the way for the holding of The International Conference on Financing for Development which finally took place in Monterrey, Mexico, earlier this year. During the final stage, my delegation had the honour of playing an even more active role, when, as the representative of Mexico just mentioned, it took over from the Islamic Republic of Iran the chairmanship of the Group of 77.

This was a United Nations conference in which Member States, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, the business sector and civil society as a whole played an active role in the process that led to the Monterrey Consensus. My delegation believes that all the participants in the Conference can commend themselves on results that, while not meeting the highest aspirations of all, nevertheless represent a level of international commitment that has rarely been achieved in the past.

The report of the Conference, which we are endorsing today through this draft resolution, is the next step in a new process at the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization that will lead to the next phase, which is the beginning of the implementation by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council of the agreements reached at Monterrey.