Assembly President Proposes Development Debate
Assembly President Proposes Development Debate To ‘Translate Commitment Into Action’
New York, Oct 6 2006 7:00PM
The President of the United Nations General Assembly announced today she has proposed an informal meeting –– involving the UN, donors, recipient countries and others –– focusing on global development, saying she had been encouraged by world leaders’ commitment during last month’s general debate in New York.
Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain said she
had sent a letter to all 192 Member States yesterday
outlining the work programme for the Assembly’s 61st
session, seeking to capture the vision of world leaders to
make substantive progress towards implementing the various
internationally agreed development goals.
“I
was encouraged by the renewed commitment of world leaders to
multilateralism as the most appropriate way to address the
many global challenges of our time… To help translate this
commitment into concrete action, I have proposed to Member
States holding an informal thematic debate during the main
part of the 61st session.”
“The purpose of this
meeting will be to review practical measures and strategies
which could advance efforts to eradicate extreme poverty...
[It] will bring together interested donor and recipient
countries along with all other stakeholders of the UN
system, as well as civil society, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, she told
reporters in New York. The debate is expected to be held by
the end of December.
Sheikha Haya said she also
intended to hold two other “multi-stakeholder” informal
debates on gender and dialogue among civilizations, and had
also emphasized to Member States the importance of all
aspects of the UN reform process. She also called on them to
continue moving toward a comprehensive convention on
international terrorism.
Ends