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THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN) GENERAL DEBATE OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE NEW YORK, 5 OCTOBER 2004
I have the honor to take the floor
on behalf of the member countries of the Association We take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as Chairperson of this Second Committee as well as the members of the Bureau. We are fully confident that your experience and leadership wilt contribute considerably towards the work of the Second Committee. We also wish to thank the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. José Antonio Ocampo for his comprehensive overview on the world economic outlook. We fully associate ourselves with the remarks made by the distinguished Representative of Qatar on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Mr. Chairman, As the world stepped into the second millennium just four years ago, there was a sense of trepidation and hope for the future that lay ahead of us. Despite the technological feats and innovations in the last century or so, the scourge of poverty still prevails in many developing countries. Many people still do not have access to proper health and education facilities, and largely depend on a livelihood based on the utilization of natural resources. We knew the challenges had to be overcome with concrete and concerted action by all countries. The United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by the world’s leaders in 2000 has set us on a course to achieve a set of time-bound development goals consisting of eight targets etched in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since then we have all been working towards the achievement of the MDGs in 2015. In practical terms, developing countries have made efforts to integrate the MDGs within their national development strategies, and that includes developing poverty reduction strategy papers. However, we all know defeating poverty will require many actors working together. In our view, enhancing global partnerships and fulfilling international commitments are vital in ensuring that the extreme poor receive the benefits they are rightfully entitled including job creation and improvement of the quality of employment. Next year will be the crucial milestone for us. The ‘UN General Assembly will be convening a High Level Plenary Meeting marking five years in the implementation of the MDGs. This event gives us a timely opportunity to develop innovative approaches as well as collaborative mechanisms to accelerate the achievement of the goals and objectives of the agreed UN major conferences and synergize them with the MDGs. The focus of the 2005 event should therefore be on the implementation of prior commitments rather than a comprehensive document of a declaratory nature. Mr. Chairman, I would like to now direct our focus on regional matters that have implications towards the wider international scope. UN indicators on MDGs show that the Southeast Asian region is on track in poverty reduction, providing primary education, enhancing gender equality, providing proper health care for children and mothers. We are also making some progress in reversing the spread of infectious and deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, bird flu and malaria as well as taking the necessary and effective measures to ensure environmental sustainability. ASEAN is strengthening its relations with dialogue partners, enhancing its commitment to achieve the MDGs as well as playing a contributory role in assisting the region become the ASEAIN Community through political, economic and socio¬-cultural initiatives. Within ASEAN, we have sought to align our regional initiatives with the MDGs, prioritizing rural development and poverty eradication, emphasizing the challenges of globalization, trade liberalization and regional economic integration and identifying ten priority areas on sustainable development. At the 9th ASEAN Summit held in Indonesia
in 2003, our leaders agreed on developing The ASEAN Economic Community is striving to become a single market and production base, characterized by the free movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labor, and freer flow of capital. A roadmap that aims to accelerate regional integration is at its final stage and will be signed by the ASEAN Economic Ministers at the 10th ASEAN Summit to be held in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2004 along with the Vientiane Action Program, the successor of the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) that focuses on narrowing the development gap among ASEAN Member Countries. The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community is envisaged to intensify cooperation in social and rural population and promoting active involvement of all sectors of society. It will address problems associated with population growth, education, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation and trans-boundary pollution. Mr. Chairman, With regard to the issues presented
before the Second Committee, ASEAN would like to emphasize that ICT,
trade, financing and development as well as sustainable development
play a strategic role in realizing the MDGs in our region as well
as realizing our vision for an ASEAN Community. Other ASEAN endeavors to advance ICT in the region include the implementation of the objectives of the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement. In advancing our objectives on ICT, ASEAN looks forward to enhancing cooperation with the UN, particularly the ICT Task Force and the related agencies as well as the private sector in promoting ICT in our region. ASEAN as a region views trade liberalization as an important vehicle for development. We are nearly completing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) as a step forward in realizing the AEC. ASEAN hereto calls for the further enhancement of the international economic and trading systems to complement ASEAN’s efforts to open trade and investment environment in the region. We call for, in particular, the improved market access for developing countries’ exports, eliminating trade-distorting subsidies and barriers to trade for agricultural products. The provision of special and differential treatment to developing countries should also at the same time be tackled with urgency. To maintain trade financing, at the international level, we have collectively called upon the developed countries to keep their markets open to ASEAN particularly the members who are least developed. Finally, on promoting the protection
of the environment and sustainable development, ASEAN’s long
term vision and efforts have existed since 1972. ASEAN Environment ASEAN in this regard, views the JPOI
equally important to realize as the principles, strategies and action
plans for sustainable development contained in the Rio Declaration
and Agenda 21 established twelve years ago. It is therefore imperative
that the commitments in financial assistance, technology transfer
and capacity building be fully realized.
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