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Statement New York, 26 April 2000 Mr. Chairman, Let me begin by congratulating you on your chairmanship and I am convinced that under your wise guidance, we will be able to fruitfully conclude our meeting by reaching our common goals. I would also like to commend the Secretary-General for his report in which be compiled the inputs of member country for the ten-year review of the implementation of Agenda 21. And, I wish to extend my appreciation to the CSD Secretariat for its professionalism in the arrangements for this meeting. Given the limited time available for the general debate, I will limit my remarks to the preparations for the ten-year review. I do, however, intend to actively participate in the interactive dialogue on various thematic issues to be discussed during the high-level segment. My delegation also wishes to associate itself with the statement delivered by Nigeria on behalf of the G-77 and China. Mr. Chairman, I would like to recall that since the Heads of States and Governments of the international community adopted Agenda 21 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro eight years ago in 1992, we have engaged in a series of reviews and assessments on the progress made in its implementation. And, in each year’s assessment since then the reports have noted that, although some progress has been achieved, environmental degradation has also continued unabated. As to the development dimension we can see is no promising trend that could reinforce our common efforts to improve the environment both for the present and future generations. In this connection, I would like to welcome the launching of early high-quality preparations for the forthcoming ten-year review and to support the role of this eight session of the Commission on Sustainable Development identifying recommendations for further adoption in the larger forum of the General Assembly through the coordinating role of the ECOSOC in its substantive session in July this year. Mr. Chairman, I also welcome the preliminary views and suggestions outlined in the Secretary-General’s report on the preparation of the ten-year Review of the Implementation of the Outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and I would like to briefly comment on some of the ideas and issues contained in the documents now before us. First, the ten-year review of the implementation of Agenda 21 should be a comprehensive one on the overall implementation and it should also seek to mobilize similar political momentum as was achieved by the Rio summit in 1992. In this regard, we hope the review conference will provide a summit level involvement of all countries for the purpose of both renewing their commitments and of speeding up their implementation in the field. The review conference should ensure the participation of major groups from both developed and developing countries and all relevant international organizations including the Secretariat of the Rio and post-Rio Conventions together with all related UN Commissions. Secondly, it is very essential that the preparatory process for the review conference should be as broad as possible, transparent and participatory so that all member countries of the UN will be able to actively contribute. The preparatory process should not only take place at the regional and global levels but, most importantly, also at the national and local level. During these preparatory processes it is important that progress at the national level should be identified and gaps and obstacles in the implementation of local agenda 21’s should be focused on with the objective ensuring their speedy implementation. In preparing and carrying out the preparatory processes, the international community, particularly the donor countries should provide technical and financial assistance to the developing countries. Thirdly, at its eight session the Commission should produce sets of recommendations on the nature, format and scope of the review conference based on the outcome of the formal and informal discussions of the high-level segment. At this juncture we should be able to make recommendations to the UN institutions to carry out their tasks as the Secretariat of the meeting both during the preparatory process and at the Summit itself. Mr. Chairman, As to the focus of the review conference, we should fully take into account the development dimension as we believe it to be very essential in ensuring the full and comprehensive implementation of the Agenda 21 and the Further implementation of Agenda 21. In doing so we should not allow the renegotiations of the agreed principles and programs. However, new initiatives, such as sharing best practices that have been applied jointly by two or three countries on the implementation of Agenda 21, could be considered as important lessons for further implementing the commitments of the Agenda 21. On the identification of new challenges since UNCED that have not been included in Agenda 21 as described in the Secretary-General report, I would like to caution that, while we could consider them, they should not become a preoccupation during our deliberations and we should rather concentrate more on our main goals, particularly to ensure the full implementation of Agenda 21 and the Further Implementation of Agenda 21. With regard to the venue, I am of the opinion that the review conference should not be organized in the United Nations Head Quarters in New York. To provide a more significant political momentum to this conference and to allow the ownership of the developing countries as well as to enable them to actively participated and engaged in the meeting, I would prefer that this conference should be organized in the developing countries, preferably in Asian countries. To conclude, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to officially announce that Indonesia, in cooperation with other countries, will host a regional meeting on energy and sustainable development to be held in Indonesia on November 2000. This is an inter-sessional meeting aimed at providing substantive inputs from a regional perspective to the Ninth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. Moreover, it is expected that this meeting will be able to produce long-term strategic planning at the regional level on the issue of energy and sustainable development. In this regard, I wish to extend our invitation to all Asia-Pacific countries and other interested countries to participate in and to support the meeting. Thank you.
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