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STATEMENT
Mr. Chairman, Let me begin by expressing my delegation’s sincere appreciation to the Executive Director of UNEP for his work, in consultation with governments, in reviewing the state of international environment governance and for providing a comprehensive report for consideration by the first meeting of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Group of Ministers or their Representatives in New York, on April 18, 2001. My delegation also wishes to associate itself to the statement of the distinguished Ambassador of Iran in his capacity as the chairman of the G 77 and China. In the critical area of international governance we see an urgent need to strengthen the global institutional framework for sustainable development to ensure effective and full implementation of Agenda 21 and all related instruments and mechanisms on sustainable development. It is also imperative that improving coordination among the relevant environmental institutions and mechanisms in the implementation of their respective mandates should be given greater emphasis. Furthermore, my delegation is of the view that the issue of compliance as elaborated by the Executive Director in his report is not in accordance with the various principles we have agreed upon in Agenda 21. In our deliberations on this issue, my delegation also places great importance on highlighting the need to ensure that a balance is fully maintained between economic development, social development and environmental protection as independent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development as enshrined in the Agenda 21. It is also the view of my delegation that the work and activities undertaken by UNEP on the issue of governance should become part and parcel of the work mandated by the international community to the Commission on Sustainable Development in its capacity as the preparatory committee of the World Summit on Sustainable Development which is recognized by the GA resolution A/RES/55/199, particularly, paragraph 15.e. Thus, the work of the Open-ended Group of Ministers or their Representatives should feed into the preparatory process of the WSSD both at the regional and the global levels. This would entail ensuring an open, participatory, transparent and comprehensive process for the work of the Open-ended Intergovern-mental Group of Ministers or their representatives in undertaking a comprehensive and holistic policy-oriented assessment of existing institutional weakness as well as future needs and options for strengthened international environment governance, including the financing of UNEP. My delegation also welcomes the organization of the first meeting in New York and proposes that further meetings be organized in New York before the final presentation of the analysis and options to the next session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. In this connection, it is also important that we reemphasize the need to utilize the important GA Resolution A/RES/53/242 as the basis for further institutional strengthening, taking into account the relevant GA resolutions on UNEP and on enhancing complementarities among international instruments related to environment and sustainable development. Furthermore, in our deliberations on this issue, we should also ensure that the lack of full implementation of all the implementation issues of Agenda 21 will be addressed so as to enable the Group to provide comprehensive options in the search for the full implementation of common global goals on sustainable development. Finally, to ensure full and meaningful participation of member countries, particularly from the developing countries, it is also important to ensure that their active participation should be facilitated by donor countries in the future meetings of the Group. In the same vein, we should also reconsider the proposed organization of work of the open-ended intergovernmental group of ministers or their representatives for the period of April – December 2001 as contained in document UNEP/IGM/INF/4 taking into account the need to ensure an effective and comprehensive work of the Group. Thank you.
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