Mr. Chair, Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to participate
in the CEI Summit and to address you.
I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts being
made by CEI Governments of Member States towards achieving long-term stability
in the Region, and to the common and joint efforts towards sustainable growth
and development. The Central European Initiative is making a remarkable contribution
to promoting peace and prosperity in Europe through dialogue and cooperation
projects.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
has contributed to your efforts in the past and will continue in the direction
of achieving common objectives, moving towards achievements in the transition
process, closer integration within Europe, and economic, social and environmental
development.
Since 1998 when a Memorandum of Understanding and a Cooperation Programme
were signed, UNECE has been closely cooperating with the CEI institutional
framework and Secretariats in Trieste and in London.
The main lines of cooperation in the economic dimension include
(1) promotion of economic cooperation through trade facilitation, ICT, SME
development; (2) providing advice to CEI governments; (3) development of projects
in individual countries, like, for example, micro-financing in Albania; (4)
contribution to the Summit Economic Forum; (5) investment promotion through
the Investiguide.
For the third year the UNECE has prepared a publication for
investors in cooperation with the CEI, "Investiguide", which also reflects
the focus of the 5th CEI Summit Economic Forum of "investing in European cooperation".
In the immediate future, the UNECE-CEI cooperation will have
to take up the challenges and opportunities of EU enlargement. The UNECE will
work in the area of legislative framework that would promote integration between
the enlarged-EU and non-acceding countries.
The UNECE will pay special attention to those countries that
will not be a part of the first round of EU enlargement. The intention is
to facilitate their future integration into the EU through speeding-up the
transition process and the accession process.
We are facing the challenge of economic globalization and
the responsibility for making it human-friendly. In the Millennium Declaration,
Governments made commitments to increase prosperity and reduce poverty, to
improve human capital, to enhance peace and security, to prevent environmental
degradation.
The UNECE's role is to facilitate Governments' fulfilling
the commitments in the Millennium Declaration and other declarations adopted
in Monterrey at the Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey Consensus),
in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Plan of Implementation)
or in Madrid at the Second World Assembly on Ageing, and in Berlin at the
Ministerial Conference on Ageing.
We would like to extend our cooperation with the CEI members
in implementing the political commitments in the areas of trade and trade
facilitation, transport, industrial restructuring, enterprise development,
and environment. The UNECE's five environmental conventions and nine protocols
are intended to combat air and water pollution, improve the use of water,
prevent industrial accidents, assess the cross-border effects of projects
before they are given the go-ahead, and foster public participation in decision-making.
Some of the CEI Member States will have to address other
important challenges: like the issue of poverty, growing income disparities,
high unemployment rate, and intergenerational solidarity in the context of
ageing. The Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS) on Ageing adopted in Berlin
represents an excellent starting point for dealing with this important economic,
social, political and human rights issue. The UNECE would like to promote
exchange of best practices and experience in this field.
Most of the CEI members have to face the challenge of strengthening
governance and participatory democracy. A consistent part of it is the fight
against corruption which undermines economic efficiency and increases social
disparities. We would like to extend our involvement in promoting good governance
from the government level to the corporate sector. The ongoing work on the
preparation of the UN Convention against corruption, once completed, will
give the opportunity to Governments to make new commitments in this respect.
The recent Regional Ministerial Conference on the Information
Society in Bucharest adopted the Bucharest Declaration which includes fundamental
principles of the Information Society. The development of the Information
Society will enhance democracy, prosperity and stability in the region. We
should prevent a new digital divide that would slow down the catching-up process.
A closer cooperation of UNECE and CEI in this field could reduce the risk
of new gaps.
Excellencies! Regional cooperation is and will remain an
efficient framework for addressing new challenges, for peace and security,
and sustainable development. We should take advantage of it.
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