Press release

28 May 2008

Sana'a-Beirut

UN-ESCWA 25th Session Kicks Off at Ministerial Level under Auspices of Yemeni President, Amid Large Arab Ministerial Presence

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Under the auspices of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and under the theme of "Financing for Development in the ESCWA Region", Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mojawar opened Wednesday the UN-ESCWA 25th Session at the ministerial level at the Movenpick Hotel, Sana'a. The two-day Session is gathering a quorum of representatives of the 13 member countries of UN-ESCWA, at the ministerial level, and senior officials from the host country (Yemen), diplomatic missions accredited to Yemen and eminent persons. It is also gathering representatives of United Nations agencies, states Members of the United Nations that are not members of the regional commission, governmental and non-governmental organizations; donor agencies and funding institutions, regional experts and academia and national media institutions, in addition to regional and international media agencies accredited to Yemen. Speakers at the opening ceremony were Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning, Khaled bin Mohammed Al-Kossaiby, whose country chaired UN-ESCWA 24th Session, UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary Badr Omar AlDafa and Prime Minister Mojawar. The opening ceremony also witnessed a message by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that was delivered by the Executive Secretary AlDafa. Kossaiby In his statement in which he handed over the chair to Abdelkarim Al-Arhabi, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Al-Kossaiby said: "Since our last meeting in May 2006, UN-ESCWA faced big challenges that requested us, countries and organizations, to stand by the organization, help it overcome the difficulties and implement its projects with high qualification. Due to the security situation, UN-ESCWA was obliged to evacuate its staff from the country of headquarters and work from more than one position for a period of time that was not considered short. But with the end of the 24th Session and despite the challenges faced by UN-ESCWA, the organization managed to achieve most of its planned biennium goals of 2006-2007 and recorded a relatively high implementation rate that reached 85 percent, the fact that prompts us to thank UN-ESCWA leadership and staff on this good achievement. " Al-Kossaiby added that the other positive side worth mentioning is UN-ESCWA's success in maintaining its cooperation with the Member States through sub-committees, whose number reached eight, that is in addition to the Technical Committee, which includes high-ranking officials from Member States and the Consultative Committee that includes Ambassadors of Member States in the host country, Lebanon. Al-Kossaiby went on to say that these committees have become active tools for strengthening ties between UN-ESCWA and decision-makers in Member States and boosting the efficient developmental presence of UN-ESCWA in Member States. "Undoubtedly the role of these committees will become more active and influential in the current 25th Session," he said. Before delivering the statement of UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary AlDafa read the message of the UN secretary-General in which he said, "UN-ESCWA region has experienced a period of growing political tensions and intense conflicts. It has also suffered from broader regional dynamics that perpetuate instability and insecurity. These unfortunate circumstances have adversely affected the region’s socio-economic development and widened disparities. They have underscored the need for greater and improved regional cooperation and economic integration." "UN-ESCWA is well placed to advance this goal. As an impartial body promoting universal values, it can help the Western Asian region meet emerging economic and social challenges," Ban said. He welcomed the selection of two pressing issues – financing for development and the Millennium Development Goals – for discussion in the Session, and pointed that its deliberations can help build momentum for the International Conference on Financing for Development that will take place in Doha, Qatar, from 29 November to 2 December 2008 and lay the groundwork for a successful outcome. "At the same time, you can make crucial contributions towards regional efforts to reach the MDGs in full and on time. We are now past the mid-point in the race to achieve these development targets, yet too many countries already lag behind. UN-ESCWA’s research and technical support can help regional Governments focus their efforts and resources on key areas, and make up for lost time, " Ban said. For his part, AlDafa thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its efforts throughout its presidency over the 24th Session. He said that one of the principal goals of UN-ESCWA is to contribute to the achievement of regional integration, which is fundamental to strengthening development efforts in the region. "The Commission therefore seeks to identify issues of common concern, with a view to facilitating integration and cooperation between member countries, particularly with respect to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), financing for development, South-South cooperation, environmental issues and climate change, and the global food crisis," AlDafa said. According to the Executive Secretary, the negative impact of climate change underscores the pressing need to reinforce sustainable methods of energy production and consumption, and makes it imperative to pursue policies that will optimize water use, particularly in agriculture, and ensure that land and water are used efficiently. "Furthermore, the negative impacts of population increase must be alleviated, and environmental degradation and pollution curbed if sustainable development is to be achieved," AlDafa said. AlDafa noted that the social and political impact of the global food crisis and rising food prices, especially on the poor, must be accorded the requisite concern, particularly in view of the fact that the region imports 50 per cent of all its food. He went on to say that in recent years, there has been noticeable economic growth in the countries of the region. However, that growth, particularly in the Gulf States, is fragile because it is closely linked to the price of oil. "We must therefore work together to make optimum use of this opportunity and diversify the economic base, develop the capacities of institutions and build effective partnerships between Governments, the private sector and civil society," AlDafa noted. Addressing the participants AlDafa said, "You have chosen Financing for Development as the main focus of the Session. That issue is directly linked to the Millennium Development Goals. I hope that the roundtable on the question will help identify the priorities and concerns of the countries of the region that are to be conveyed to the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held in Doha from 29 November to 2 December 2008." The Executive Secretary concluded by considering the Session as an opportunity to assist Yemen in overcoming the challenges with which it is confronted, namely, reducing levels of poverty and making tangible progress towards achieving the MDGs. Yemeni Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Mojawar, said that despite the difficulties and challenges facing the region in general, and the Yemeni economy in particular, Yemen managed to achieve a remarkable progress on the various political, social and economic levels. "At the political level, serious steps have been made to interpret the directions of the political authority in strengthening democratic practices, boosting political participation and widening the options of the local rule and granting it more prerogatives," Mojawar said. As for the social level, Mojawar said that in light of the Yemeni government's concern over achieving the MDGs, the government was working on confronting the basic challenge manifested in financing those programs and projects by promoting modernization policies and working on supporting transparent and responsible ruling institutions. "At the economic level, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) achieved a genuine annual growth rate with an average of 4.3 percent during the period stretched from 2000 until 2006," Mojawar noted. He concluded by saying that Yemen has carried out wide reforms that included developing the legislative and institutional infrastructure related to investment whereby the single portal system had been adopted, and the foreigners were granted authority to own territory. Following the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Mojawar and Executive Secretary AlDafa toured the exhibitions organized by the Yemeni Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and UNIS/UNIC-Beirut. The first showcased information relating to investment, mineral resources and tourism in Yemen while the second displayed reports, as well as other information material recently released by UN-ESCWA.
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