ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONVENES SPECIAL MEETING FOR OUTGOING PRESIDENT, JUAN SOMAVIA OF CHILE
Press Release
ECOSOC/5808
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONVENES SPECIAL MEETING FOR OUTGOING PRESIDENT, JUAN SOMAVIA OF CHILE
19990119 The Economic and Social Council this afternoon convened a special meeting to bid farewell to its outgoing President, Juan Somavia (Chile). Mr. Somavia is to assume the post of Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 1 March. He was the Council's President in 1998 and 1993, its Vice-President in 1991, 1992 and 1997, and has served as his country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations for the past nine years.In his farewell remarks, Mr. Somavia said that, with the end of the cold war, the struggle for equity could be removed from the realm of ideology and addressed instead as a political and moral imperative. In today's uncertain world, there was no space for sectoral solutions to integrated problems.
The current financial crisis was an opportunity for change, he continued. A new financial architecture was needed and it should be constructed in close cooperation with institutions beyond the financial and monetary fields, so that development, trade, gender and social needs were all considered in an integrated manner. The United Nations world conferences had proven that the Organization could produce consensus on complex issues.
Speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, June Persaud (Guyana) proudly recognized the Ambassador as a son of a developing country who had made the world's people his cause. Mr. Somavia had made an indelible inscription in the journal of developing nations, and while his absence would be felt, the Group knew that he would support the people of the world in new and more dynamic ways.
Speaking for the European Union and associated States, Gerhard Henze (Germany) reviewed the Council's successes in 1998. He appreciated Mr. Somavia's initiatives aimed at strengthening the role of the Council. Mr. Somavia deserved recognition for his highly professional skills in leading the Council's deliberations.
Speaking on behalf of the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, the Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Patrizio Civili, said no one had done more than Mr. Somavia to promote unity of purpose between the Secretariat and
Economic and Social Council - 2 - Press Release ECOSOC/5808 Special Meeting 19 January 1999
intergovernmental bodies. Mr. Somavia had worked to make the Economic and Social Council more in line with the role envisioned for it in the United Nations Charter. Whether he worked from the Secretariat or representing Member States, what mattered was that Mr. Somavia remained part of the system.
Several speakers stressed the Council's successes over the past year, which included: a high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions in April; a special session in May on the implementation and follow-up of major United Nations conferences; and negotiations on reforming its subsidiary bodies.
Speakers also expressed appreciation for Mr. Somavia's dedication, professional abilities and the warmth of his personality. They pointed out that his initiative had led to the concept of the World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995. Further, his experience in promoting developing countries' social and economic welfare had enriched the Council's work and his abilities would continue to serve the cause from his new location in Geneva.
Statements were also made by the representatives of the Russian Federation, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Belarus, United States and Canada. The representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions spoke for the non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Council.
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