Economic and Social Council

2008 Organizational Session

1^st Meeting (PM)

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL’S CRITICAL ROLE

IN ADVANCING GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA, AS ORGAN PICKS BUREAU

Permanent Representative of Haiti, Elected New President

By Acclamation, Calls 2008 ‘Year of Promise and Challenge’

Vowing to work for the enhancement of the United Nations development role in 2008 and to submit a proposal to the General Assembly in March on strengthening the Organization’s development machinery, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that the Economic and Social Council had a critical role to play in ensuring that the race to achieve the Millennium Development Goals was won and the global development agenda advanced.

Meeting for the first time in 2008 following what many agreed had been a landmark year for the Economic and Social Council as it put into operation the new functions mandated by the 2005 World Summit, members elected Léo Mérorès of Haiti as their new President.  They also elected four Vice-Presidents and adopted the annotated provisional agenda for the Council’s 2008 organizational session (document E/2008/2).

Emphasizing that progress on development was lagging, the Secretary-General also stressed the need to deliver as one at the country, regional and global levels in virtually every area of development work.  “In 2015, we must be able to say that we have done everything possible to follow through on our commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”  In confronting those challenges, it was vital to focus on results.

Despite the difficulties, the United Nations development agenda, especially the Millennium Development Goals, could be achieved if immediate steps were taken to implement existing commitments, he continued, adding that Africa must be the priority.  While there had been recent improvement in growth and economic stability across the continent, poverty in sub-Saharan Africa had risen over the last decade and not a single country in the subregion was on track to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2015.  To address that “alarming” situation, the Millennium Development Goals Africa Steering Group had been working hard since last September to mobilize resources.

He said he would convene, together with the General Assembly President, a high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals in September to find ways to bridge the “implementation gap”.  Close attention must be paid to systemic issues of trade, investment and finance in the run-up to the twelfth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to be held in Accra, Ghana, in April, and the Financing for Development Conference, set for Doha, Qatar, in November.  Responding to the many interlinked global challenges required collective action and international cooperation, and the Council was uniquely placed to forge closer ties with all actors, including civil society and the private sector, and to maximize the potential of the United Nations to serve the needs of humanity.

Following his election by acclamation, Economic and Social Council President Léo Mérorès (Haiti) said he saw the coming year as one of “promise and challenge”, adding that the selection of the theme for the 2008 Annual Ministerial Review -– “Implementing the agreed goals and commitments in regard to sustainable development” -– could not have been more timely, as that subject was at the top of the agenda among both policymakers and citizens worldwide.

He noted that, as a citizen of a small island developing State, the implementation of agreed sustainable development commitments was of particular importance.  Although small island States were responsible for emitting less than 1 per cent of global greenhouse gases, they and their largely coastal populations, would suffer more, and sooner, from the effects of climate change, sea level rise and extreme events.  Small islands also struggled with low adaptive capacity and high adaptation costs relative to their gross domestic product.  Unless action was taken immediately, human health and well-being would be severely impacted, within small island developing States and around the globe.

“I believe that ECOSOC has the potential to further our common understanding of how climate change and social and economic development are interlinked,” he said, noting in particular that the Council could provide a forum for the integration of the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development that was presently lacking at the global level.  The Council could also bring the energy of its functional commissions to bear on the complex challenges facing humanity.  A productive, action-oriented Ministerial Review this year would be an important first step towards realizing that great potential.  At the same time, the true test of the Review’s success would be the extent to which it contributed to achievement of the Organization’s wider development agenda.

He promised to make every effort to ensure the success of the Council’s first ever biennial Development Cooperation Forum, which was expected to become a principal mechanism for global dialogue and policy review on key development cooperation issues.  The Forum was also expected to contribute to the 2008 Doha Follow-up Conference on Financing for Development to review the implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus.  The Forum process could also provide stepping stones towards renewed global consensus on aid quality and architecture, including national ownership and leadership.

Citing the enhanced engagement of all stakeholders in the Council’s work as one of the chief goals of his tenure, he said there were two notable opportunities to mobilize participation during the upcoming session: the Civil Society Development Forum, which would be held just before the July substantive session; and the Innovation Fair, a showcase of replicable innovations aimed at attaining agreed development goals.  The new presidency would also devote significant energy to ensure the Council played its due role in the areas of peace and security, and in emergencies.

Turning to the Council’s work in the run-up to the July session, he noted that the April high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions had the potential to contribute meaningfully to the development financing review conference in Doha.  All Member States were urged to use that opportunity to convey their views to the institution stakeholders.  On 25 February, a special half-day event would focus on ways in which philanthropy could contribute to advancing the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the areas relating to sustainable development.

Recalling that the international community had underscored the Council’s importance and endowed it with new responsibilities, he said he would count on all Council members in the coming year to contribute to the vision of a stronger, more effective Economic and Social Council and to ensure that the wider Organization moved closer to meeting the internally agreed development goals.

Outgoing President Dalius Čekuolis ( Lithuania) said 2007 had been an extraordinary year, during which the Council had had shifted gears and taken on its new functions.  It was now well on its way to becoming the Charter body envisaged by the Organization’s founding members.  The Council’s role of giving visibility to development issues of concern to all had been reinforced in 2007, especially through the first Annual Ministerial Review on eradicating poverty and hunger.  The Review had also presented unique opportunities to engage civil society, whose Development Forum had elaborated a set of specific recommendations around the Review theme, ahead of the intergovernmental discussion in the high-level segment.  The invigorating dialogue at the launch of a second innovative platform in 2007 -- the Development Cooperation Forum -– had paved the way for a true global development partnership.

Reviewing and re-energizing the Council was a work in progress, he said, adding that the organ must evolve and adapt continuously in line with the challenges it faced and the needs of its members.  It could claim a few modest accomplishments, such as the adoption of the multi-year work programme for the Annual Ministerial Review, which was a major improvement, and stronger substantive linkages between the Council and its subsidiary bodies, especially the functional commissions, which could enhance the overall coherence of the Economic and Social Council system.

Calling for continued efforts to adapt and improve the Council’s working methods, he said remaining challenges before it included adapting the work of its general segment, whose current structure hampered meaningful substantive consideration of agenda items and limited the Council’s capacity to offer effective policy guidance.  The segment should be redesigned and made more focused, and the United Nations system’s engagement in it should be strengthened.

The new President said he intended to hold informal consultations on the proposed basic programme of work and other matters requiring action during the organizational session, which was set to resume from 5 to 8 February and 29 to 30 April.  Times and dates for the consultations would be announced in the Journal.

Also elected by acclamation were four Vice-Presidents:  Kim Huyn Chong (Republic of Korea), from Asian States Group; Andrei Dapkiunas (Belarus), Eastern European States Group; Jean-Marc Hoscheit (Luxembourg), Western European and Other States Group; and Antonio Pedro Monteiro Lima (Cape Verde), African States Group.  The Algerian delegation nominated the vice-presidential candidate from the African States Group.

At the February part of the organizational session elections and/or appointments will be made to the following bodies: Committee of Experts on Public Administration; Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); and the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

The Council re-elected Brazil to the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission for a term starting today and expiring on 22 June.

Finally, in accordance with its annual tradition, the 54-member Council set the seating arrangements for the new session by holding a lottery.  Drawing dominoes from a box containing the names of the members, the President announced that Japan would take the first seat, followed by Kazakhstan.  Seating for the remaining members would follow in alphabetical order.

Welcoming the election of the new President were Haiti’s Minister for Planning and External Cooperation, as well as the representatives of Antigua and Barbuda (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union), Barbados (on behalf of Caribbean Community) and Guinea-Bissau.

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For information media • not an official record