STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL AT THE OPENING OF ITS 2003 SUBSTANTIVE SESSION

30.06.03

Following is the statement of Gert Rosenthal, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), at the opening of the 2003 substantive session of the Council on 30 June at the Palais des Nations in Geneva:
" This is an important occasion in the life of the Economic and Social Council. It marks one of the few opportunities in which we, the United Nations, sit down with our main multilateral partners in the Economic and Social Sectors to jointly reflect on the state of the world economy, as seen from the development perspective, and re-commit ourselves to support each other in promoting higher standards of living for all mankind. Our High-Level Policy Dialogue of this morning takes place at a mid-point between ECOSOC’s last gathering with the Bretton-Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organization, on April 14, and the gathering under the aegis of the General Assembly, to be held next October, both as follow-up activities of the Monterrey Consensus.
As a back-drop to today’s dialogue, we are facing a disappointing global economic environment. Despite supportive macroeconomic policies in the major economies, the rebound, which appears to be underway, remains disappointingly anemic. Under the current forecasts, few developing countries are expected to return to their desirable longer-term rates of growth before the end of 2004. Thus, with a few notable exceptions, the first few years of the new Millennium have seen unsatisfactory development in the majority of developing countries and a significant setback for a number of them. In other words, the Millennium Development Goals are beginning to look unattainable; in the aggregate, and for numerous individual countries.
Still, we certainly should not despair. Rather, we must make a concerted and sustained effort, each one of us in our respective domain of competence, to rise to the multiple challenges before us, which could be translated into meeting the broad commitments made in the Millennium Declaration and the more detailed proposals agreed to in Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg. I hope that this morning discussion, to be followed by the High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council, can make a contribution to said effort".



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