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President of the Republic at the Roundtable of Heads of State and Government at the 60th Session of the UN Ceneral Assembly on 15 September 2005
15.09.2005


Chair,
Excellencies,

Among the most significant issues facing the UN are development-related issues, which I would like to focus on today. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted five years ago set us guidelines how to reduce poverty and inequality in the world. Our constant effort is necessary to accomplish the goals. I would like to stress that activities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals should be ecologically, socially and economically sustainable.

We think that development issues should be stressed more, development cooperation enhanced and related resources increased. Estonia launched international development cooperation in 1998. Our contribution has gained volume and despite our short donor status we have already reached 0.08% of GNP. Our position is that each country should contribute in compliance with its capability and we are going to increase our contribution if our capabilities improve.

We consider it extremely significant to support the activities of the UN and other international and humanitarian assistance organisations and we are going to increase our support in future as well. In order to enhance the outcome of the international cooperation, it is also necessary to coordinate and level out the donor aid in order to curb administrative burden on developing countries.

We are convinced that the pledge of success in cooperation between donor states and developing countries lies in emerging ownership of the cooperation in recipient countries. Based on our own experience, Estonia can say that it is the state and its people who have to take the choice, committing them, thus, to the outcome. The donor states have a responsibility to promote rooting of the democratic society and protection of human rights in order to ensure inclusion of the entire population and support choices of the target country. Therefore, any aid should be based on national development strategies.

The time has shown that Estonia's experience in setting up democratic institutions, implementing economic reforms and inclusion of the civil society in public life and decision-making process could be of assistance to other countries. This is the reason why Estonia in its development cooperation has focused primarily on countries in which these processes have just started and need support.

However, it is evident that talking about global development and relevant cooperation we should derive from an individual and his/her needs. Sustainable development is possible only under circumstances in which all members of the society have possibilities to represent their interests and improve their way of life. To accomplish the above and reduce poverty improving access to education, especially to primary education and literacy, is critical. Currently more than 100 million children all over the world remain uneducated. Improving access to education and its quality, an increasing number of young people will be able to improve their way of life by making use of opportunities opened up through globalisation.

Traditionally the people of Estonia have valued learning and good education. We have attempted to develop education given in schools in our rapidly changing world by implementing state-of-art information and communication technologies. Ensuring access to modern information world through enabling environment, we lay the firmest foundation for positive changes capturing the entire society. We have shared our relevant experience with other countries and we remain committed also in future.

However, I would like to underline the significance of sustainable development. Otherwise neither developed nor developing countries can move forward. We have finite natural resources and our common task is to preserve them and be sustainable in their use. Therefore, implementation of Agenda 21 and Johannesburg Action Plan is very important. Pursuing ambitious development goals we cannot sacrifice our vulnerable environment. The underlying principle of Estonia's development cooperation is sustainable approach to nature and our goal is to support sustainable development activities.

Successful development is possible only if basic human rights in all the states of the world are ensured. We are of the opinion that the protection of human rights is inseparable from and equal to security and development issues. Therefore we consider it necessary to link human rights more closely to overall UN activities. It is also extremely important to make the UN human rights protection mechanisms more efficient as well as to strengthen the role of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. For this reason we support also the establishment of a Human Rights Council; however, we find that it should have adequate status and competence in order to tackle protection of human rights more efficiently all over the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To conclude, I would like to reiterate that only joint efforts of all the member states allow us to accomplish upcoming tasks and establish a firm foundation for a performing UN and for the development of its members. I am confident that our discussions at this summit set a strong basis for solution-oriented actions.

Thank you for your attention!


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