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Statement by H. E. Ms. Edita HRDÁ, Ambassador Alternate Head of Delegation of the Czech Republic

Statement by H. E. Ms. Edita HRDÁ, Ambassador Alternate Head of Delegation of the Czech Republic at the High - Level Segmentof the Substantive Session of the Economic and Social Council "Resource Mobilization and Enabling Environment for Poverty Eradication in the Context of the Implementation

Statement by


H. E. Ms. Edita HRDÁ, Ambassador
Alternate Head of Delegation of the Czech Republic


at the High - Level Segment
of the Substantive Session of the Economic and Social Council


"Resource Mobilization and Enabling Environment for Poverty Eradication in the Context of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010"


New York, 30 June 2004

Check Against Delivery



Madame President/ Mr. Chairman,


The Czech Republic places great importance to the main theme of this year´s high-level segment and is fully aware of its share of responsibility in relation to the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development commitments, previously adopted resolutions, and implementation plans. My country as a new member state of the European Union fully associates itself with the position of the EU presented here yesterday by the Irish Presidency. In addition, allow me to add few comments from my country's perspective.

The Government of the Czech Republic is convinced that the improvement of partnerships at national, regional and global levels is essential, as the efforts to mobilize greater domestic and international resources for development in the least developed countries are still considered insufficient. The Czech Republic supports the strengthening of the multilateral development assistance, close co-operation between UN funds and programmes, the Bretton-Wood institutions, donor and recipient countries.

The Czech Republic constantly intensifies its development cooperation. As regards the dynamics of the provided ODA, in the year 2002 it comprised of 0,065 % of the GNI, while in the year 2003 it grew up to 0,1 % of GNI and the perspective for the year 2004 is another twenty to thirty percent growth. Those numbers clearly show, that the Czech Republic practically doubled the volume of its ODA in just a few years.

The majority of my country's development assistance is provided on a bilateral basis through specifically tailored programmes. The projects are mainly oriented to the strengthening of the local supply capacities, especially in the areas of hydrological research and water management (as water supply and sanitation), in geological research of mineral resources, construction of health facilities, new sources of food supply, vaccination, as well as other health and educational projects. Currently, there are more than 20 projects executed in the developing countries, covering a number of LDC's, for example Zambia, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Regarding the trade issues, the Czech Republic has always attached great importance to the development dimension of the international trade relations. We believe that the WTO Generalized System of Preferences is one of the most important instruments for the strengthening of the collaboration and further improvement of market access especially for LDC's.

I would like to underline that the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development commitments remains our top priority. In this context we see NEPAD as one of the good examples of the regional initiative.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that only through effective co-operation we could bring an "added value" to the process of financing of development and mobilizing of resources. I would like to reiterate the continued interest of the Czech Republic to actively participate in discussions on the development and other important issues of the ECOSOC agenda and to closely cooperate with the other member states in this forum. In this context let me mention, that the Czech Republic submitted its candidature for the membership in ECOSOC for the period 2006 - 2008.

Thank you for your attention.