GA/10010
12 March 2002

ASSEMBLY AGREES TO INCLUDE G-77 AND CHINA, EUROPEAN UNION ON SPEAKER’S LIST IN SUMMIT SEGMENT OF CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

 Several Speakers Stress that "Gentleman’s Agreement"
By Assembly Does Not Constitute Precedent

NEW YORK, 11 March (UN Headquarters) -- As it prepared for next week's International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held in Monterrey, Mexico, from 18 to 22 March, the General Assembly this afternoon reached an agreement that representatives of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China and of the European Union would be included in the list of speakers for the plenary debate of the Conference’s summit segment. The Assembly made that arrangement rather than adopt a draft decision that would have amended the Conference’s format.

The International Conference on Financing for Development is mandated by the Assembly to promote international cooperation in six areas that are key to the prospects of the world’s developing and transition economies. The six areas are: stepping up mobilization of economic resources; increasing the flow and broadening the reach of private international investment; opening access to markets; strengthening official development assistance; solving intractable developing country debt difficulties; and improving the coherence of global and regional financial structures.

Milos Alcalay (Venezuela), for the Group of 77 and China, noted that a "gentlemen’s agreement" had been reached that obviated the need to take a formal decision to change the Conference format. He therefore withdrew the draft decision before the Assembly. The arrangement applied to this Conference only, he said, and would not represent a precedent.

The representatives of Australia (speaking also for Canada and New Zealand), Japan, Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea spoke to stress the importance of not allowing the arrangement to set a precedent.

The representative of Spain, for the European Union, thanked delegations for making it possible to resolve the issue.

In other business this afternoon, the Assembly took note of a letter from the Secretary-General to the effect that Haiti had made the necessary payments to reduce its arrears below the amount specified under Article 19 of the United Nations Charter.

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