STATEMENT BY
Permanent Representative of Mongolia
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset I would like to extend
to you, Mr. Chairman our warmest congratulations for convening the second
Ministerial meeting of the Group. I have been instructed by my Foreign Minister,
who had to accompany the Prime Minister in his working visit to Washington D.C.,
to make this statement on his behalf.
Mr. Chairman,
The world economy is experiencing
difficulties since our first Ministerial meeting a year ago. The effects of
terrorist attacks of September 11 are also negatively affecting the global
economy. The total impact of the economic slowdown on international trade would
further narrow the already limited trade opportunities of the landlocked
developing countries. In this unfavorable environment, we should work even
closely address our problems and challenges together with our transit neighbors
and the potential donors.
Mongolia welcomes the fact that the Road Map on
implementation of the Millennium Declaration, presented by the
Secretary-General, highlights the special circumstances of the landlocked
developing countries and their special needs.
Since this is a meeting of
like-minded delegations, I see no needs in presenting the case of the group at
this meeting. I would like only to thank Mr. Carlos Fortin for his
comprehensive and informative statement, and especially the constructive ideas
expressed therein.
UNCTAD and its Unit dealing with the
issues of landlocked developing countries continue to be an important focal
point at the global level. UNCTAD was instrumental in making the Fifth Meeting
of Governmental Experts from Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and
Representatives of Donor Countries and Financial and Developmental Institutions
a success.
Mongolia believes that the outcome
of the 5th Meeting has been impressive in drawing the attention of
major stakeholders to our difficulties and challenges. The meeting has made many
important recommendations, including to convene an International Ministerial
Meeting on Transit Transport Cooperation in 2003 in Kazakhstan.
We believe that UNCTAD should
continue to play an important role in the preparatory process for the above
Ministerial Meeting. The meeting should focus on the practical and realistic
ways of realizing the objectives set out in the Millennium Declaration regarding
the special needs and problems of our Group.
We are of the view that the United Nations’
agencies, such as UNCTAD, UNDP and others, should continue to render their
valuable support to the efforts of the landlocked and transit developing
countries to enhance and facilitate their transit transport systems, which are
vital for accelerating their trade and development. In particular, the relevant
office of UNCTAD should be well-equipped and strengthened if preparations for an
International Ministerial Meeting are to be carried out successfully.
We are also of the view that
preparatory processes for the 2003 Ministerial Meeting should include regional
or sub-regional meetings in order to stimulate a successful outcome of the final
meeting. In this regard I would like to inform you that since the first
Ministerial meeting of our Group Mongolia has had two rounds of negotiations on
draft transit traffic framework agreement with its two neighbors - the Russian
Federation and the People’s Republic of China. We agree with Mr. Fortin that the
meeting held in late October, has made breakthrough in the negotiations. In this
context we appreciate the active participation and continued efforts of our
partners.
I also would like to express our sincere gratitude to UNCTAD and UNDP for their continued support and commitment to this process. It would not have been possible to make progress without commitments from these important agencies. Mongolia remains hopeful that the successful conclusion of this framework agreement will benefit not only these three countries but also a wider Northeast Asia region as a whole. We believe that this agreement, when concluded, will be instrumental in bringing down the excessively high transit transportation costs and in raising the efficiency of transit transport system. Mongolia strongly believes that continued support by the UNCTAD and SU TCDC is of vital importance to bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion, and thus to promoting trade within and beyond Northeast Asia.
Mr. Chairman,
Given the experience Mongolia has
gained over the recent years on transit transport issues, we would welcome the
opportunity to host the Northeast Asian regional or sub-regional meeting as a
part of the preparatory process to the Ministerial Meeting. We will do all we
can to engage international economic and financial institutions as well as the
regional banks into this process.
We should also bear in mind that
next year will be an important year for our Group in drawing the attention of
the international community to the special needs and problems of the landlocked
developing countries in financing development and promoting sustainable
development.
Bearing in mind the above we must work together
hard to ensure that the problems and needs we discuss within our Group are fully
addressed and accommodated in the forthcoming events in 2002 and 2003.
My delegation supports the ideas and
objectives reflected in the draft document before us.