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STATEMENT

by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Vitaly I. CHURKIN

during the General Debate at the Second Committee

of the 64^th session of the UN General Assembly

(New York, 5 October, 2009)

Mr. President,

At the outset allow me to congratulate you and the distinguished Members of the Bureau on your election and wish you success in your endeavors.

Recently the UN and other international fora have been searching - as a matter of priority on their social and economic agenda - for collective decisions to overcome the overall impact of the world financial and economic crisis and to develop a new model for sustainable economic development, consistent with the modern realities so as to effectively resist global economic challenges.

We must emphasize the key importance of the agreements reached by the leaders of the twenty major economies at the Washington, London and Pittsburg Summits. The G20 has become a leading platform for international debate on important economic issues including financial regulation and the reform of the world financial and economic architecture and proved itself to be an effective tool for advancing the global development agenda.

While we recognize the role of the G20 as a key economic forum, where major decisions on the world economy are made, it is extremely important for all of us to find a way to ensure effective cooperation between the G20 and other countries. And here it seems the most appropriate to use the potential of the UN as the most adequate and legitimate instrument for harmonization of interests. It is within the framework of the UN that the new architecture of global governance must be built based on the diversity of global and regional actors and the principles of sovereign equality of Member States, mutual benefit and international legitimacy.

Mr. President,

We believe that the primary objective of this Second Committee is to lay a solid foundation for adopting breakthrough decisions during UNGA High-Level Plenary Meeting with participation of the heads of State and government to be held in September 2010. The decisions of this Committee especially on the macroeconomic issues within the Monterrey agenda should be aimed at mobilizing additional internal and external resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are an absolute priority of the UN social and economic activities. Political platform for such deliberations in the Committee is provided by the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development and the decisions of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development.

The Committee should avoid duplication and overlap with the discussions in the UNGA Ad-Hoc Open-Ended Working Group whose agenda is yet to be established. We believe that this platform should be utilized first of all to coordinate the basic parameters for subsequent examination - within the existing UN mechanisms - of the issue of improving the institutional arrangements of the global economic governance.

Mr. President,

The development goals are closely interrelated with the efforts to combat climate change. Therefore, we must look for such responses to climate challenges that would not undermine the prospects of sustainable economic growth of States, which is especially important for developing countries.

The Second Committee is to fulfill an extremely important and difficult task in support of the efforts of the UNFCCC to work out a universal approach towards specific parameters of the international climate regime beyond 2012. A consensus on this issue is a must – it is obvious that a post-Kyoto agreement will be meaningless unless it is signed by all major emitting States.

Russia intends to play an important role in the elaboration of the future climate regime at the concluding stage of the negotiations. We hope that Russia’s decision on 10-15% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 against the levels of 1990 will provide significant impetus to these negotiations. On the whole, this will mean a reduction of the aggregate volume of emissions by 30 bln. tons over 30 years. We anticipate that our partners will act in a similar way.

The tasks of combating climate change should be addressed in the context of response to the challenges of global energy security. Three years ago the G8 Summit in Saint-Petersburg produced new principles of the legal framework for cooperation in this area. Its goal is to harmonize the interests of all participants in the energy chain: suppliers, consumers and transit countries. Not so long ago, we have specified these proposals and invite all the States to discuss them, including within the framework of the Second Committee.

The recent debate at various UN fora and in the G8 on food security crisis have clearly demonstrated that the international community is unanimous in its recognition of the need to adopt collective short-, medium- and long-term initiatives at the national and international levels. The Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) prepared by the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on the Global Food Security Crisis serves as a good basis for these efforts. We support the activities of the HLTF and believe it is necessary to continue the implementation of the CFA, first of all, at the country level.

As an effective instrument of the CFA implementation we could use the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security, initiated by the G8 leaders and the HLTF, and its political launch could take place within the framework of the UN GA. It would be logical to continue expert-level deliberations including on the organizational aspects, at the UN specialized agencies based in Rome. The forthcoming sessions of the FAO Committee on World Food Security, the FAO Conference and the World Food Security Summit this November could become significant landmarks on the way towards the Global Partnership.

Mr. President,

The Russian delegation considers the general debate in the Second Committee as an opportunity to exchange views on the measures undertaken by countries to implement their economic development strategies. In our view, the global crisis makes this debate particularly relevant.

After the 8 months of recession, Russia has registered growth in its industrial output and GDP. Since June 2009, national economy has been growing 0.5% a month on average.

Despite the budget cuts in 2009 we have continued to finance the priority development projects. This year the federal budget allocations to transport infrastructure will total $19 bln. Approximately $17 bln. has been earmarked to stimulate construction and housing sector.

We understand, however, that public investments are an important but not the only and not the main anti-crisis recipe. The business itself and its initiative should be engaged to the maximum. Over the recent months many administrative barriers have been removed along with excessive control procedures and functions. Anti-monopoly regulations and guarantees of fair competition have been reinforced. Measures are being taken in order to improve the banking sector and stock markets, to introduce flexible and yet more secure savings investment instruments. As the situation stabilizes and the crisis is over, we intend to gradually and consistently reduce the state involvement in the economy and apply traditional market instruments including privatization.

The Government of Russia is currently developing the so-called “exit strategy” to be launched in 2010. Within this modernization agenda we are to make major improvements in our legislation and corporate governance, to enhance the real sector and financial network, and take a bearing on economic renewal based on innovation.

Russia will continue to pursue its policy of promotion of private initiative, integration into the world economy, and development of favorable investment climate.

We have appreciated a recorded positive trend in foreign direct investments despite the difficulties we experienced during the first six months of 2009. This is a steady capital influx – $17 bln. during the first semester.

Mr. President,

The Russian delegation looks forward to active and constructive participation in the work of the Second Committee and intends to fully contribute to the achievement of balanced arrangements in the interest of all the States on the basis of consensus. It should be emphasized, however, that instead of discussing theoretical constructs we must focus on specific tasks with due account of the existing potential of other fora and groups that are also dealing with relevant problems of the international social and economic agenda.

Thank you.