Excellencies Ladies and gentlemen, First allow me to welcome you here in Qatar, your country, within your family and friends. As you know, the objective of this summit is directly related to our deep aspirations in terms of insuring prosperity and quality of life to our peoples

This is the reason why we consider development a priority and a basic concern in the framework of dialogue on international cooperation as without development it would be impossible to meet the expectations of our peoples.

We are confronted to three types of concerns dealing respectively with the current status of international economic cooperation, our contribution to such cooperation as regards the countries of the south and in particular the place of the south in the world of today.

We have thus kept our promises by meeting the requirements regarding the liberalization of our economies. We have incorporated the social commitments into our national development strategy and adapted the management of our economy to the commitments we have taken.

The question now being raised is whether our partners have been up to their own commitment. The answer is no, if we take into account the intensive discussions which took place in New York in the framework of preparations for the review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

Given that globalization is generally skewed in favour of the developed countries and that the effectively integration of the economies of developing countries in international trade and economic exchanges is still in expectation and that the content of development-related negotiations in WTO is not clearly defined.

Partnership for development
The developing countries have actively participated in a series of major conferences and summits organized by the UN during the nineties to address all aspects of economic and social developments in particular social, population, women and children issues, the financing of sustainable development, information and communication technologies and finally the Doha Round outside the UN framework.
In some of these conferences, our development partners have taken commitments, some agreements have been reached including the Millennium Declaration adopted at the end of last century and which has embodied the main aspects of these commitments. The south, for its part, has fulfilled its obligations.

The foreign debt remains a heavy burden for many low-income or medium income countries, and despite a series of initiatives, no solution to the problem has yet been found. Only a few developed countries have fulfilled the commitment they took several years ago to devote 0.7% of their GDP to official aid to development.

On the other hand, the implementation of programs in favour of countries living in special situations including African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states is desperately slow.

Furthermore the participation of developing countries in the decision-making process at international level is still pending. As a result, the influence of these countries on decisions regarding financial, monetary and commercial policies is all but significant. Worse, we are now witnessing attempts aimed at limiting the role of the United Nations Organisation regarding major economic issues, despite genuine achievements made by this organisation over the last decade.

For all these reasons, we should spare no effort with a view to reaching an agreement on an effective agenda for development during the Summit to be organized next September within the framework of the UN General Assembly to examine the implementation of the provisions of the Millennium Declaration and of other summit meetings sponsored by the UN. Developing countries are not in need of any further commitment. They are expecting an effective implementation of previous promises. We are in need of a clearly defined schedule for the implementation of theses commitments as well as of mechanisms likely to help us make sure that the commitments taken by our development partners have been translated into facts. We also have to make sure that the globalization process will comply with human values, justice and equity and promote prosperity for all peoples. We should give the notion of self-confidence its full meaning because we could hardly manage globalization without taken into account the linkages between different economies and different sectors. We should also make sure that the interests of developing countries are fully taken into consideration in international and multilateral economic regulations.

Rational economic management implies a reform of institutions to ensure a more democratic, more equitable and more representative decision-making process likely to meet the needs of all peoples. Finally, we should continue our efforts towards strengthening multilateralism in international relations.
South-South Cooperation

Cooperation between the North and the South is one of the main components of international economic relations. Knowing that South-South cooperation is also one of these components, we should endeavour to take advantage of the opportunities which it offers. Far from being a substitute, such cooperation actually reinforces multilateralism.

Our economies are complementary and play a significant role in international trade, Investment opportunities also exist among the countries of the South and are likely to strengthen our solidarity.

The First South Summit offered a political framework in which action plans were devised to promote cooperation among the countries of the South. This political framework adopted in Havana and its guidelines have been translated into facts in December 2003, in Marrakech, Morocco, on the occasion of the High Level Conference of the G77 on South-South cooperation.

The Declaration and the framework of Marrakech of South-South cooperation have defined the actions to be undertaken in various fields. Thus, we can say that in spite of the difficulties, we can unite and strengthen our joint efforts, should we will. Similarly, the review of the Havana Plan of Action shows that despite the achievement of some progress, a full implementation of these provisions still imposes on us to carry out the outstanding recommendations. Therefore, we should speed up the implementation of these provisions as well as of the new proposals that emerged from the Havana Summit and the preparatory process of New York. As you know, new orientations have been proposed aiming at:

• Strengthening trade among the countries of the South and developing markets in the South region
• Incorporating South-South cooperation in the national development strategies of developing countries
• Strengthening regional and sub-regional cooperation with a view to developing production capacities and investments among the countries of the South
• Promoting cooperation in human resources and technologies including ICTs
• Extending partnerships among the countries of the South with the incorporation of other operators, including from the private sector
• Establishing follow-up mechanisms to ensure an effective implementation of decisions
• Mobilizing international assistance to South-South cooperation, including with major multilateral institutions like the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Development Program and Regional commissions
All these proposals and others which we should translate into facts, have been incorporated into the Plan of Action to be adopted this week in Doha.
The South and the International Agenda:

The South possesses significant resources in international relations. The Ministerial Declaration of Sao Paolo, adopted on the occasion of the celebration of the founding of the Group of 77, confirmed that relations among the countries of the South play a significant role in international economic relations.

The Declaration also showed that after having been set aside of international trade and economic exchanges, the South has managed to improve its condition as confirmed by the changes which took place in the traditional labour division at international level. These changes are not only economic achievements. They also participate in the strengthening of solidarity and equity among people, offering brighter prospects of cooperation. The developing countries will profit from the impact of these values.

These changes are indeed challenges for us but at the same time they give us the opportunity to unite. It thus belongs to the developing countries to seize this opportunity with a view to playing the role they deserve in the concert of nations.

To conclude, allow me to thank you and wish you full success in the work of your conference in favour of the development and prosperity of our peoples.

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