President continues his working visit to New York

New York, 20.9.2010  |  press release

On the second day of his working visit to New York, the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk took part in an opening session of High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization on implementing Millennium Development Goals and participated in a round table discussion entitled “Addressing the Challenge of Poverty, Hunger and Gender Equality”.

In his address, President Türk rejected the criticism that Millennium Development Goals have not been sufficiently thought through. He also stressed that they represent a good development concept and that progress in their realization can be seen. Recent reports by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say that globally, there are around 100 million less people malnourished, which is a considerable number. Therefore, the international community has a clear understanding of development needs and according to President Türk, the question is whether it has appropriate mechanisms and tools in order to ensure fast and effective progress.

The President also pointed out the studies made by the World Bank, which show that those countries that invest in promoting the social and economic status of women tend to have lower poverty rates. And that is why we need to pursue this goal with energy and appropriate mechanisms. One such mechanism is official development assistance. President Dr. Danilo Türk is encouraging countries not to reduce official development assistance in times of recession. Slovenia is setting a good example by being one of those countries that remain a reliable donor of official development assistance. For official development assistance, Slovenia gives 0.15 percent of its GDP and plans to increase the share to 0.33 percent by 2015.

The President also pointed out the significance of tax measures in reducing poverty. According to him, experiences in implementing Millennium Development Goals show that increasing wealth inequality is a major factor that makes poverty reduction extremely difficult. The President also calls for the preparation of recommendations on regulating tax policies of individual countries, so that greater equality would be achieved and even deeper poverty would be prevented, whereas recommendations would be based on the studies of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others.

In the afternoon (local time), the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk attended two bilateral meetings. With Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), he discussed Millennium Development Goals in connection with agriculture and food. Both interlocutors agreed that, in addition to financial investments in agriculture, new original ideas are needed in order to update current agricultural policy and find solutions for all the problems caused by climate change. FAO’s Director-General pointed out the problem of shrinking of rain forests.

The President also met with Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Both dignitaries agreed that the relations between both countries are excellent and that they have been particularly strong this year. They both recalled Emir’s recent state visit to Slovenia when both countries had strengthened already existing excellent cooperation between Slovenia and the State of Qatar in different areas. Slovenian President and the Emir of Qatar agreed that it is necessary to monitor and encourage realization of common projects on which both countries had agreed upon during their meeting in the past year.

In particular, they mentioned cooperation in a humanitarian project regarding rehabilitation of disabled children from Gaza. After a very successful start in Slovenia, the project is in its second stage, which includes the building of appropriate infrastructure and training of local health care workers who would independently provide treatment and rehabilitation to children in Gaza itself.
In this project, Slovenia and the State of Qatar will join all available potentials in order to set up a modern rehabilitation medical center as soon as possible. Both interlocutors stressed that, alongside humanitarian projects, both countries must strengthen their economic cooperation.

In the evening, local time, the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk attended a reception for Heads of Delegations at the UN’s High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on implementing Millennium Development Goals held by Federal Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel. President Dr. Danilo Türk and his wife Barbara Mikliè Türk were also guests at a high-level event in support of Millennium Development Goals called “Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Climate Change” which featured Equator Prize Ceremony.

On Tuesday, September 21, 2010, the President attended a reception in honour of heads of state as a part of “Clinton Global Initiative” hosted by the former US president Bill Clinton. The President will also make a speech at the UN’s High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on implementing Millennium Development Goals and co-chair a round-table discussion at the high-level plenary meeting on “Addressing Emerging Issues and Evolving Approaches”.