First of all, I would like to say how grateful we are to the Government of Mexico for giving me a chance to speak at this conference. 

I would like to say that the processes of ever-increasing globalization require that the entire world pool its efforts so that we ensure a more just distribution of the results of our work and we overcome the gap that exists between the more developed and less developed countries in the world. The fact that we share responsibility to create the conditions for sustainable development that we have seen in Monterrey and has been expressed by the Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations and representatives of business and civil society.

The implications of the terrorist acts of 11 September have shown how the political and economic processes are interrelated. These events have slowed down the economy and led to the reduction in exports and a lowering of prices for raw materials as well as flows of private investment, which have been negatively affected. This has had a terrible impact on the poorest countries and has required that we take measures to consolidate efforts to overcome the negative impacts on an economic level. 

Now we have an opportunity to take on these responsibilities, to implement what the Heads of State have said, in particular to defend the principles of equality, solidarity and social justice and to achieve the important goal of reducing by 50 per cent, between now and 2015 the number of poor people. 

Ukraine welcomes the contribution made by the United Nations in this conference and the key role it has played in bringing together all the participants for financing for development, including donors and recipients and civil society and the private sector.

The draft of the Monterrey Consensus was the result of the worthwhile work and cooperation of all participants of the preparatory conference. The fact that we agreed to provisions that will enshrine the interests of all countries, which will enable us to take an optimistic look at the future and will serve as a guiding map for the future work, we welcome the principles in the document, which will help us mobilize and make better use of money for developmental purposes inside countries and in the international capital sector and will help us fine-tune our Governments and improve the situation. It is also very important to see that we share our experience so that we can fight corruption at all levels, which is a major obstacle to distribution of resources.

Ukraine wants to step up United Nations activity and that of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, regional banks, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Eastern European and Ukrainian banks in order to make better use of the potential of these institutions in order to implement market-oriented reforms, resolve social and economic issues and the problems of developing countries and the transitional economies.

One of the major obstacles for Ukraine is the complex of problems having to do with structural economic reforms and the long-term impact of the Chernobyl catastrophe. It is no exaggeration to say that it had a worldwide impact. I would like to thank the international organizations and governments that have stated their willingness to help us with this catastrophe, and I hope that they will be living up to their obligations. 

An important role in this developmental process would be a non-discriminatory system for trade. Eliminating protectionist barriers for transition economies for their exports, the exports of their goods and services as well as a significant liberalization of trade will have a positive impact on promoting the process of development in these countries.

We hope that the Monterrey conference will build on the success of the meeting in Doha, which decided on having a new round of trade negotiations devoted to development. The Monterrey Consensus is an expression of the willingness of all the stakeholders to engage in a process of improving the world, and for Ukraine this is one of the priorities of our foreign economic policy. It would also be a positive thing to create conditions whereby we could all live up to our obligations.

The future of humanity, where we will try to ensure the right to dignity, requires that we act in a vigorous way, consistently, and develop the prospects in a realistic way, based on the Monterrey Consensus. It depends on our willingness and ability to pool our efforts aimed at strengthening our worldwide alliance on the different global and regional levels. I hope that the Monterrey conference will be successful and help us improve on the situation for development.

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