Mr. President, Your Excellencies and distinguished delegates.
Mr President,
I extend our congratulations and best wishes to you and the Vice-Presidents of this Assembly.
On behalf of H.E. the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government and people of Sri Lanka, I wish to extend our deepest condolences on the sudden passing away of Director General Dr. Lee Jong-wook. We extend our sincere condolences to the family of Dr. Lee and to the larger family of WHO in their moment of grief for a leader who brought effective management and a new vision to this organization. Sri Lanka will not forget Dr. Lee’s visit to Sri Lanka in the midst of our tsunami crisis to offer the support of WHO in our time of need.
Mr. President,
Since this is the first time I am speaking under your Presidency, may I extend our greetings and convey sincere good wishes for every success. Although you did mention on 23rd March that your opening remarks had lost much of their traditional value due to the unprecedented P6 initiative, it could also be said that within this collective engagement, each President has his own important responsibility; during your tenure of office, this will include preparing and conducting the structured debate on FMCT. You also rightly reminded us that the debate takes place in the background of extensive early FMCT related consultations in the CD.
Mr. Chairman,
I am pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of the Asian Group.
At the outset we would like to thank Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD for his comprehensive and focussed statement. We would also like to thank the Secretariat for the stocktaking report which shows important progress has been made in the implementation of the Sao Paulo Consensus (SPC), while noting also areas for improvement. We expect UNCTAD to fully implement over the next two years, the mandate given to it by its Member States at Sao Paulo. A renewal or a complete review of UNCTAD’s mandate can only be undertaken by the quadrennial conferences.
- The national CODEX Committee of Sri Lanka submitted its comments and arguments on the use food additive Sulpher Dioxide (SO2) in Food Category 12.2.1, as contained in document CX/FAC/06/38/9 part 1.
- Since November 2004, Sri Lanka has encountered problems with a number of consignments of “ Ceylon Cinnamon “ exported to the European Union on the grounds that the consignments contained Sulphur Dioxide ( SO2).
- Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) is a known, accepted & a widely used food additive & is described as ‘ one of the most important & versatile additives with a good safety record ‘ used in the food industry.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure, in my capacity as Chair of the 2005 session of the Joint Advisory Group meeting, to open this thirty ninth session. I welcome Mr. Pascal Lamy, the Director General of WTO and Dr. Supatchai Panitchpakdi the Secretary General of UNCTAD. Equally I recognize Mr. Denis Bélisle Executive Director of ITC, his successor-designate Mrs Patricia Francis and Mr Stephen Browne, the recently appointed Deputy Executive Director. UNCTAD, WTO and ITC must be congratulated for the smooth execution of the plan for the succession of ITC’s senior management team.
The successful conclusion of the Negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda would result in significant gains to both developed and developing countries. However, as in the case of the Uruguay Round, these gains will not be evenly distributed. The trade liberalization would also entail additional costs, to some developing countries. The impact of these will be particularly harsh on the LDCs and the weak and vulnerable economies. Furthermore, some developing countries also will not benefit from the multilateral trade liberalization as they do not have the capacity to compete in the global markets with more competitive exporters from developed and more advanced export-oriented developing countries.
Mr. Chairman,
I am pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of the Asian Group.
At the outset we would like to congratulate you and other members of the Bureau on your well deserved election. We stand ready to assist you in the challenging task to make this Commission a success with tangible results. I also thank Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of the UNCTAD for his comprehensive statement and the Secretariat for its pertinent and timely preparation of documents for this meeting. These contributions contained valuable ideas and recommendations that will no doubt assist our deliberations.
- Statement of Sri Lanka delegation at the Conference of Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, delivered by Dr.Lakshmi Somatunga-7 February 2006
- Statement of Sri Lanka delegation at the 94th (Maritime) session of the International Labour Conference delivered by Mr A R M Abeyratne Banda- 20 February 2006
- Statement delivered on behalf of the Asian Group and China by Ambassador Sarala Fernando, Coordinator - at the Commission on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities - 06th February 2006