“Our most important constituency are those millions who do not enjoy the prosperity and freedoms that many of us take for granted,” said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as he opened the United Nations high-level panel meeting in Oslo today.

“Our most important constituency are the millions who right now wonder how they will make it through this day – those who do not know where the next dollar will come from. This group is often without a voice and without a choice. It is for the sake of the poor and the destitute that we must have an efficient UN, one that is well governed, well funded and which will remain a global repository of hope,” said Stoltenberg.

The fourth and last meeting of the UN high-level panel will suggest measures on how the UN can shape a smoother running machine to carry out its worldwide work in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and environment. The meeting is taking place in Oslo on 31 August and 1 September.

The panel was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in February of this year, and it will deliver its report to the UN General Assembly by the end of the year. The Secretary General asked the Prime Minister to chair the panel together with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan and Prime Minister Luisa Diogo of Mozambique.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and Prime Minister Luisa Diogo of Mozambique
Photo: Office of the Prime Minister

The other panel members are:

• Gordon Brown, the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Ricardo Lagos Escobar, the former President of the Republic of Chile
• Benjamin William Mkapa, the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania
• Louis Michel, Belgium, European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
• Josette S. Shiner, US Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs
• Keizo Takemi, the former State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan
• Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Egypt, the former leader of the Global Environment Facility
• Robert Greenhill, the President of the Canadian International Development Agency
• Ruth Jacoby, Sweden, Ambassador
• Jean-Michel Severino, CEO of France’s International Development Agency
• Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme
• Lennart Båge, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development

All the panel members are present at the Oslo meeting.

Prime Minister Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Luisa Diogo of Mozambique
Photo: SMK

The panel is working on UN reforms called for in the outcome document of the 2005 World Summit last September. The task is to form a UN which is better shaped to realize the Millenium Development Goals. Three areas are targeted:

• UN development aid. The aim is to get more development for every Dollar spent on development aid by ensuring that development aid is managed in an efficient manner and in keeping with the needs of the host country.
• UN work on humanitarian aid and transition from crisis to reconstruction. The UN fund for humanitarian crises is recently established and makes it possible to react rapidly to catastrophes. The size of the resources in the fund is a challenge and the transition from crisis to reconstruction is still demanding. This is the experience both in Pakistan after the earth quake and after the Tsunami in South-east Asia.
• The UN work in the environmental area. Within the environmental area the panel is looking for how the UN can achieve a more coherent management and surveillance of the steadily increasing number of international environmental agreements, and how to better integrate the environmental aspect in the UN development aid in each country.

Prime Minister Stoltenbergs opening speech at the United Nations high-level panel meeting in Oslo