Mr. Chairman,
Since Sweden is taking the floor for the first time in the Sixth Committee during this fifty-ninth General Assembly, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate you on having been elected to chair the deliberations of the Committee. I assure you the full cooperation of my delegation. I also wish to congratulate the other members of the bureau on their election.
In the context of the present agenda item, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The membership of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is rotating among those countries and Sweden is currently the only Nordic country on the Commission.
We welcome the report of the work of its thirty-seventh session and we would like to thank the Commission and the secretariat for its excellent work.
The work of UNCITRAL and its secretariat is widely recognised as productive and highly successful in developing the important field of international trade law. The international cooperation in this field is central to achieve effective global trade and economic development.
During this year's session, the working group on insolvency law concluded its work with guidelines on legislation in this field of law. The working group has benefited from a broad participation by states and highly qualified experts and the guidelines can be expected to serve as an important factor in developing insolvency law in many states. We welcome this important achievement, which will be of great use for our countries.
The Commission is also making progress in the other working groups and we are satisfied to see that the Commission will be able to carry out its ambitious plans for further development of the international legal instruments in the field.
We are very grateful that the Secretariat of the Commission will now be able to continue the work to extend and improve training and technical legislative assistance.
The Nordic countries favour the enlargement of the Commission, which is a result of the increasing concern and interest in UNCITRAL issues. We are convinced that the increase in the number of members will promote a wider knowledge of the work of the Commission and further ensure acceptance of adopted texts by all states. The distribution of seats is important in order to reflect the increasing interest, but also to ensure fair balance in the future work of the Commission. The Nordic countries emphasise the importance of a continued discussion on the financing of participation from developing countries.
The Nordic countries attach great importance to the work of the UNCITRAL. Sweden, as a member of the Commission, looks forward to continue to contribute to the further development of international trade law.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.