Honorable Ministers, Chairman,Excellencies,Distinguish delegates,
I would like to thank the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations for their presentations this morning. Sierra Leone has indeed made impressive progress towards peace, security and democratic governance. A the same time, continued national leadership and sustained international support remain critical to further consolidate peace in Sierra Leone.
Sweden commends Sierra Leone on the adoption of the Joint Communiqué on 2 April 2009. This successfully ended the sudden outbreak of political violence and charted the way forward for the democratic and peaceful development of the country. We stand ready, through the PBC, to assist in the implementation of this Communiqué.
Sweden fully support the Agenda for Change. This is a robust framework for national action and international support. The Agenda for Change highlights good governance, rule of law and human rights as essential for sustainable growth and economic development. We welcome the decision by the PBC to align its engagement in Sierra Leone with the Agenda for Change. This will serve as an example on how the PBC can improve its engagement tools in the country specific configurations.
We are impressed by the new and innovative approach to peacebuilding in the United Nations Joint Vision. The integration of the political mandate with the various development mandates will enhance the role of the United Nations in peacebuilding and should be a model to be replicated in other UN missions. We also welcome the establishment of the UN multi-donor trust fund. In last years meeting we called for such instrument to provide flexible funding and to facilitate contributions from donors with no representation in Sierra Leone.
The Swedish strategy for development cooperation with Sierra Leone is based on the Agenda for Change. The strategy focuses on the education sector with a view to promote access to primary education of good quality for all. It also includes market driven vocational training and higher education for women and unemployed youth. The contribution is linked to the peacebuilding priorities, in particular through addressing the issue of employment for and empowerment of young people. Our cooperation with Sierra Leone for the period 2009-2013 will amount to 20 million Swedish crowns in the first year and 40 million Swedish crowns per year thereafter.
I thank you.