Madame President,
The European Union Member States are delighted to join consensus on this Ministerial Declaration. We are grateful for the hard work and constructive participation of all Member States, and in particular for the flexibility demonstrated throughout this process – not least tonight.
This Declaration provides a powerful statement about our commitment to global health, and to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Our agreement demonstrates the strong support of all Member States to drive progress towards reaching the health Millennium Goals. And we know how critical this is.
The Declaration is of direct relevance to all men, women and children. Health is a prerequisite for life, and the commitments made in this Declaration are significant and important. Even more significant is, of course, its implementation.
We have talked a lot about human security tonight. It is not mentioned in this declaration, and I thank the delegation of Japan for joining consensus without it. Let me repeat what I have said earlier tonight, that the European Union has no problem with this concept, and that we are quite comfortable with its evolution. In fact, at the World Summit in 2005, our leaders committed themselves to discussing and defining the notion of human security in the General Assembly, and we want to participate constructively in that process.
Allow me to conclude by paying tribute to you, Madame President, for the very determined but still very friendly way in which you have led us to this goal tonight, and of course also to your coordinator, Mr Leo Faber.
Thank you, Madame President.