Thank you, Madam Chair,
First of all, I would like to thank the Chair, the members of the bureau and the
secretariat for producing the Chairperson?s negotiating document. Japan
considers the document a good basis for negotiation during this session. Having
said that, I would like to raise some important points for possible improvement of
the document.
Madam Chair,
Throughout 15 years of TICAD or the Tokyo International Conference on African
Development, Japan has stressed the importance of ?Africa?s ownership? of its
development as well as of the ?partnership? between Africa and the international
community. We are pleased that these concepts are widely accepted in Africa.
Therefore we believe that this important achievement of the TICAD process
should be incorporated in the Chairperson?s negotiating document.
Secondly, I hope that the members of the CSD are all well aware of donor
countries? sensitivity to the usage of the words ?new? or ?additional? when we talk
about financial resources. In order to save time for more productive policy
dialogue, my delegation recommends that we stick to agreed language when
discussing financing issues.
Finally, Japan believes that in the document there should be a reference to the
notion of ?human security?, a concept which aims to protect people from critical
and pervasive threats to human lives, livelihoods and dignity, and thus to
enhance human fulfillment. This concept addresses multi-sectoral issues and
promotes a participatory approach based on protection and empowerment, and
therefore, is a critical approach in addressing sustainable development.
Madam Chair,
The Delegation of Japan looks forward to working with others in order to improve
the text. We sincerely hope that CSD-17 can adopt a productive decision on
these very important thematic issues of sustainable development.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
