| OPENING
CEREMONY The opening ceremony, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Talal was attended by representatives of Government and non-governmental organisations from Jordan, participants at the seminar from throughout the Arab States and invited guests. Her Royal Highness, in her address, referred to the growing interest among nations in the Middle East for further co-operation and co-ordination to overcome the impact of the economic crisis and political unrest in the region which has resulted in poverty, suffering and unemployment. Her Highness stated that quantitative economic growth does not necessarily imply human development but rather can effect the social equilibrium and reduces the level of participation of members of society. Further, she added that development efforts should lead to equality and justice between men and women and provide opportunities for sustainable and productive activities. Her Royal Highness underlined the importance of the seminar as a means of sharing expertise and information on progress, which had been made in the region towards the implementation of the Copenhagen Commitments. Her Royal Highness especially welcomed the participants from Civil Society Organisations from the Arab States and she urged the participants of this Forum to seek new, flexible and practical mechanisms to effectively implement the resolutions of the Summit. His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Kheir Mamsir, Jordanian Minister of Social Development emphasised the importance of respecting the human rights and civil liberties of individuals, as well as securing their needs for dignified and productive lives. The Minister called for the integration of all citizens into society and their active participation in achieving sustainable development. The Minister drew attention to the policies and services of the Jordanian government which were designed to fulfil the Commitments reached at the World Summit for Social Development and outlined further actions which are planned for implementation of the Summit Commitments before the UN General Assembly review takes place in 2000. Mr. Julian Disney, the President of ICSW, began his address by focusing on the importance of the Copenhagen agreements in terms of creating an enabling environment for social development. He spoke in terms of improving the political, economic, legal and cultural environment for social development and outlined ICSW’s priorities for action in the review of implementation of the Copenhagen Commitments in June 2000. He spoke of the need to strengthen the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the need to reduce the volume and volatility of speculative activity in international markets. ICSW saw it as a priority that governments should set specific targets and adopt specific strategies for eradicating absolute poverty. Top priority should be given to achieving specific targets in relation to basic health and education and to access to water and food. The review in 2000 should agree on a few specific achievable targets in these areas and secure commitments from developed countries and international financial institutions on how they will help developing countries achieve these. Mr. Disney also stressed the need for the review to focus on setting detailed guidelines for basic income support systems and mentioned that attention should also be paid to microcredit and subsidised savings schemes as well as to conventional income support systems. He also recommended that the UN review press for the full ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Mr. Disney stressed the need for the review to promote reforms aimed at achieving fair and economically efficient national taxation systems, which raise sufficient revenue on a sustainable basis for the social policies of government. He also focused on the need for strengthening international co-operation to improve equity and efficiency in taxation design and the consideration of international taxes on financial transactions. He drew attention to the need for developed and developing countries to fulfil their commitments to the 20/20 initiative to use development aid to prioritise basic social services and for a code of rights and responsibilities on international trade and investment. He explained that this seminar was one of a series of meetings being held by ICSW to follow up on the implementation of the agreements made at the World Summit for Social Development. These meetings had, in part, been made possible by a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1997. On behalf of ICSW, Mr. Disney expressed his deep appreciation for the efforts of the Queen Alia Fund in organising the forum and he recognised the important role it has played as a member of ICSW. Mr. Jorgen Lissner, the UNDP Resident Representative in Jordan, recognised the importance of the implementation of the commitments made in Copenhagen in order to alleviate poverty, decrease unemployment and increase greater social integration. He drew attention to the alleviation of poverty as an overriding priority for UNDP and the importance of the Copenhagen Commitments in addressing this mandate. He stressed the importance of understanding the human face of poverty, which is so often obscured by statistics. Mr. Lissner praised the initiative and effort of both ICSW and the Queen Alia Fund for Social Development that led to the convening of this seminar. UNDP had been happy to support these efforts particularly to increase the understanding of the Copenhagen Commitments amongst non-governmental organisations in this region and to create a much needed dialogue on future priorities, which can be fed into the UN review of implementation in 2000. In this context, Mr. Lissner mentioned that Jordan is among the countries in the region that has taken serious measures in implementing the Copenhagen Summit resolutions and has shown a real commitment to fighting poverty and unemployment amongst its peoples. In her address, Mrs. Shadia Nusseir, Acting Executive Director of the Queen Alia Fund for Social Development, focused on the increasing role and impact of Civil Society in meeting the continued challenges of development. Mrs. Nusseir acknowledged the importance of the seminar in assessing progress towards social development targets set at the Copenhagen Summit. She also felt that it was important that identification of development priorities should be a primary task and a pre-requisite to any plan of action. Mrs. Nusseir stressed that it is this principle that has helped the Queen Alia Fund for Social Development to improve the living standards of the most vulnerable groups of society, namely, women and children, through the community development work carried out by its network of 48 community development centres in remote and rural areas of Jordan. |
