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16 October
17 October
SUMMARY

  Highlights from Wednesday, 16 October 2002

Participants at the Second Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) heard opening statements, and discussed the Second Overall Performance of the GEF and the CEO's Report of on the Policies, Operations and Future Development of the GEF. Twenty-four representatives of GEF-participating governments addressed the Assembly, and a Panel of the Heads of Implementing and Executing Agencies on Integrating the Global Environment and Sustainable Development was convened.
Above photo L-R: Xiang Huaicheng, Minister of Finance, Jiang Zemin President of China and Mohamed T. El-Ashry, GEF CEO during opening ceremony.

Opening Plenary:
President Jiang Zemin's opening remarks (Chinese only) Jiang Zemin (left) underscored respect for sovereignty and independence in choosing one's own development path and social system. Stating that developing countries are tasked with both poverty eradication and sustainable development, he urged reforms of international financial institutions, technology transfer and capacity building.
Mohamed T. El-Ashry, GEF CEO/Chair (right), outlined GEF's many successes, thanking the GEF, its participants and Implementing Agencies (IAs). Following the announcement of his intention to leave office in July 2003, El-Ashry emphasized partnerships, streamlining processes, focusing on results, and "each and everyone of us giving our all."
On behalf of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer (left) highlighted the UN's role in addressing global problems. Noting GEF's role in implementing the outcomes of World Summit on Sustainable Development's (WSSD), Töpfer called for promoting sustainable development focusing on responsibility, partnership and implementation.

Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, UNDP highlighted UNDP's role and experience in providing policy expertise and convening partners, and stated that strengthening GEF would require: speeding project implementation; enhancing partner cooperation; promoting capacity building; and combining human, financial and technical resources to address community challenges.

Speaking on behalf of the World Bank's Managing Director Zhang Shengman, Kristalina Georgieva, the World Bank, highlighted the GEF's role in integrating the global environmental agenda with poverty eradication, and ensuring that markets work for and not against the environment. She stressed efficient use of GEF funds.

Opening Statements:

Julia Carabias, STAP Chair, outlined Science and Technology's integrated approach to global environmental problems, remarking that conventions and agreements have typically approached environmental problems in a compartmentalized manner. She noted the need for GEF-funded projects to integrate the three pillars of sustainable development.

Hamdallah Zedan, Convention on the Biological Diversity Executive Secretary, stated that conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources are essential to alleviating poverty and ensuring sustainable development.

Joke Waller-Hunter, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, outlined GEF's challenges in supporting the implementation of the UNFCC and Kyoto Protocol.

Jim Willis, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, commended the GEF for taking prompt steps in its role as the interim financial mechanism of the Stockholm Convention, including: designating POPs as a new GEF focal area; setting relevant financial targets in the third replenishment; and funding enabling activities for POPs.

Hama Arba Diallo, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UN CCD) Executive Secretary, commended the GEF Council's decision to designate desertification as a focal area, noting that the decision was hailed as an important step at the WSSD.

Marco Gonzalez, Executive Secretary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer attributed success of the Montreal Protocol to UNEP's support and highlighted GEF's timely response to the needs of countries with economies in transition not eligible under the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

Omar El-Arini, Chief Officer of the Secretariat of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, described the Fund's achievements and commended the cooperation between the GEF and the Fund.

Joseph Eichenberger, Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), acknowledged the unique capacity of regional development banks in assisting the GEF, including their ability to identify opportunities at the regional level and ensuring efficient use of GEF funds.

Liang Congjie, Friends of Nature, on behalf of Chinese civil society organizations, highlighted the GEF's challenges in addressing the WSSD Plan of Action and called for, inter alia: strengthening of GEF's Small Grants Programme.

Second Overall Performance Study of the GEF:

Leif Christoffersen, OPS2 Team Leader, broadly introduced the results of OPS2, stating that its main purpose was to analyze GEF and its effectiveness in achieving global environmental benefits. In summarizing the results, impacts and policy issues of programmes in GEF's focal areas.

Policies, Operations and Future development of the GEF:

El-Ashry presented the CEO Report on the Policies, Operations and Future Development of the GEF (GEF/A.2/5), emphasizing progress since the first GEF Assembly. He highlighted the GEF's expanded mandate, the WSSD's support for the GEF, and the third replenishment as indicators of the international community's increased confidence in the GEF.

SD GEF Assembly-2 Snapshots: