Statement
by
Ms Ana Hrastovic
Assistant Minister for Finance of the Republic of Croatia
General Assembly Fifty-ninth Session
High-level Dialogue of the General Assembly on Financing for Development
27 June 2005
Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure and privilege to address this timely organized High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development here in New York, the place our Heads of State and governments shall meet in September in order to review the Millennium Declaration. Croatia has fully aligned itself with the Statement of the EU Presidency, so I will only outline a couple of additional issues that from the Croatian point of view deserve some attention, mostly as lessons learned that we would like to share with others:
- Croatia is one of the countries rated as very likely to achieve all of its specific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is important to note that MDGs are very similar to the goals that we ourselves try to accomplish within our own economic strategy; this strategy is in line with steps we need to make on the path towards EU accession, and it is furthermore supported by the programs we have designed with the Bretton Woods Institutions. The first lesson learned in achieving progress towards MDGs is a need for clear country ownership.
- Second, country ownership enhanced by the mobilization of all domestic resources and close cooperation and coherence of policies among development partners is of crucial importance. Our economic strategy, outlined in Croatia''''''''s first Pre-Accession Economic Program, which we submitted to the European Commission in December 2004, is consistent with the policy program supported by the IMF''''''''s Stand-By Arrangement and the overall macroeconomic policy will also be supported by a number of structural measures to be further enhanced by the World Bank. The main pillar of our program is the fiscal adjustment needed to limit external vulnerability and to limit the increase of Croatia''''''''s external debt-to-GDP ratio. At the same time, our program aims at enhancing transparency and financial management in the government and the broader public sector and at accelerating key structural reforms including judicial, health and public administration reforms. This program should have a positive impact on the business environment, hence helping to attract not only privatization but also non-privatization related FDI and facilitating private sector activity in the medium term. After all, these reforms, together with the previously mentioned economic policies, should pave the way to boosting Croatia''''''''s growth potential, to fulfilling MDGs as well as to bringing us closer to EU accession. To conclude the second lesson learned - we are convinced that the best way to achieve the MDGs is to integrate country-specific MDGs into domestic economic strategies and support them further with development partners'''''''' programs.
- The third lesson learned is the need to coordinate policies internally. In Croatia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has been assigned the task of monitoring the MDG process and acting as the main partner of UNDP in implementing MDG activities. My presence here today clearly shows good cooperation among ministries and the importance our country attaches to the effective realization of the MDGs. The economic strategy of the government is primarily developed with the full inter-agency cooperation of all players.
Before turning to my concluding remarks, let me use this opportunity to support improving the processes and capacities at the country level in order to strengthen the voice of developing countries, but not forgetting transitional economies given that they have often been omitted in recent discussions. Further capacity building in transitional countries, like Croatia, is important to support our active engagement in the international development arena, and active participation as owners in Bretton Woods Institutions, and not only borrowers.
Mr. President, allow me to wish all of us present today well in our future undertakings to achieve the MDGs and to prepare for September summit. I hope that our shared experience and the conclusions we reach will be also reflected in the Outcome Document of the summit in September.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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