Norway, 2007

Two days ago, world

leaders met here in this Hall and made strong

statements on the urgent need to address climate

change. We heard the Chairman of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

Mr. Pachauri, present compelling evidence on the state

of the world climate. He outlined a dire picture of the

future state of the planet if strong and joint action is

not taken. We have no time to lose.

It is imperative that we reach a comprehensive

post-Kyoto agreement. The new agreement must be

firmly anchored in the United Nations, and it must

include all major emitting countries and all major

sectors. When we meet in Bali in December we should

agree on the roadmap for the coming negotiations.

The industrialized countries bear a special

responsibility for the current state of our atmosphere.

Therefore, they must also take special responsibility

for bringing the global emissions of greenhouse gases

back to a sustainable level. Our long-term goal should

be to avoid temperature increases above two degrees

Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level.

Meeting the challenge of climate change is within

our reach. However, it requires that our response be

strong and coherent. We need to provide the worldwide

private sector with strong incentives for cutting

emissions. That is why it is essential to put a price on

carbon emissions and to expand the carbon market.

Seven years ago, I was one of the 189 heads of

State or Government who signed the Millennium

Declaration. We undertook a commitment to deliver on

the United Nations Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). However, unless we make an extra effort, we

will not fulfil the promises we made to the people of

the world. In particular, we are lagging behind in

fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

on child and maternal health. Every year almost ten

million children die before the age of five. Many lives

can be saved using inexpensive and effective vaccines.

Norway has contributed to the Global Alliance

for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) since its

inception in the year 2000. We have already managed

to save more than two million lives through this

alliance. But we need to move beyond vaccination.

Each year two million babies die before the sun

sets on their first day of life. The four million

newborns who die in their first month might survive if

they were breastfed and had access to antibiotics and

health workers. And not only newborns, but their

mothers as well. Each year 500,000 women die in

connection with childbirth. Simple, affordable

measures can save millions.

Today Norway, together with other Governments,

agencies and civil society, launched a global campaign

to do precisely that: save millions of lives. The

campaign's main thrusts are organizing and financing

survival; ensuring that health personnel treat more

patients and file fewer reports; and changing the

financing mechanism so that treating patients becomes

a source of income rather than a cost for health

systems. Today we are launching an advocacy

campaign for women and children to ensure that our

message will reach every corner of the world. I am also

pleased to announce that we are building a network of

global leaders to oversee and ensure that the women

and children will indeed be given priority. Today, let

me also announce that Norway is pledging $1 billion

over 10 years to support the Millennium Development

Goals on child and maternal health.

The global campaign that we launched today,

builds directly on the recommendations from the High-

level Panel on System-wide Coherence, which I had

the privilege of chairing together with my colleagues

from Pakistan and Mozambique.

We need a strong and efficient United Nations;

we need a United Nations that delivers results; we need

a United Nations that delivers on the Millennium

Development Goals. Addressing these challenges was

the mandate of the Panel. The Panel held meetings in

many parts of the world and listened to countries,

regional groups, citizens groups, voluntary

organizations and many individuals. In November last

year we presented our report (A/61/583) and

recommendations to the Secretary-General. They are

an honest attempt to boost the Organization's ability to

live up to its potential. At the heart of our report, we

recommend establishing "One United Nations" in each

country: one leader, one programme, one budget and

one office, wherever feasible. Also - equally

important for a better functioning United Nations: we

need a better focused management system at

Headquarters level. The Sustainable Development

Board aims at precisely that.

The Panel set out with ambitions driven by a

sense of responsibility, knowing that our most

important constituency is not the United Nations itself,

but those millions of people who do not enjoy the

prosperity and freedom that many of us take for

granted. Yet those people, whose life situation gave

rise to the Millennium Development Goals, who right

now wonder how they will make it through the day -

it is for the sake of those poor and destitute people that

we must have an efficient United Nations, one that is

well governed and well funded and that will remain a

global repository of hope.

That is why we are under an obligation to take a

fresh look at the way in which we have come to build a

fragmented United Nations, one that risks being

weakened, marginalized and less relevant. We have

worked with the United Nations system to abolish

diseases, such as smallpox, and repressive regimes,

such as apartheid. And we continue our struggle to

abolish poverty, child mortality, torture and inhuman

and degrading treatment - and to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals.

Today more and more people are breaking out of

poverty. We have never had greater capacities to bridge

the gaps between us, but we cannot allow the

international community to waste resources or to work

towards the Millennium Development Goals in

anything but the most effective and rewarding ways.

We must focus our work, measure our results and show

that development, as organized by the United Nations,

pays high rewards.

That is why we need to be open-minded,

recognizing that the most radical step we can take is to

do nothing. I am pleased to see the progress being

made in the eight pilot countries, where the "One

United Nations' model is being implemented in

practice. I am also pleased to see that these countries

have adopted different "One United Nations' processes

and models that are tailored to each country's specific

situation. This shows that there is no blueprint.

United Nations funds and programmes operating

in the field are already responding. Increasingly, we

see better coordination and stronger leadership. I

commend the United Nations bodies that have adopted

the new guiding principles, and I appeal to the others

to follow suit.

The Panel's report sets out a way forward. The

United Nations has not broken down, but it requires

maintenance; therefore, the Panel did not propose

revolutionary changes. Rather, we put forward some

practical, achievable and effective measures, building

on the thrust of decisions already made by Member

States. New gender architecture is urgently needed. I

urge Member States to demonstrate the required vision

and leadership. This will be an important task for this

General Assembly.

Norway prides itself on being a friend of the

United Nations. We support multilateral solutions to

common problems, but a true friend does not refrain

from speaking out when change and improvement are

required. We believe in international development

cooperation; we believe in a strong and efficient

United Nations; therefore, we would like to reform the

United Nations.