Mr President

Let me first on behalf of the Norwegian delegation congratulate you and your colleagues in the Bureau on your election. We are confident that under your able leadership we shall make this Governing Council a success.

Norway shares the viewpoints put forward yesterday by the European Union. Let me in addition focus on the following:

The challenges of urbanisation are still neglected in international development cooperation. The victims are the increasing number of urban poor. N Habitat has a key role in assisting the world’s nations, cities and local authorities to fulfil the MDG 7, Target 11. Improving the lives of slum dwellers, however, addresses not only the slum target, but all the MDGs - not at lest the main goal; to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Urban poverty is a result of a different set of causes and also manifests itself differently from rural poverty. UN Habitat should investigate these differences further.

There has been a general agreement that we have two entry points to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda: Secure Tenure and Urban Governance. It is time to introduce a third perspective: Human Settlements Finance. These three perspectives are closely interlinked. Therefore, the Slum Upgrading Facility is an important initiative. We are looking forward to monitor the upcoming pilot phase. We hope that the SUF initiative could pave the way for innovative financial packages opening up local and national finance markets that could serve the urban poor. If we fail to mobilise the credit markets, we will also fail to reach the MDGs.

Mr President

Formalisation of economic assets into secure legal rights for the poor and marginalized groups can play an important role in economic and social development. It is for instance documented that women’s right to own and inherit property has important welfare effects. However, successful reforms for property and user rights require detailed understanding of the circumstances in each and every country. There are no one-size-fit-all solutions.

Against this background the Nordic Countries and the United Kingdom this autumn will launch an initiative aiming at establishing a high level commission on legal empowerment of the poor. We see this commission as an important opportunity for UN Habitat, having a vast experience and knowledge on tenure issues, to support and contribute to the work of the commission and beyond.

Mr President,

Half of the more than one billion people living on less than one dollar a day are children and youth. Children and youth have a basic right to be included in development processes. Education, participation, and empowerment are crucial elements in a constructive youth strategy. These are all reflected in the draft UN Habitat Youth Strategy. We are now looking forward to its finalisation.

Let me finally, Mr. President, also briefly pay a visit to the third cornerstone of the Habitat Agenda. Good urban governance is a challenge to us all. The current discussion on decentralisation within Habitat is an important part of an ongoing process. A group of experts – AGRED – has worked out the “Draft Guidelines on decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities” as contained in annex I of the document HSP/GC/20/7. In our view AGRED should assist the Executive Director in advising those countries that may whish to implement elements from the Draft Guidelines.

Mr. President,

We will be glad to elaborate on these and other themes during this 20 ^th> Governing Council. We are looking forward to an interesting and fruitful event.

I thank you for your kind attention.

• UN-HABITAT, United Nations Human Settlements Programme

To the left: State Secretary Roger Iversen.