Minister of International Development Anne Kristin Sydnes

Visit of the UNFPA’s Executive Director Dr. Nafis Sadik

August 22-24, 2000

Dr. Sadik, Ms. Simonen,
Nordic friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish you all warmly welcome to Oslo - and to this dinner.

I am especially pleased that you, Dr. Sadik, could find the time to visit us, knowing full well that you will soon be leaving the UNFPA….. thus giving us a splitting headache over finding a successor that could possibly fill your shoes.

Let me state right at the outset, Dr. Sadik, and very much for the record: Your almost fourteen years as head of the UN population fund have made a huge impact. You were the first woman ever to head one of the United Nations’ major voluntary-funded programs. You have led the organization through a crucial transition, from a strictly family planning approach to the current rights based approach to reproduction, health and sexuality. Your pivotal role in the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, as well as in its follow-up, has helped create a new era in our approach to population issues.

One challenge that you have been vigorously addressing - and which must also be a priority for the next executive director - is that of HIV/AIDS. I think all of us around this table fully appreciate the scale of the problem - the enormity of this challenge - and the many compelling reasons why immediate action is necessary. While in many parts of Africa HIV/AIDS has already reached the level of a virtual developmental catastrophe, trends in Asia are gradually becoming more and more worrisome, too.

The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic is, and must be, a priority item on my agenda – as minister of international development. The UNFPA – together with the other UNAIDS agencies - has an important role to play in taking on this fight. Women and adolescent girls need to be informed and empowered to make their own decisions on reproductive issues.

But – and more importantly than ever before: Men also need to be mobilized, so as to alter risky behavior. And I mean mobilized, as apart from stigmatized! - In order to stand any chance at all in combating AIDS, I think we must all reach out to men much more actively and decisively than has hitherto been the case. We must increasingly address men, not at the health clinic (where they probably are hard to find, anyway), but at work, in their labor unions, in the pool-halls and in sports arenas. – On their own turf, so to speak.

It almost goes without saying that the battle against HIV and AIDS must become better integrated into national development plans. One might think – or hope - that this really should not be a big issue in the year 2000, but it still is.

Ladies and gentlemen,
This two-day program in Oslo is an example of the close working relations between the Nordic countries. This is particularly true with regard to the work in the United Nations, including the UNFPA. The Nordic countries are committed to supporting UNFPA not only financially, but also intellectually and in terms of practical creativity.

It is because we have faith in the UN, and because we believe in its potential, that we actively engage ourselves in making the UN as efficient and effective as possible. This is the reason why UN reform is so important to us. This is why we underline the importance of UN-coordination, each and every time we get a chance to do so. You can safely assume that we will continue to be staunch supporters of the UN – and UN reform – also in the future. It’s virtually in our blood! Small states cannot afford weak multilateral institutions.

Positive changes have definitely taken place during the last five years. Mechanisms for coordination have been established. This includes the UNDG (United Nations Development Group) at the global level and the CCA (Common Country Assessments), the UNDAF and the UN common houses at the national level. The most important change, I believe, is in the attitudes of the UN staff who see the benefit of - and are committed to - close coordination within the UN and with other strategic partners.

I am pleased that you, Dr. Sadik, have had the opportunity to meet with NORAD to discuss bilateral issues. I also want to thank the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the UN Association for giving Dr. Sadik and Ms. Simonen the opportunity to meet with key Norwegian actors involved in population-related issues. Most of all, I would once again like to thank you, Dr. Sadik, for coming to Norway.

In doing so, let me simply add my voice to the voice of Gloria Feldt, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation in America. Upon presenting you with the Margaret Sanger Award in March this year, she said – and I quote: "Around the world, millions of women and families have Dr. Sadik to thank for her efforts to increase access to family planning. Every day and in times of great crisis and suffering, such as armed conflict in Kosovo and the devastating earthquake in Turkey last year, UNFPA, under Dr. Sadik’s leadership, has mobilized to meet the reproductive health needs of women and families". Unquote.

We thank you for your untiring efforts.

We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

And I hope our paths will cross again.

Ladies and gentlemen, would you please join me in a toast to our guest of honor, Dr. Sadik. (To your health!)