Mr. Chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. President, Excellencies, Governors, farmers, agricultural producers and their representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am grateful for the opportunity to express our appreciation for the work IFAD has done and continues doing, and to share with you and IFAD’s member states some of our ideas on its recent past and future. But, before I begin, I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate you with your appointment as Chairman of the Governing Council. We would also like to warmly welcome the farmers, agricultural producers and their representatives who participated in the Farmers’ Forum and are present here.

The Netherlands is convinced that IFAD’s activities contribute significantly to the Millennium Development Goals, especially MDG1 – reducing, by 2015, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and the hungry by half. We greatly appreciate the impact of IFAD at the local- and community-specific level. The good news for them is that agriculture is back on the international agenda. More resources and better policies can be expected, which may contribute to access to quality food for each and everyone, to bringing about a halt to the ongoing degradation of forests, soils and seas, and to a better adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. However, the success of the renewed international attention ultimately depends on national governments. For example, the Netherlands prioritises food and flowers in its innovation programme.  IFAD’s role in agricultural development will only be effective if governments follow suit by prioritising agriculture in their national policies.

Three years ago IFAD’s IEE was completed and made important recommendations about the functioning of this organisation. IFAD has made great strides in the implementation of the recommendations through its Action Plan and has implemented reforms in its organisation and business practices. The Netherlands is confident that in 2008 IFAD is on its way to becoming a more focused niche player with high quality interventions enabling the poorest to overcome their poverty with the support of their governments and IFAD.  

Mr Chairman,

Since the ‘Delivering as One’ report, pilots have started last year in eight countries to improvc the quality of UN development cooperation; since then many more countries have expressed their interest in also reforming their various UN programmes into a OneUN-pilot. We are pleased to see that IFAD’s intention to participate in a number of the pilots. The Netherlands attaches great importance to the success of the OneUN endeavours and looks forward to an adequate compliance an increasing involvement of IFAD in the OneUN process.

Mr. Chairman,

The formal start of the negotiations on IFAD’s Eighth Replenishment will take place coming Friday with the first round. The Netherlands looks forward to the negotiations with other member states and the policy dialogue with the Organisation. On our part, we wish to assure you and all other member states that throughout the negotiations we will engage with our partners in a constructive manner. At the same time, we would like to stress the importance of participation of as many member states as possible; not just in the replenishment negotiations but on all aspects of the organisation’s policy-making. Equally important is a fair burden sharing between all member states when it comes to contributing to the fund. We have strong feelings that the present burden-sharing arrangements do not adequately reflect the original expectations at the establishment of the fund and the ability to co-share the burden.

Anticipating the first substantial discussions within the framework of the replenishment, the Netherlands continues to attach priority to two facets of IFAD’s work in development; being its role in fragile situation and its role as niche player.

Fragility and development do not go well together; fragility is detrimental to development. At the same time, a large part of the poorest of the poor do live in fragile situations. The Netherlands appreciates the endeavours IFAD undertakes in fragile states. IFAD has a lot of experience promoting rural development in fragile states and has demonstrated that it is an agency par excellence to operate in these unstable environments.

The past two years of implementation of the Action Plan have taught us how important it is for IFAD to focus its activities. The Netherlands very much supports IFAD’s intention to continue with and improve upon the implementation in practice of its niche role. In light of the upcoming replenishment, we believe that as a result of this increased focus and other encouraging reforms IFAD deserves a broader and more balanced funding base as a signal of the widespread international commitment to this important innovative organisation and agricultural development in general.

In conclusion, we wish IFAD fruitful debates and decisions at the Governing Council and the best prospects for a successful replenishment.