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Geneva, 1st of July 2003 Mr. Chairman,On behalf of the Republic of Lithuania, I wish to congratulate you, Mr. President, for holding this important event, and to express my appreciation to the Secretary General for his insightful address. Lithuania strongly believes that the United Nations has a crucial role to play in the area of economic and social development of its Member States, particularly in these from the developing world, and towards this end attaches great importance to the work of the Economic and Social Council, whose member she aspires to become, and its subsidiary bodies. In my short speech I would like to concentrate on the experience of my country in applying one of the important tools that the United Nations provided us with, namely Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Lithuania has certain forms of poverty in rural areas, caused by unequal distribution of the benefits of transition to market economy during the last ten years. Our economy is growing rapidly. The GDP last year has grown by 6.7% as compared to the year 2001. However, despite the economic growth, the number of poor living in the rural areas is not yet decreasing and the differences in income between the urban and rural populations are growing. In 2001, the proportion of the rural population living under poverty line (defined as 50% of the average consumer expenditure) was 27.3%, which is three times higher than in large towns. To target these problems, the Government of Lithuania adopted the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper in the year 2000, followed by the Implementation Programme for 2002-2004, which seeks, among others, to develop a variety of economic activities in rural areas to ensure employment, income and social security to local residents. In 2001, the President of Lithuania established the Poverty Monitoring Commission, which has helped to identify the most urgent issues in the country in that regard. In general, Lithuania has favourable conditions for agricultural and rural development, such as the country’s advantageous geographical location, favourable climatic conditions, ample resources of productive agricultural land, a sufficient number of relatively low polluted water bodies. At the same time, we are facing certain problems, which, I believe, are characteristic to all countries in the region. For many small farmers, farming has not yet become an income-producing activity. There is a shortage of modern equipment, and the cooperation among producers is underdeveloped. As people are poorly prepared for the work under competitive market conditions, the unemployment level is high. Social infrastructure in rural areas is underdeveloped, working conditions and social security as well as opportunities of acquiring proper education, medical and other services are worse than in urban settings.To reach the goals outlined in the Poverty Reduction Strategy, a system of measures is being implemented which take into account specific needs of our rural areas. The economic measures are: investment support and direct payments; provision of investment support to small and middle-scale companies, encouragement of establishment of small industrial companies or units of major companies in rural locations and creating a favourable environment for cooperation of small farmers and other producers of agricultural products. Other measures include organising permanent education for farmers, providing advice on modern farming methods, business organisation and possibilities for expansion, supporting their participation in international exhibitions and fairs in order to enhance the capacity of producers to compete in local and international markets.The Government also encourages the development of alternative activities of the rural population such as organic farming, forestry, pond fishing, horse breeding, rural tourism and recreation, traditional crafts. In the last years we are witnessing the growing activity of rural women in entrepreneurship. Many of them are running rural tourism and recreation facilities such as tourist farms, which advertise themselves in the Internet and have become very popular with urban Lithuanians as well as with tourists from abroad.We support the principle that the rural strategy must be consistent with urban development. In Lithuania, we are using the circumstance that our villages and towns are not separated by long distances; in fact they are intimately linked and complementary to one another. Urban infrastructure can be used to retrain rural labour force for new employment opportunities in the countryside, as well as provide rural people with additional employment opportunities in towns easily accessible from their villages.For Lithuania, poverty reduction is also an integral part of the European integration process. To implement national action plans against poverty and social exclusion after the accession of Lithuania to the European Union, we are planning to participate in the EU Community Action Programme, become a party to the Joint Inclusion Memorandum with the European Union. Good neighbourly relations with all the countries in the region, the upcoming membership in the EU and NATO provide for Lithuania an excellent opportunity to share our experience with other countries that are coping with similar problems, and to serve as a link between the European Union and our new neighbours. Lithuania has already started co-operation on projects with Belarus, Kaliningrad region, Ukraine, Moldavia, and the Caucasus. Mr Chairman,Lithuania recognizes that without special measures the progress in economy does not eradicate poverty. There have to be sustained efforts of the national and local governments, the civil society and international organisations. Therefore, we have taken obligations to participate in internationally coordinated poverty reduction activities. Lithuania, as an emerging donor country has an important role to play for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals worldwide. We have already committed human and financial resources in the framework of the development policy of the United Nations. We hope that our rich experience in the historic transition process and developed regional co-operation, our efforts and knowledge in rural development and poverty reduction will be of value and importance to other countries that are facing similar challenges. Thank you for your attention.