While many donors have significantly raised their contributions, it is worth noting the emergence of the EC as the largest single donor in 2006.

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1 Vienna, 28 February 2007 Welcome to this Major Donors Meeting. Before starting I would like to introduce a new kid on the block, Jeffrey Avina, the recently appointed Director for Operations. Later today he will spell out some of his initial ideas for the future of UNODC operational work. Excellencies, because of the funding structure of this Office, you are the de facto major share holders. Since 90% of the budget comes from voluntary contributions, and major donors account for the lion s share of that (84% in 2005; 65% in 2006), you are the power brokers. While many donors have significantly raised their contributions, it is worth noting the emergence of the EC as the largest single donor in Other emerging donors are becoming increasingly generous (such as Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico, Monaco, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates). You may soon need more chairs around this table. 1 / 6

2 Thank you for the vote of confidence that you have shown in UNODC over the past five years. Voluntary funding (GP and SP) has risen by more than 100% since 2002 (from $69 million to $150 million in 2006). We anticipate continued strong growth in the next few years. UNODC is becoming more effective at positioning itself with IFIs (World Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development, ADB, and IADB) and the private sector, i.e. for alternative development, anti-corruption, anti-trafficking and anti-money laundering. This allows us to leverage resources. Reaching out more to non-traditional partners such as newly emerging donors, IFAD, philanthropists/private foundations and the NATO-Russia Council. First ever Global Partnership Forum organized by UNODC with the private corporate sector in October Financially the picture looks quite rosy, except for the regular budget and General Purpose Funds. There is a growing imbalance between mandates and tasks on one hand and resources on the other. The Office needs more stable, predictable and sufficient funding for its core mandated activities. Why? Because the world expects the UN particularly UNODC to play a more active role in tackling drugs, crime and terrorism. There is increasing global attention on uncivil society. The General Assembly has decided that drugs, crime and terrorism are priorities for the UN for the biennium We need the tools to do the job that you have tasked us with. 2 / 6

3 All countries in this room are generous supporters of UNODC that s why you are here as major donors. But frankly, some of you have a habit of ordering à la carte without paying the service charge. As Chris Kirkcaldy will point out this morning, if we continue at the present level of funding UNODC will not be able to pay its bills. I would like to thank those major donors, like Germany, France and Ireland, who have paid their GP contributions early this year in order to help our cash flow problem. The major projects that you fund and which are important for all of us can not be run without the basic support structure paid for out of General Purpose Funds and the regular budget. To put it bluntly, some of you (who exclusively ear-mark your contributions) get a free ride at the expense of others who may be contributing less, but who pay a fair share of General Purpose Funds. Our programme to support ratio is shrinking from 75:25 in to 81:19 in , projected to reach 83:17 in the next biennium. We are trying to be as lean and fit as possible in order to be cost-effective, competitive and good value for money. But there is a limit to how low we can go before hurting operational capability and effectiveness. We can not support the voluntary contribution muscle mass without strong General Purpose bones. I appeal to you to provide more General Purpose Funds and to urge your colleagues in the Fifth Committee in New York to support our proposal for a modest ($3 million) increase in the regular budget submission for the biennium / 6

4 But this meeting is not about money, it is about ideas and future vision. I am glad that consensus has emerged on a medium-term strategy. This gives us clear and common objectives for the next four years. I pay tribute to the hard work that has been put into this joint endeavour. I would like to highlight a number of points from the strategy. It refers to improving horizon integration which I would call greater cohesion. We need to build a stronger sense of one UNODC and to join UN-wide efforts to deliver as one. This will require bridging the gap between the traditional development arena and global threats, closer cooperation with the rest of the UN family, and a more effective balance between headquarters and the field. More attention to performance-based management (using the biennial budget). Continue the tradition of innovation and be in the vanguard of reform efforts. Proud of the UN21 awards 20% of the awards from an Office that gets less than 1% of the budget. I 4 / 6

5 think the Secretary-General was impressed with what he saw in Vienna last week. I anticipate he will return at least two more times in 2007 for the Global Forum on Re-Inventing Government (June) and the Global Conference against Human Trafficking that will take place at the end of November. Now that the strategy has been completed, we should focus on a limited number of operational priorities in order to ensure that our work is focused and resources used most effectively. (i.e. Afghanistan, corruption, human trafficking, security sector reform). Jeffrey Avina and Bernard Frahi will review the operational highlights and priorities in greater detail this afternoon as well as reveal some thoughts about future operational directions. A major highlight this year will be the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking and Slavery. We must intensify joint efforts to contain Afghanistan s opium problem. This is a shared responsibility. It looks as though the opium harvest for 2007 will not be less than the record crop of I have just returned from Pakistan, and next week will visit Afghanistan. I am urging Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to improve information sharing and border management cooperation. Drug trafficking is a trans-border problem that requires bilateral and regional cooperation. It is a shared responsibility involving countries of supply, transit and demand. 5 / 6

6 I invited the Ministers of Interior and Counter-Narcotics from all three countries to attend this meeting in order to explain to you their respective needs and perspectives. [Attendance is not as good as I had hoped partly due to local weather and partly to the international political climate.] I urge you to use this opportunity and your bilateral channels to impress upon our colleagues your interest in supporting them in their difficult task, and the need for them to engage more closely and openly with each other. 6 / 6