UN General Assembly
2002

preventive diplomacy. Both inside and outside a given country, the fight against poverty is the prime operation for the maintenance of international peace and security. My Government has understood this, and we have decentralized our administration through the establishment of district councils. Now it is up to the 58 administrative districts to identify their own needs, to establish their priorities and carry out their development projects financed from the annual budget under the appropriate national legislation. With respect to the financing of a decentralized administration, Côte d'Ivoire takes this opportunity to thank its developmental partners for their aid and support, and we appeal to the international community to make additional contributions to our decentralization 15 policy. I reaffirm that Côte d'Ivoire has enormous potential and, now more than ever, offers extraordinary opportunities for investment and partnership. We welcome the results of the International Conference on Financing for Development, which was held at Monterrey from 18 to 22 March 2002, as well as the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, and the 2001 Doha meeting of