Throughout the family of development partners there is a unity of purpose. I will certainly add my voice to the call for poverty reduction as our single most important goal. In order to effectively combat poverty, the developing countries must themselves be committed to poverty reduction, define their own anti-poverty strategies and invite support for their own plans. And, to deliver aid effectively, the donors must end their turf battles, concentrate on what they do best, and coordinate their efforts and bring these in line with national priorities at the receiving end. I will stress the importance of international framework conditions the linkages between development, trade, debt, investment and finance.
Development cooperation is no longer a narrow niche.
It is, and must be, an umbrella, covering much, much more than aid alone. In this spirit, I will continue to implement the Norwegian Debt Plan and work towards full funding of the HIPC initiative. In the same spirit, I regard our WTO engagement as part of our development policy. A new round must put the interests and special needs of the developing countries at the forefront. The developing countries, especially the least developed ones, must become better integrated into the global economy.