Thank you Mr. President,

I very much welcome this opportunity early in the new year to participate in your discussions on the Peacebuilding Commission and to do so in my capacity as Chair of the Country Specific Meeting on Sierra Leone.

Allow me to refer to my statement before the Security Council on 22 December of last year, when I was invited to brief the Security Council members on the outcome of the Country Specific Meetings on Sierra Leone that had taken place in October and December 2006, respectively.

While various activities have been ongoing in Sierra Leone itself as well as at an informal level within the Peacebuilding Commission, I believe that my earlier statement still very much reflects the state of play as concerns the PBC’s involvement with Sierra Leone.

 Allow me therefore, to refrain from repeating the overview that I had presented at that time and instead, make a number of remarks that may feed into your discussions of today.

Firstly, I very much welcome the interest shown by the Security Council in the activities of the PBC, as demonstrated by today’s debate. The same is true for the interest shown by other bodies within the United Nations, such as the General Assembly – which intends to discuss the PBC’s work next week - and ECOSOC, and those without. Today represents a good opportunity to strengthen our common focus on our shared interests. That is, to assist Sierra Leone and Burundi – as the first countries under consideration – in building peace and in preventing chances of a relapse into conflict.

Secondly, I wish to stress that good progress has been made in Sierra Leone when it comes to addressing the identified gaps in critical areas. Allow me to highlight just a few developments:

• A National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding has been established by the government of Sierra Leone and the UN to relate to the work of the PBC and the Peacebuilding Fund. It will bring together government, UN, donor, and civil society representatives to jointly address peacebuilding priorities.

• In Sierra Leone, consultations are ongoing to finalise the Priority Plan for funding from the PBF. Once the review process stipulated in the Terms of Reference of the Fund is completed, it is expected that a country envelope in excess of the initially indicated USD 25 million will be made available.

• At the PBC’s last country-specific meeting on Sierra Leone, members of the Commission urged the international community to lend support to the Government of Sierra Leone to broaden its donor base and secure assistance, including further debt relief. I am pleased to note that the World Bank’s International Development Association and the International Monetary Fund have agreed that Sierra Leone has made sufficient progress to reach the completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

• The Commission also called on the international community to provide, in a timely manner, adequate resources and support for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, including capacity-building to ensure women’s equal participation in the political process. In this a great deal of progress has been observed. The initial resource gap of 7 million for the elections has been reduced to less than 3 million with further pledges expected. Progress has been made in establishing an independent National Electoral Commission to prepare credible elections; the signing of an electoral code of conduct by eight political parties; the strengthening of the Sierra Leone police; and the countrywide discussions of a media code of conduct for electoral reporting.

Finally, allow me to revert to the process of the PBC’s discussions in New York. Next week, members of the country specific meetings on Sierra Leone will discuss a work plan for the work of the PBC on Sierra Leone. This work plan is to guide our activities in the coming months leading up to the next Country Specific Meeting on Sierra Leone, due to take place in March or April. It sets a timeline and defines the actions to be undertaken by the Sierra Leone government, the UN system and other stakeholders. Ownership, especially at the national level, and close coordination between New York and national actors are crucial.

A key focus of the work of the PBC on Sierra Leone in these coming months will be the development of an integrated approach to clearly outline the commitments made by the government of Sierra Leone and the international community.

Mr. President,

I am confident that in the spirit that has guided the PBC’s discussions thus far, we will be able to continue to engage in meaningful discussions in the country specific meetings on Sierra Leone and in the process, contribute to the building of peace in Sierra Leone. It will require the involvement of all the stakeholders: the government of Sierra Leone, the PBC’s full membership, potential other donors in the UN Country Team and the individual UN bodies on the ground, NGOs, civil society and the private sector. It will also require the continued support by the Security Council, and I therefore very much welcome your continued engagement regarding the Peacebuilding Commission and Sierra Leone in particular.

Thank you.