DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, head of the DPRK delegation, said in his speech that the on-going wars and military conflicts in different parts of the world, the daily expanding military blocs and the escalating new arms race among big powers, the global environment being rapidly degraded due to pollution and depletion and the financial and economic crisis sweeping the world are the main factors of threatening the peace and security of the world and throwing hurdles in the way of attaining the MDGs.

Underscoring the need for the meeting to pay serious attention to these matters, he expressed the following views of his delegation on the implementation of the MDGs:

What is important is to create a peaceful environment, set right the present international economic structure on the principle of impartiality and increase the role of the UN, he said, adding that all the UN organizations should give priority to boosting the support to developing countries in development and pay special attention to helping them secure stable and long-term financial resources as required by these countries.

He stressed, in particular, the need not to allow any attempt to use the aid of the UN organizations including the United Nations Development Programme as a lever for pursuing a political purpose.

He noted that the DPRK proposal for concluding a peace treaty was aimed at removing the root cause of posing a constant threat to the peace and security in the region, establishing a lasting peace-keeping regime on the Korean Peninsula and providing a peaceful environment for the nation's economic construction and the improvement of the standard of people's living.

The DPRK will as ever boost the cooperation with all countries in the world in their efforts to build a new peaceful and prosperous world, guided by the idea of its foreign policy-- independence, peace and friendship-- and make a positive contribution to the efforts of the international community to attain the MDGs, he concluded.