Press Release
Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs
of the Community of Democracies
(New York, September 19, 2005)

1. On September 19, 2005, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Community of Democracies held a meeting presided over by His Excellency Moctar Ouane Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

2. In his introductory statement, Minister Moctar OUANE was pleased that this meeting was held at the same time as the High Ranking Meeting of the General Assembly that offered world political leaders the historic opportunity to evaluate progress that were accomplished in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and reaffirm their will to reform the United Nations for a better world based on universalism, equity and regional balance.

3. He then put the stress on the roadmap of Mali’s chairmanship of the Community of Democracies, especially the pursuit of the implementation of the Seoul Action Plan and the concretization of the Santiago Commitment; poverty reduction which poses a challenge to democracy; and strengthening the role of democratic caucuses, regional organizations and the Civil Society in promoting the objectives of the Community of Democracy.

4. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali then invited his colleagues to exchange views about the issues of enlarging the Convening Group and the UN reform pertaining to the creation of the UN Fund for democracy and the Human Rights Council.

5. In their discussions, the Ministers approved the recommendations submitted by the Convening Group concerning its enlargement to sixteen members, on the basis of four members per region.  Five new members were designated:
   1. for Africa: Cape Verde and Morocco;
   2. for the Asia: Mongolia;
   3. for Europe: Italy;
   4. for the Americas: El Salvador.

The sixth member will be designated within the Asian region by the Convening Group after consultations.

6. The Ministers commended the creation of the UN Fund for democracy aimed at assisting countries that work hard for the promotion of democracy and the reinforcement of their democratic institutions. In this respect, they invited the members of the Community of Democracies to contribute.

7. The Ministers also underlined the necessity of reinforcing the mechanism for promoting and protecting Human Rights. In this framework, they welcomed the creation of the Human Rights Council and expressed their total support for this body.

8. The Ministers saluted the important role the Civil Society plays in promoting democracy in the world. They have underlined the necessity of promoting a positive and permanent dialog with the Civil Society organizations as privileged partners of the Community of Democracies.

9. The Ministers recalled the importance of the working groups in the implementation and follow up of the Santiago Ministerial Conference recommendations. To that end, they urged the Chairs of the four working groups to bring more dynamism to their respective groups.

10. The Malian chairmanship thanked the member countries, the representatives of International Organizations and Non Governmental Organizations for their qualitative input and commitment to promoting the objectives of the Community of Democracies.