24. Welcomes in this regard the fact that the governments of Poland and Sweden initiated five informal COARM meetings between old and new Member States on arms exports controls, with the recommendation that this system of COARM meetings be maintained and also that it be made more representative and regular, and welcomes the efforts of the government of the Netherlands to introduce candidate countries and other interested states to the practical application of the Code of Conduct;

The Council believes that international partnerships, in particular the European Union Energy Initiative, the Mediterranean Renewable Energy Program (MEDREP) and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), and the international conferences on renewable energies, such as the Conference on Renewable Energy on the Market held in Soenderborg, Denmark, September 2003, and the International Conference for Renewable Energies that will be held in Bonn from 1-4 June 2004 and the initiative of the Netherlands to host the Conference on Energy for Development in 2004, are important in view of providing clear visions about the rol ...[+++]e of renewable energy and energy efficiency systems and sustainable energy policies for developing countries, and to elaborate on programmes of action to foster the diffusion of climate friendly technologies and to consider a policy framework with long-term commitments. In this context, the Council welcomes also the opportunity provided by the European Conference for Renewable Energy to be held in Berlin on 17-19 January 2004 to examine targets for renewable energies in promoting renewable energy strategies and to develop and discuss the elements of a concrete action plan for the EU and other European partner countries.

Whatever the merits of the various arguments, however, it would appear that the Netherlands initiative is not admissible now that the Treaty of Nice has entered into force.

The Council believes that international partnerships, in particular the European Union Energy Initiative, the Mediterranean Renewable Energy Program (MEDREP) and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), and the international conferences on renewable energies, such as the Conference on Renewable Energy on the Market held in Soenderborg, Denmark, September 2003, and the International Conference for Renewable Energies that will be held in Bonn from 1-4 June 2004 and the initiative of the Netherlands to host the Conference on Energy for Development in 2004, are important in view of providing clear visions about the rol ...[+++]e of renewable energy and energy efficiency systems and sustainable energy policies for developing countries, and to elaborate on programmes of action to foster the diffusion of climate friendly technologies and to consider a policy framework with long-term commitments. In this context, the Council welcomes also the opportunity provided by the European Conference for Renewable Energy to be held in Berlin on 17-19 January 2004 to examine targets for renewable energies in promoting renewable energy strategies and to develop and discuss the elements of a concrete action plan for the EU and other European partner countries.

We owe it, of course, to an initiative by the countries of the South, at once supported by European countries, that we, the Heads of State and Government of 185 nations, are meeting here today; it is on their initiative and thanks to the tenacity of Ambassador Somavia and the commitment of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that we are, all of us together, setting the social question right at the heart of the world economic order.

The common law countries are so similar to what the Americans and now Canada will be doing, and they face very similar policy issues with respect to terrorism and its prosecution in the courts, that it should be our first stop; England, Australia and New Zealand, the countries that share the English common law legal tradition, would be the first ones to raise this with and hopefully they will follow suit.