Mantovani (PPE-DE). – (IT) Mr President, I would say that the outcome of the Johannesburg Earth Summit has been neither positive nor negative. It may suffice to say that it was a necessary, useful meeting, although the optimism of Rio, 10 years ago, has given way to a certain diffidence with regard to the time frames and to the goals to be achieved. The endorsement of both a Plan of Implementation – focusing, inter alia, on poverty reduction, health, technology transfer and trade – and the political declaration setting forth an international commitment to work together to improve the use and distribution of natural and energy resources provides an ambitious goal for both developed and developing countries in terms of restoring the balance in North-South relations in the world and achieving sustainability of development and progress policies. I do, however, hope that the conference was more than just a parade of Heads of State or Government and that it made clear the need for issues related to sustainable development to be given a central place in the international political agenda. Johannesburg revealed precisely the need for supranational governance which can tackle the world’s many environmental, economic and social issues, focusing particularly on the poor and developing countries.

The poor and developing countries’ debt is, without a doubt, a key issue too, impacting considerably on the success of the strategy for medium- and long-term sustainable development. In this regard, the issue of transparency, to be achieved through the computerisation of the budgets of the developing countries, is an essential condition if we are to continue along the path of cancelling past debts.