<p>Today, at this second, a baby girl is being born somewhere in the world. She is being born to a mother who is undernourished. The mother herself is young, 18 years old. It is likely that the baby is stunted in height and low in weight, even though she was born at full term.</p>

<p>It gives me great pleasure to address the opening of this thirty-seventh session of the Commission on Population and Development. Let me begin, Mr. Chairman, by congratulating you and the members of your Bureau on your election as officers of the Commission this year.</p>

<p>Today, 9 March 2004, at the conclusion of the two-day meeting, “Cairo and Beyond: Reproductive Rights and Culture”, organized by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and the Netherlands Government, we reaffirm our commitment and cooperation to implement the Programme of Action that was adopted at the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994.</p>

<p>I hope you are all rested, both from travel and from our surprise culinary activity of last night. It was a wonderful idea. It was not only a very welcome ice-breaker, which is critical to good dialogue, but it was also an “equalizer” – Prime Ministers, Ministers, government officials, non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders and activists, staff of UNFPA, along with our colleagues from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Development Cooperation were all equal cooks!</p>

<p>Today, on International Women’s Day, let us focus on the urgent issue of women and AIDS. It is a cruel irony that the first place where women have achieved equality is among those infected with HIV.</p>

<p>Good morning. It is a great pleasure to participate with you at this important and timely International Colloquium. It is especially gratifying to join you during the 10th anniversary year of the historic International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).</p>

<p>It is a pleasure to be here today in Chiang Mai to deliver this statement on behalf of Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.</p>

<p class="bodytext">It is a pleasure to be here at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. It is an honour to be here with the hospital’s founder, Catherine Hamlin, and all of the staff and patients.</p>

<p>It is a pleasure to be here today in the Ethiopian capital and it is an honour to address the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union.</p>

<p>It is exciting for me to be here in Addis Ababa for the first time and to participate in this important symposium. I would like to thank the Government of Ethiopia, USAID/Ethiopia and UNFPA/Ethiopia for making this symposium possible.</p>

<p>I am very pleased to be here today with Sharon Camp of The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) to launch this important report, <i>Adding It Up</i>, on the benefits of investing in reproductive and sexual health programmes.</p>

<p>Over the past three days, we have been privileged to be part of this important meeting, to listen, to share and to learn from an array of distinguished experts and practitioners.</p>