Brussels, 17/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In conclusions adopted on Friday, the European Council reaffirmed its support for UN reform, sharing the views of Secretary General Kofi Annan on an integrated concept of collective security. Ahead of the UN summit to be held in New York this September, the European Council confirmed the commitment of the Member States in favour of new interim thresholds for public development aid (PDA). The European Council also calls upon the Council of the EU to continue examining different forms of additional development funding, but did not indicate a preference, and welcomes the decision of the G8 to cancel the multilateral debt of 18 extremely indebted poor countries. It confirms that by following a "case-by-case approach", the EU will seek an agreement on the details for additional relief "in collaboration with international financial institutions", so that the "burden of debt is manageable in the long-term". The European Council states that the EU will also make a "particular effort to promote and reinforce the coherence of policies in favour of development as part of the global partnership for development, under the Millennium Objectives", and that it will "step up its efforts" in favour of the African countries, and increase its "aid to sub-Saharan Africa, by collectively allocating to the African continent at least 50% of the increase in resources agreed for PDA".
On the agreement reached on 13 April by the UN General Assembly on the Convention on the prevention of nuclear terrorism, the Council "calls upon all Member States of the UN to sign this convention at the September summit". It regrets that "the review conference for the NPT (non-proliferation Treaty) had not been able to reach consensus on a document tackling the substantial issues" of disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.