Celebration of International Ozone Day

Shenzen , China , 16 September 2005

Introductory remarks on behalf of the Fund Secretariat

Tony Hetherington

Deputy Chief Officer

Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

May I commence by saying how pleased the Secretariat of the Multilateral Fund is to have been invited to participate in the celebration of International Ozone Day for 2005 in the vibrant city of Shenzen . May I say also how pleased I am to be able to represent the Multilateral Fund Secretariat on this occasion.

I would like to extend the thanks of the Multilateral Fund Secretariat to the Government of China, through the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the State Environment Protection Agency, to the city of Shenz h en , and to UNDP, UNEP for organising a celebration on this most important day, the 16 th of September, and for the first class arrangements they have made for the celebration.

I cannot let this occasion go past without noting that this must be at least the 10 th International Ozone Day in which Mr Liu Yi the head of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of SEPA, has been involved. FECO and the Secretariat of the Multilateral Fund are by now very old business acquaintances. Mr Liu is a good friend and colleague of the Secretariat and many of its staff. We have had a very fruitful relationship extending over a long period of time, during which we have done some very good business for the stratospheric ozone layer.

And that is one of the reason s we are able to have a small celebration today. The latest data provided by China indicates that overall, in the last ten years or so, China has reduced its total production and consumption of all ozone depleting substances by well over 60 percent. Because of China 's huge size and its level of economic activity, this represents the removal from the atmosphere of more than 170,000 ODP tonnes of ozone depleting substances. If the massive phase-out had not taken place, this vast quantity of ozone depleting substances would continue to be emitted into the atmosphere year after year after year. Figures like this help us to understand just how important is the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer and its financial mechanism, the Multilateral Fund.

These figures also illustrate how important it has been for the future health of the ozone layer for a country like China to have committed itself so wholeheartedly to the spirit of the Montreal Protocol and the Multilateral Fund. Of course, there have been many, many long and serious debates in the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund, in which China has played a leading role. There have been intensive discussions over project development and project funding. I believe that this is exactly how the Parties to the Montreal Protocol foresaw the Multilateral Fund developing.

The Parties involved in negotiating the London Amendment to the Protocol, which established the Multilateral Fund, were visionary when they created a financial mechanism which could be continually developed to meet the emerging needs of countries such as China as their phase-out progressed.

In return, China has been visionary in its responses to the initiatives taken by the Multilateral Fund. China 's first Montreal Protocol phase-out projects were approved in 1992, only one year after the inception of the Multilateral Fund. These were two projects to convert the production of aerosol products to use non-CFC propellants. The two projects phased out over 2,600 tonnes of ozone depleting substances. Since then, with the assistance of the four implementing agencies involved with the Multilateral Fund, China has had approved by the Executive Committee of the Fund 408 projects and activities with a total value of over 625 million dollars, and firm timetables are in place for the complete phase-out of all CFC production and consumption, well ahead of the 2010 Montreal Protocol deadline.

This brings me to the City of Shenzen , which has undertaken to go even faster and complete its CFC phase-out by the thirtieth of June 2006 . This is a bold and forward looking goal. It is precisely the sort of leadership that the Multilateral Fund was intended to inspire. It is gratifying to see such an initiative emerging as the Fund enters its most critical and challenging phase, namely achievement of the final phase-out of the most common ozone depleting substances. I would like to convey to the Government of China, the City of Shenzen and the other ten cities in this programme, congratulations from the Fund Secretariat, our heartfelt thanks, and best wishes on International Ozone Day in 2005 for a most successful outcome to this exciting accelerated phase-out project.

Thank you.