Address of Professor Gita Sen, Chairperson of the Third United Nations Forum on Minority Issues “Minorities and the Effective Participation in Economic Life” Geneva 14-15 December 2010 Mr President, Madam High Commissioner, Madam Independent Expert, Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Colleagues and friends, Allow me firstly to thank the previous speakers for their kind words on my appointment as Chair of this Third session of the Forum on Minority Issues. Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner, Madam Independent Expert, it is indeed an honour for me to take up this role and I do so with great pleasure and commitment. I would also endorse the comments that have been made about the value of this Forum and the importance of its work in the field of minority issues. I particularly wish to congratulate Gay McDougall, the Independent Expert for her guidance and preparation of this session and for making my task a little easier. I know that many of you here are from civil society and are minorities yourselves who struggle with these issues on a daily basis and who feel the impact of the lack of fair and effective economic participation intimately. I would like to add my voice to those of my colleagues on the podium this