I hope that this session of the Forum on Minority Issues will help us reinforcing our partnerships between community representatives, NGOs, State leaderships and international actors so we can act with joint forces, benefitting from our combined expertise, resources, and influence that are needed to develop and implement a fully effective strategy to prevent and end statelessness. (And since I was appointed not to provide lengthy speeches but keep this house in order, let me be considerate of my own time limits too and lead us to proceed to the first agenda item which is a discussion on the “Root causes and consequences of statelessness affecting minorities: preventing statelessness through a human rights approach”….)