The substantive outcomes of your deliberations have certainly been important to achieving that goal and will continue to be so. The Forum has addressed issues of significant importance to minorities globally, issues that have provided persistent challenges for States and minorities alike. The Human Rights Council has welcomed and benefitted from the recommendations of the first two sessions of the Forum on the issues of “Minorities and the Rights to Education” and “Minorities and Effective Political Participation”. The Forum discussions have made a significant contribution to the understanding of those issues and delivered concrete and realizable recommendations for both States and other stakeholders. These recommendations, in which all participants have invested their knowledge and experience, inspire and guide the process of developing solutions that improve the lives of minorities. Once again you have before you a timely and important issue which provides significant challenges for all States, developed or developing, rich or poor - how to better ensure the effective participation of minorities in economic life and prevent exclusion. I want to reiterate the importance of economic, social and cultural rights to the work of the Human Rights Council. When these rights are fully respected, protected and fulfilled, the conditions are established that enable all to claim their right to participate in economic life no matter what national, ethnic, religious or linguistic group they belong to. The Human Rights Council is keen to encourage cooperation between the UN mandates that work on minority issues to enable us to better address 3