A/HRC/9/17 page 5 10. France made a general statement on behalf of the European Union, Turkey, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Liechtenstein, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Georgia. The European Union remains firmly committed to the realization of the right to development and fully supports the road map agreed to at the eighth session of the Working Group and endorsed by the Council in its resolution 4/4. The European Union believed that States had the responsibility to create internal conditions favourable to their development and to cooperate on an international level to eliminate obstacles to development. It welcomed the work of the high-level task force in further refining the criteria in the light of lessons learned from their application and with a view to making them more applicable and widely acceptable. Extension of the criteria to target 8.E of Millennium Development Goal 8 (access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries) was also welcomed in that it would allow a right to development review of the trade dimension of intellectual property rights and health. It could also incorporate the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the World Bank and public-private partnerships involved in the pharmaceutical industry, aiming to help around 2 billion poor people lacking access to life-saving and health-supporting medicines. In conclusion, the European Union supported the recommendations of the fourth session of the task force, which were aimed at further improving the quality of the criteria. 11. Egypt, speaking on behalf of the Group of African States, endorsed the statement of the Non-Aligned Movement. It believed that Council resolution 4/4 reaffirmed the importance and centrality of the right to development and made its realization and operationalization one of its key objectives and a fundamental part of its mandate. The resolution constituted a strong vote of confidence in the Working Group and its task force, recognizing the progress it has helped achieve in recent years in the debate on the right to development, including the definition of the principles underpinning the right to development, as well as the identification of the numerous elements covered in this right. The African Group welcomed the continued focus of both the task force and the Working Group on Millennium Development Goal 8. Furthermore, it made a number of observations with regard to the implementation and operationalization of the right to development, periodic evaluation of various partnerships, the need to make the criteria concrete, technical missions and Millennium Development Goal target 8.E. 12. Pakistan made a general statement on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. It noted that the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals was fundamentally a test of global partnerships for development, with a direct bearing on all other Goals. The Organization expressed concern that many of the Goal targets were yet to be realized, including those under Goal 8. The work of the Working Group was of critical importance in taking the right to development approach for progressive and sustainable development, as well as in pursuing Millennium Development Goals, to put growth and development on a long-term sustainable track. The need was expressed for greater participation of developing countries in international economic and financial decision-making, identification of new sources of financing for the poor and the removal of constraints arising out of aspects of intellectual property rights, tariff barriers and technology control regimes. By narrowing its focus on evaluating specific partnerships, the Working Group should not lose sight of the bigger picture.