UN General Assembly
2008

by itself. We need to step up our efforts to help Pakistan master the economic and social challenges it faces. Pakistan’s internal stability is crucial to stability in the entire region. This will require concrete support from everyone in the international community, and my country — rest assured — will play its part. International engagement is also still necessary in the Middle East. In the current phase of domestic uncertainty, we call upon all parties to the conflict not to ease up in their efforts to resolve the conflict. As experience has shown, to stand still in the Middle East often means to take a step backward. A new wave of terror and violent clashes would result, and neither Israel nor Palestine, nor the international community, can afford to let that happen. Germany believes it has a particular responsibility to provide concrete assistance to improve the framework conditions. Just recently, at the Berlin Conference in Support of Palestinian Civil Security and the Rule of Law — which many of those here attended — we agreed on concrete measures to