UN General Assembly
2006

At the outset, allow me to congratulate you, Madam President, and the Kingdom of Bahrain on your assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session. As a woman, I welcome your election with great pride and wish to assure you of my delegation’s full support in every possible way. I also wish to express my delegation’s profound appreciation to President Jan Eliasson, your predecessor, for his hard work and dedication in advancing the United Nations reform agenda over the past year. Also, I take this opportunity to welcome the Republic of Montenegro as a new member of the United Nations. As I speak, Thailand is going through a critical period — a transition, following the military intervention, to a needed reform process that will strengthen our democracy in both its form and content. As a peace-loving country, we are grateful that the political change in Thailand has taken place peacefully. The situation in the country returned to normal within hours. On behalf of the Thai people, I wish to thank