At the outset, I would like to congratulate
the President on his election as President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I am
confident that, thanks to his experience and wisdom, he
will lead the work of this forum to the best results. I
would also like to take this opportunity to express our
satisfaction with the manner in which Sheikha Haya
Rashed Al-Khalifa conducted the deliberations of the
General Assembly at its previous session and the
efforts she made for United Nations reform and, with
regard to several controversial issues, to arrive at
solutions acceptable to all. I also wish to express our
gratitude for the efforts exerted by His Excellency
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, since his appointment as Secretary-
General, to implement the resolutions of the United
Nations and to achieve the purposes of the Charter.
 The reform of the United Nations has been the
central issue in our deliberations in the General
Assembly and in a number of other forums over the
past two years. We were able to move forward towards
achieving our goals on some aspects of the reform
process. However, there is still a long way to go,
especially in the absence of real progress towards
reforming the Security Council and enhancing the role
of the General Assembly.
 That issue has been the subject of intensive
consultations in which many ideas were put forward,
some of which were realistic and based on the
principles of equal sovereignty for all nations and
equitable geographical representation. Other ideas,
however, involved consolidating the control of the
powerful States over the United Nations bodies and the
concept that those with privileges in the Security
Council should maintain those privileges and reject any
active role for other actors in that respect. That latter
attitude cannot lead to any true reform contributing to
the realization of the purposes embodied in the Charter
of the United Nations.
 A realistic assessment of progress made in the
process of United Nations reform, especially in light of
the impasse in negotiations regarding Security Council
reform, leads us to the conviction that there is an
urgent need for a new world summit conference that
would push forward the reform process and bring to a
conclusion the work that we began two years ago.
 In order to achieve this, Libya calls, from this
podium, for a high-level summit meeting to be held at
the United Nations in Geneva within the framework of
the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, in
2008. Such a meeting would be devoted to the reform
process of the United Nations and the expansion of the
Security Council. Holding such an important meeting
in Geneva, a city that lies at the centre of the world,
would provide the opportunity for all world leaders to
attend, to present constructive proposals and to
participate in decision-making regarding this thorny
issue that concerns the entire world.
 True reform of the United Nations means putting
decision-making powers in the hands of all of its
Members, that is to say, in the hands of the General
Assembly, where all countries have equal vote. The
Security Council would thus become an instrument for
implementing General Assembly resolutions and we
would overcome the obstacles caused by the veto,
which puts international decision-making power in the
hands of the permanent members of the Security
Council and greatly encourages selectivity and double
standards in dealing with international problems.
 In our efforts to reform the Security Council, we
must consider a new formula for permanent
membership in which membership would be awarded
to geographical groups and not to specific countries. In
this regard, we demand that the African Union   since
Africa is the only continent which has no
representative among the permanent members   be
granted permanent membership in the Security Council
with all the privileges enjoyed by other permanent
members.
 While we encourage the current negotiations
regarding reform of the Security Council, we stress the
fact that Libya adheres to the Common African
Position, issued at the fifth African Union Summit,
held in Sirte on 4 and 5 July 2005. This position was
confirmed at subsequent African Union summit
conferences. It calls for the African continent to be
granted five non-permanent seats and two permanent
seats with all the privileges that other permanent
members enjoy, including the right of veto.
 Libya seeks the support of all Member States for
a seat on the Security Council so that it may continue
to carry out its efforts to achieve the objectives of the
United Nations, building on its experience of non-
permanent membership in 1976 and 1977. Libya has
therefore submitted its candidature for non-permanent
membership for the coming period 2008-2009. This
candidature enjoys the support of the African Union as
expressed in its resolution EX.CL/DEC. 308 (IX)
issued in Banjul on 29 June 2007, of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference in its resolution ORG 33/2
issued in Baku on 21 June 2006 and of the Arab
League in its resolution on 6 September 2006.
 Libya’s firm commitment to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations Charter, its notable
contribution to international peace and security and its
support for development, especially in Africa,
demonstrate that Libya is highly qualified for
membership in the Security Council.
 As a member of the Council, Libya would strive
to emphasize the central role played by the United
Nations in achieving international peace and security;
to strengthen respect for international law and the
provisions of the United Nations Charter; to enhance
pluralism in international relations through the United
Nations; to strengthen cooperation between the United
Nations and regional organizations in solving
international problems; to contribute to United Nations
reform; to work to increase cooperation and
coordination between the Security Council and the
other organs of the United Nations, particularly the
General Assembly; to encourage swift and effective
international cooperation and coordination in disaster
management and in the protection of human rights; to
contribute to the creation of permanent solutions to
international problems based on justice, equity, and
respect for the principles of international law and to
encourage further cooperation between the United
Nations and the African Union in the areas of conflict
resolution, consolidation of peace and support for
development in Africa.
 Libya strongly believes in the objectives of the
United Nations and consistently meets its obligations
to the Organization. Among Member States, Libya was
the second-largest African contributor to the United
Nations budget and to the budget of peacekeeping
operations in the biennium 2004-2006. Furthermore,
Libya provides a large share of voluntary contributions
to serve the goals of the United Nations.
 Moreover, Libya is one of the countries that have
most often resorted to the mechanisms of the United
Nations to resolve international disagreements. For
example, it resorted to the International Court of
Justice to resolve its border problems with Chad,
Tunisia and Malta and has accepted and implemented
the rulings of the Court.
 Libya has been a key mediator in the resolution
of a number of conflicts and disputes, especially in
Africa, and has dispatched peacekeeping forces to the
Central African Republic, monitored the border
between Chad and the Sudan and taken part in the
United Nations mission in Darfur. Libya has also
begun to nominate personnel from the Libyan police
force to serve in United Nations missions in a number
of African places.
 Libya has established partnerships with a number
of countries, in the field of development, particularly
in Africa. Additionally, in cooperation with the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Libya is implementing numerous projects that provide
food in a number of African and Arab States.
 In cooperation with Cuba and Nigeria, Libya
established the South-South Programme for health care
in Africa and, in 2006, launched the Gaddafi
Programme for African women, children and young
people, which provides health care and educational
services in Africa.
 Libya has provided humanitarian aid to numerous
countries in order to alleviate the effects of disasters.
Recipient countries have included Niger, Chad, the
Sudan, Somalia, Palestine, Indonesia, Pakistan and
Mauritania. Libya has also provided substantial aid to
several African countries to combat desert locusts.
 In the field of disarmament, Libya believes that
comprehensive and complete disarmament, beginning
with the elimination of weapons of mass destruction
(WMDs), is an essential prerequisite for the
consolidation of international peace and security. For
this reason, Libya initiated its voluntary abandonment
of all programmes related to WMDs and their means of
delivery. Libya hopes that all nations that possess such
weapons or related programmes will follow its
exemplary behaviour.
 International cooperation, under the auspices of
the United Nations, has achieved good results in the
fight against terrorism. However, concentrating on the
fight against this phenomenon, while ignoring its root
causes, will not bring terrorism to an end. Libya was
among the first countries that called for coordination of
international efforts to fight global terrorism. Since
1992, Libya has called for a special session of the
General Assembly to study this phenomenon and to
take the necessary measures to combat it by eradicating
its root causes.
 We believe that the time has come to heed this
call and establish a precise definition of terrorism that
would protect human rights and halt the practice of
confusing terrorism with the legitimate right of people
to fight against foreign occupation and to exercise self-
determination and attain independence.
 Ending terrorism will require practical measures
to eliminate its root causes, including effective action
to promote human rights for all peoples, putting a stop
to acts of aggression and the occupation of the land of
others, fighting poverty and encouraging democracy.
 Foreign occupation is the worst form of
terrorism, because occupation forces subject entire
peoples to measures which violate the most basic
principles of human rights and commit daily crimes
against those peoples in order to maintain their
occupation. In our campaign to fight terrorism, it is
imperative that we coordinate our efforts to finally put
an end to foreign occupation, enable peoples to
exercise their right to self-determination and prevent
interference in internal affairs.
 We urgently need to implement the pledges that
we adopted in the Millennium Declaration, the Doha
Declaration and the outcomes of the Monterrey and
Johannesburg conferences so that we can make ideal
use of our planet’s resources, end conflict, poverty,
illiteracy and disease, provide all people with safe
drinking water, safeguard the environment and achieve
sustainable development.
 It falls upon the shoulders of the United Nations,
in particular the Economic and Social Council, to
establish international partnerships for development
which can achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Such partnerships should facilitate dialogue between
North and South on the basis of respect for
sovereignty, equality and sharing of benefits, and
should ensure that we reach the agreed goal of
devoting 0.7 per cent of the developed countries’ gross
national income to official development assistance
(ODA) to developing countries. Such partnerships must
likewise ensure the appropriate application of all
multilateral free trade principles and must strengthen
World Trade Organization measures regarding
preferential treatment for developing countries,
including making it easier for developing countries to
join that organization.
 Countries with a colonial past bear the largest
share of responsibility to provide aid to developing
countries and to compensate them for the damage they
suffered during the colonial era. Similarly, countries
that waged war on the territories of other countries
have a responsibility to remove the mines, unexploded
ordnance and explosive remnants of war they left in
those countries. They must provide the necessary maps,
equipment and technical know-how to reclaim and
rehabilitate damaged land in those developing
countries.
 I call upon all Member States to aid the African
Union in its efforts to ensure that all African countries
achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
 The Palestinian people have lived in great misery
for more than half a century, since their land was
seized. More than half of them were displaced to
various parts of the world and those who remain have
been subjected to a bloody and vicious Israeli
occupation and to systematic violations of international
humanitarian law: houses are demolished, lands are
confiscated and Palestinian agricultural land is
bulldozed. Under siege and denied food and medicine,
inhabitants are expelled and unarmed citizens killed
while the building of an apartheid wall continues. The
oppression to which the Palestinian people are
subjected and the failure of the United Nations to
protect them and to aid them in attaining their rights
the right of return, the right to self-determination and
the right to establish an independent State on all
Palestinian land   are factors that prevent the
restoration of peace and security in the region. It is
time to address the issue of Palestine more seriously
and to refrain from attempts to impose a fait accompli
on the Palestinian people, depriving them of their
legitimate rights.
 The tragedy that has befallen brotherly Iraq and
that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqi
deaths, injuries and refugees, requires an urgent United
Nations initiative to stop the bleeding, resolve the
crisis, ensure the withdrawal of the occupation forces,
restore Iraq’s stability and sovereignty, maintain Iraq’s
territorial integrity and empower the Iraqis to control
their own resources and freely decide their own
destiny, while enabling all citizens to participate in the
administration of their country without the
marginalization of any group by any other group, so
that peace, security and prosperity may prevail in that
country.


I congratulate
the Secretary-General on his assumption of such a high
office within the international system. I welcome his
decision to encourage high-level debate on the
extremely grave issue of climate change. It is most
appropriate that that discussion take place here at the
United Nations.
 Let us not delude ourselves. If the groundwork of
global development is not rebuilt, the risks of
unprecedented environmental and human catastrophe
will grow. We must overcome the apparently pragmatic
and sophisticated notion   which is actually
anachronistic, predatory and senseless   that profits
and wealth can grow forever, at any cost. There are
prices that humanity cannot afford to pay at the risk of
destroying the material and spiritual foundations of our
collective existence   at the risk of self-destruction.
The preservation of life must prevail over mindless
greed.
 The world will not correct its irresponsible
relationship with nature, however, until we change the
way development relates to social justice. If we want to
salvage our common heritage, a new and more
balanced distribution of wealth is needed, both
internationally and within each country. Social equity
is our best weapon against the planet’s degradation.
Each one of us must do our part. It is unacceptable that
the cost of the irresponsibility of a privileged few be
shouldered by the dispossessed of the Earth.
 The most highly industrialized countries can and
must set the example. Full compliance with their
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol is
indispensable. That is not enough, however. We need to
set more ambitious goals for 2012 onwards and we
must take strong action to ensure universal accession to
the Protocol. Developing countries must also help in
combating climate change. We need clear national
strategies to hold Governments accountable to their
peoples.
 Brazil will soon launch its own national plan to
combat climate change. The Amazon forest is one of
the areas most vulnerable to global warming, but the
threats cover all continents. They range from greater
desertification to the outright disappearance of
territories or even of entire countries lost to rising sea
levels. Brazil has undertaken major efforts to minimize
the impact of climate change. Suffice it to say that, in
recent years, we have halved the rate of deforestation
in the Amazon region.
 Results like that should come as no surprise.
Brazil will under no circumstance abdicate either its
sovereignty or its responsibilities in the Amazon. Our
recent achievements derive from an increasing
presence of the Brazilian State in the region, fostering
sustainable development with economic, social,
educational and cultural benefits for its more than
20 million inhabitants.
 I am convinced that our experience can enrich
similar endeavours in other countries. In Nairobi,
Brazil proposed the adoption of economic and financial
incentives to reduce deforestation on a global scale. We
must also increase South-South cooperation while
promoting innovative modalities of joint action with
developed countries. That is how we can materialize
the principle of shared but differentiated
responsibilities.
 It is very important to adopt an integrated
political approach to the environmental agenda as a
whole. Brazil hosted the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development   the Earth Summit.
We need to review what has been achieved since then,
and set a new course of action. I therefore propose that
we hold a new Conference, in 2012, the “Rio +20”
Conference to be hosted by Brazil.
 We will not overcome the terrible impacts of
climate change until humanity changes its patterns of
energy production and consumption. The world
urgently needs to develop a new energy matrix in
which bio-fuels will play a vital role. Bio-fuels
significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With its
increased and more efficient use of ethanol, Brazil has
kept 644 million tons of carbon dioxide from being
emitted into the atmosphere over the past 30 years.
 Bio-fuels can be much more than a clean-energy
alternative. Ethanol and bio-diesel can open up
excellent opportunities for over 100 poor and
developing countries in Latin America, Asia and,
especially, Africa. They can enhance energy autonomy,
without costly investments. They can create jobs and
income and promote family farming. They can help
balance trade deficits by reducing imports and
generating surplus exportable crops.
 Brazil’s experience over three decades has shown
that bio-fuel production does not affect food security.
Sugarcane crops cover just 1 per cent of the country’s
arable land, and yields continue to rise. People do not
go hungry around the world for lack of food, but rather
for lack of income, which afflicts almost 1 billion men,
women and children.
 It is entirely possible to combine bio-fuels with
environmental protection and food production. We will
ensure that bio-fuel production complies with all social
and environmental guarantees. Our Government has
decided to implement a complete agro-ecological
zoning of the country in order to identify farmland best
suited to producing bio-fuels. Brazilian bio-fuels will
reach the world market with a seal of assurance for
their social, labour and environmental quality.
 In 2008, Brazil is set to host an international
conference on bio-fuels that will lay the foundations
for wide-ranging global cooperation. I hereby invite all
countries to participate.
 Sustainable development is not just an
environmental issue; it is also a social challenge. We
are making Brazil less unequal and more dynamic. The
country is growing again, creating jobs and distributing
income. This time, opportunities are being created for
all. We are paying off a centuries-old social debt, while
at the same time investing heavily in quality education,
science and technology.
 We have honoured our commitment to “zero
hunger” by sweeping away that scourge from the lives
of over 45 million people. We achieved the first
Millennium Development Goal 10 years ahead of
schedule, cutting extreme poverty in our country by
more than half. Fighting hunger and poverty should be
the concern of all peoples. A global society held back
by growing income disparities is simply not viable.
There will be no lasting peace if we do not
progressively reduce inequality.
 In 2004, we launched the global Action against
Hunger and Poverty. Early results are encouraging,
particularly the creation of the International Drug
Purchase Facility (UNITAID). UNITAID has already
achieved 45-per-cent price cuts in drugs used against
AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for the poorest
countries of Africa. The time has come for us to give it
a new push. We cannot allow ideas that so mobilized
our countries to fade because of bureaucratic inertia.
 However, the final defeat of poverty demands
more than international solidarity. It depends above all
on new economic relations that no longer penalize poor
countries. The Doha Round of the World Trade
Organization should promote a true pact for
development by adopting fair and balanced rules for
international trade. Farm subsidies that make the rich
richer and the poor poorer are no longer acceptable. We
cannot accept agricultural protectionism that
perpetuates dependency and underdevelopment. Brazil
will spare no effort for a successful conclusion of those
negotiations, which must, above all, benefit the poorest
countries.
 Building a new international order is no
rhetorical turn of phrase; it is a matter of common
sense. Brazil is proud of its contribution to South
American integration, particularly through the
Common Market of the South. We are working to bring
together peoples and regions. We seek to enhance
political dialogue and economic links with the Arab
world, Africa and Asia, and we do so without
sacrificing our traditional partners. Brazil has set up an
innovative cooperation mechanism with India and
South Africa. Together we are working on specific
projects to help in various countries, including Haiti
and Guinea-Bissau.
 We all agree on the need for increased
participation by developing countries in the major
international decision-making bodies, in particular the
Security Council. The time has come to move from
words to action. We appreciate recent proposals by
President Sarkozy to reform the Security Council, with
the inclusion of developing nations. A review of
decision-making processes within international
financial institutions is also required.
 The United Nations is our best tool to deal with
today’s international challenges. It is through
multilateral diplomacy that we find the way to
fostering peace and development. Brazil’s role
alongside other Latin America and Caribbean nations
in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
highlights our efforts to strengthen multilateral
institutions. In Haiti, we are showing that peace and
stability are built with democracy and social
development.
 Walking into this building, representatives to the
United Nations can admire a work of art that Brazil
presented to the United Nations 50 years ago. I am
referring to the murals that portray war and peace
painted by a great Brazilian artist, Cândido Portinari.
The suffering so expressively portrayed in the mural
depicting war brings to mind the United Nations
crucial responsibility in containing the risk of armed
conflict. The second mural reminds us that peace is
much more than the absence of war. It evokes well-
being, health and harmonious coexistence with nature.
It calls for social justice, freedom and overcoming the
scourges of hunger and poverty. It is not by mere
chance that those who enter the building face the mural
portraying war, while those who leave see the mural
depicting peace. The artist’s message is simple but
powerful: transforming suffering into hope, and war
into peace, is the essence of the United Nations
mission. Brazil will continue to work to realize those
high expectations.


We are at the middle
of the road, halfway towards the 2015 deadline for
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Eight
years are left   is that much? Are we keeping the
pace? Measured against the history of the human race
it is but a sand particle in an hourglass. But measured
against the hopes and expectations of millions of
people living in abject poverty with no access to clean
water, for children with little prospect of gaining an
education and reaching their full potential in life, for
women dying in childbirth, for infants who will never
learn how to walk or talk or read and write, who are
taken away by preventable diseases   that surely
amounts to much more than a sand particle.
 By 2015 our peoples will judge whether the
pledges and commitments made by their leaders and
the international community as a whole were genuine.
They shall ascertain whether the conferences and
illustrious gatherings of the world leaders stand for
actual deeds or whether they simply equal empty words
and hollow promises. The eight years towards 2015 are
thus a litmus test of our credibility. To pass the test or
not is, therefore, upon us. We must deliver what we
pledged. We must achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally
agreed development goals. We must exert our best
efforts individually as nations and we must exert them
collectively as the international community.
 In order to do this, we must now look back at our
individual progress so far. We must take stock of what
has already been achieved and what is yet to be done to
achieve the Goals on time. My country, Mongolia, is
intimately monitoring its own progress on the path
towards achieving the MDGs. The second national
report on MDG implementation in Mongolia has only
recently been considered by the national Government.
 Implementation of the MDGs is about meeting
the basic needs of the people and securing their social
and personal welfare, and my Government is very
serious about delivering them for our people.
Unfortunately, despite the considerable efforts made,
success is still far from assured on a number of goals
and, first and foremost, on the goal to halve poverty.
 On a global scale, the MDG progress report of
2007 revealed the same mixed picture. The report made
a strong case for concerted additional action to be
taken immediately and sustained until 2015 if the
world is to attain the MDGs. It argued that the lack of
any significant increase in official development
assistance since 2004 makes it impossible, even for
well-governed countries, to meet the MDGs.
 Against that backdrop, I lend my full backing and
support to the proposal of the President of the General
Assembly to have an MDG leaders’ meeting here at the
United Nations. Such a meeting must, in our view, not
only serve as a midterm review mechanism, but also
coin concrete proposals and recommendations on the
way forward.
 We are fully aware of our primary responsibility
for our own development, yet there are factors well
beyond our control that impede progress, and climate
change figures prominently among them. Climate
change is definitely no longer a subject of pure
scientific and academic discourse. Nations large and
small, coastal and landlocked alike, are feeling its
effects on their economies and the livelihoods of their
peoples. The recent report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change indicated that poor countries
will be the hardest hit by climate change, in spite of the
fact that they contribute the least to the phenomenon. Is
that fair?
 The contribution of my country to global
warming is negligible at best, yet Mongolia is severely
affected by the negative consequences of climate
change. To give but a few examples, over the past 60
years the average temperature in Mongolia has risen by
almost 2°C, compared to a rise in the global mean
temperature of about 1°C over the last century. Some
80 per cent of the land surface has been degraded,
 mostly by wind erosion combined with human
activities, including mining and overgrazing by
livestock. Desertification is rampant. Pastures that
support the semi-nomadic lifestyle of Mongols have
decreased and become more fragile. Over the past 40
years, soil fertility has decreased by a factor of two to
three. The country has been subject to the ever-more
frequent occurrence of natural disasters, such as
drought and dzud   cold winters with heavy
snowfalls   in recent years, which have had a severe
impact on the pastoral economy of the country.
 Fair or not, no country can stand aside or afford
inaction in the face of such truly global challenges like
climate change. We all must carry our share of the
common endeavour, yet it is only natural that those
who contribute the most to global warming bear the
bulk of the burden. Hence, the industrialized countries
should fulfil their commitments to taking the lead in
reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and to
providing financial resources and transferring clean
technologies to developing countries.
 The comprehensive implementation of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol remains a priority
even as the international community embarks on the
road towards shaping the post-Kyoto framework. The
post-Kyoto framework should be flexible and diverse,
taking into consideration circumstances in each
country. It must include all the major emitters and
achieve compatibility between environmental
protection and economic growth by utilizing advances
in technologies to the greatest extent possible.
 The United Nations Climate Change Conference
to be held in Bali in December will have a crucial role
in shaping such a future framework. We must seize the
opportunity and fully utilize the current session of the
General Assembly to build the groundwork for the Bali
Conference.
 Regional and subregional mechanisms should
also be mobilized as complementary and
supplementary instruments to global efforts. Mongolia,
a North-East Asian country, attaches particular
importance to developing environmental cooperation
mechanisms in the subregion, as dust and sand storms
originating in the expanding Gobi desert have become
a familiar phenomenon for inhabitants of Beijing,
Seoul, Tokyo and beyond.
 North-East Asia is one of the most dynamic and
diverse regions of the world. It contains some of the
world’s major economic powerhouses, such as China,
Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian
Federation, along with the smaller and more vulnerable
economies of Mongolia and the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea. The subregion is also home to a
quarter of the world’s population. The sheer size and
diversity of the subregion mean that climate change
manifestations are wide-ranging, yet intimately felt in
each and every country.
 Mongolia has therefore come up with an initiative
to hold a North-East Asian summit on climate change
in the nearest future. We hope that such a high-level
event will achieve a breakthrough in regional
cooperation on climate change and serve as a tangible
contribution to global efforts.
 Nationally, Mongolia has been making
continuous efforts to address the challenges posed by
climate change by appropriately improving its legal
environment and actively implementing various
programmes and projects. In 1996, a national action
plan to combat desertification was adopted. In 1999,
we established a national climate change committee
entrusted with formulating national policy on
adaptation to climate change and reduction of
greenhouse gases, preparing reports on national
greenhouse gas inventories, policies and measures. In
2000, the Government of Mongolia launched its
national action programme on climate change aimed
not only at meeting UNFCCC obligations, but also at
setting priorities for action and integrating climate
change concerns into other national and sectoral
development plans and programmes.
 Furthermore, our MDG-based national
development strategy, the draft of which was recently
submitted to Parliament for its consideration and
approval, contains a separate chapter on environmental
policy. It identifies the protection of nature and the
environment, the reasonable use of natural resources,
and climate change concerns among national priority
goals. The draft strategy is expected to be approved by
Parliament this autumn.
 On a more practical side, in 2005 my Government
launched a major programme on agroforestry
development, entitled Green Belt, in an attempt to
combat desertification, stop sand movement, and
reduce dust and sand storms. Upon its completion, a
great green wall will extend for 2,500 kilometres from
the East to the West of the country, shielding the
steppes from the Gobi desert.
 In the energy sector, which is mostly based on
fossil fuels, particularly coal, the Government is
making continued efforts to introduce an alternative or
renewable source of energy. To that effect, the
construction of hydro-power plants has started, along
with the implementation of the 100,000 Solar Ger
programme.
 The landlocked geographical situation of my
country is an additional hurdle for our development
efforts and MDG implementation. Indeed, our lack of
territorial access to the sea, remoteness from world
markets, and subsequent high transportation costs and
undue delays are major impediments to the trade of
landlocked developing countries. Higher trade costs
reduce a country’s welfare and inhibit economic
growth by making imports expensive and exports
uncompetitive.
 Hence, Mongolia, together with other like-
minded countries, has endeavoured to raise the
awareness of the international community of the need
for support and assistance for land-locked developing
countries and to promote the common position and
interests of the group at both the United Nations and
the World Trade Organization. Here, I wish to highlight
the importance of the meeting of trade ministers of
land-locked developing countries and the thematic
meeting of land-locked developing countries and their
transit neighbours on trade and trade facilitation issues,
held last month in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of
Mongolia, for setting the priorities of the group in the
context of the Doha Round of multilateral trade
negotiations and in the lead-up to the midterm review
of the Almaty Programme of Action.
 Security concerns continue to affect global
development. Despite our best efforts, the world
around us is still not a safe place for many. Millions
suffer on a daily basis from hunger, illness, insecurity
and the threat of violence. Thousands and thousands
perish in sectarian violence, terrorist attacks and
internal conflicts, with thousands more having fled
violence, thus augmenting the growing ranks of
refugees and internally displaced persons. All this
invariably takes a heavy toll on the development
aspirations of the affected countries.
 Many of us come from countries not ravaged by
conflicts or from regions that lie thousands of miles
from conflict zones, yet, in this age of globalization,
none of us remains unaffected. Record-setting oil
prices triggered by the situation in the Middle East
have a profound impact on the world economy. Small,
vulnerable and commodity-dependent economies, such
as that of Mongolia, are hit hardest, along with other
oil-importing developing countries. However, it is
ordinary people in the Middle East who bear the brunt
of the suffering. The international community must
deliver a promise of peace and security to the peoples
of Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Darfur and other conflict
zones.
 We must continue our global fight against
terrorism, with the United Nations at the helm of that
collective effort. The recent hostage crisis in
Afghanistan came as a sobering reminder of the threat
still posed by the Taliban. It proved once again that
terrorists prey on those who cannot fight back. Thus, it
is our solemn duty to offer protection to those who
cannot defend themselves.
 Mongolia, a country with internationally
recognized nuclear-weapon-free status, is pleased with
the progress achieved in the six-party talks on the
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the latest
round of which took place last week in Beijing. As its
contribution to advancing the six-party talks, on 4 and
5 September Mongolia hosted a bilateral working
group session on the normalization of relations
between Japan and the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea this year, and stands ready to continue such
efforts in the future.
 Mongolia is heartened at the news about the
forthcoming inter-Korean summit meeting, to start
tomorrow. We are hopeful that it will contribute to the
cause of bringing about peace, security, and eventually
a peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula. In
light of the promising political dynamics in the
subregion, Mongolia is optimistic that its early call for
a multilateral security cooperation mechanism in
North-East Asia will gain support in the subregion and
beyond.
 With scores of countries having embarked in
recent decades on a path towards establishing modern
and functioning democratic societies built upon the
principles of pluralism, respect for human rights,
freedom of the press and democratic governance,
democracy has been firmly established as a truly
universal value.
 We in Mongolia believe that democracy is the
best possible environment for sustained economic
growth. Democracy and respect for human rights have
been, in our view, inherently woven into the MDGs.
Proceeding from that premise, in 2005 Mongolia was
the first country to adopt a ninth MDG on
strengthening human rights and fostering democratic
governance.
 We are proud of its successful democratic
transition, with major gains in the political, economic,
social and spiritual areas of our societal life. Yet, as a
young democracy, my country is also intimately aware
of the complex challenges faced by countries in
transition. We believe in international cooperation and
support for democratization efforts. In that regard,
Mongolia applauds the increased role of the United
Nations in fostering democracy and good governance,
not only through assistance in holding credible
elections, but through a wide range of activities to
promote democratic institutions and practices. The
United Nations Democracy Fund, which has already
funded over 100 projects around the globe, is a notable
example. The United Nations has also been an
important stakeholder in the success of the new or
restored democracies process.
 Global challenges require global approaches, and
no other body is better equipped to serve as the
steering house of the collective efforts of the
international community than the United Nations. The
United Nations is the world’s most universal,
legitimate and authoritative organization. It is a true
political centre of global cooperation. It gives us
legitimacy. It gives us legality.
 Our world Organization has embarked on a
process of reform in order to better respond to the
multifaceted challenges, both existing and emerging, in
this era of rapid globalization and its ensuing growing
complexities. Progress has been made in several reform
areas, yet greater efforts, combined with stronger
political will, are needed to follow through with
reforms related especially to the system-wide
coherence of the United Nations and the Security
Council. Mongolia has full confidence in Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon and supports his efforts aimed at
improving the management, efficiency and internal
cohesion of the United Nations system.
 Our success as a community of nations in
tackling the challenges of climate change, achieving
the MDGs and other internationally agreed
development goals, countering terrorism, preventing
conflicts, promoting democracy and human rights, and
effectively addressing other pressing issues of today
largely depends on the success of that transformation.
 The clock is ticking. We cannot afford to pursue
business as usual. If we are to honour, in good faith
and on time, the pledges and commitments we made to
our peoples, we must redouble our concerted efforts to
win this historic race.


 To all the  peoples represented here, I convey the brotherly
greetings of France. Mr. Secretary-General, you have
an enormous responsibility, and you have the trust of
France.
 This is the first time that I address this Assembly
on behalf of France. It is a solemn and moving moment
for me. I cannot help thinking of all of those men and
women who, at one of the most tragic moments in the
history of humanity, as the world stood on the brink of
barbarity, finding that prospect intolerable, succeeded
in countering force and violence and barbarity with
justice and peace. Thus was the United Nations born.
 The United Nations is not a mere political
construct. It is not a mere legal construct. It is an
awakening of the human conscience against everything
that threatens to destroy humanity.
 I have never believed that the United Nations
could one day root out the violence that lies within
human beings. But what I do know deep down inside
me, what we all know deep down, is that in spite of all
its failures, without the United Nations it would have
been impossible to put an end to conflicts that seemed
to be insoluble. Remember the genocide of the
Cambodian people, remember the suffering inflicted
upon them; remember the independence of Namibia;
remember the independence of Timor. Look at the
Great Lakes region, or West Africa. Without the United
Nations, the world might have experienced a third
world war, doubtless even more terrible than the two
previous ones.
 France is convinced that the United Nations is the
only remedy we have for the blindness and folly that
sometimes take hold of human beings.
 The message I wish to bring to you in the name
of France is a simple one: in this world where the fate
of each of us depends on the fate of others, the United
Nations should not be weakened; the United Nations
must be strengthened. Reforming the United Nations so
as to adapt it to the realities of our world is an absolute
priority for France. We cannot afford to wait any
longer. The world’s problems must be addressed and
resolved globally. No one on this Earth can alone
protect themselves from the consequences of climate
warming, the clash of civilizations, major epidemics.
Against selfishness, against fanaticism, against hatred,
it is our duty to renew that appeal to the universal
conscience by virtue of which, for the first time in the
history of all the peoples of the world, all nations
agreed to meet within a common forum in order to set
aside what divides us and talk to one another.
This appeal to the universal conscience is an
appeal for peace. It is an appeal for open-mindedness.
It is an appeal for diversity. And it is an appeal for
justice. France has always sought greatness for the sake
of men and women, not for its own sake. Like all
nations, France, in the course of its long history, has
made mistakes, and has sometimes been at fault. But
its people, the people of France, have always chosen to
be on the side of freedom and democracy. France is
loyal to its friends and to the values it shares with
them. But this loyalty is not submission. This loyalty is
not a shackle. And France intends to draw on that
loyalty in the cause of openness to others, of openness
to the world. I want the world to know that France is
willing to talk to everybody in the world, in every
continent.
 But I would also like to say that openness is not
renunciation. Understanding is not weakness.
Weakness and renunciation are not factors of peace;
they are factors of war. France and Europe in the past
experienced the tragic consequences of such an attitude
for themselves and for the whole world. When you are
weak and submissive, you get ready to accept war. We
all have a duty to ensure that that never happens again.
There will be no peace in the world if the international
community compromises with the right of peoples to
self-determination and if it compromises with human
rights.
 There will be no peace in the world unless the
international community is unshakeable in its
determination to fight terrorism. There will be no peace
in the world unless the international community stands
united in its resolve to put an end to the wars in the
Middle East, to put an end to the horror in Darfur, to
the tragedy of Lebanon or to the humanitarian disaster
in Somalia. And I weigh my words carefully. There
will be no peace in the world if the international
community falters in the face of the proliferation of
nuclear weapons.
 Iran is entitled to nuclear power for civilian
purposes. But if we allow Iran to acquire nuclear
weapons, there would be an unacceptable risk to
stability in the region and in the world. I want to say
here, in the name of France, that we can only resolve
this crisis by combining firmness with dialogue. It is in
that spirit that France will act.
 I want to say here, in the name of France, that it
is the duty of the international community to confront
those who seek power and constantly threaten the
fragile balance of peace and to do so by bringing to
bear its unwavering unity and its determination to
uphold the law. I want to say, in the name of France,
that there will be no peace in the world without respect
for diversity, without respect for national identities,
without respect, I venture to say, for religions and
beliefs, or without respect for cultures. Attachment to
one’s faith, to one’s identity, to one’s language and
culture, and to one’s way of life, thought and belief
all that is legitimate, and profoundly human. To deny
that is to sow the seeds of humiliation. It would stoke
the fires of nationalism, fanaticism and terrorism. We
will not avert the clash of civilizations by forcing
everyone to think and to believe the same things.
France intends to pursue, together with all people of
goodwill, this battle to build a new world order of the
twenty-first century.
 We want a Lebanon living independently, and we
say that France will always stand shoulder to shoulder
with Lebanon in its desire for independence. Tomorrow
we hope that Israelis and Palestinians will find within
themselves the strength to live in peace. Peace is
possible. It is possible now. And we will devote all of
our energies to that.
 We want to see the peaceful coexistence of the
main religions to vanquish fundamentalism and
fanaticism. But I want to say, with all due gravity, that
there is too much injustice in the world for the world to
hope to live in peace.
 The founding fathers of the United Nations knew
that the world’s future could be read in the eyes of a
tortured child; a hungry child; children who watch their
parents being humiliated; children who since birth have
known nothing but war; children torn from their
homes, their lands, their families. Because in those
children’s desperate eyes there is not only suffering,
but also all the wars and revolts that will drench the
world in blood tomorrow.
 Let us look at the world as it is. Let us look at
what we have made of it. Have we wanted enough to
make it more just? The answer is no. Have we done
enough to achieve that end? The answer is no.
 When the Berlin wall fell, we all dreamed that
history would cease to be tragic. Let us look at our
world as it is so that we can make it better. Let us
judge our world by the yardstick of justice. Justice
means that the Palestinian people can regain a country
and build a State. Justice means that the Israeli people
can enjoy the right to live in security. Justice means
that the Lebanese people can regain their freedom.
Justice means that the Iraqi people, in all their
diversity, can find within themselves the path to
reconciliation and democracy. Justice means that a
developing country on which we wish to impose
environmental rules, even though its inhabitants have
barely enough to eat, can be helped to put such rules in
place. Justice means that we cannot tap a country’s
resources without paying a fair price for them.
 Let us look squarely at our world. Never before
has there been so much easy money, with so much
wealth concentrated in the hands of a few large groups.
Throughout the world, even in the richest countries,
there are many men and women who no longer have
even a hope of emerging some day from their material
and moral distress.
 In conclusion, I appeal to the conscience of all
those who have a responsibility for the conduct of
world affairs. Because if we do nothing, the poor and
the exploited will one day rise up against the injustice
done to them.
 What the world needs is a new mindset: a
genuine New Deal on a global scale, an ecological and
economic New Deal. On behalf of France, I call on all
States to join together to found the new world order of
the twenty-first century, predicated on the key idea that
the common goods of humanity must be the
responsibility of all of humanity.
 On behalf of France, I solemnly appeal to the
United Nations to provide itself, in this era marked by
the return of scarcity, with the means to guarantee that
all people throughout the world have access to vital
resources: water, energy, food, medicine and
knowledge. I solemnly appeal to the United Nations to
concern itself with the issue of fairer distribution of
wealth and of the income derived from commodities
and technology. I solemnly appeal to the United
Nations to concern itself with the moralization of
financial capitalism. I solemnly appeal to the United
Nations to go further in combating corruption, which
saps countries that are suffering and all too poor.
 Things must change. Mindsets must change.
Behaviour must change. This is our responsibility now,
because tomorrow it will be too late. If we fail to act,
we will see a resurgence of all the threats that the
people of the post-war world believed they had
overcome. Let us not take this risk lightly.
 Peoples of the world, we can, together, build a
better future for all people. It is up to us alone; it is up
to our capacity to remain faithful to the values that
have brought us together here today. You have
understood. France believes that we have no more time
to wait. France calls for action. France urges action.
France is committed to action in the service of world
peace.


I would like first to
congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to
your prestigious office. Your vast political experience
and diplomatic skills will undoubtedly guide the
General Assembly towards success in dealing with its
important agenda. I wish to express our deep
satisfaction and pride at the significant achievements
of your predecessor, Her Excellency Sheikha Haya
Rashed Al-Khalifa, during her presidency. Her stature
and accomplishments symbolize the prominent role
that women are playing in the Muslim world.
 Let me also express our high appreciation to
Mr. Ban Ki-moon for the distinctive and assiduous
manner in which, as our new Secretary-General, he has
engaged himself to address crises and humanitarian
situations. We support the Secretary-General’s
commitment to improving the United Nations so that it
can respond to contemporary challenges and
opportunities.
 The end of the cold war at the dawn of the
twenty-first century gave rise to hopes for a better
future. A decade later, the world is in the grip of
deepening uncertainty and rising turbulence. There are
new threats of terrorism, violence and widening
divisions among cultures and societies, driven by
suspicion and prejudice. At the heart of that growing
malaise is not a clash of values or civilizations; it is the
failure of the international community to address
festering disputes and our collective inability to
universalize the opportunities and benefits offered by
the phenomenal advances of technology and
globalization for the betterment of all peoples.
 Conflicts continue in Palestine, Iraq and
Afghanistan. In South Asia, the Kashmir dispute is yet
to be resolved. Old disputes are compounded by new
confrontations. Also, serious challenges are emerging
in the shape of climate change, energy security, and
financial and trade imbalances.
 In this complex world, the United Nations
provides a critical and indispensable role. The United
Nations is at the apex of expanding international
interaction and remains the only acknowledged
instrument for regulating global affairs on the basis of
agreed principles and norms.
 Terrorism is a grave and pervasive threat.
Terrorism destabilizes societies. It must not be
associated with any faith or culture. It must be
countered and rejected, addressing both its
manifestations and its root causes.
 Equally disturbing are trends to malign other
cultures and faiths and reinforce divisions, especially
between the West and the Islamic world. Tolerating
Islamophobia in the guise of freedom of expression is
dangerous. More than ever before, in this globalized
world we need understanding, harmony and the
building of bridges among all cultures and peoples
through such initiatives as the Alliance of
Civilizations, interfaith dialogue and enlightened
moderation.
 Conflict and violence in the Middle East are
fundamentally linked to the Palestinian issue that has
agitated two generations of Palestinians and Muslims
around the world. Essentially, Palestine is an issue of
freedom. Security cannot be ensured by denying the
Palestinians their freedom. Salvation lies in what the
Arab nations proposed in Beirut five years ago.
Pakistan supports that position. The world has a
historical responsibility to end the tragedy of the
Palestinian people by enabling them to establish their
own State in Palestine, consistent with Security
Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the
Arab peace plan. Israel must also withdraw from the
other occupied Arab territories and fully respect the
territorial and sovereign integrity of Lebanon. Efforts
that deflect from those basic imperatives will only
prolong agony and turmoil in the region.
 Pakistan is deeply concerned over the grave
situation in Iraq. We deplore the internecine bloodshed.
Peace in Iraq can emerge only through dialogue,
mutual cooperation and tolerance. It is vital both for
the Iraqi people and for the region to ensure the
preservation of the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq
and full respect for its sovereignty.
 Pakistan is also disturbed by the ominous
confrontation over Iran’s nuclear issue. We have
insisted on recourse to diplomacy because resort to the
use of force could lead to incalculable consequences
for that already inflamed and highly sensitive region.
 In our region, violence and the rise of terrorism
and extremism are due to the developments of the
nearly three decades when neighbouring Afghanistan
became the last front of the cold war. Ironically, in the
1980s the struggle in Afghanistan helped the
consolidation of freedom movements that culminated
in the surge of freedom signified by the fall of the
Berlin wall. In the 1990s, however, Afghanistan
suffered international neglect and indifference until the
shock and horror of 9/11 refocused international
attention on that war-ravaged country.
 The unfortunate happenings in our
neighbourhood impacted on our own society, giving
rise to terrorism and extremism, especially in the tribal
regions bordering Afghanistan. We are fighting
Al-Qaida and other terrorist elements with resolve and
determination. We have deployed nearly 100,000
troops for that purpose. A large number of our troops
have sacrificed their lives. In the tribal regions, we
have taken political and administrative measures and
have plans to bring about socio-economic
transformation. As part of a comprehensive strategy,
we have introduced reforms to counter extremism.
 We are cooperating internationally and reject
irresponsible comments and insinuations, especially in
certain sections of the international media, casting
aspersions on our intentions and efforts. It must be
appreciated that the challenge is enormous and requires
a sustained and protracted endeavour both locally and
at the international level.
 Pakistan desires a peaceful environment in the
region. No country stands to gain as much as Pakistan
from peace and stability in Afghanistan. We therefore
support every initiative that could help the Afghans to
achieve national reconciliation and to rebuild their
country. The recently convened Grand Jirga in Kabul
offers hope. A great deal will depend on the
effectiveness of the follow-up mechanisms, especially
the 50-member joint council that is mandated to reach
out to the opposition to promote peace in the area. The
international community also has an important
responsibility to help Afghanistan with a Marshall
Plan-like programme for reconstruction.
 Pakistan is engaged in a peace process with India
that has led to significant improvement in bilateral
relations. The two countries must now seize the
opportunity provided by the propitious international
and regional environment to address problems,
especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that has
been at the heart of conflict and tension in South Asia.
Both sides will have to demonstrate political will,
courage and flexibility. We are pursuing a solution that
would be acceptable to India, to Pakistan and, above
all, to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
 President Pervez Musharraf has offered important
ideas that have resonated with the Kashmiri people,
who must be involved in the process. At the same time,
it is essential to create an environment free of human
rights violations in Kashmir if there is to be a
sustainable peaceful solution. A peaceful settlement
responding to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people
will usher in a new era of mutual trust and cooperation
in South Asia.
 In our region, the incipient United States-India
nuclear deal injects a new element. We have concerns
over strategic stability, which we will maintain despite
our firm opposition to an arms race in South Asia.
Moreover, we also have a strong interest in developing
civil nuclear power generation under international
safeguards. Our nuclear and strategic assets are solely
for defensive purpose. We started pursuing the nuclear
option only after 1974, when the strategic balance was
disrupted by the first Indian nuclear test. Our initiatives
to keep South Asia free of nuclear weapons received
scant response internationally. In 1998, we were again
faced with a dilemma and had to respond to the Indian
tests to establish deterrence. Our failure to do so would
have created a dangerous ambiguity about our
capability, with the risk of miscalculation.
 I wish to reaffirm that our strategic capability is
solely for deterrence and defence. We are opposed to
an arms race and want to maintain minimum credible
deterrence. We will not be the first to test in our region.
We will never use our nuclear capability against
non-nuclear weapon States. We remain fully committed
to the objective of general and complete disarmament
and nuclear non-proliferation. We want to be treated as
a partner rather than as a target of the global nuclear
non-proliferation regime. We are committed to
developing nuclear power generation under
international safeguards to meet our growing energy
needs.
 It is evident that global consensus on
disarmament and non-proliferation has been seriously
eroded. There are several reasons for that, including
the disavowal of nuclear disarmament by the nuclear-
weapon States signatories to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT); the
emergence of de facto nuclear-weapon States not
parties to the NPT; the failure to address the security
concerns of non-nuclear-weapon States; and
discrimination in the conduct of peaceful nuclear
cooperation. There is an obvious need for a new and
universal consensus on non-proliferation, disarmament
and peaceful nuclear cooperation that eliminates
dangers and risks and establishes cooperation on an
equitable basis. In the coming months, the Nuclear
Suppliers Group States have a heavy responsibility, as
any endorsement of a selective or discriminatory
approach could fatefully damage the existing
consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation.
 The world is slowly recognizing the existential
threat posed by climate change. The special event held
on 24 September has been useful in crystallizing the
issues that must be addressed. Environment is a
responsibility and an opportunity. The responsibility is
to heal the Earth, which is scarred and degraded. The
challenge goes far beyond Kyoto. Collectively, we
need to restrain our avaricious and extravagant living.
Opportunity lies in developing the environment as an
employment sector to absorb a part of world human
resources in meaningful activity. We must realize that
with technological advances it will no longer be
feasible to rationally utilize the entire global work
force in the production, manufacturing and service
sectors.
 Against the backdrop of the new challenges, large
parts of humanity continue to suffer from hunger,
poverty and disease. That is tragic in these modern
times, where the miracle of technology has empowered
the world to effectively overcome the vestiges of our
primitive existence. The Group of 77 has therefore
insisted on a broad endeavour for sustainable
development based on economic growth, social
development and environmental protection. We should
adopt coherent and mutually reinforcing policies and
actions to advance in those three directions with the
same degree of political and legal commitment. The
United Nations has a central role in the realization of
the Millennium Development Goals and other
internationally agreed development goals.
 Pakistan, as the current Chair of the Group of 77
and China, has suggested steps to enable developing
countries to coordinate and enlarge their national
development cooperation effort. In accordance with the
mandate adopted at the Second South Summit, we will
convene a panel of eminent experts of the South to
further develop common positions for developing
countries in critical areas like trade finance,
technology, energy and climate change.
 Pakistan agrees that the management and
Secretariat of the United Nations should be reformed
and modernized, especially to improve the coherence
and effectiveness of the system. Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz is the Co-Chair of the Secretary-
General’s High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence.
The reform process must, however, remain sensitive to
the fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of
States in the decision-making process. That applies
especially to the issue of the expansion of the Security
Council. Security Council reform must enlarge the
representation of all Member States rather than expand
the circle of the privileged. The Security Council
functions must also be developed in a manner so that
these do not eclipse the Charter responsibilities of the
General Assembly or those of the other principal
organs of the United Nations.
 In Pakistan, our aspirations are the same as
elsewhere: to accelerate our socio-economic
development, to build a knowledge-based society and
to contribute to peace and development in the world
consistent with the deeply held values of our faith and
our vision for a modern progressive Islamic state. That
has been the orientation of the Government of
President Musharraf for setting priorities and
introducing reform programmes. There have been
significant accomplishments in strengthening
institutions, promoting democratic polity and building
a sound economy.
 To give a few examples, today we have robust
grass-roots level democratic institutions with
mandatory one-third representation by women. Our
minorities have been integrated into the political
mainstream. Our media is free, vibrant and assertive.
Our economy has seen stable growth over the past
eight years, and in that period, Pakistan’s national
output and per capita income has doubled. We are now
preparing for elections, as our elected national and
provincial assemblies will soon complete their full
term of office. As we enter this important phase in our
political life, we do so with the deep awareness that a
strong and stable Pakistan is pivotal for the peace and
progress of our region.


Allow me at the outset to congratulate Mr. Kerim most
warmly on his outstanding election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. We
are convinced that his professional qualities and his
vast and rich academic, diplomatic and business
experience will lead to the success of our work. I
therefore assure him of my delegation’s fullest support
in the discharge of his mandate.
 With respect to outgoing President Sheikha Haya
Rashed Al-Khalifa, I wish to express our great
satisfaction at her dynamic and skilful handling of the
work of the previous session.
 As to the Secretary-General, I take this
opportunity to reiterate the Niger Government’s
admiration and encouragement on his assumption of
the leadership of our collective Organization.
 Two years after the 2005 World Summit, which
gave our leaders an opportunity to address the
challenges and threats confronting humankind, we
cannot help feeling optimistic   despite the
persistence of such scourges as international terrorism
or the slow progress towards fulfilling the Millennium
Development Goals   as we consider the unflagging
willingness of the international community resolutely
to seek solutions consonant with the threats that have
been identified.
 In the field of international peace and security,
one element of the significant developments in certain
parts of the world is, without a doubt, the positive
impact of the Peacebuilding Commission, in particular
in Burundi and Sierra Leone. That alone makes the
creation of that new body worthwhile. In Africa, such
positive and encouraging trends can be witnessed in
the hope raised by developments in certain conflict
areas.
 In West Africa, Liberia continues to move ahead
with national reconstruction and consolidation of
peace.
 In Côte d’Ivoire, the peace process has shown
great promise since the Ouagadougou agreement was
signed in March 2007 and a “flame of peace”
ceremony took place. Those two major events bear
witness to the parties’ will to put a permanent end to
the crisis that exploded in that country five years ago.
 Sierra Leone, for the first time, and after a long
period of instability, has organized free and transparent
legislative and presidential elections, bearing witness
to the resolve of the suffering people of that country to
move beyond tragedy and to resolutely build a bright
future.
 In Central Africa, the adoption by the Great
Lakes countries of the Pact on Security, Stability and
Development leads us to expect, in the medium term, a
meaningful improvement in the troubled situation that
has prevailed there for some years now. It is
encouraging to note that Burundi is already at the point
where it can do without the international community’s
supervision in peacekeeping efforts within its borders
and to devote itself fully to the task of economic and
social development.
 The Democratic Republic of the Congo is another
case in which we will allow ourselves to have great
hopes if all the parties join in the peace movement and
take part in the ongoing democratic process.
 In Darfur, the situation remains worrisome to be
sure, but thanks to the agreement between the
Government of the Sudan and the United Nations and
the adoption of Security Council resolution 1769
(2007) on 31 July, we hope that there will soon be a
return to peace and security in that part of the Sudan.
 In Western Sahara, we are gratified by the
initiation of direct negotiations between Morocco and
the POLISARIO Front, including the two meetings
held under the aegis of the Personal Envoy of the
Secretary-General subsequent to the adoption of
Security Council resolution 1754 (2007).
 Finally, with regard to Somalia, we earnestly
hope that the national reconciliation conference and the
efforts of the international community will yield
positive results and enable that brother country to
emerge forever from the crisis that has prevailed there
for years.
 The situation in the Middle East, dominated by
the Israel-Palestine conflict, requires more focused
attention by the international community. My
delegation feels that the resumption of the political
process remains the only way to move towards a just
and lasting solution, on the basis of the relevant United
Nations resolutions and the principle of two viable
States living side by side in peace and security. The
Quartet Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative remain
frames of reference in this regard.
 Generally speaking, the coherent subregional
approach employed by the United Nations and the
subregional organizations seems well suited to
handling conflicts, and also to responding to other
concerns, such as international migration, trafficking in
human beings, trafficking in drugs, transnational crime
and the proliferation and spread of small arms and light
weapons. From this perspective, in particular as
regards the African continent, the capacity of
subregional organizations and the African Union
should be reinforced.
 The United Nations Ten-year Capacity-Building
Programme for the African Union is to be commended,
as it opens new possibilities for conflict prevention and
the maintenance of lasting peace on the continent, in
particular through the creation of an African
intervention force. Along these lines, the open debates
of the Security Council on strengthening the role of the
Council in conflict prevention and resolution, in
particular in Africa, are of great importance.
 Conflicts are not the only threats to international
peace and security. Other phenomena, sometimes more
devastating and unforeseeable, threaten the ability of
peoples around the world to enjoy their legitimate right
to peace and security. Those phenomena include
international terrorism, transnational crime and all
types of trafficking.
 In this connection, the Sahara, a geographical
zone that the Niger shares with several other African
countries, is becoming a den of drug and arms
traffickers, fuelling and perpetuating insecurity in the
region. The Niger intends to participate intensively in
any effort to enhance the international community’s
efforts to eradicate that scourge, which undermines the
economies of the countries concerned and threatens the
foundations of democracy.
 In that regard, my delegation considers
international cooperation and assistance for affected
developing countries to be indispensable if we are to
succeed in combating drug trafficking and trafficking
in small arms and light weapons, including anti-tank
and anti-personnel mines. These are used by armed
groups to continue to inflict untold suffering on
innocent civilians, obstruct trade and hinder all
development activities in infested areas. The scope and
gravity of the phenomenon truly require that the
international community give it all due attention and
firmly condemn the criminal acts being carried out by
these networks of traffickers, in particular in our
region.
 The linkage between peace, security,
development and human rights, spelled out in the 2005
World Summit Outcome (resolution 60/1), has lost
none of its relevance and continues to fuel our
thinking. That is why the Niger continues to feel a
sense of solidarity for all initiatives, present or future,
designed to give new momentum to development
efforts.
 Niger welcomes the initiative of the informal
thematic debate entitled “Partnerships towards
achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Taking
stock, moving forward”, held on 27 November 2006
and the first in a series of three debates organized by
the General Assembly in the context of its
revitalization process. On that occasion, some
development partners were able to undertake concrete
commitments, such as that of the Islamic Development
Bank, which announced the creation of a poverty
mitigation fund endowed with a $10 billion budget.
The Government of the Niger, through me, would like
to commend that exemplary initiative, which is part of
an ever more effective development partnership.
 The Niger sees the General Assembly’s adoption
of resolution of 61/16 on strengthening the role of the
Economic and Social Council as a great step forward.
The resolution names the Economic and Social Council
as a principal body responsible for economic and social
development and, in particular, for the implementation
of the international development goals agreed at the
major United Nations conferences and summits,
including the Millennium Development Goals.
 We congratulate the State of Qatar on having
hosted the preparatory meeting for the Monterrey
Consensus review conference, to be held in Doha in
2008. Moreover, the unparalleled commitment of the
Government of Qatar to international development led
it to host the Conference on Consolidating Food
Security in Niger, which was held in Doha with the
support of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
and proved most successful. I therefore take this
privileged moment at the rostrum of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session to reiterate the
profound gratitude of the people and Government of
the Niger to that friendly country, the entire Islamic
ummah and all other partners who kindly supported
that initiative.
 The international community should pay
particular attention to one category of countries that is
even more vulnerable. I am referring to land-locked
developing countries, whose geography puts them at a
great disadvantage. In 2003, the Almaty Conference,
having considered their situation, adopted a
Declaration and Programme of Action, the
implementation of which is soon to be reviewed. The
time has therefore come to launch an urgent appeal to
all development partners to resolve to take the
necessary measures not only to help those countries to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals, but also
to enable them to mitigate the negative impacts of
desertification, environmental degradation and climate
change.
 Desertification and the deteriorating environment
are two problems that seriously affect the countries of
the Sahel, including mine. The combined efforts of the
international community effectively to combat those
scourges should be stepped up. The action taken by the
Niger, based on the experience gained through the
special programme launched by the President of the
Republic, has allowed us to achieve spectacular
successes that deserve to be consolidated and
strengthened.
 Thanks to the work to restore degraded soil,
remove sand and reforest the landscape undertaken
over the past few years and stepped up in the
framework of that programme, 3 million hectares have
been reclaimed from the desert, according to satellite
monitoring undertaken in 2006 and transmitted by the
regional Agrimet centre. Large expanses that were
desperately arid have now become productive
agricultural areas and pasture land thanks to water-
retention and infiltration activities that have raised the
water table. It is worth noting that such activities are
being carried out by several thousand young people
being paid through a cash-for-work programme.
 The public debate in the Security Council and the
thematic debate in the General Assembly dedicated to
climate change highlighted the scope and gravity of the
phenomenon by emphasizing the need for urgent
collective action. The eloquent statements made at the
high-level meeting organized by the Secretary-General
on 24 September lead us to believe that the parties are
willing to move to achieve essential objectives, which
is the only way to secure a wholesome and reliable
environment for present and future generations. The
Niger resolutely supports that momentum and, within
its national strategy and plan of action for climate
change and viability, has drafted a national programme
of action for adaptation to climate change.
 All such questions, which fall within the context
of a comprehensive vision of sustainable development,
are covered in our revised poverty reduction strategy,
which is the reference framework for my country’s
overall economic and development policy. I take this
exceptional opportunity solemnly to invite all our
development partners to participate in the international
conference on the Niger’s revised poverty reduction
strategy, to be held in Brussels in October. The
conference has been called, inter alia, to harmonize and
coordinate the contributions of our development
partners.
 Harmonization and coordination are topical
issues in the United Nations. They are essential to
increasing the Organization’s effectiveness in
collective action to address global challenges and
threats. My delegation agrees that system-wide
coherence in United Nations activities should be a
principal focus for the implementation of reforms
advocated in the Outcome Document of the 2005
World Summit. We must therefore find the means to
implement them. I note that we see such reforms as a
way of better helping developing countries to achieve
lasting economic growth, develop sustainably and
eradicate poverty.
 That is the vision that leads me to reaffirm the
Niger’s conviction that coherence and coordination
must be inspired by the cardinal principles of
ownership, national leadership and respect for national
development priorities.


May I, on behalf of
my delegation, and in my own name, extend our
sincere congratulations to Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his
election to preside over the General Assembly at its
sixty-second session. I assure him of our fullest
support and cooperation in the daunting tasks that lie
ahead of us. His election is a personal tribute to his
engagement and rich experience in international
politics and diplomacy. Allow me also to convey our
sincere appreciation and thanks to his predecessor, Her
Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for the
effective and efficient manner in which she conducted
the business of the sixty-first session. May I also take
this opportunity to pledge my delegation’s support to
the new Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban
Ki-moon, in his efforts and approach in charting out a
vision for the Organization that will respond to the
needs and aspirations of the twenty-first century.
 International peace and security constitute the
bedrock of the Organization. We have come a long way
since 1945 in securing peace and security in many
parts of the world. However, a lot remains to be
accomplished in order to have a conflict-free world.
We are seriously concerned about what is happening in
the Middle East. Conflicts in some parts of Africa
continue to be a major source of concern to us. The
trail of violence and death continues to plague the
Middle East. In order to give peace a chance and allow
it to take root in those regions and manifest its positive
effects in the day-to-day lives of citizens, we need to
redouble our efforts and explore all possible avenues to
achieve peace, stability and security, in the larger
interests of the citizens of those countries.
 The fragility of the Middle East situation, and in
particular the question of Palestine, needs a holistic
approach that, inter alia, includes linkages embedded in
the socio-cultural, political, economic and security
issues of the region. I should also once again like to
reiterate our full support for the establishment of an
independent and sovereign Palestinian State side by
side with the State of Israel.
 With regard to Darfur, we welcome the African
Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
which is expected to assume the peacekeeping and
peacebuilding operations there. We call on all the
parties concerned in the conflict to demonstrate their
real commitment and resolve to engage fully in the
search for lasting peace.
 In Somalia, despite the serious efforts to contain
violence during the past six months, the situation
remains highly volatile. In that context, I would like to
add my voice to the call made by the Chairperson of
the African Union Commission, Mr. Konaré, to the
Secretary-General to consider the possibility of
deploying a United Nations force to assist the African
Union Peace Support Mission in Somalia.
 The President returned to the Chair.
 The world today is confronted with growing
threats of terrorism   be it home-grown, cross-border,
regional or international in nature. That scourge should
be confronted with all the means at the disposal of the
international community. We also believe that more
effective and efficient mechanisms should be put in
place to capture the financiers of terrorist
organizations.
 The United Nations remains the cornerstone of
the fight against terrorism. Mauritius has lent, and will
continue to lend, its fullest support to the numerous
initiatives and resolutions of the United Nations on
counter-terrorism. We are happy to note that the
International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of
Nuclear Terrorism entered into force in July of this
year.
 The world of the twenty-first century is a world
of interdependence, with the national frontiers between
peoples and countries falling faster than we had
envisaged. This has brought about the interphase and
interaction between peoples from different parts of the
world. We are today living in a world intertwined with
interreligious and intercultural predicaments.
 Mauritius, as the Assembly is aware, is a multi-
ethnic and multicultural society. Unity in diversity is
the solid foundation on which we have built the
framework for the peaceful coexistence of peoples of
different faiths and cultures. Cultural diversity,
understanding and respect for different faiths and
religions are today part and parcel of Mauritian society.
 We warmly welcome the convening of the High-
level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural
Understanding and Cooperation for Peace, which is to
be held in October 2007 at United Nations
Headquarters, for the promotion of tolerance,
understanding and universal respect on matters of
freedom and religion. We will certainly be part of the
Dialogue.
 Furthermore, we reaffirm our determination to
support all initiatives that promote a culture of peace
and tolerance. We are also happy to note that the
General Assembly recently adopted resolution 61/271
to observe and celebrate the International Day of
Non-Violence on 2 October each year in recognition of
the great apostle of peace and non-violence, Mahatma
Gandhi.
 Mauritius is a strong advocate of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms   so much so that the
founding fathers of our constitution ensured that
human rights figured prominently therein. Since our
independence, in 1968, we have persistently
endeavoured to place our citizens at the core of all
forms of human rights and have ensured that they
enjoy all political and civil rights irrespective of their
status, colour or creed. We have enacted several pieces
of legislation and we continue to enhance our
legislative and institutional framework for the further
protection and promotion of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. We have set up the National
Human Rights Commission, the Sex Discrimination
Division, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children
and the Human Rights Centre to ensure and promote
compliance with fundamental rights and freedoms of
the individual and the international instruments on
human rights.
 Mauritius is party to all major international and
regional human rights treaties. We continue to extend
our unwavering support to the United Nations in the
promotion and protection of human rights. As a
member of the Human Rights Council, we are lending
our fullest support to make it more effective, efficient
and relevant in the eyes of the world. Our quest for
universal respect for human rights demands that the
perpetrators of massive violations be brought to justice
promptly. Impunity gives rise to violations.
 We cannot but admire the Buddhist monks of
Myanmar and the courage of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi,
whose party won a democratic and fair election in
1990, only to be removed from office by a military
coup. She has now spent 11 of the last 17 years under
house arrest. And now the legitimate stirrings of the
people’s will are being brutally repressed in blood, as
we are speaking here at the United Nations. It is our
duty to let the people of Myanmar know that the free
nations of the world stand by them. But we need to do
more than just stand by them. The time has come for
the most stringent sanctions to be taken against the
military junta that has proved again and again that it is
totally impervious to good sense and common
humanity.
 I am proud to say that in 1997, in my first term as
Prime Minister, I took the decision to stop buying rice
from Myanmar. I applaud the decision of the President
of the United States of America to apply sanctions. All
of us should do the same. The military junta must be
sent a clear message: that the free world will not
tolerate gunning down people who are demanding
freedom and justice.
 While the Assembly has made responding to
climate change the thrust of the general debate,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has qualified climate
change as the defining issue of our era. We cannot
agree more with that. Climate change affects all of us.
Indeed, if it is not addressed head on, it will have
irreversible consequences and devastating effects on
the survival of human beings and the habitability of our
planet Earth. We all have a stake in addressing climate
change and global warming.
 We commend the laudable initiative of the
Secretary-General in convening the High-level Event
on Climate Change on 24 September. We remain
confident that the strong message that has emanated
from the High-level Event will provide the necessary
impetus and political will and act as a catalyst to the
Bali meeting later this year. However, in our approach
to finding a global solution to climate change we
should avoid making those who bear the least
responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and who
are yet the hardest-hit, pay the price on the same scale
as others who have led to the increase in global
warming as early as the eighteenth century. Mauritius,
for its part remains committed to the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities.
 The rise in sea level constitutes a danger that
threatens most of the low-lying island developing
States. Those States have limited capacity to withstand
the negative effects of natural disasters and external
economic shocks. Their sustainable development
becomes more trying and rigorous in the light of their
inherent vulnerabilities. Mitigation and adaptation
capabilities of countries may vary depending on the
level of their economic development. Small island
developing States (SIDS) face, in their adaptation
choices, fundamental constraints of inadequate data
and technical capacity, weak institutional capacity and
limited financial resources.
 In that respect we call for the full and effective
implementation of the commitments, programmes and
targets adopted in the Barbados Programme of Action
and the Mauritius Strategy for the Further
Implementation of the Programme of Action for the
Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States. A special SIDS fund to assist the development
and implementation of adaptation measures in the same
manner as the special fund for the least developed
countries under the umbrella of the Global
Environment Facility (GEF), and regional climate
observational systems to better monitor climate
variations associated with global warming and
sea-level rise, need to be set up.
 While it is true that if the present pace of climate
change goes unchecked, the face of the world may
change dramatically in the next hundred years with
devastating effects for future generations, it is equally
true that underdevelopment, poverty, hunger and
diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
in the developing world are the present challenges that
require the immediate and undivided attention of the
world as laid down in the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
 The 2007 Millennium Development Goals
midterm report underscores that “the MDGs will be
attained only if concerted additional action is taken
immediately and sustained until 2015” (Millennium
Development Goals Report 2007, p. 4). Africa,
unfortunately, in spite of serious and strenuous efforts,
continues to lag far behind on the MDGs.
 Mauritius for its part, is on track to meet the
MDGs by the year 2015. Nonetheless, since my
Government took office in 2005, we have allocated
considerable resources in our national budget for the
empowerment of the poor and the social uplifting of
vulnerable groups. The development challenges of
Mauritius go well beyond the achievement of the
MDGs.
 In order to improve the prospects for attaining the
MDGs, it is essential for donors and development
partners to honour their undertakings and commitments
made at the 2002 Monterrey International Conference
on Financing for Development. In that respect, we
hope that the follow-up International Conference on
Financing for Development in 2008 will provide the
much-awaited response from the concerned parties to
adequately address international commitments on
financing for development.
 In our efforts to find ways and means to alleviate
and ultimately eliminate poverty in our subregion,
Mauritius, jointly with the Southern African
Development Community will be hosting an
International Conference on Poverty Alleviation and
Development in April 2008.
 While there is no denying the fact that
globalization has led in its wake to economic growth in
the world including developing countries, it is also true
that many countries, especially the most vulnerable
ones, are unfortunately not reaping the benefits of
globalization. This is particularly true of LDCs, lower-
and middle-income countries and countries in
transition, which continue to face huge difficulties in
integrating the globalizing economy.
 We call for a new global strategy that would
create an enabling economic environment for
development. It would require greater coherence
between the international trading, monetary and
financial systems. We therefore reaffirm our dedication
to the establishment of a new international economic
order which emphasizes globalization with a human
face whose benefits will be more widely shared.
 More than six years after the 2001 Declaration of
Commitment on HIV/AIDS “Global Crisis   Global
Action”, the pandemic still remains a global crisis
requiring global action. The negative impact of
HIV/AIDS on human resources in the 25-45 age group,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa is simply
overwhelming. The alarming rate with which the
HIV/AIDS pandemic is ravaging innocent lives in our
societies has far-reaching implications for our socio-
economic development. It undermines the efforts
towards the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals.
 The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Mauritius is
merely 0.2 per cent, with between 20 and 30 per cent
of the cases affecting vulnerable groups, such as prison
inmates and intravenous drug users. Our policies are
geared towards containing the level of contamination,
in particular by combating transmission via the sharing
of contaminated needles. We are providing substantial
funds for the development of a needle exchange
programme and a public awareness information and
communication campaign on HIV/AIDS.
 I wish here to put on record our appreciation to
the Clinton Foundation for having included Mauritius
amongst the countries that can benefit from the Clinton
Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative.
 Every year at this time heads of State and
Government meet here in this Assembly, because we
believe in the virtues of multilateral diplomacy. All of
us here are sincerely concerned about the multiple
tensions across the world. I am convinced that we all
wish to make our full contribution to the search for
practical, viable and long-term solutions. We are all
inspired by the same will to manage our differences in
dialogue and understanding. We want to call attention
to the problems of globalization and participate in
launching and strengthening the economies of our
countries.
 We recognize and welcome the enormous role
that the United Nations plays on the international
scene, a role that needs to be considerably enhanced.
The scope of diplomacy has considerably widened in
recent years. Through the lever of international
relations, the United Nations has the means and the
duty to promote cooperation based on conflict
prevention and the efficient management of natural
disasters. But the United Nations still needs
improvement in its structure and functioning, and we
hope that reform will soon be brought about.
 We continue to follow with keen interest and
participate actively in the ongoing reform process of
the United Nations, particularly on the question of the
reform of the Security Council, the revitalization of the
General Assembly, system-wide coherence, the
mandate review and the management reform.
For us, meaningful reform of the United Nations
must first pass through a comprehensive reform of the
United Nations Security Council. At the 2005 World
Summit, we expressed our resolve to support early
reform of the Security Council with a view to making
it more broadly representative, efficient and
transparent. There has been enough talk on this subject
and it should not remain as mere words and intentions.
My Government welcomes the decision of the Open-
ended Working Group dealing with the reform of the
Security Council, which has decided, inter alia, to start
intergovernmental negotiations on the reform of the
Security Council. We are convinced that the
intergovernmental negotiations should be results-
oriented.
 Mauritius remains committed to the African
common position, which calls for two permanent seats
and five non-permanent seats for Africa in a reformed
Security Council. We continue to support the legitimate
aspirations of the Latin American and Caribbean
countries for a permanent seat. Mauritius reiterates that
a permanent seat for India in the Security Council is
long overdue. As the largest democracy and a secular
state, India is a living example of the peaceful
coexistence of major religions, cultures and faiths.
India can be a source of inspiration as well as a testing
ground for the outcome of the forthcoming United
Nations High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and
Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace.
 In 1965 at the Constitutional Conference for the
granting of independence to Mauritius, the Chagos
Archipelago, among many other islands, formed an
integral part of the territory of Mauritius and should
have remained as such in accordance with the Charter
of the United Nations and General Assembly
resolutions 1514 (1960) and 2066 (1965). Resolution
1514 (1960) states, inter alia:
Any attempt aimed at the partial or total
disruption of the national unity and the territorial
integrity of a country is incompatible with the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations. (para. 6)
 The excision of the Chagos Archipelago by the
colonial Power at the time of our independence
constitutes a dismemberment of our territory in total
disregard of resolutions 1514 (1960) and 2066 (1965).
Furthermore, it is also a violation of the Charter of the
United Nations itself. We therefore, once again,
reiterate our request to the United Kingdom to engage
in bilateral dialogue with us as soon as possible with a
view to enabling us exercise our sovereignty over the
Chagos Archipelago.
 Equally, on the question of our sovereignty over
Tromelin, we note the progress registered at the recent
Mauritius-French joint commission. The United
Kingdom and France, two permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council, are two major and
important economic, trade and development partners of
Mauritius. We fully appreciate their continued support
in the development of our country. We have been
striving to reach an amicable agreement on these issues
but we cannot   and will not   compromise on our
territorial integrity and our sovereignty over those
islands.
 To conclude, I should like to reaffirm my
country’s full faith in the United Nations. It remains
the only organization that offers us hope for peace and
security for a better world for future generations.