Allow me
first to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third
session. I am confident that you will ably guide our
session to a great success. I would also like to
commend His Excellency Mr. Srgjan Kerim for his
important contribution to the work of the Assembly at
its sixty-second session.
 While the trend of peace, cooperation and
development continues to prevail, there have been
complex developments in the world over the past year.
Local conflicts endure, acts of terrorism still occur in
many parts of the world and new tensions have
emerged in Europe, including in the Balkans and the
Caucasus. At the same time, the world is experiencing
the most severe economic uncertainties since the 1997-
1998 financial crisis, together with new challenges
such as climate change and the food and energy
security crises. More than ever, the current situation
compels nations to promote dialogue and cooperation
to surmount common challenges, both man-made and
natural.
 Viet Nam supports efforts to end violence in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
 We should also work to facilitate further progress
in the search for lasting peaceful solutions to the
nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula and Iran on the
basis of due respect both for the legitimate rights of
States to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes and for the regime of non-proliferation of
nuclear weapons.
 In follow-up to the Annapolis outcome, I wish to
reaffirm Viet Nam’s support for the role of the Quartet,
the League of Arab States, regional countries and the
United Nations, especially the Security Council, in the
quest for a lasting solution in the Middle East. Such a
solution should respect the inalienable rights of the
Palestinian people, including their right to establish an
independent State of their own, and the principle of
land for peace.
 As leaders of the world gathered here to discuss
the development needs of Africa, we were keenly
aware of the organic relationship between peace and
development. Viet Nam undertakes to work closely
with the United Nations and the African Union to find
peaceful solutions to the conflicts and disputes that still
rage on the continent.
 New uncertainties are unfolding in the global
economic and financial situation. Climate change and
energy and food shortages are becoming more and
more serious global issues. In the face of that situation,
it is essential to enhance international cooperation to
overcome these problems. In that regard, developed
A/63/PV.13

08-53122 2

countries should take measures to maintain their
macroeconomic and financial stability and implement
international commitments to improve international
economic relations and the transfer of technology. Such
cooperation is possible and effective only when due
regard is given to each country’s specific conditions,
legitimate concerns and interests.
 Given the complex developments in the world,
the United Nations has a greater role to play in saving
humankind from the scourge of war and in finding
solutions to problems. The United Nations must be
strengthened to that end. Democratic and
comprehensive reform of the United Nations —
including the General Assembly, the Security Council,
the Economic and Social Council and the specialized
agencies — will make the Organization more effective
and efficient in the areas of work mandated by the
Charter. Viet Nam will continue to contribute to efforts
aimed at making the United Nations more democratic,
more effective and more responsive to the needs of the
peoples of the world.
 In Viet Nam, the Government is working with
United Nations agencies and other development
partners to implement the One UN initiative. We hope
and believe that the experiences of Viet Nam and the
United Nations in implementing that pilot reform
programme will be useful to other aid recipient
countries and to the United Nations reform process
overall.
 In line with its foreign policy of independence,
sovereignty, peace, cooperation and development and
its efforts to deeply engage with the world, Viet Nam
has seriously observed its commitments and actively
participated in addressing global issues. We strongly
support the Bali Road Map, which aims to establish the
legal framework for international cooperation in
addressing climate change beyond 2012. Despite
natural disasters and epidemics, Viet Nam is honouring
its commitments to maintain the volume of its rice
exports at 4 million tons annually. We intend to
continue those efforts to ease the pressures caused by
the rising price of food and to preserve food security.
 The year 2008 marks the first time that Viet Nam
has assumed responsibilities as a non-permanent
member of the Security Council. In its desire to make
greater contributions to the maintenance of
international peace and security, Viet Nam has
participated in the work of the Council as a
constructive and responsible member. We shall
continue to uphold the principles enshrined in the
Charter while working with other Council members
and Members of the United Nations to find solutions
that serve the interests of international peace and
security and the legitimate interests of all countries and
parties concerned.
 In the 63 years since its establishment, the United
Nations has traversed numerous upheavals of history
and acquired an increasingly significant role in
international relations. Against that backdrop, and with
trust in the power of peoples’ will and determination to
strive for peace, cooperation and development, we are
strongly confident that the international community
will overcome new challenges and that the United
Nations will continue to live up to the expectations of
all the peoples of the world.


At
the outset, I would like to join previous speakers, on
behalf of His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza, President
of the Republic of Burundi, and our entire delegation,
in offering our warmest congratulations to Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann on his outstanding election to the
presidency. We congratulate the other members of the
Bureau as well.
 We would also like to pay well-deserved tribute
to his predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for the skill and
wisdom with which he guided the work of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session. We also take this
opportunity to congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-Moon once
again on the skill and dynamism with which he is
guiding our Organization. We would also like to pay
special tribute to his tireless devotion to the cause of
peace and development in Burundi as we attempt to
consolidate peace and stability.
 Finally we wish to thank the United Nations
Integrated Office in Burundi.
 The sixty-third session of the General Assembly
is taking place at a time when the people of Burundi
are at last enjoying the end of the war between the
Government army and the Parti Libération du Peuple
Hutu-Forces nationale de libération (PALIPEHUTU-
FNL). The representatives of both parties have been
sitting at the same table since May, seeking to identify
the ways and means to implement the Comprehensive
Ceasefire Agreement signed in Tanzania on
7 September 2006. Allow us to also thank the
international community, the United Nations, the
African Union and the Regional Peace Initiative on
Burundi for their participation in the return of the
leaders of the PALIPEHUTU movement to Burundi.
We also take this opportunity to call on that movement
to commit itself resolutely to the peace process, in
particular by ending its practice of forcing local
populations to supply its fighters. For its part, the
Government of Burundi reaffirms that it will spare no
effort to ensure progress in the peace process.
 This session is taking place three years after the
establishment of democratically elected institutions in
our country, and it is the first time in our history that
an elected Government has lasted more than three
years. This is an important stage in democracy. The
people in general and the Government in particular
welcome that milestone.
 Thanks particularly to the support of the
Peacebuilding Commission, the Government of
Burundi has just launched, throughout the country,
dialogue frameworks between the socio-political
partners of Burundi: the leaders of political parties,
members of Parliament, civil society and the media.
They exchange views on the current challenges to our
country in order to reach a consensus on the way
democracy should function in Burundi. In the
framework of promoting a sound justice system and
national reconciliation, the Government will soon
organize nationwide elections on the machinery for
transitional justice.
 Our Government is firmly committed to
respecting human rights in all their forms. That is no
easy task in a country that recently emerged from a
civil war that lasted more than 15 years. Nevertheless,
a number of measures have been taken and others are
under way. An independent national human rights
commission and a national children’s forum will soon
be launched. Additionally, a new criminal code
providing for severe punishment for gender-based

08-52272 10

violence is before Parliament, which is now up and
running normally. In the same vein, the Government
has established human rights focal points in all
ministerial departments and is providing training in
that area and in peace education.
 I note that in Burundi, security is generally good
throughout our national territory, but we are
encountering certain forms of insecurity linked to
attacks and killings as a result of armed robbery and
land disputes. In order to control that phenomenon, the
Government has begun to disarm the civil population.
That is a very important and difficult measure,
particularly because there is a large number of weapons
in private hands. We are convinced that, unless those
weapons are taken out of circulation and destroyed,
peace and security will always be under threat. We
therefore count on the support of our development
partners to recover all weapons and munitions,
particularly once the PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants
have completed the integration process.
 Indeed, although our country is arduously
recovering from the devastating effects of civil war, its
gross domestic product remains among the lowest in
the world. The purchasing power of the population has
fallen and inflation has risen apace, particularly given
the international phenomenon of the generalized
increase in the price of food and oil products.
 In a different vein, we recently organized a
national housing and population census that will
provide us with reliable data, without which it would
be difficult to carry out sustainable development
projects. The results of the census will allow the
Government to improve the drafting of school and
health policies, to which we pay particular attention, as
evidenced by the measures already taken to establish
free health care for children under the age of five and
women at childbirth, as well as free basic education.
 The Government has negotiated and launched
macroeconomic and structural reforms that our
development partners support. Those reforms are
aimed at macroeconomic stabilization, the privatization
of State enterprises, and bank and monetary
management that is compatible with sustainable
growth.
 The Government is determined to fight corruption
and tax fraud, and to promote real transparency in the
management of public wealth. Allow me to recall that
an anti-corruption law has been enacted and that an
anti-corruption brigade is now operating. The public
oversight body is playing its role and we welcome the
considerable contribution made by civil society
organizations.
 Burundi welcomes the ratification of the Pact on
Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes
Region by nine members of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region. We will, of
course, pursue measures to ensure that all member
States ratify the Pact.
 We recall that Burundi joined the East African
Community (EAC) in July 2007. As I address this
Assembly, nine Burundian members of Parliament
represent my country in the Legislative Assembly of
the Community. That integration represents certain
challenges for the people and Government of Burundi,
particularly with respect to the imminent creation of a
common market and a customs union, to culminate in
the establishment of a political federation. We take this
opportunity to express our gratitude to the States
members of EAC, which understand the difficulties
facing a country emerging from conflict, such as
Burundi, and have implemented measures to assist our
integration. Of course, we also count on the support of
our development partners to help us in all areas of
integration that we consider to be strategic for the
political stability and development of the countries of
the subregion.
 Maintaining peace and security is a multidimensional
task subject to the many challenges that our Organization
is called upon to address. These include conflict
prevention and resolution, combating terrorism,
combating the illicit trade in small arms and light
weapons and combating poverty, hunger and disease,
including the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
 The United Nations is mobilizing many efforts
and resources to meet those challenges. While it is true
that considerable progress has been achieved, our
Organization still has much to do, because the way
forward is still long. We should also point out that
bloody conflicts and hotbeds of tension remain,
including in Somalia, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and the
Middle East, et cetera. Terrorism is gaining ground all
the time and is causing more death than conventional
war. But we should not be discouraged. On the
contrary, our Organization must demonstrate the
capacity to prevent this type of conflict and provide
effective remedies for the ills threatening humanity.

11 08-52272

 In the name of international solidarity, Burundi
has decided to make its modest contribution towards
resolving some of those crises, by providing military
observers and police officers in Darfur and Côte
d’Ivoire, and to military peacekeeping contingents in
Somalia in the framework of operations established by
the African Union.
 Burundi enthusiastically welcomed the global
challenge represented by the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), which were adopted in 2000 and
reaffirmed in the 2005 World Summit Outcome
Document (resolution 60/1). We are pleased to report
that, through its policy of free primary education and
health care for children under five years and women in
childbirth, Burundi is achieving successes that deserve
support. While thanking those countries and peoples
who have been of such great help to us since the launch
of the policy in 2005, we would like to call for
international solidarity, because the policy requires
considerable Government resources that our country
cannot acquire on its own.
 Indeed, the World Solidarity Fund for the
promotion of social and human development and the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
do exist, but unfortunately, despite those initiatives the
results are still modest. We therefore appeal to
developed countries that have not yet done so to keep
their promise to allocate 0.7 per cent of gross national
income to official development assistance.
 Special attention should be given to problems
including putting order into the international financial
markets, the need to increase investment in Africa, the
rational management of water and energy resources,
technology transfer, international trade agreements,
climate change and the management of toxic waste.
 It is more urgent than ever to harmonize the
procedures and instruments for achieving our common
objectives, including efforts to counteract hunger,
reduce poverty worldwide and to ensure peacebuilding.
Otherwise, we will witness the persistence of
phenomena including the tragedy of clandestine
emigration, the brain drain, heightened crime and other
ills.
 In closing, I wish to say that we hope that a
minimum of political will and strengthened
international solidarity will enable the United Nations
to find appropriate solutions to the scourges affecting
our era. Long live international solidarity. Long live
the United Nations.


The United Nations
embodies multilateralism. It is living testimony of the
intergovernmental process at work. Samoa’s
membership of the United Nations is grounded on the
promise of the hope, equality and justice the United
Nations offers the Member States, irrespective of their
economic, political or military strengths. Looking
back, our Organization has not lived up to the lofty
goals enshrined in its Charter. Its credibility has been
tarnished and undermined, and its performance
questioned at times.
 Yet, those perceived failings of our Organization
are of our own making when we allow the vested
interests of a few to take precedence over the urgent
and deserving needs of the majority; when we accept
flawed perceptions that certain issues, States and
regions are more important than others, distorting the
world’s focus and the allocation of resources; when we
turn a blind eye and let the numerical superiority of
groups or the importance of some stakeholders
frustrate informed discussions of critical issues to score
points and achieve symbolic wins that help no one in
the long run; and when the long list of broken promises
and unfulfilled undertakings couched in eloquent yet
meaningless rhetoric creates frustration and mistrust
among Member States.
 The end result is that if no one takes
responsibility, the future of the United Nations will be
in doubt and the cost to the world incalculable. We
have no one but ourselves to blame for any deficit in
the credibility of our Organization. What we urgently
need is a collective sense of trust and commitment to
its Charter. Only then will the United Nations remain
relevant and regain the confidence of our Members.
 There is too much at stake for the world to just sit
idly by. Strong global leadership is at a premium.
Governments must yield not to vested interests and
expediency, but because it is the ethical and the just
thing to do.
 That was my message from this rostrum last year,
and I am happy to restate it again today. No Member
State is too powerful or too small not to be part of the
solution of making the United Nations an agent of
change and a beacon of hope during these challenging
times. And no contribution is too trivial or unimportant
not to matter. For States in leadership positions, the

29 08-52272

ideal is to lead with humility, fairness and a kind heart.
The world expects nothing less. Leadership and
responsibility are, after all, one and the same.
 Clearly, Member States can only do so much. We
need a committed Secretariat that is aware of and
sensitive to the needs of the people it serves. That is a
non-negotiable prerequisite. Samoa supports the
Secretary-General’s vision of creating a professional
career service that is flexible and mobile enough to
allow for quick and positive responses to the diverse
demands of Member States. The need for the United
Nations to deliver as one entity cannot be
overemphasized. It adds value and quality to the
process, eliminates waste, minimizes overlaps and
ensures that the scarce resources entrusted to its care
are used optimally to supplement Members States’
hard-earned efforts.
 Right now our world is facing a difficult and
troubled time. As members of the global community,
our futures are inextricably linked. For Samoa, the
small size of our country, its isolation from the major
markets and permanent vulnerability to climate change
are factors beyond our control. Yet even as a least
developed small island nation that has made little or no
contribution to the causes of today’s crises, Samoa is
not shielded from their immediate negative impact and
long-term consequences.
 Global crises, as we know from bitter experience
with global warming, energy and food prices, and now
with the mayhem in financial markets that threatens to
engulf the world, affect all our nations irrespective of
whether we contributed to those crises or not.
 This is why, in spite of shortcomings in the
Organization, the United Nations remains the only
viable institution that draws all the nations of our
world together. However, the need to revitalize the
General Assembly and to reform the Security Council
has been obvious for many years. In the case of the
Security Council, as long as its current composition
and rules ignore today’s realities, it will continue to
struggle to effectively carry out its intended tasks, as
we have seen it do over many years.
 Samoa remains firm in its position that the
permanent and non-permanent membership categories
of the Security Council should be expanded. Member
States with legitimate credentials should be encouraged to
stake their claims. Importantly, the intergovernmental
process should commence in earnest during the current
session to bring finality to an issue that has taxed
Members States’ patience and endurance for over a
decade and a half.
 At the very minimum, the unanimous support of
the current permanent members of the Security Council
is a must. We hope, therefore, that candidate States and
permanent members will reach out to each other in
good faith and set aside the barriers that continue to
frustrate the reforms to the Security Council that we all
know must be made.
 One observation that has been made over many
years is that there seems to be indifference, whether
intended or not, on the part of some of the leader
nations of our Organization towards small and
economically weak States, which, while they observe
good governance and practice sound economic
management, are nevertheless faced with the constant
struggle to sustain and maintain the hard-won gains on
those fronts.
 Paradoxically, the only time those struggling
States get noticed is when they are tottering on the
brink or in the process of becoming failed States. By
then, the cost in salvage action and remedial
programmes is enormous. Therefore, the willingness of
leader nations to listen and to try and understand early
on the problems of States struggling to sustain good
governance and economic management would go a
long way towards creating effective partnerships,
deploying scarce resources efficiently, and engendering
goodwill and trust in the process.
 Troubled spots around the world are on the rise,
including in our own Pacific region. Some are
occasioned by outside forces and influences, and others
through domestically induced factors. Notwithstanding
our differences, we all aspire to the same values in life.
Hence, we must heed the lessons of history and provide
appropriate encouragement and interventions to help
States restore good governance and abide by the
principles of democracy.
 Yesterday’s high-level meeting on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was a timely
reminder, not of what we have achieved by the midway
point, but what decisive actions must be taken urgently
if the time-bound targets set at the dawn of the new
millennium are to be met. Samoa participated in the
recent Accra meeting on aid effectiveness, which
further refined the pathways to the MDGs review just
concluded and the International Conference on

08-52272 30

Financing for Development in Doha in November
2008.
 Our strategic plan for 2008 to 2012 is a
comprehensive development framework linked to the
budget process for the implementation of the MDGs,
with strategic targeting of those goals on which we
have seen minimal progress through priority resource
allocation.
 We are grateful to the Governments of the
People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom
for their support through debt relief. Similarly, we want
to acknowledge the innovative partnerships in which
we are engaged with our development partners, both
old and new, giving us full ownership of the process in
our quest to achieve as many of the MDGs as we
possibly can.
 In September 2007, during the 2007 South Pacific
Games in Samoa, my Government worked closely with
the United Nations system and others to promote the
achievement of the MDGs. One innovative way of
using sports as a vehicle to effect change in behaviour
and to relay development messages was the installation
of a solar-powered “MDG scoreboard” in front of a
Government building to monitor national progress
towards the MDGs.
 Climate change continues to play a pivotal role in
the decisions of the leaders in our region. Our Pacific
Islands Forum meeting in August 2008 adopted the
Niue Declaration on Climate Change. Our Forum
communiqué, issued at the same summit, highlighted
the vulnerability of Pacific small island developing
States to the impacts of climate change. The European
Union and the Pacific Islands Forum Troika agreed last
week to work together to highlight the ongoing
vulnerability of Pacific islands to the impacts of sea-
level rise. Our representatives to the United Nations
are working with like-minded countries to bring to the
fore the security implications of climate change.
 In total, those efforts and partnerships should
convince those in denial that climate change is real. Its
effects have already been felt by some of our Pacific
island States, and for some low-lying islands climate
change is an existential issue and their long-term
survivability is at stake.
 Only through selfless and concerted efforts by all
countries, led by the major greenhouse gas emitters,
can we have a fighting chance of lessening the
destructive impact of climate change and enhancing the
chances of a credible post-Kyoto agreement beyond
2012. To reach that goal, the Bali Road Map — with its
four pillars of adaptation, mitigation, finance and
technology — should be supported both in word and in
deed.
 The unpredictable weather patterns of recent
times, affecting all regions of the world, are a sober
reminder of our limitations as human beings against
the force of natural elements no matter how good and
technologically sound our preparations are. We need a
global response if we are to succeed. Samoa was
pleased, therefore, to see Australia take its place as a
State party to the Kyoto Protocol at the Bali meeting.
We remain optimistic that, either through a change of
heart or through new circumstances, other countries
will join the Kyoto Protocol to strengthen the
implementation regimes of the Convention.
 I mentioned last year the offer of the United
Nations system to establish an inter-agency climate
change centre in our country for coordinated support to
Pacific island countries and regional organizations for
climate change mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk
reduction. Given the clear importance to the Pacific
region of the project, Samoa has allocated land — 16
acres in all — on which to locate the centre and awaits
the provision of the necessary resources by the United
Nations so that the facility, which is already public
knowledge in the region, can be constructed.
 Samoa continues to support United Nations
peacekeeping efforts worldwide. Small as we are,
Samoan police continue to serve side by side with
officers from other countries in Liberia, the Sudan and
Timor-Leste as part of our ongoing commitment.
Within the Pacific region, our solidarity in confronting
the challenges facing our neighbours ensures a
guaranteed Samoan police presence in the Regional
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands under the
umbrella of the Pacific Islands Forum.
 A durable peace settlement in the Middle East
continues to elude us, but that does not constitute
grounds to be pessimistic. We should support every
effort to create conditions conducive to the creation of
an independent Palestinian State alongside a secure and
safe State of Israel.
 Finally, those bent on creating fear and panic
throughout the world will stop at nothing to achieve
their aims. We must not be held hostage to their

31 08-52272

devious designs. Individually and collectively, we must
step up our efforts to combat the threat of international
terrorism in its many manifestations. No country can
succeed on its own. Only by working collaboratively
can we be successful.


Let me take this opportunity
to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your very
inspiring statement yesterday (see ). Its

13 08-51749

vision and compassion should provide a framework for
the deliberations of the General Assembly into the
future.
 I should also like to thank the Secretary-General
for his unequivocal resolve to use his tenure to provide
accountable leadership to this global institution. His
call for increased support from all Members in
restructuring and streamlining the Secretariat he leads
to ensure more flexible, efficient and effective tackling
of the many global challenges confronting humankind
is timely and must be heeded.
 The unmistakable fact of our time is that the
world is in a state of flux with unmatched challenges
aptly described yesterday by you, Mr. President, as a
confluence of large-scale interrelated crises. That is
befuddling all nations, strong and weak, rich and poor;
but, as you and others have also observed, there are
tremendous opportunities as well. Examples of the
challenges that practically all previous speakers have
alluded to include the phenomenon of climate change
and its attendant snow-melts, tsunamis, floods and
droughts; the difficult-to-explain turbulence in the
crude oil market; the soaring prices of food; the
upheavals in the world financial market; the massive
trafficking in drugs and weapons; and the spate of
harrowing acts of terrorism in many parts of the world.
While some of those problems are natural, many of
them are man-made.
 On the other hand, the advent of information and
communication technologies is effecting magical
changes in awareness and making time, space and
boundaries virtually irrelevant to human interactivity
around the world. Discoveries in medicine are
improving the quality of life and life expectancy. Fast
transportation, dramatic feats in engineering and
bioscience technologies with the promise of turning
even deserts into productive land are unleashing
unimaginable wealth among nations and individuals.
Collectively, those opportunities are diffusing power
around the world, to such an extent as to negate any
idea of a few nations having hegemonic sway in human
affairs.
 Indeed, the era of the explosion of knowledge can
be said to be fulfilling the biblical saying that
humankind has been created in the image of God.
Humankind is increasingly showing limitless creativity,
which inspires a vision that it is indeed capable of
overcoming the challenges of our time. However, the
problem is one of whether we will curb our self-
centredness, greed, bigotry and petty inhumanities to
allow for the sharing of the outcomes of that creativity.
Left to our individual nations, the peoples of the world
will not be high-minded enough. The main challenge
then becomes how the various peoples of the world
will accept their common humanity as the centrepiece
of their endeavours.
 There must be leadership, for which the
Organization seems to have been created. The founding
fathers must have instinctively believed that, with time,
the Organization would evolve into a global
Government. For even as there were marked
geopolitical considerations in the establishment of the
United Nations, the Organization was also imbued with
a powerful streak of morality. With time, the moral
streak has been steadily overcoming the geopolitical
dimension. That perception is what must drive the
entire membership to accept the call for reform of this
global institution and its agencies so as to make them
accountable to Members and, in turn, make Members
accept their authority and direction.
 Indeed, the United Nations is the only
Organization in the world with the potential to
command respect across the board. Under its auspices,
strong and rich nations alike are showing increasing
tendencies to share knowledge and finance resources
with the weak and poor. Fellow-feeling in international
relations is also deepening. It is my belief that it is
through the Organization that the world will eventually
achieve peace, stability and prosperity, following the
menacing flux that engulfs all of us now.
 It is the same moral streak embedded in the
United Nations that is propelling the development of
the various regional blocs around the world. In the case
of Africa, dramatic improvements have been made in
the last decade and a half. The African Union’s Peer
Review Mechanism demonstrates the great resolve of
African nations to adhere to the rule of law and good
governance. It is noteworthy that, as of now, close to a
majority of the membership of the Union has signed up
for review. It is also significant that many more African
leaders are today acceding to power through the ballot
box.
 Meanwhile, under the auspices of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development, Africa is trying
to pool resources among its members, in partnership
with others outside the continent, to exploit its huge

08-51749 14

potential and to develop its markets and its energy,
telecommunication, transportation and agriculture
sectors, among others. That is the way to solve the
many problems of poverty, illiteracy, disease,
ignorance and conflict. It is Africa’s initiative to
mainstream itself into globalization, and is receiving
the support of the international community. Evidence
of that includes the many joint conferences held with
Japan, China, Brazil and India, as well as Africa’s old
allies in Europe and North America.
 While we appreciate the support from our
development partners, I must say that there is still
room for improvement, especially as regards the
continent’s efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. The various existing forms of
assistance are uncoordinated and insufficiently
substantial to achieve the Goals by the target date of
2015. In that regard, the Secretary-General’s call for
review and quick delivery of support is timely. As
observed in the Accra Accord of the twelfth United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the
whole idea of aid is to empower beneficiary countries
to stand on their own feet and to become effective
partners in the global market, from which neither rich
nor poor countries can abstain, given the increasing
interdependence of the world.
 In January 2001, I was sworn into office as
President of Ghana on a liberal democratic
Constitution with the same strong streak of morality
that I see in the Charter of the United Nations. The
Constitution acknowledges the centrality of humankind
in all endeavours; hence the provisions for respect for
human rights, the rule of law, gender balance,
accountability and transparency in governance.
 But, in 2001 the national economy was in bad
shape and Ghana had to sign up for the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative (HIPC) in
order to access funds for various reconstruction
projects for which credit lines were difficult to come
by. With national determination and great discipline,
the HIPC completion point was achieved in record time
to earn debt forgiveness of about $8 billion from
bilateral and multilateral creditors. That success has led
to increased inflows of domestic and foreign
investment that have enabled the Government to
launch, among other social services, a free and
compulsory universal basic education programme and
substantial developments in both the second-cycle and
tertiary levels education.
 In the health sector, the first-ever national health
insurance scheme, including free maternal care, has
also begun in Ghana. Concurrently, heavy investments
are being made in infrastructure in the transportation,
energy and telecommunications sectors in anticipation
of accelerated growth in the economy. Meanwhile, a
process to modernize the country’s agriculture through
mechanization has begun to improve the welfare of the
more than 60 per cent of society that is rural and
depends on the sector for its livelihood.
 By those policies, among others, the nation is
now in sight of attaining its ambitious vision of middle
income status by 2015, which is also the target date for
the Millennium Development Goals. Those
developments have been crowned by the discovery of
oil in commercial quantities, which the Government is
determined to make a blessing for the whole nation of
Ghana, rather than a curse.
 That is the Ghana story as my term of office
comes to a close at the end of this year. The moral I
glean from the story is that development in freedom is
possible. In other words, accelerated national
development and good governance, including respect
for fundamental human rights, are not mutually
exclusive. Indeed, good governance should hasten
development.


Belgium echoes the congratulations that have been
extended to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session, and wishes him every success.
 During the past year, the international community
has faced unprecedented challenges. As we gather here
in New York, a major crisis of confidence is shaking
the financial markets. This has an impact, of course, on
the world economy. The spectre of a global recession
has been added to the already onerous challenges that
have arisen in recent times, such as the food crisis, the
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15 08-53122

spike in energy prices, global warming, terrorism and
the danger of nuclear proliferation.
 In addition, our world is changing and becoming
increasingly multipolar. In that regard, 8 August 2008
will remain symbolic: the very day on which China
offered us the unique spectacle of the opening of the
Olympic Games, Russia and Georgia were colliding in
a conflict with harmful repercussions for peace on the
European continent. The very foundations of the
balance that had existed since the 1990s seemed to be
called into question. This uncertain situation has far-
reaching consequences for international organizations.
 We could imagine that, in the face of these
enormous challenges, all the world’s countries would
come together to combat them jointly. Unfortunately,
that is hardly what is happening. Belgium believes that
only through close cooperation and enhanced
multilateralism will we be able to respond to these
challenges. More than ever, whether we like it or not,
we are in a situation of mutual dependence. Crises
affect all of us, and the actions taken by some have an
impact on everybody else. That is particularly true for
the current serious financial crisis. If we can stabilize
the financial markets in the coming few days through
proactive measures, that will benefit not only the major
banks and their employees, but also the entrepreneurs,
consumers and citizens of the whole world, including
those in the least developed countries. Those countries
have already been heavily affected by the sharp
increase in the prices of agricultural and energy
products and are the least equipped to deal with a
tightening of credit conditions.
 Stabilizing the markets is certainly necessary, but
it must not make us lose sight of the lessons to be
learned from the crisis and the corresponding medium-
and long-term measures to be taken to ensure that the
world does not again become victim to financial
management that at times is risky and immense
speculation with borrowed money.
 We are well aware that the crisis goes far beyond
the capacity of a single country, however powerful it
may be. Better regulation of financial markets and the
drawing up of control regulations are essential, in
particular with regard to short selling, hedge funds and
structured products. That is a task that can be
undertaken only at the international level, in close
cooperation among the world’s economies.
 Understand what I am saying: Belgium is
convinced of the advantages of globalization and free
trade. We must not forget that thanks to that
globalization of trade, in recent decades the world has
seen remarkable development and that hundreds of
millions of men and women have escaped extreme
poverty and today have a better daily life, even if the
sharing of wealth still remains too unequal.
 The developed countries have the duty to
spearhead a better organization of the financial world.
The European Union has already taken steps in that
direction, and we welcome that. However, there
remains much to do. Here, I make an appeal that we
embark on that task together, with energy and
dedication.
 The emergence of new economies is an asset for
the world. Ever more countries are determined to
become players in the international system. They must
take their due place, as the French President
emphasized last Monday on behalf of the European
Union (see A/63/PV.5). It is also in everyone’s interest
to demonstrate responsibility.
 I would like to stress today that the emerging
economic Powers, from Brazil to India and from China
to South Africa, have, more than we do and more than
ever, a need for trade that is both open and fair to
continue to develop their economies at the pace they
deserve, without however causing imbalance in the
pillars of international trade. Here too, we must again
find the constructive political will necessary to restart
the Doha trade negotiations that unfortunately failed in
Geneva last July.
 We all must also show ourselves to be responsible
players, in order to try and find solutions to the
challenges posed by the food crisis and the huge
increase in energy prices and to combat the causes and
effects of climate change. Those challenges we face,
issues that are extremely complex and closely
interlinked, are different facets of one and the same
question, a question that is at the heart of the concerns
of my country: that of sustainable development. None
of us can resolve these problems alone. They call for
solutions at the world level. It is thus crucial that we
successfully conclude in December 2009 the
negotiations for a global agreement on climate, as we
pledged in Bali.
 Nor is it by closing in upon ourselves that we
shall reduce the huge inequalities that still characterize
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08-53122 16

global development. Better distribution of the fruits of
economic growth is a world responsibility that
concerns us all. The Millennium Development Goals
must remain our main guiding principle. The Follow-
up International Conference on Financing for
Development to Review the Implementation of the
Monterrey Consensus, which will take place in Doha at
the end of this year, will be an important moment. The
developed countries must do more, and I reiterate
Belgium’s determination to achieve the objective of
devoting 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic product to
official development assistance by 2010.
 However, this is a shared responsibility, which
first and foremost falls to the Governments of the
countries involved. That is why Belgium will continue
to work actively in promoting the concept of good
governance.
 In that regard, the issue of natural resources is
particularly important to me. It is not a matter of
calling into question the sovereignty of any country.
But sovereignty also carries with it responsibilities —
indeed, responsibilities first and foremost. Natural
resources may be a driving force of development to
draw populations out of poverty if their exploitation is
undertaken in a transparent way to benefit the economy
of the country. Unfortunately, experience shows that
frequently that is not the case and that illegal
exploitation often fuels conflict. Therefore, we must
work towards achieving greater transparency and
fighting illegal exploitation. That is why Belgium
organized last year a debate on that subject in the
Security Council (see S/PV.5705), and why it would
like extensive debate on natural resources during the
current session of the General Assembly.
 As a member of the Security Council, Belgium
has had the opportunity to be at the heart of the
international system. That has bolstered our conviction
that we can meet those great challenges only through
increased international cooperation and has further
strengthened our determination to work for effective
multilateralism. The key to that effectiveness is not to
be sought only in structures and mechanisms. It lies
also and above all in our political will to make them
work and together to find solutions to our common
problems.
 Here, I note with regret a certain turning inwards,
even a return to sovereignty-based concerns. I want to
be clear: I have great respect for the sovereignty of
States. That goes without saying. That is one of the
fundamental principles upon which our international
system is founded. However, being a sovereign State
also means that a State must shoulder its
responsibilities in the international community, even
more so with regard to its own population. Being a
sovereign State does not mean that it can neglect the
needs of its citizens in terms of development, security,
the rule of law and human rights. Sovereignty does not
give carte blanche for conduct that is incompatible
with the values and commitments to which we have
subscribed within the United Nations. Sovereignty
must be a force for good, and not an excuse for a State
not to meet its responsibilities and to avoid its
international and humanitarian obligations. Otherwise,
it becomes what I would call souverainism: an abuse of
sovereignty behind which to hide and escape its duties.
 Too often the argument of respect for sovereignty
prevents the international community from acting when
the situation in a country is deteriorating before our
eyes, resulting in the population suffering and an
increase in serious human rights violations. The
examples are well known and strike us all. Myanmar,
Darfur, Zimbabwe and the eastern Congo all confront
us with a responsibility to protect, a responsibility that
the international community is called upon to exercise
when a sovereign State cannot or, worse, refuses to
assume that responsibility. That can be undertaken
through humanitarian instruments, the civil
administration of crises, peacekeeping or peace-
restoration missions, or, earlier on, crisis prevention.
 In that context, I wish to speak of combating
impunity. Belgium is convinced that there cannot be
lasting peace without justice. That principle guides our
foreign policy. It is achieved in the first place by
bolstering the rule of law and justice at the national
level before, during and after a conflict. For the gravest
crimes, we actively support the development of
international criminal law. This is not the time to let
any doubts persist with regard to our active support for
the International Criminal Court by putting forward, as
some do, other, more regional solutions. That is
particularly true now when the Court is preparing its
first trial.
 Peace and security are the responsibility of the
international community as a whole, and it is in that
spirit that Belgium approached its mandate in the
Security Council, nearly two years ago: seek
constantly, in a constructive and non-dogmatic manner,
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17 08-53122

the best way to move things forward. It is particularly
pleased with the progress in crisis management and the
extraordinary expansion of peacekeeping operations.
From that perspective Belgium calls for a renewal of
the United Nations Organization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo with a strengthened
mandate, which is a key factor in maintaining in the
eastern Congo the prospects for settling the crisis and
avoiding a Somalian scenario.
 Belgium also welcomes efforts of regional
organizations and their collaboration with the United
Nations. I am thinking, for instance, of the European
Union alongside the United Nations in Chad and the
Central African Republic.
 We need to make further progress with regard to
an integrated and comprehensive approach to conflict
resolution. The establishment of the Peacebuilding
Commission is a real step forward in that area. That is
why Belgium has assumed the chair of the country-
specific configuration on the Central African Republic.
Major progress has been made, but much remains to be
done, in particular in order to better help countries
during that delicate phase when they are emerging
from crisis.
 We will soon celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That will
be the time for us to remember the values that it
represents and that we all share, and to which we all
subscribed and which we should implement for the
benefit of our citizens and for greater well-being
throughout the world. It is a responsibility that we must
remember, particularly since it seems to be called into
question at a time when we are faced with the major
challenges that I have just described. Together and on
the basis of our shared values, we should assume those
responsibilities.
 That is the real challenge. It is not through less,
but more international cooperation and multilateralism
that we will achieve solutions.


This session’s general political debate and
high-level meetings once again convince us of the need
to move in international relations from confrontation
based on narrow national interests towards equal,
mutually respectful dialogue and cooperation.
Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve progress in
addressing the urgent global and regional problems
facing humanity.
 The advent of the twenty-first century raised
many hopes, but thus far the world has not been able to
avoid wars as a means of achieving its objectives.
Imposing or dictating one’s will and pressure by
individual States increase conflict and make it difficult
to overcome obstacles. Today, we are dealing with
global challenges that not only impede humankind’s
development but also threaten our civilized existence.
This situation imposes special responsibilities on all
stakeholders in international relations, irrespective of
their geographical location, their geopolitical influence
or their socio-political systems. Equality,
non-confrontation, mutual respect and proper dialogue:
those are the keys to overcoming the obstacles to
effective progress on development.
 Over recent years, we have often spoken of the
need to increase the effectiveness of the work of the
General Assembly and its influence on overall global
processes. That can be achieved only if each State that
seeks to make its own modest but positive contribution
to addressing global problems can be sure that its
approaches and proposals will be closely and
impartially studied in the General Assembly.
 In the eight years since the Millennium Summit,
we have seen that the Millennium Development Goals,
on which the fate of millions of individuals depends,
will continue to be mere words on paper if the more
developed States do not cease to view efforts to
establish the conditions conducive to development in
countries in the South and to provide those countries
with financial and economic support from the
perspective of their own geopolitical interests. Let us
just admit honestly that the global partnership for
development that is mentioned so often in this
Assembly still does not exist in practice.
 Unless we deal with the energy and food crises,
we will not achieve any progress. We must work in the
interests of all and not serve the wishes of a narrow
group of influential countries. We also need to clearly
determine how we will target our efforts and act in a
systematic way.
 The challenges we are facing are interrelated:
climate change and energy and food shortages, to a
large extent, are due to existing patterns of energy use.
Humankind has an increasing impact on the
atmosphere and the biosphere; environmental problems
due to the increasing impact of human activity lead to
climate change; climate change, in turn, leads to
reduced agricultural harvests; and that, in turn,
exacerbates the food crisis.
 Thus, we are faced with a single,
multidimensional global challenge, and the value of
this session will be magnified if at this international
forum we hear new, justified and forward-thinking
proposals for a coordinated response to the challenges
facing humankind. Such an approach should undergird
the work on a post-Kyoto agreement, and today it is

31 08-53141

clear that talks on that accord must include a broader
range of issues than simply agreement on quantities
and quotas for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 Belarus has stated on many occasions that future
approaches to the problem of how to ensure economic
growth while not harming the environment will be
based on international cooperation to spread
throughout the world energy-saving technology and
technology for the use of alternative and renewable
sources of energy.
 An intrinsic, fundamental and vital element of
that cooperation should be ensuring fair access by all
States to such technology by establishing, through the
United Nations, a global mechanism to control the
process. The first step in that direction has been
defined and can be adopted in the very near future:
their Tehran ministerial meeting, on the initiative of
Belarus the non-aligned States proposed holding at the
sixty-third session of the General Assembly a thematic
debate on ensuring access for all States to energy-
efficient technology and the use of alternative and
renewable sources of energy — naturally with due
respect for intellectual property rights.
 Particular attention must be paid to establishing a
multidimensional energy agenda at the United Nations,
which should take into account the interests of
producer, transit and user countries. Responsible
energy cooperation can be a key factor in regional
security. Turkmenistan’s proposal to discuss ways to
ensure reliable transit for fuel is also promising.
 In the context of establishing a fair system of
international economic relations, particular attention
must be paid to a code of conduct for transnational
corporations in exploiting oil and gas fields and the
mineral resources of developing countries. We need
reliable protection against the practice of international
oil cartels of finding concessions that are profitable to
them, but that amount to slavery for the host country.
Such deals are often challenged, but the oil companies
use the media to justify their measures, citing threats to
regional security. We look forward to the discussion of
that important initiative and those issues during this
session of the General Assembly.
 Indeed, attempts to get access to resources are the
basic cause of many current conflicts. Here, we are
talking not only about oil and other energy resources:
people are also dying because of local conflicts linked
to the lack of drinking water. Given the fact that 97 per
cent of global water resources are found in the oceans
and seas, finding practical ways to desalinate seawater
should be a priority for scientific research in the
coming decades.
 The United Nations can play a role in defining
the future of such technology, and we believe that this
should belong to all mankind. To ensure that, we must
put in place mechanisms to avoid the concentration of
such technologies in the hands of a chosen few. One of
the main keys to successfully addressing global
problems facing mankind is speedily achieving
agreements and understandings among the whole
international community. Any delay in addressing
climate change is unacceptable, because it affects other
issues on the international agenda.
 We believe that one of the main concerns on that
agenda should be human development and the
prevention of exploitation of nations and individuals. A
United Nations action plan to fight human trafficking
is an important stage in efforts to counter
contemporary forms of slavery. Within the United
Nations, work on that plan is under way: we have set
up an inter-agency coordination group; resolutions
have been adopted by the General Assembly and by the
Economic and Social Council; and we have held
thematic debates in the General Assembly. We call on
all delegations to take an active and constructive role
in that process, which will raise the issue of human
trafficking to a new level. An inadequate response to
the threat will promote the exploitation of entire
nations and establish a new chain of human trafficking,
and the number of new slaves will increase. Criminals
will begin to select the best from among their victims,
and, as a result, there will be growth in colonialist
thinking in the new framework of globalization, which
would render the problem particularly dangerous. We
do not have the right to allow such a situation to
develop.
 From its very beginning, the United Nations was
seen by its founding States as the most democratic of
international institutions, a universal mechanism for
involving all countries and peoples in establishing a
new and just world order. As a founding Member of the
United Nations, Belarus supports the initiative of the
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third
session, Mr. d’Escoto Brockmann, to give particular
attention to the democratization of the Organization.
We support that process within the United Nations, and
we support allowing all Member States equal

08-53141 32

opportunities and the same rules of the game. We
favour strict respect for all the principles set out in the
United Nations Charter.
 The results-oriented proposal for democratization
includes enlarging the membership of the United
Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation. Over the 20 years since the accident at
Chernobyl, Belarus has acquired unique experience in
studying the effects of radiation on individuals and the
environment, and we would like to have the
opportunity to share that experience with other States
within the framework of the Scientific Committee. We
call on all States to support the admission of Belarus as
a member of the Committee, which was established on
the recommendation of the First Committee, adopted as
resolution 913 (X), entitled “Effects of atomic radiation”.
 We also support efforts to democratize the
Secretariat. The management of each Secretariat
department should respect the principle of equitable
geographic representation. The top five jobs in each
department should be distributed among the five
regional groups. Establishing that principle will be an
important step forward in creating confidence among
Member States.
 We hope that we are moving towards several
important international events. In Doha, there will be
an international conference on financing for
development. Work is continuing on a post-Kyoto
accord, and discussions on the reform of the Security
Council are entering a new phase. Their success
depends on us all. Will we be able to have a
constructive dialogue and a non-confrontational
approach and reach a deeper understanding of the real
interests of all peoples throughout the world than we
have today? Most answers to those key issues of the
contemporary world are to be found in our own history.
All we need to do is look back at our own history and
draw the right lessons from the past in a timely way.


I join with those who have
spoken before me in congratulating General Assembly
President d’Escoto-Brockmann on his election to guide
the work of the Assembly at its sixty-third session.
 As we meet this week, the global financial system
is confronting its sternest test in recent memory. The
current crisis is systemic in nature, historic in scale and
global in reach. It comes at a time when the world
economy is still wrestling with the most rapid
escalation, and the highest real levels ever recorded, in
the prices for fuel and food commodities. Together
with the world’s belated attention to the devastating
economic and social implications of climate change,
those developments define the agenda before global
institutions and national leaders today. They make the
theme for this year’s debate both timely and necessary.
 Given the gravity and urgency of the issues
before us, we must be careful not to conduct this year’s
debate in the customary rhetorical manner. Instead, we
must resolve to translate the detailed analysis, lofty
statements and good intentions for which the Assembly
has become well known into concrete actions that the
current circumstances demand of us, and on which
history will judge us.
 We must each, as countries approaching the
podium to speak, be prepared to account for the
pledges we have previously made. We must also be
bold enough to embark on a project to achieve real
change in the multilateral system. That change must be
based on mandates that are relevant, institutions that
are accountable and a context that is increasingly
reflective of integration and interconnectedness.
 Indeed, I would urge that the theme of the next
General Assembly should emphasize accountability
and coherence of action on the part of the developed
world in matters related to aid, trade and development.
Often, when taken together, the policies of those
countries result in a significant net loss of welfare in
the developing world and run counter to their declared
intentions — for example, the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

23 08-51606

 An episode that manifested itself merely two
years ago as a moderate decline in the housing market
in some parts of the United States, and that evolved
into difficulties for that country’s sub-prime mortgage
market, has now grown into a rapidly deepening
systemic financial crisis of global proportions. Even if
they are not fully integrated into the global financial
system, small vulnerable economies such as Guyana
will bear the full effect of those developments as
demand for exports tightens, the cost of capital rises,
foreign direct investment becomes scarce and tourist
arrivals and migrant remittances decline. In short,
economic growth and poverty reduction efforts will
suffer a severe setback and the Millennium
Development Goals will become even more elusive.
 At the same time, crude oil prices rose by 148 per
cent during the 18 months preceding July of this year.
In turn, that has contributed to increasing prices for
food commodities — in particular for such staples as
cereals — rising in some cases by more than 200 per
cent during the same period. While there have been
some signs in recent weeks of those increases tapering
off, and in some cases reversing marginally, the
outlook clearly suggests that high prices for energy and
food are here to stay.
 Without a doubt, increased food prices provide an
important opportunity and incentive to farmers and
agricultural economies to increase production.
However, they also present grave implications for
access to food, in particular by the poor and, by
extension, for key nutrition and health indicators
among our populations.
 The 2007 World Development Report shows that
growth generated by agriculture can be up to four times
more effective in reducing poverty than growth in other
sectors. Yet the share of agriculture in official
development assistance fell from 17 per cent in 1980 to
just 2.9 per cent in 2006. Agriculture must therefore be
given high priority in the international agenda as well
as in national budgets.
 It is also urgently necessary for large developed
countries to re-examine ways in which current
inefficient and distortionary trade policies, in particular
subsidies that support inefficient domestic production
and tariffs that protect against more competitive
imports, can be restructured to reduce distortions in the
global marketplace.
 Given the impact that persistently high food
prices into the future will have on the poor, the global
community must commit itself to designing and
funding appropriate safety nets to ensure improved
access to food and the maintenance of basic nutrition.
 In recent times, the Assembly has been deeply
concerned about the consequences of climate change,
and rightly so. But future generations demand that that
concern be translated into rapid action. The climate
change challenge will not slow down to meet the pace
set by the United Nations. Our response must speed up
to meet the pace of climate change.
 The facts are straightforward. If we are to avoid
catastrophic climate breakdown, we need to stabilize
annual greenhouse gas emissions at about the
equivalent of 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita by
2050. Therefore, let the debate move on to how we
make that happen, and not stagnate on a paralysing fear
born from the magnitude of the problem.
 There are some promising signs. The Kyoto
Protocol has resulted in the emergence of a $60 billion
carbon market, which is a welcome start. But although
common sense dictates that those financial flows
should be proportional to the problem being addressed,
the bulk of that money stays within the developed
world.
 As a rainforest country, Guyana is particularly
aware that there is virtually no capital flowing to
address tropical deforestation — despite the fact that it
causes 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and, as
analyses done by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, Nicholas Stern and others have
highlighted, doing so is the most cost-effective
abatement solution. That is because the Kyoto Protocol
contains no significant incentives to slow the rate of
tropical deforestation.
 As leaders, we must set a clear direction for our
negotiators as we send them to agree a post-Kyoto
climate agreement, one that asserts a sense of
proportionality in addressing the causes of climate
change and ensures that all major mitigation options
are pursued. We must also break the false debate that
suggests that countries must choose between
combating climate change and supporting national
development. Instead, we need to forge new high-
growth, low-carbon economies and make national
development supportive of progress towards global
emissions targets.

08-51606 24

 Specifically, those of us who are leaders of
rainforest countries need to understand that we provide
services that are vital to the health of our planet and
that, when we seek capital flows to compensate for
that, we are not merely acting as passive poor countries
looking for aid: we are providing a critical component
of the climate solution and we should be leading the
design of mechanisms as we forge a post-Kyoto
climate agreement.
 In Guyana, despite the fact that 85 per cent of our
people live below sea level and are already suffering
from changing weather patterns and rising water levels,
we do not want to just complain about climate change.
Instead, we want to partner with others to create a
solution. As part of that, we are ready to discuss
placing almost our entire rainforest in the service of the
world if the right economic incentives are created and
if that can be done in a way that neither trades
sovereignty over our forest nor restricts the legitimate
development aspirations of our people.
 The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries are currently negotiating an economic
partnership agreement with the European Union (EU).
That agreement may fundamentally affect development
in our societies and jeopardize our future negotiating
positions at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The
European Commission has threatened to impose tariffs
on our exports under the Generalized System of
Preferences if we do not sign agreements that reflect
the EU’s model of WTO compatibility, even though the
model includes issues that have been removed from the
WTO agenda — the so-called Singapore issues. Those
agreements will also seriously prejudice our
negotiations with other countries and may jeopardize
the future of our integration movement.
 The exploitation of the EU’s superior negotiating
strength and the use of threats to get countries to sign
are, ironically, how the EU hopes to start this
partnership under the economic partnership agreement.
What is particularly irksome is that we are incessantly
lectured by the same group of countries to the effect
that national consultations and working with civil
society are essential hallmarks of good governance. Yet
when the same civil society opposes the economic
partnership agreement on the grounds that it is not
sufficiently developmental in nature, we are told to
ignore them — they are complainers. I wonder if the
leaders of those countries know, or care, what is being
done in their names. Even at this late hour, I wish to
plead with the EU leaders to review those agreements
before they irretrievably harm the good historic
relations that have existed between the ACP and the
EU.
 That brings me to the matter of the much-needed
reform of our multilateral institutions, which has been
on the agenda for some time. However, it would be fair
to say that it has progressed slowly and its results have
been few and difficult to observe. I believe that the
reforms must be pursued along certain predefined
principles. First, the institutions must have new
mandates that are relevant to the current circumstances,
and they must have at their disposal tools to discharge
those mandates effectively. Secondly, the institutions
must have legitimacy and reflect an equitable
representation of their membership. Thirdly, in the
discharge of their functions, they must demonstrate
flexibility and responsiveness. Fourthly, they must
display the highest standards of accountability and
transparency.
 As I mentioned earlier, I believe that limitations
in the mandate and functioning of the international
financial institutions were a contributory factor in the
current financial crisis. The mandate of the
International Monetary Fund should explicitly be the
preservation of systemic financial stability as a global
public good. In addition, the use of passive
surveillance as a general instrument and conditionality-
based lending among the more vulnerable members
have clearly proved to be ineffective. That is so not
least because the incentives associated with
conditionality-based lending are almost invariably
never applicable to countries of systemic importance,
and no mechanisms exist to encourage larger countries
to respond to policy advice.
 Likewise, the World Bank should have a revised
mandate that focuses on certain key development
challenges, such as protection of the environment,
clean energy and certain aspects of poverty reduction,
instead of trying to address every development
challenge and undermining its own effectiveness. In
addition, more needs to be done to democratize the
institutions, to align the interests of the management
and staff with those of the countries they serve and to
make them more accountable to the membership.
 Similarly, a more democratic and reformed
United Nations Organization will be better placed to
play a central role in the multilateral system in serving

25 08-51606

the interests of the international community as a whole,
whether in relation to its peace and security mandates,
the protection of fundamental rights or the promotion
of development.
 Within the Commonwealth, heads of Government
have developed a set of principles and guidelines that
should underpin reform of the international
institutions. Among their recommendations is a call for
a conference along the lines of Bretton Woods to lead
the way in determining the future of the international
financial institutions. I trust that those principles and
guidelines will be fully embraced.
 I wish this sixty-third session of the Assembly
every success.


It is my great honour to stand
here as the new Japanese Prime Minister — brand new,
really, as I was designated by the National Diet
yesterday.
 First, I would like to congratulate His Excellency
Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his assumption of
the presidency of the General Assembly. I extend my
heartfelt appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Srgjan
Kerim, former President of the General Assembly, for
his devoted efforts during his tenure. I wish also to
express my profound respect for the tireless leadership
demonstrated by His Excellency Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon in the management of the United
Nations.
 Being back in New York, I am reminded of an old
saying about bankers. It seems that there are only two
types of bankers in the world: bankers with short
memories and bankers with no memories. In finance,
market crazes and panics cling together in much the
same way that shadows follow objects. Crazes
invariably develop over time, which then give rise to
panic. It was 10 years ago, in September indeed, that
the world experienced a nightmare in which liquidity
suddenly dried up. For more than the last quarter
century, it seems almost as if crazes and panics have
performed a never-ending musical rondo every few
years, with a large number of countries and markets,
naturally including Tokyo, as their stage.
 Tokyo stayed relatively clear-headed during the
most recent frenzy. However, that said, it could be
argued that that was due to little more than the
unusually long time we had suffered when our
hangover morphed into a debt overhang as a result of
the previous craze of the 1980s and 1990s.
 That rondo continues without end, and so
certainly humankind will once again hear that very
same melody in the not-too-distant future. We simply
must advance inch by inch each time and resolve to
become more prudent. Vociferous arguments on the
international financial architecture are about to begin
once again. Japan is eager to contribute its experience
and its knowledge.
 In Japan, May is the month for enjoying new
green growth, and 7 July is the day on which both
children and adults tie strips of paper bearing
handwritten wishes to bamboo branches hung from the
eaves and look to the night sky as they pray for their
dreams to come true.
 This year in May, Japan held the Fourth Tokyo
International Conference on African Development, also
known as TICAD IV, bringing together some 3,000
participants in the port city of Yokohama.
Representatives of 51 nations from Africa gathered,
including 41 at the Head of State and Government
level. Enthusiastically advocating action “Towards a
Vibrant Africa”, that Conference called for support to
accelerate economic growth, to pursue the Millennium
Development Goals in a sustainable manner and to
foster health, water, sanitation and education in Africa
on the basis of human security, a concept that Japan
has carefully nurtured. Three thousand people renewed
their determination to achieve those goals. The
vibrancy of Japan’s fresh green leaves certainly
touched the heart of each participant.
 Then, on 7 July, the day on which we pray for the
realization of our dreams for the future, the
Government of Japan moved the stage to Lake Toyako
on our northern island of Hokkaido, opening the G-8
Summit and a series of outreach meetings. Again,
Japan placed issues regarding development among the
main themes, and we invited a large number of African
participants. That was to ensure that the momentum
generated by TICAD IV would be firmly maintained.
 By making climate change the theme of another
summit, we were able to agree to strive to adopt a
global long-term target of reducing emissions and to
seek to create, within the United Nations, an effective
framework, in which all major economies would
participate in a responsible way. That outcome of the
Toyako summit should be regarded as no small matter.
We aim to realize those goals by no later than the end
of 2009.
 I believe that we all associate efforts to address
climate change with the name of Japan’s ancient
capital for 1,000 years, Kyoto. Japan has always felt
some pride on that score. Japan leads the globe in
requiring the least amount of energy to produce one
unit of gross domestic product. Our technological
creativity has helped to make that possible. We are
eager for the world to make much greater use of it. The

27 08-51851

sectoral approach also offers a channel through which
Japan aims to contribute to many other countries.
 Such was the G-8 achievement just over two
months ago with Japan in the Chair. We are now
witnessing irregularities in the global economy. It is
my wish, and indeed, my belief, that the pledges of
May and the dreams of July will be impervious to the
strong and fast winds that now buffet them. There is an
important precondition for both making a vibrant
Africa even more vibrant and ending global
environmental degradation through the efforts of all
nations, namely, the stability of the global economy.
 That being the case, the task ahead for Japan, as I
see it, is already quite clear: it must first invigorate its
own economy. In view of the size of the Japanese
economy, the second largest in the world, that would
certainly be the most immediately effective
contribution that Japan can make. I will work
determinedly to that end. Such is my pledge to the
President and members of this Assembly.
 I should now like to change topic and recount a
small event that took place this past summer. It
happened in a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Nine high-school students from abroad arrived there at
the end of August, setting foot in Japan for their first
time. There was nothing unusual about those very
typical-looking high-school student visitors, grimacing
at the unfamiliar food placed before them. However,
there was one aspect in which those young men and
women stood apart from participants in conventional
invitation programmes. Those high-school students,
four Palestinians and five Israelis, had all lost at least
one relative as a result of terrorism or another aspect of
the severe situation in the Middle East.
 I have just described one of the ongoing efforts
by Japanese civil society to promote reconciliation.
Those high-school students may have no chance to
interact with each other when they are back home, but
for the several days that they are in a distant country,
travelling here and there across the beautiful, verdant
land of Japan in pairs comprising Israelis and
Palestinians, something changes inside them. Those
young people come to understand that religion and
ethnicity make no difference when it comes to the
sorrow felt at losing a parent, and they often shed tears
upon coming to that realization. Through those tears of
understanding they will come to see ties between their
futures.
 For comprehensive peace in the Middle East,
what is necessary is the mental groundwork that will
make such peace possible. By investing in the young
minds of high-school students, Japanese civil society is
working to foster that groundwork.
 As that example suggests, there is no doubt in my
mind that there are certain types of diplomacy that
Japan is uniquely able to undertake. If Israeli drip
irrigation technology were to be introduced in the West
Bank of the Jordan River, Palestinian youth would be
able to devote themselves to the production of
vegetables. However, the wall of distrust that separates
the two sides will not allow that in the immediate
future. Here, Japan wishes to act as a catalyst, serving
as a mediator between the two sides.
 Japan is willing to bring its own technologies that
maximize the potential of drip irrigation. In time, as a
result of irrigation, the land of the West Bank will
become fertile. The agricultural products grown there
will be processed by Palestinians and transported
through Jordan to be laid out fresh in stores in
consumer regions around the Gulf. The Government of
Japan aims to bring about such a future through its
Corridor for Peace and Prosperity initiative. Here,
Japan continues to provide its technologies and
funding, but most of all, it aims to be a mediator,
fostering trust. Needless to say, trust is the scarcest
resource of all in the Middle East.
 The Government of Japan is currently preparing
to submit a draft resolution on the total elimination of
nuclear weapons. I believe that there is no one who
questions the wholehearted commitment of the
Japanese people to that issue. In the same way, I
believe it would be superfluous to elaborate on the fact
that Japan values the activities of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Japan has fielded
Mr. Yukiya Amano, Ambassador to the International
Organizations in Vienna and former Chairman of the
Board of Governors of IAEA, as a candidate to be the
next Director-General of IAEA. I strongly urge
members to support his candidacy.
 Just a moment ago, I touched briefly on the
significance of 7 July for Japan. The Heads of State
and Government and their spouses who gathered in
Toyako for the G8 Summit wrote their wishes on
bamboo leaves. While the words they chose varied,
there was not a single person who did not include a
wish for peace. Yet in the short space of time since

08-51851 28

then, there have been incidents at various locations
disturbing the peace, one after another.
 First, regarding the situation in Georgia, I
strongly expect to see a peaceful resolution of the
issues, based on the principle of territorial integrity;
with the parties involved, including Russia, acting in a
responsible manner. And speaking of 7 July, that date
conjures up abhorrent memories in the United
Kingdom. We, here in this Assembly, have been newly
incensed at the cruel terrorist attack that took place in
Islamabad five days ago. It has also turned out to be
difficult to find the path towards improving the
situation in Afghanistan. There has been no change
whatsoever in the fact that terrorism constitutes the
greatest threat to peace and prosperity in the world.
 I believe that the international community must
continue to be engaged in tenacious efforts to combat
terrorism. Japan has, from the start, been committed to
reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan and we have
maintained our refuelling activities in the Indian
Ocean. I would like to state here that Japan will
continue in the future to stand side by side with the
international community and participate proactively in
the fight against terrorism.
 Among outstanding issues in the vicinity of
Japan, it goes without saying that the most pressing are
those concerning North Korea. North Korea has
abducted Japanese citizens, including an innocent
young girl named Megumi. Despite pledging to
relaunch an investigation into the abduction victims, it
has still not taken action towards fulfilling that pledge.
 Regarding its commitment to abandon its nuclear
programmes, it is widely known that recently there has
been a conspicuous lack of progress. In parallel with
the action that North Korea would take, I am prepared
to take action towards the resolution of the outstanding
issues of concern between Japan and North Korea and
the settlement of the unfortunate past tensions between
us, moving Japan-North Korea relations forward. What
we are waiting for is action by North Korea. I will also
continue to pursue the abandonment of North Korea’s
nuclear capabilities and its nuclear weapons within the
framework of the Six-Party Talks.
 That leads me to say that China and the Republic
of Korea are each important partners for Japan and
countries with which Japan must seek to increase
mutual benefits and shared interests. Japan must
promote multilayered cooperation with both of those
countries as well as with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations. Together, we must enhance the peace
and prosperity of the East Asian region and beyond —
towards world peace and prosperity.
 As I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, I
have only recently become Japan’s Prime Minister. I
was designated Prime Minister by the Diet and
appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan barely
24 hours ago, and this is my first engagement since
assuming office. I hope that through my remarks thus
far you can appreciate why I have taken such pains to
join you here today. There are numerous points I
wanted to raise.
 Looking back, Japan has come a long way, with
the Japan-United States alliance as a permanent
cornerstone, while steadfastly enhancing relationships
with neighbouring Asian nations. And I believe that the
President of this Assembly and all the other dignitaries
gathered in this Hall will, without exception,
acknowledge that Japan attaches great importance to
the United Nations and has never once veered from the
path of international cooperation.
 Even though they have suffered setbacks at times,
the citizens of Japan, who have so vigorously pursued
the building of the economy, have been guided by a
single philosophy until the present day, that peace and
happiness are most certainly within our grasp through
the pursuit of economic prosperity and democracy. I
am determined to work in solidarity with countries
holding fundamental values in common and to share
Japan’s experiences with nations strongly needing such
support. It is my unwavering view that this is a
responsibility incumbent on Japan.
 It is for these reasons that, speaking on behalf of
the people of Japan, I must state and reiterate the
absolute necessity of United Nations Security Council
reform. We must bring about the early reform of the
Security Council through an expansion of both the
permanent and non-permanent memberships. Next
month, new non-permanent members of the Council
will be elected, and Japan is standing as a candidate.
 Let me conclude my remarks today by expressing
my sincere wish for the support of Member States for
Japan’s candidacy.


Allow me at the outset to congratulate Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency
of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session and
wish him every success in his work.
 In the context of the agenda of the current session
of the General Assembly, I would like to address the
following issues, which we consider to be of the
utmost importance and are directly relevant to the
security and sustainable development of the Central
Asian region.
 First are the issues related to the continuing
intensification and escalation of confrontation in
Afghanistan, the increasing radicalization of the
situation and the provocative terrorist statements by the
fighters. Despite the enormous efforts and measures by
the international community and coalition forces to
support peace in Afghanistan, the situation,
unfortunately, is deteriorating. The civilians are
perishing.
 What further exacerbates the situation in
Afghanistan is the growing volume of drug trafficking.
Today the production of opium in Afghanistan accounts
for more than 8,000 tons, or over 90 percent of global
production. It must be taken into consideration that
drug trafficking is becoming one of the important
sources of financing for fighters, destabilizing the
situation in Afghanistan itself and in neighbouring
States.
 From this high rostrum, I would like to state
again that we are deeply convinced that recent
developments in the situation in Afghanistan show ever

08-53129 20

more clearly that the Afghan problem cannot be
resolved by the use of armed force, military means and
increasing militarization alone. The war, which has
been ongoing for close to 30 years, has destroyed both
the economic and social infrastructure, led to the
impoverishment of the population and, we must admit,
has deprived people of any belief in a future and has
provided fertile ground for recruiting more and more
fighters.
 The developing situation dictates the need to
radically reconsider the approaches to resolving the
Afghan problem. It is our firm belief that our main
priorities must be providing targeted economic aid to
Afghanistan, building and moulding economic and
social infrastructure, ensuring employment
opportunities and resolving the acute problem of
combating poverty.
 It is necessary to do everything we can to ensure
respectful attitudes to national and religious values and
the centuries-old traditions and customs of the
multinational and multi-faith people of Afghanistan,
and on that basis to bring together the conflicting
forces. An important instrument for achieving such
goals could be a return to the successful Six plus Two
group on Afghanistan that successfully functioned in
the middle of the 1990s under the auspices of the
United Nations and transforming it into a Six plus
Three group by taking into consideration contemporary
realities and including in its make-up neighbouring
States, Russia and the United States, and NATO.
 As the President of Uzbekistan, Mr. Islam
Karimov, has repeatedly underscored, the realization of
such an initiative — which has already been called for
from a number of international rostrums — could be a
worthy alternative in achieving peace, stability and the
revival of Afghanistan.
 The outcomes of the high-level event on the
Millennium Development Goals that took place on
25 September 2008 demonstrated that the international
community needs to resolutely seek concrete results in
achieving the goals in the sphere of development as
formulated in the Millennium Declaration.
 In that context, all of us share responsibility for
the reasonable use of natural resources, including the
transboundary rivers in Central Asia. Experience itself
has shown that disregarding well-known United
Nations declarations and international standards on the
joint use of water resources of transboundary rivers can
lead to very serious and at times tragic ecological
disasters, as borne out by the ongoing catastrophe of
the drying up of the Aral Sea, with all of its unforeseen
consequences for the tens of millions of people in the
region.
 According to the fundamental provisions of
United Nations conventions, all decisions on the use of
the water of transboundary rivers in Central Asia,
including the construction of hydropower facilities,
must in no way inflict damage on the ecology of the
region or infringe on the interests of the populations of
neighbouring countries, nor should they upset the
established balanced use of the water of transboundary
rivers by all States in those rivers basins. In the case of
damage, all measures must be taken to remove or
mitigate such damage, and, if necessary, the issue of
compensation must be raised.
 We are convinced that compliance with those
requirements must be mandatory in the implementation
of various projects such as building hydropower
facilities in Central Asia, including compliance by
international financial institutions that wish to
participate in such projects.
 We are also convinced of the importance of
expanding cooperation and strengthening interaction
between the United Nations and the International Fund
to Save the Aral Sea. In this respect, we consider it
timely and necessary to grant the Fund observer status
in the General Assembly, and we call upon Member
States to support the draft resolution on this matter
during the Assembly’s sixty-third session.
 This year in Uzbekistan we will widely observe
the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, and a programme of action dedicated to
that most significant event has been approved. As of
1 January 2008, Uzbekistan fully abolished the death
penalty and introduced habeas corpus, a democratic
principle of justice. The adoption of the law on
guaranteeing the rights of the child and the ratification
of the International Labour Organization Minimum
Age Convention and Convention on the Worst Forms
of Child Labour have become important steps in
ensuring human rights in Uzbekistan. We have adopted
a national plan for implementing the commitments
undertaken in those Conventions. Aware of the urgency
of the problem of human trafficking at both domestic
and international levels, in April 2008 Uzbekistan
adopted its law against human trafficking.

21 08-53129

 Committed to the ideals and principles of human
rights, Uzbekistan advocates gradual reforms and
changes with the main purpose of ensuring peace in
society and greater well-being of the people.
 In conclusion, I want to underscore once again
that Uzbekistan stands ready to engage in further
constructive multilateral interaction within the United
Nations framework to address the urgent issues on the
agenda of the international community.