The attachment
that Thailand has had to the ideals and principles that
gave birth to the United Nations is long, enduring and
natural. From the very first day in this family of
nations more than 60 years ago, Thailand, or Siam at
that time, made known to all that we stood for peace,
for freedom and for tolerance, because peace, freedom
and tolerance are part of our national character — a
part of who we are. Today, our commitment to peace,
freedom and tolerance anywhere and everywhere
remains unwavering, and it will remain so.
 Therefore, I warmly congratulate Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann, a man of peace, freedom and
tolerance, on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-third session. His cause is our
cause, and he can rest assured that the Thai delegation
will give him its full support and cooperation.
 We are living in a world of enormous
opportunities for progress. But we are also living in a
world that is in a state of flux, a world that is drifting
from one crisis to another. The information technology
revolution and transportation advancements have
brought people from all corners of the world closer
together than ever before. We are now living in a
global village, but, sadly, this village is not united as
one. This village is deeply divided along political,
economic, social, racial, religious and cultural lines.
That is not sustainable; it is not healthy. It should not
be allowed to go on. All of us have a stake in this. We
must not take those divisions for granted or as a given,
because they are not.
 We need to reclaim the ideal that brought us
together in this place: the ideal of “We the peoples”.
We need to cultivate and nurture a “we” feeling among
us. We must try our best to focus on what binds us
together rather than on what keeps us apart. We must
be fully aware that to continue to see the world through
the glasses of “us versus them” can only lead to
confrontation. And confrontation helps no one,
because, at the end of the day, in this interconnected
globalized world, no one wins everything, but
everyone can lose everything. As Mahatma Gandhi
once admonished, “An eye for an eye, and soon the
whole world is blind”.
 We have a choice between progress and self-
destruction, between cooperation and confrontation,
and between amity and animosity. The choice is for all
of us to make, and the choice is clear. There is no
better alternative to progress, cooperation and amity
among nations and peoples.
 The Thai people have made their choice. It is for
democracy. The challenge now in Thailand, as in other
countries around the world, is to find the right balance
between the political culture and the desire for
democratic ideals. Nurturing a democratic culture in
any country takes time and requires an appreciation of
the fact that it is an evolutionary process in which ups

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and downs are to be expected. Thailand’s democratic
evolution is no exception.
 What is unique about the present state of political
evolution in Thailand is the consistent expression of
our national character: we stand for peace, for freedom
and for tolerance. Indeed, Thai political developments
have made a lot of headlines lately. But we trust that
good eyes and informed minds will not mistake recent
events for the trajectory of a nation. Thai people are
resilient people. The Thai society is a resilient society.
And Thai people and Thai society are determined to
move ahead along the democratic path.
 The world has made a choice with respect to
development. That choice is embodied in the
Millennium Declaration and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). We are now midway
towards 2015, the target year for their realization.
While there have been many remarkable and
encouraging success stories of progress so far — in
reducing poverty, hunger and disease, to name a few —
there are also unremarkable and discouraging stories of
setbacks. For far too many countries, the realization of
the MDGs by 2015 has become increasingly difficult to
achieve. Thailand therefore is pleased to see the
international community coming together as one in its
determination to work harder to help people in each
and every country enjoy the fruits of developmental
progress and well-being.
 To help one another to have a better life is a
moral imperative as well as a practical necessity. Can
anyone afford to live happily and sleep soundly on an
island of opulence in the middle of a sea of poverty and
despair? Certainly, the answer is no. It is after all in the
enlightened self-interest of every country to ensure that
the MDG targets are met — as many and as soon as
possible.
 Our unity as “We the peoples” is all the more
important in the face of the perfect storm that is the
global oil crisis, food crisis and financial crisis. These
multiple crises threaten to derail the achievements of
the MDGs or even to undo hard-won gains of the past
in many countries. Developing countries need stability
and security in the world energy market. Every dollar
hike resulting from speculation on oil price futures
being traded on futures market floors means
development costs for the Governments of developing
countries and affects the livelihoods of ordinary people
around the world.
 But in every crisis, there exists an opportunity.
The exponential rise in oil prices has made it necessary
for countries to adapt their patterns of consumption and
to rethink their energy security strategies. The global
oil crisis has not spared Thailand: our people have been
adversely affected by the skyrocketing oil prices in
almost every aspect of their lives.
 At the same time, Thailand has learned to adapt
and adjust. Energy efficiency and the development of
alternative energy sources, such as liquefied gas,
biofuels and gasohol, are now being pursued with
greater urgency. Because of the global oil crisis, more
and more vehicles in Thailand today have been shifted
to various sources of alternative energy. This market
for alternative energy is booming in Thailand and
across Asia. There is so much potential in this market,
and Thailand stands ready to work together with our
friends from around the world in all endeavours
pertaining to research in and development of
alternative energy.
 Developing countries need stability and security
in the world food market. In addressing these
challenges, we should not forget that the current food
crisis has had multiple causes, such as the global oil
crisis, drought and flooding. To be effective, any
attempt to address this world food crisis must be
comprehensive and concerted. It must look at the short-
term imperative of keeping the supply flowing in the
world market while working towards the longer-term
imperative of stabilizing food prices and enhancing
productivity.
 As a rice bowl of the world, Thailand will
continue to ensure a constant supply to the world rice
market. We will continue to work with other countries
to enhance productivity and ensure food security. In the
past, we had an industrial revolution and an
information technology revolution. Now, we believe, is
the time for the next revolution: a green revolution. We
will continue to work with countries around the world
to ensure an open international food market and
establish agricultural trade rules that help the world’s
poor farmers and shore up food security in developing
countries. To that end, the Doha Development Round
should resume as soon as possible.
 Developing countries also need stability and
security in the world financial markets. The current
turmoil in the world financial markets, if not
effectively addressed soon, threatens to cause

29 08-53141

widespread economic downturns than could push
millions below the poverty line and severely affect the
achievement of the MDGs. To have the world financial
crisis piling on top of the world energy and food crises
is the last thing that people in the developing countries
want to see. That is particularly true for people in
Thailand and across Asia. Our painful experience has
taught us how phenomena such as those that started off
as a financial crisis in 1997 can spiral into a
multifaceted crisis that drove millions of people into
abject poverty and despair, strained the social fabric of
societies and created social tensions that developed
into political ones.
 We who lived through those dark days do not
want to see a repeat of this type of crisis again. All
countries therefore have a high stake in the current
financial turmoil. We must work together, and quickly,
to arrest the downward spiralling effects before it is too
late.
 Besides the perfect storm of this year’s world
energy, food and financial crises, South-East Asia has
witnessed a massive storm in the form of Cyclone
Nargis, which struck Myanmar in May. Nargis was the
most devastating cyclone ever to hit Myanmar. Many
lives were lost and many livelihoods were severely
affected. But Nargis was not an isolated case. In the
past few years, we have witnessed a changing climate
pattern that has produced successive monster storms
and severe weather in all corners of the world. Ice at
the North and South Poles is melting at a frightening
speed. Sea level is rising steadily and threatens to
engulf low-lying areas around the world. Drought has
increased, and many areas, once arable, have turned
into desert.
 We can no longer turn our eyes away from the
gathering threats posed by climate change. These
threats recognize no political boundaries. Large and
small, powerful and weak, we are all bound together by
our common vulnerability and a common destiny as
residents of planet Earth. We therefore have a
collective responsibility on this issue.
 The choice is clear and has been made. When the
world gathered to discuss climate change at the Bali
Conference in December last year, the world chose
collective responsibility over collective irresponsibility.
Thailand will spare no effort to work actively with all
parties to ensure that the journey that started under the
Bali road map last year can be realized at the
Copenhagen conference scheduled for next year. This
is a critical time that requires critical action by all
parties. Time is simply not on our side.
 There is a saying that, in every storm, every
cloud has a silver lining. That is true for the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of
which Thailand is a member. Faced with the challenge
of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, ASEAN had to
make a choice between doing nothing and losing its
credibility, or doing something and being seen as a
force to be reckoned with. ASEAN chose the latter.
Acting as a bridge between Myanmar and the
international community, ASEAN has successfully
forged a working tripartite partnership between
ASEAN, Myanmar and the United Nations. That
partnership has continued to work effectively to this
day and could serve as a model for future humanitarian
partnerships in other parts of the world. Through that
process, ASEAN has once again proven its
effectiveness and resilience.
 ASEAN has also made another choice — an
important and profound one. ASEAN is moving
towards being a rules-based and people-centred
organization, with the signing of the ASEAN Charter
this past year. The upcoming fourteenth ASEAN
Summit will take place in Bangkok under the theme
“ASEAN Charter for ASEAN peoples” to mark a new
era for ASEAN, with people at the heart of our
cooperation. As Chairman of ASEAN, Thailand has
launched a “three Rs” campaign. First, we want to
realize the purposes and vision of the Charter. That
includes the realization of an ASEAN human rights
body, one of the new organs envisaged in our Charter.
Secondly, we will revitalize the people-centred nature
of our community in order to enhance their
participation in building an ASEAN community.
Thirdly, we will reinforce ASEAN cooperation to
better contribute to the well-being of our peoples,
especially in the areas of human development and
security.
 Thailand will carry forward the work of the
previous ASEAN Chair, Singapore, to realize the
dream of the ASEAN founding fathers of transforming
South-East Asia from a community of good neighbours
into one ASEAN community, where the feeling of “we
the peoples of ASEAN” takes root. The world will
benefit from having a more rules-based, effective,
predictable and people-centred ASEAN as a partner.
Through greater integration with the regional countries

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in Asia, ASEAN can become a natural bridge that
connects China and India, the two emerging global
economic centres of the twenty-first century, with a
combined market size of billions of people. We believe
that it is not too much or too far-fetched to see a new,
modern silk road passing through ASEAN.
 Allow me to conclude the same way I started. We
need to reclaim the ideals of “We the peoples of the
United Nations” in order to work together, to resolve
our common problems and to survive. It has never been
more imperative for the Members of this Organization
to put aside for a moment our narrow self-interest and
come together to forge solutions that are in the interest
of us all. The United Nations can only be what the
collective membership wishes it to be. “We the peoples
of the United Nations” have a choice to make.
 Let what one astronaut gazing at planet Earth
from a space station once said serve to remind us all of
our collective responsibility:
 “For those who have seen the Earth from
space, and for the hundreds and perhaps
thousands more who will, the experience most
certainly changes your perspective. The things
that we share in our world are far more valuable
than those which divide us.”


I am delighted, Sir,
to congratulate you on your assumption of the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third
session. Your election to that high office is indeed a
clear reflection of the strong confidence and trust that
the international community has in you personally, and
also in your great country, Nicaragua. I am confident
that under your able guidance we will continue to build
on the achievements of the sixty-second session in our
efforts to advance our common global agenda towards
a more just, secure and prosperous world. I assure you
of the full support, cooperation and goodwill of the
delegation of the Republic of Botswana in the
discharge of your mandate.
 I wish also to pay tribute to your predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Srgjan Kerim, President of the
Assembly at its sixth-second session. We sincerely
commend him for his sterling work and leadership,
which enabled us to achieve critical milestones towards
our common goals.
 This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is an
important event on our global human rights agenda. It
is an occasion for Member States to reflect,
individually and collectively, on how much progress
we have made in our efforts to build a more just world
order. The Universal Declaration embodies the
aspirations of humanity for liberty, freedom and
equality. It is a reflection of the human spirit to strive
for a more perfect society in which individuals
recognize the reality that creating the space for the
enjoyment of individual human rights expands the
horizons for society to realize its full potential.
 In pursuance of this noble objective we must
continuously strive to improve our governance in order
to ensure that it is responsive to the wishes of the
people. It should be borne in mind that, in the final
analysis, it is the people in whom the sovereignty of
any nation is vested. In that respect, it is imperative
that the will of the people expressed in free and fair
elections be respected by all political leaders. Heads of
State or Government must avoid the temptation to
change constitutions in an effort to prolong their stay
in power, which often results in instability.
 Botswana reaffirms its commitment to the ideals
and purposes of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. We are determined to contribute to the
promotion of respect for human rights at home and
abroad. In doing so we are conscious of the need for
international cooperation in the promotion of human
rights. It is for this reason that Botswana is a State
party to a number of human rights instruments,
including the Rome Statute on the establishment of the
International Criminal Court.
 We fully support the work of that Court. As a
country that strongly believes in the rule of law, we are
convinced that there should be no political interference
in the work of the Court. The International Criminal
Court was established with the support of African
States. We felt that it was necessary to address
problems that confronted our continent. The Court is
meant to serve a specific purpose and there should be
no exceptions regarding what it can or cannot do.

21 08-53135

 Botswana is pleased that representatives of
political parties in Zimbabwe finally signed an
agreement in Harare on 15 September 2008. We
welcomed that development, as it augurs well for
national reconciliation, economic reconstruction and
development in Zimbabwe. The effective
implementation of the agreement should have a
positive impact not only on developments in Zimbabwe
but also on Southern Africa and the wider African
region. This is a good beginning, and we encourage the
parties to do all they can to make the agreement work.
No party should attempt to obstruct the implementation
of the agreement, as the political crisis that confronted
that country following the 29 June 2008 presidential
run-off election can be resolved only through the
implementation of the agreement. Such a development
would not be acceptable to Botswana. We call upon the
international community to help the process to succeed
by extending their goodwill and support to the
Government and the people of Zimbabwe with much-
needed economic, financial and technical assistance.
 We must commend the former President of the
Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Mr. Thabo
Mbeki, for his hard work, commitment and
determination in helping the Zimbabweans reach
agreement. We also wish to pay tribute to former
President Mbeki for his contribution to the attainment
of freedom and democracy not only in South Africa but
also in the wider African continent. We are grateful to
him for his visionary leadership and his people-centred
initiatives, whose primary objective was to build an
African continent that is free, peaceful, democratic and
economically prosperous.
 As the international community, we have the
collective responsibility to equip and make optimal use
of our multilateral body, the United Nations, to search
for fair and just solutions to global problems in order
to contribute to the betterment of all humanity. Today,
more than ever before, the United Nations is required
to respond effectively and swiftly to the complex
challenges of the twenty-first century. Conflicts,
poverty, disease, natural and man-made disasters,
climate change, energy and terrorism are among the
myriad pressing problems that confront humanity and
require an urgent global response. It is thus imperative
that we continue to make concerted efforts to address
those challenges in pursuit of a better tomorrow. Their
magnitude clearly requires multilateral strategies and
solutions.
 Botswana calls upon all Members to unite in the
search for solutions to those problems. It is imperative
that in our policies, actions and pronouncements, we
always seek to build greater international
understanding. In our approach to managing relations
between States, leaders are called upon to set a higher
standard. The language that we employ in international
forums should not be belligerent or provocative, nor
should it be calculated to shame or humiliate other
leaders. Member States should not host military or
rebel groups that operate from their territories against
their neighbours.
 In our international discourse, we must aim to
build and facilitate agreement on common goals. In
that respect, we must exercise restraint by avoiding the
often frequent temptation to recall diplomats from each
other’s capitals, including purely for solidarity reasons.
Such action is unfortunate and outdated, as it only
leads to a breakdown in communication.
 As we meet here, let us always remind ourselves
of the solemn commitments that we, as the peoples of
the world, have undertaken to end war and human
suffering. Botswana calls upon all States, especially the
major Powers, to set an example by refraining from the
use of weapons in resolving conflicts. Military
confrontation is, unfortunately, always a demonstration
of the failure of the will to use diplomacy, of the urge
to show off military superiority or of the inability to
employ resources and technological advances to
improve human lives.
 Sustainable economic growth, development and
the eradication of poverty are central to our
development agenda as developing countries. Poverty
is undoubtedly one of the most critical challenges
facing our people. Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals and combating poverty in its many
dimensions are interrelated and mutually reinforcing
objectives. Thus, their attainment should be our
primary preoccupation.
 Botswana welcomes the initiatives introduced by
some development partners that seek to take a more
focused approach to Africa’s economic and
development problems. Those initiatives include the
Lomé Conventions and the successor arrangements
between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States, on
the one hand, and the European Union, on the other;
the African Growth and Opportunity Act of the United
States; the Tokyo International Conference on African

08-53135 22

Development; the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation;
and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation.
 Botswana has always made effective use of the
resources made available by our cooperating partners.
It is important that more be done to help developing
countries embark on the path of sustainable
development. We are convinced that, as we receive
much-needed assistance, we must envisage a day and
time when there will be no need for such assistance
because we are all able to stand on our own.
 This year marks the midpoint towards the 2015
target for attaining the Millennium Development
Goals. We thank the Secretary-General for his
analytical and informative reports regarding progress
in the implementation of our common commitments
and our shared future. We also welcome the work of
the high-level meetings held to take stock of progress
made. That will no doubt provide impetus for the
expeditious implementation of our commitments.
 The Secretary-General’s reports indicate a mixed
and uneven score. It is clearly evident that while we
have made real progress in some areas, much remains
to be done over the next seven years if we are to
achieve our goals. In other words, we are seriously
behind schedule on every target, among countries and
within countries that need to eradicate poverty and
reduce human suffering.
 In addition to revealing gaps, the process has
highlighted emerging challenges that hinder the
attainment of targets across the spectrum of human
development. It has also emphasized the serious need
to fast-track the pace of implementation if we are to
have any notable impact. The achievement of those
goals is our shared responsibility. It is thus imperative
that all of us, individually and collectively, do our part
to accelerate progress towards a better quality of life
for our people.
 Our people deserve a life free from fear and want,
in an environment that offers equal opportunity for all.
That is not a privilege, but a fundamental human right
that each State has a duty to respect, protect and fulfil.
For our people, that should mean universal access to
education, health, shelter, clean water and
infrastructure, as well as living in a safe and secure
environment. Fully honouring our commitments is the
key to realizing those expectations.
 The following facts should trouble our collective
conscience. More than one quarter of the children
younger than 5 in the developing world are
underweight. That amounts to 143 million underweight
children in developing countries. Children in
developing countries continue to die from preventable
diseases such as malaria. The approximately 4 billion
cases of diarrhoea per annum cause 2.2 million deaths,
mostly among children under 5. Approximately
6 million people are blind as a result of trachoma, a
disease caused by lack of clean water combined with
poor hygiene practices. In sub-Saharan Africa, a
woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death is a staggering
1 in 22, compared with 1 in 8,000 in industrialized
countries. Finally, HIV is spreading faster than we can
provide universal access to prevention, treatment,
support and care.
 Clearly, closing those gaps will entail more than
our reaffirmations; it urgently necessitates sustained
and strong political commitment and leadership; sound
and appropriate national policies, matched with
increased official development assistance and technical
support from the international system; stepped-up
participation and combined efforts by Governments,
civil society and the private sector; fairer, transparent
and inclusive international trade regimes; more global
partnerships to assist developing countries; full
implementation of debt-relief initiatives; greater access
to markets; and other innovative international support
measures to finance development.
 The search for global peace and security remains
a matter of vital interest to my delegation. While we
may have made significant strides in promoting peace
through conflict prevention and resolution, through
post-conflict recovery and through peacebuilding,
conflicts continue to flare up, thus making the
restoration of peace a remote possibility for some in
the world.
 My own continent, Africa, plays host to a large
number of conflicts. The scourge of war has claimed
many lives and caused untold human suffering.
Substantial time, energy and financial resources have
been expended, with little or no success. The United
Nations Charter implores us, as the international
community, to save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war by employing all diplomatic efforts and
tools at our disposal.

23 08-53135

 I am pleased to note that commendable strides
have been made in placing some countries, such as
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, on a firm
path of national reconstruction, post-conflict recovery
and peacebuilding. Regrettably, the peoples of Africa
continue to face hunger and death in the Darfur region
of the Sudan, Somalia and Chad, among other places.
 My delegation is particularly concerned about the
ever-worsening situation in the Darfur region of the
Sudan. It is disconcerting that armed hostilities
continue, despite the efforts of the United Nations and
the African Union through the development of the
African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in
Darfur. We call on the parties to commit to political
dialogue in the search for lasting peace and to fully
utilize the good offices of His Excellency Mr. Djibril
Bassole, who has recently been appointed to facilitate
the peace process.
 With respect to Somalia, Botswana welcomes the
signing of the Djibouti Agreement on 9 June 2008 by
the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and
the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia. We call
upon all Somali political forces to commit to an all-
inclusive political process so that the long-suffering
people of Somali can also live in peace.
 My delegation further calls on the international
community to continue assisting the people of Somali
with much-needed humanitarian aid. In the same vein,
we remind the political leaders of the Somali people to
put the interests of the people of Somalia above their
own, so that the focus can be on the search for a lasting
political settlement to the problems facing their
country.
 The success of the United Nations in delivering
on our expectations and common ideals must be
matched by adequate resources, appropriate mandates,
structures and policy guidance. Botswana strongly
believes in the instrumentality of the United Nations.
In that regard, we are committed to paying our
assessed contributions in full and on time. We therefore
call upon all Members to do the same, so that this
machinery, which is the motor that powers
multilateralism, does not run out of steam.
 There can be no doubt that any organization —
and the United Nations in particular — must be
constantly reformed or renewed if it is to continue to
be relevant and responsive to the needs of its members.
We are pleased that there has been some measure of
progress in implementing the set of reforms mandated
by the 2005 World Summit.
 Allow me to conclude my remarks by once again
calling on each and every one of us to live up to the
high expectations of this Organization by honouring
our commitments. Botswana reaffirms its abiding faith
in this body, which unites the peoples of the world for
a higher purpose. It is our hope that as we meet here,
we will succeed in building greater international
understanding across regions, cultures, language and
faiths, because we are all human and because of the
humanity of others.


My
delegation and I join in expressing our congratulations
to you, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session, and we hope you have a very
successful and rewarding term at the helm of this body.
We express our gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Srgjan
Kerim for the excellent work done during his tenure as
President of the Assembly at its sixty-second session.
 Once again, we have come to this body to
reaffirm the need for what we have always called for:
the implementation of all the promises and pledges that
we have made before. The focus of the sixty-third
session of the General Assembly is on the global food
crisis, climate change and reform of the United
Nations. The confluence of the food, fuel and financial
crises, as well as the effects of climate change, pose the
real threat that they will undermine the progress made
by developing countries in the struggle against poverty
and underdevelopment.
 During the Millennium Summit, held in 2000, our
heads of State and Government adopted a Declaration
(resolution 55/2) that communicated a message of hope
and a vision of a better world. Included in the
Declaration was an important section on the special
needs of Africa. In paragraph 24 of the Declaration, the
leaders stated that they would
“spare no effort to promote democracy and
strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for
all internationally recognized human rights and
fundamental freedoms, including the right to
development”.
 African and many other, developing countries
have indeed taken responsibility for promoting
democracy, good governance, peace and stability and
human rights. They are also hard at work rolling back
the frontiers of poverty and underdevelopment. But,
despite those strides, it is clear that many in
sub-Saharan Africa will not achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Part of the reason is that
the global partnership for development on which the
achievement of the MDGs was predicated has not been
fully implemented. Despite the lofty ideas expressed at
previous sessions of the Assembly, we continue to fall
short in meeting our commitments to implement that
partnership, in particular in the areas of trade, aid and
debt relief.
 We express the fervent hope that the high-level
meetings organized by yourself, Mr. President, and the
Secretary-General, on Africa’s development needs and
on the MDGs, have served not only as important
reminders of the challenges we face, but also as a
catalyst that will cause the world to feel a greater sense
of urgency.
 The necessary resources exist in the world to
achieve the MDGs. We need to summon the necessary
political will and compassion. So we join the sister
countries of our continent in calling for massive
resource transfers through development assistance,
investment, trade, technology transfers and human
resource development. These will ensure that African
and other developing countries are able to successfully
adapt to the devastating impact of climate change and
achieve the MDGs.
 However, in order to accelerate the achievement
of all the Millennium Development Goals, much more
attention needs to be focused on Goal 3, regarding the
empowerment of women. Women need to be at the
centre of development as agents of change, socially,
economically and politically.

08-53141 12

 Billions of the people of the world, whom we are
privileged to represent in the Assembly, have cast their
eyes on this gathering of leaders. They have done so
because they have hope that this leadership will take
the required measures in order to address poverty and
underdevelopment. We dare not fail them.
 The food crisis has to be addressed in the short
and medium terms. The Green Revolution that has
been launched by the African Union needs partnerships
in order to succeed. In addition, support for the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development will be a major
contributor to the struggle against poverty and
underdevelopment. In that context, allow me, Mr.
President, to quote from your own statement to the
General Assembly with regard to that socio-economic
programme as well as the role of our immediate former
President, Thabo Mbeki:
“During his presidency of the rainbow nation,
spanning nearly a decade, he, along [with] other
African leaders, championed the vision of
NEPAD we still pursue today. When the affluent
listen to Africa and partner with it, that vision is
within reach. To quote NEPAD’s founding
document: `In fulfilling its promise, this agenda
must give hope to the emaciated African child
that the twenty-first century is indeed Africa’s
century.’” (, p. 3)
 The Doha Development Round has stalled despite
seven years of negotiations. We are convinced that
trade and increased market access will make a major
contribution to the achievement of the MDGs. In that
regard, it is our submission that the Doha Round of
trade negotiations should not be allowed to die, but
must remain focused on development, as originally
envisaged.
 In recent years, we have all witnessed the
devastating effects of climate change, especially on
island States. Hurricanes have become more frequent
and more vicious, together with droughts, floods and
unpredictable extreme weather patterns in the rest of
the world. Of course, climate change requires an urgent
response. Given the agreement in Bali last year on a
road map for negotiations, it is our hope that the
negotiations, to be completed in Copenhagen in 2009,
will necessarily set the stage for more concerted action
by all countries to address climate change and all its
manifestations, with the developed countries taking the
lead. South Africa commits itself to approaching the
preparations for Copenhagen constructively and with a
view to reaching an agreement that is ambitious,
balanced and inclusive.
 We join the many leaders of the world who have
expressed their support for fundamental reform of the
system of global governance, including the United
Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. It is
important to understand that the critical issues facing
the world today — the current financial, food and
energy crises — cannot be addressed effectively when
so many countries and regions of the world are left out
of the key decision-making processes of important
institutions of global governance. South Africa stands
ready to work with other members of the United
Nations to advance the goal of reform.
 Equally, the reform of the Security Council need
not be re-emphasized. We reiterate our view that a
reformed Security Council would have more legitimacy
and that its decisions would have more credibility. We
welcome the recent decision (decision 62/557) to
launch in the General Assembly inter-governmental
negotiations on Security Council reform, to discuss
plans for expanding the Security Council in both the
non-permanent and permanent categories. It is of
course a travesty of justice that Africa, which
constitutes a large portion of the work of the Council,
is not represented in the permanent category. Unless
the ideals of freedom, justice and equality become the
character of the United Nations, including the Security
Council, the dominant will continue to dictate to the
dominated, while the dreams of the dominated will
forever be deferred.
 In December this year, my country will complete
its tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security
Council. We have indeed been privileged to serve the
peoples of Africa and the world in that capacity; it has
been a historic first for us as a young democracy. In
that capacity, we were indeed honoured to contribute
meaningfully to global efforts to create peace and
stability in all regions of the world. Accordingly, we
express the humble gratitude of the people of our
country to the general membership of the United
Nations for the trust placed in us in helping the world
discharge this mandate.
 During our tenure, the Security Council also
focused on the important question of enhancing the
relationship between the United Nations and regional
organizations, in particular the African Union (AU).

13 08-53141

We were honoured to be able to contribute to that
work. We congratulate the Secretary-General on
appointing an African Union-United Nations panel of
distinguished persons whose mandate is to explore
financing modalities for AU-led peacekeeping
missions.
 Peace continues to evade the Middle East. South
Africa participated in the Annapolis Conference in
2007 with great expectations and hopes that progress
would indeed be made to advance the goal of peace in
that region. We will continue to support all
international efforts to help the peoples of Palestine
and Israel in their endeavour to find a lasting and
peaceful solution to their challenges, leading to the
establishment of a viable Palestinian State, coexisting
side by side with the State of Israel, within secure
borders. We understand full well the pain, suffering
and agony that conflict brings to bear on the lives of
ordinary people, particularly women and children.
Those ordinary souls continue to cry out to this
Assembly of the world, as they have done in the past,
to help bring an end to the conflict.
 South Africa will continue to work with the sister
peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Burundi and Côte d’Ivoire in their efforts to
consolidate peace and democracy in their respective
countries. With regard to Zimbabwe, the Assembly
must certainly be aware of the recent developments led
by our former President Thabo Mbeki in his capacity as
the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) facilitator, which culminated in the signing of
an agreement between the main political protagonists
in the country. We hope that the leadership of
Zimbabwe win soon finalize aspects of that agreement
to make possible the formation of a new Government
that will help lay the groundwork to address the
political and economic challenges facing their country.
SADC, the African Union and the facilitator stand as
guarantors of the agreement. We call on the
international community to spare neither strength nor
effort in lending a hand to the people of Zimbabwe as
they embark on the difficult path of reconciliation and
reconstruction.
 Equally, the situations in Somalia and the Sudan,
and especially in Darfur, remain matters of great
concern. South Africa will continue to do whatever it
can, both bilaterally and in the context of the African
Union and the United Nations, to help the peoples of
Sudan and Somalia find peace among themselves.
 We remain concerned about the impasse on the
question of Western Sahara. South Africa is committed
to seeking a just, mutually acceptable and lasting
solution to that problem.
 This year also marks the sixtieth anniversary of
the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. During the past six decades, the Declaration
has remained the key standard for human rights, justice
and dignity. We should therefore use this anniversary
period to strengthen our resolve to defend human
rights. South Africa has also had the honour to be
reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review
mechanism of the new Human Rights Council. We
were also honoured with the appointment of our own
Justice Navi Pillai to lead that very important
international institution.
Mr. Siles Alvarado (Bolivia), Vice-President, took
the Chair.
 We wish to reiterate our belief in the centrality of
the United Nations. In the Millennium Declaration, we
reaffirmed that the United Nations “is the
indispensable common house of the entire human
family, through which we will seek to realize our
universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and
development” (resolution 55/2, para. 32). Leading
South Africa’s delegation to the Millennium Summit
was our former President, Thabo Mbeki, who reminded
the Assembly that
“Billions among the living struggle to survive in
conditions of poverty, deprivation and
underdevelopment ... as offensive to everything
humane as anything we decry about the second
millennium.” (A/55/PV.5, p. 18)
 It is that understanding that has correctly
informed the engagement of successive leaders of our
democratic State with this body over the years. In that
regard, we are touched and humbled by the kind
comments made in the Assembly by the various heads
of State or Government and heads of delegation,
directed at our immediate former President, Thabo
Mbeki. We most certainly shall, through our
Government, convey those sentiments to that noble son
of our people and our continent, and citizen of the
world.
 Accordingly, from this rostrum may I also
express our sincere gratitude to the general
membership of the United Nations for the support that

08-53141 14

former President Mbeki and our country received over
the past nine-and-a-half years of his stewardship of our
country. As the leadership of our country is passed on,
we confirm that South Africa, under the guidance of
President Kgalema Motlanthe, shall indeed continue to
be a trusted and dependable partner in the common
endeavour to strengthen our institutions of
multilateralism, starting from the correct premise that
multilateralism remains the only hope in addressing the
challenges facing humanity today, whether they be
terrorism, threats to human rights, peace and stability
or, of course, the central struggle against poverty and
underdevelopment.


I am pleased to be here to
address the General Assembly. Sixty-three years ago,
representatives from around the world gathered in San
Francisco to complete the founding of the Charter of
the United Nations. They met in the shadow of a
devastating war, with grave new dangers on the
horizon. They agreed on a historic pledge to reaffirm
faith in fundamental human rights and unite their
strength to maintain international peace and security.
That noble pledge has endured trying hours in United
Nations history, and it still guides our work today.

9 08-51570

 Yet the ideals of the Charter are now facing a
challenge as serious as any since the United Nations
founding: a global movement of violent extremists. By
deliberately murdering the innocent to advance their
aims, those extremists defy the fundamental principles
of international order. They show contempt for all who
respect life and value human dignity. They reject the
words of the Bible, the Koran, the Torah or any
standard of conscience of morality. They imperil the
values of justice and human rights that gave birth to the
United Nations — values that have fuelled an
unprecedented expansion of freedom across the world.
 To uphold the words of the Charter in the face of
this challenge, every nation in this Hall has
responsibilities. As sovereign States, we have an
obligation to govern responsibly and solve problems
before they spill across borders. We have an obligation
to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary
for terrorism, proliferation, human trafficking and
organized crime. We have an obligation to respect the
rights and respond to the needs of our people.
 Multilateral organizations have responsibilities.
For eight years, the nations in this Assembly have
worked together to confront the extremist threat. We
have witnessed successes and setbacks, and through it
all a clear lesson has emerged. The United Nations and
other multilateral organizations are needed more
urgently than ever. To be successful, we must be
focused, resolute and effective.
 Instead of only adopting resolutions decrying
terrorist acts after they occur, we must cooperate more
closely to keep terrorist attacks from happening in the
first place. Instead of treating all forms of Government
as equally tolerable, we must actively challenge the
conditions of tyranny and despair that allow terror and
extremists to thrive. By acting together to meet the
fundamental challenge of our time, we can lead
towards a world that is more secure, more prosperous
and more hopeful.
 In the decades ahead, the United Nations and
other multilateral organizations must continually
confront terror. That mission requires clarity of vision.
We must see the terrorists for what they are: ruthless
extremists who exploit the desperate, subvert the tenets
of a great religion and seek to impose their will on as
many people as possible. Some suggest that those men
would pose less of a threat if we would only leave
them alone, yet their leaders make clear that no
concession could ever satisfy their ambitions. Bringing
the terrorists to justice does not create terrorism. It is
the best way to protect our people.
 Multilateral organizations must respond by taking
an unequivocal moral stand against terrorism. No cause
can justify the deliberate taking of innocent life, and
the international community is nearing universal
agreement on this truth. The vast majority of nations in
this Assembly now agree that tactics like suicide
bombing, hostage-taking and hijacking are never
legitimate. The Security Council has adopted
resolutions declaring terror unlawful and requiring all
nations to crack down on terrorist financing. Earlier
this month, the Secretary-General held a conference to
highlight victims of terror, where he stated that
terrorism can never be justified.
 Other multilateral organizations have spoken
clearly as well. The Group of 8 has declared that all
terrorist acts are criminal and must be universally
condemned. The Secretary-General of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference recently spoke out against
suicide bombing, which he said runs counter to the
teachings of Islam.
 The message behind those statements is
resolutely clear. Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has
no place in the modern world. Around the globe,
nations are turning those words into action. Members
of the United Nations are sharing intelligence with one
another, conducting joint operations and freezing
terrorists’ finances. While terrorists continue to carry
out attacks like the terrible bombing in Islamabad last
week, our joint actions have spared our citizens from
many devastating blows.
 The brutal nature of the extremists is increasingly
clear and the coalition of nations confronting terrorists
is growing stronger. Over the past seven years,
Afghanistan and Iraq have been transformed from
regimes that actively sponsor terror to democracies that
fight terror. Libya has renounced its support for terror
and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Nations like Saudi
Arabia and Pakistan are actively pursuing the terrorists.
A few nations, regimes like Syria and Iran, continue to
sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer
and they are growing more isolated from the world.
 As the twenty-first century unfolds, some may be
tempted to assume that the threat has receded. That
would be comforting. It would be wrong. The terrorists
believe time is on their side, so they have made waiting

08-51570 10

out civilized nations part of their strategy. We must not
allow them to succeed. The nations of this body must
stand united in the fight against terror. We must
continue working to deny the terrorists refuge
anywhere in the world, including ungoverned spaces.
We must remain vigilant against proliferation by fully
implementing the terms of resolution 1540 (2004) and
enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran. We
must not relent until our people are safe from this
threat to civilization.
 To uphold the Charter’s promise of peace and
security in the twenty-first century, we must also
confront the ideology of the terrorists. At its core, the
struggle against extremists is a battle of ideas.
Terrorists envision a world in which religious freedom
is denied, women are oppressed and all dissent is
crushed. The nations represented in this Hall must
present a more hopeful alternative — a vision where
people can speak freely, worship as they choose and
pursue their dreams in liberty.
 Advancing this vision of freedom serves our
highest ideals, as expressed in the United Nations
Charter’s commitment to the dignity and worth of the
human person. Advancing this vision also serves our
security interests. History shows that when citizens
have a voice in choosing their own leaders, they are
less likely to search for meaning in radical ideologies,
and when Governments respect the rights of their
people, they are more likely to respect the rights of
their neighbours.
 For all these reasons, the nations of this body
must challenge tyranny as vigorously as we challenge
terror. Some question whether people in certain parts of
the world actually desire freedom. This self-serving
condescension has been disproved before our eyes.
From the voting booths of Afghanistan, Iraq and
Liberia to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Rose
Revolution in Georgia, the Cedar Revolution in
Lebanon and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, we
have seen people consistently make the courageous
decision to demand their liberty.
 For all the suggestions to the contrary, the truth is
that, whenever and wherever people are given the
choice, they choose freedom. Nations represented in
this Hall have supported the efforts of dissidents,
reformers and civil society advocates in newly free
societies through the new United Nations Democracy
Fund, and we appreciate those efforts. As young
democracies around the world continue to make brave
stands for liberty, multilateral organizations like the
United Nations must continue to stand with them.
 In Afghanistan, a determined people are working
to overcome decades of tyranny and protect their newly
free society. They have strong support from all 26
nations of the NATO alliance. I appreciate the United
Nations decision this week to renew the mandate of the
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
The United Nations also has an active civilian presence
in Afghanistan, where experts are doing important
work helping to improve education, facilitate
humanitarian aid and protect human rights. We must
continue to help the Afghan people defend their young
democracy so that the Taliban does not return to power
and Afghanistan is never again a safe haven for terror.
 In Iraq, the fight has been difficult, yet daily life
has improved dramatically over the past 20 months
thanks to the courage of the Iraqi people, a determined
coalition of nations and a surge of American troops.
The United Nations has provided the mandate for
multinational forces in Iraq through this December, and
the United Nations is carrying out an ambitious
strategy to strengthen Iraq’s democracy, including
helping Iraqis prepare for their next round of free
elections. Whatever disagreements our nations have
had on Iraq, we should all welcome this progress
towards stability and peace and we should stand united
in helping Iraq’s democracy succeed.
 We must stand united in our support of other
young democracies, from the people of Lebanon
struggling to maintain their hard-won independence to
the people of the Palestinian territories, who deserve a
free and peaceful State of their own. We must stand
united in our support of the people of Georgia. The
United Nations Charter sets forth the equal rights of
nations large and small; Russia’s invasion of Georgia
was a violation of those rights. Young democracies
around the world are watching to see how we respond
to this test. The United States has worked with allies in
such multilateral institutions as the European Union
and NATO to uphold Georgia’s territorial integrity and
provide humanitarian relief. Our nations will continue
to support Georgia’s democracy.
 In this Hall are representatives of Georgia,
Ukraine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Liberia, Iraq and other
brave young democracies. We admire their courage, we
honour their sacrifices, and we thank them for their

11 08-51570

inspiring example. We will continue to stand with all
who stand for freedom. This noble goal is worthy of
the United Nations and it should have the support of
every member of this Assembly.
 Extending the reach of political freedom is
essential to prevailing in the great struggle of our time,
but it is not enough. Many in this Hall have answered
the call to help their brothers and sisters in need by
working to alleviate hopelessness. Those efforts to
improve the human condition honour the highest ideals
of this institution. They also advance our security
interests. The extremists find their most fertile
recruiting grounds in societies trapped in chaos and
despair — places where people see no prospect of a
better life. In the shadows of hopelessness, radicalism
thrives. Eventually, that radicalism can boil over into
violence, cross borders and take innocent lives across
the world.
 Overcoming hopelessness requires addressing its
causes: poverty, disease and ignorance. Challenging
these conditions is in the interest of every nation in this
Hall, and democracies are particularly well positioned
to carry out that work because we have experience
responding to the needs of our own people. We are
natural partners in helping other nations respond to the
needs of theirs. Together, we must commit our
resources and efforts to advancing education, health
and prosperity.
 Over the years, many nations have made well-
intentioned efforts to promote these goals, but the
success of these efforts must be measured by more than
intentions. It must be measured by results. My nation is
placing insistence on results at the heart of our foreign
assistance programmes. We launched a new initiative,
called the Millennium Challenge Account, which
directs our help to countries that demonstrate their
ability to produce results by governing justly, fighting
corruption and pursuing market-based economic
policies, as well as investing in their people. Every
country and institution that provides foreign assistance,
including the United Nations, will be more effective by
showing faith in the people of the developing world
and insisting on performance in return for aid.
 Experience also shows that, to be effective, we
must adopt a model of partnership, not paternalism.
This approach is based on our conviction that people in
the developing world have the capacity to improve
their own lives and will rise to meet high expectations
if we set them. America sought to apply this model in
our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Every nation that
receives American support through this initiative
develops its own plan for fighting HIV/AIDS and
measures the results.
 So far, these results are inspiring. Five years ago,
50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving
treatment for HIV/AIDS; today, that number is nearly
1.7 million. We are taking a similar approach to
fighting malaria, and so far we have supported local
efforts to protect more than 25 million Africans.
Multilateral organizations have made bold
commitments of their own to fight disease. The G-8
has pledged to match America’s efforts on malaria and
HIV/AIDS. Through the Global Fund, many countries
are working to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis. Lives in the developing world depend on
these programmes, and all who have made pledges to
fight disease have an obligation to follow through on
their commitments.
 One of the most powerful engines of development
and prosperity are trade and investment, which create
new opportunities for entrepreneurs, help people rise
out of poverty and reinforce such fundamental values
as transparency and the rule of law. For all these
reasons, many represented in this Hall have conducted
free-trade agreements at the bilateral and regional
levels.
 The most effective step of all would be an
agreement that tears down trade barriers at the global
level. The recent impasse in the Doha round is
disappointing, but that does not have to be the final
word. I urge every nation to seize this opportunity to
lift up economies around the world and reach a
successful Doha agreement as soon as possible.
Beyond Doha, our nations must renew our commitment
to open economies and stand firm against economic
isolationism. These objectives are being tested by
turbulence in the global financial markets.
 Our economies are more closely connected than
ever before, and I know that many of you here are
watching how the United States Government will
address the problems in our financial system. In recent
weeks we have taken bold steps to prevent a severe
disruption of the American economy, which would
have a devastating effect on other economies around
the world. We promote stability in the markets by
preventing the disorderly failure of major companies.

08-51570 12

The Federal Reserve has injected urgently needed
liquidity into the system. Last week, I announced
decisive action by the federal Government to address
the root cause of much of the instability in our
financial markets by purchasing illiquid assets that are
weighing down balance sheets and restricting the flow
of credit. I can assure the Assembly that my
Administration and our Congress are working together
to quickly pass legislation approving this strategy. And
I am confident that we will act in the urgent time frame
required.
 The objectives I have laid out for multilateral
institutions confronting terror, opposing tyranny and
promoting effective development are difficult, but they
are necessary tasks. To have maximum impact,
multilateral institutions must take on challenging
missions, and like all of us in this Hall they must work
towards measurable goals, be accountable for their
actions and hold true to their word.
 In the twenty-first century, the world needs a
competent and effective United Nations. This unique
institution should build on its successes and improve
its performance. Where there is inefficiency and
corruption, that must be corrected. Where there are
bloated bureaucracies, they must be streamlined.
Where Members fail to uphold their obligations, there
must be strong action — for example, there should be
an immediate review of the Human Rights Council,
which has routinely protected violators of human
rights. There should be a stronger effort to help the
people of Burma live free of the repression they have
suffered for too long. All nations, especially members
of the Security Council, must act decisively to ensure
that the Government of the Sudan upholds its
commitment to address the violence in Darfur.
 The United Nations is an Organization of
extraordinary potential. As it rebuilds its Headquarters,
it must also open the door to a new age of
transparency, accountability and seriousness of
purpose. With determination and clear purpose, the
United Nations can be a powerful force for good as we
head into the twenty-first century. It can affirm the
great promise of its founding.
 In the final days of the San Francisco Conference,
the delegates negotiating the United Nations Charter
received a visit from President Harry Truman. He
acknowledged the enormous challenges they faced and
said that success was possible only because of what he
called an unshakable unity of determination. Today, the
world is engaged in another period of great challenge,
and by continuing to work together, that unshakable
unity of determination will be ours. Together we can
confront and defeat the evil of terrorism. Together we
can secure the Almighty’s gift of liberty and justice to
millions who have not known it. Together we can build
a world that is freer, safer and better for the
generations who follow.


Mr. President,
we would like to join previous speakers in
congratulating you upon your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third
session. We are confident that under your wise and
diligent leadership, our deliberations will be
successful. We take this opportunity to assure you of
our full collaboration and wish you success in the
discharge of your important responsibilities.
 We wish to express our gratitude to your
predecessor, Srgjan Kerim of the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, for the pragmatism and
dynamism of his endeavours in conducting the work of
the sixty-second session. We also reiterate our
appreciation to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his engagement in the
quest for peace, justice and solutions to the various
challenges faced by humanity.
 We have witnessed an increasing number of new
and complex challenges. Among them, the food crisis
is one of my country’s main concerns owing to its
direct, immediate impact on the lives of our peoples.
The origin of this crisis may be linked to factors such
as climate change and the subsequent irregular rainfall
that affects agricultural productivity; desertification of
vast areas and droughts around the world; increased
demand for cereals; higher oil prices and the
consequent impact on the price of transportation and
other products such as agricultural raw materials; the
impact of trade liberalization and agricultural subsidies
in developed countries, which have led to a gradual
decline in agricultural production in developing
countries; and finally, the distortion of cereal prices
across the globe.
 Once the causes of the crisis have been identified,
it becomes the responsibility of the international
community to implement relevant and necessary
solutions in a consistent and vigorous manner. Through
that process, the crisis can be transformed into an
opportunity to boost international partnerships and
develop our countries.
 In that context it is important to emphasize that
international cooperation stimulates the revival of the
productivity of farmers in developing countries, thus
contributing to a speedy transformation of their current
subsistence farming practices into commercial
agriculture. Such cooperation includes improved access
to improved seeds and to fertilizers and pesticides,
investments in infrastructure for market accessibility
and water management. Accordingly, we reiterate the
need to implement the pertinent recommendations set
forth at the Conference of the Least Developed
Countries on the rules of the World Trade Organization
and the food crisis.
 Likewise, we call for support for regional efforts
such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme in the framework of NEPAD,
and the ongoing work by the Southern African
Development Community, with a view to finding a
collective response to mitigate the impact of the food
crisis and to re-establish agriculture as the means to
ensure food supply and better conditions and quality of
life for the peoples of Southern Africa.

08-51839 6

 Mozambique is vulnerable to natural disasters
and to the dynamics of the international prices of food
and fuel products. Those factors represent a major
threat to the implementation of the Government’s
socio-economic programmes. Despite the notable
progress that we have been registering for our
production of cassava and maize, we still import large
quantities of other food products. Therefore, any cereal
price fluctuation in the world immediately affects the
day-to-day lives of our people.
 Mozambique is endowed with natural resources
which are favourable to mixed farming. However, the
shortage of financial resources and the weak banking
network in the rural zones, combined with the lack of
infrastructure and technology to secure the
development of commercial agriculture, have not
allowed us to scale up our production to the levels that
could meet the food needs of our population. The
situation is worsened by poor distribution and
marketing systems, making it difficult to distribute and
market the products from certain surplus zones to the
needy ones. Moreover, the cyclic natural disasters that
have struck us have resulted in losses of significant
plantation areas, causing the people of those areas to
live permanently in need. Those calamities have also
caused soil erosion and depletion and as a consequence
food insecurity and malnutrition affect our people.
Mr. Choquehuanca Céspedes (Bolivia), Vice-
President, took the Chair.
 In order to address the food crisis, our
Government approved last June, a Food Production
Action Plan for the period 2008-2011. The programme
was designed as a mechanism to implement the Green
Revolution which we launched in 2007 and is goal-
oriented. We are aware that implementing the Action
Plan together with the Green Revolution will require
additional resources, and we are therefore appealing
for such additional resources for those programmes.
We acknowledge the positive effect of the Green
Revolution on the implementation of the MDGs, since
no one can think about tomorrow or about education or
about gender equality or the empowerment of women if
they are hungry.
 In February 2008, we launched the Presidential
Initiative for women and children. At that time, several
meetings were held with health professionals, religious
and traditional leaders, women and youth. During those
meetings, which are being replicated at the local level,
it became clear that health issues permeate the MDGs.
Although the advances that we have recorded are
significant, they are not sufficient to have an impact on
the reduction of avoidable deaths in Mozambique.
 Our assessments show that we could, for
instance, reduce maternal mortality by more than
50 per cent. We could achieve a decrease of 17 per cent
in child mortality. We could significantly facilitate
access to antiretroviral treatment and to treatment for
tuberculosis and malaria. We could, by 2010 have more
than 95 per cent of mothers and children sleeping
under insecticide-treated mosquito nets. However, in
order to achieve those dreams, we are dependent upon
an additional funding of $4 per capita a year for the
health sector, from now until 2010. Additionally, we
need $10 million more for mosquito nets. The $590
million needed to fill the deficit during the next seven
years could help us train and employ around 20,000
additional health workers. That amount would raise the
number of doctors by 119 per cent, the number of
nurses and of mothers with access to health care would
rise by 68 per cent.
 Our dream is to prevent more avoidable deaths.
As we have indicated, we cannot realize that dream by
ourselves. We need the predictable, substantial and
long-term support of our partners to meet the needs
that I have just identified. We need an efficient health-
care system and coordinated support from our
international partners, which is a noble way to ensure
the achievement of MDG 8, which focuses on
developing a global partnership for development.
 We therefore wish to take this opportunity to
commend and encourage the perseverance of the
international solidarity movement in helping Africa,
and Mozambique in particular, in the context of
women’s and children’s health with a view to fulfilling
all the commitments made at the Millennium Summit.
In numerous parts of the world, funds have been
solicited and initiatives undertaken in support of our
programmes. That interaction with our partners has led
to the building of the necessary consensus on priorities
and strategies to ensure sustainable development.
 The world is changing and, along with all those
changes, new global challenges have arisen. The
United Nations is a universal institution with the
legitimacy and the mandate to debate strategies and
find solutions to such major challenges. Nevertheless,
structural reforms are needed in order to improve the

7 08-51839

Organization’s ability to overcome the current
challenges. In that regard, the reform process should be
pursued so that the United Nations can achieve greater
unity and improve its ability to provide appropriate
responses to the challenges ahead, which will require
us to strengthen multilateralism and promote
partnerships for peace, security and development
across the world.
 In conclusion, we reiterate the importance of
international cooperation to secure the production of
sufficient and affordable food for all and to build a
viable consensus for United Nations reform.


It is indeed
my pleasure, on behalf of the leadership, people and
Government of the Sudan, to greet the General
Assembly as it meets in its sixty-third session. We wish
its deliberations every success and hope to witness
tangible progress on all the issues and challenges that
must be given priority by this Organization. We refer,
of course, to the maintenance of international peace
and security; realizing the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs); containing the food crisis, poverty,
hunger, climate change and water shortages; and
reactivating the role of the United Nations in a
changing world.
 We are indeed delighted to see Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann chairing this session. We are
confident that, with his wisdom, experience and
perspicacity, we may indeed be hopeful and optimistic
that the international community will realize its
ambitions for global development, reconstruction and
prosperity.
 I also wish to strongly commend and thank
Ambassador Srgjan Kerim for the competence with
which he conducted the work of the sixty-second
session. We also thank the Secretary-General and his
staff for the efforts that they continue to deploy in the
service of the mandate of this Organization.
 This session of the General Assembly falls amid
some very important and particular developments in
the international and regional spheres. Millions are
looking forward to a world of peace, stability and
prosperity that respects the common values and
principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations, notably respect for the sovereignty of States,
their choices, the peaceful settlement of disputes and
joint cooperation in all fields.
 Although we continue to hope for and work
towards a capable and efficient United Nations and a
complete framework for multilateral cooperation that
takes into consideration the wealth and diversity of the
international community, we in the developing

08-51851 20

countries, especially in the African continent, remain
profoundly convinced of the need to maintain those
objectives and principles. We recall that our African
continent has had a long and difficult journey as a
result of its backwardness since it broke the yoke of
colonialism and fought its post-independence wars,
during which the objectives and aspirations of Africans
to lead a dignified life were forever thwarted by the
so-called lost decades of development and the
unfavourable economic and trade atmosphere. The
political and security situation of the African continent
has made it vulnerable to foreign interventions and
conspiracies that have undermined its stability and
rendered peace a more distant prospect.
 In addition to discussing the various and well-
known threats and dangers facing the African continent
and all developing nations, I should like to draw
attention to and warn about the danger of the abuse of
what is called “universal jurisdiction”. That concept
that was condemned in July 2008 at the Sharm
el-Sheikh summit, which called on the Security
Council and the General Assembly to seriously
examine the issue and to cancel it. The politicization
and abuse of the aforementioned principle clearly
shows that disregard for and non-compliance with
political and professional norms that are guided by the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of
international law, together with the application of
double standards, pose grave dangers for the region
and beyond, threatening the stability and prestige of
the institutions of the international order.
 Achieving peace and stability in the Sudan has
been a firm priority objective of our Government,
which has demonstrated its commitment to the option
of peace, as reflected in the historic milestone achieved
when we signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
on 9 January 2005 in Nairobi. The Agreement, which
ended the longest-running conflict on the African
continent since the colonial era, was reinforced by the
Darfur Peace Agreement, signed at Abuja, and the
Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, signed at Asmara,
Eritrea.
 Our efforts to achieve peace have proceeded from
our conviction that peace will create a favourable
environment for the development of the Sudan’s vast
agricultural resources and wealth, which in turn will
ensure the sustainability of peace. Furthermore, peace
in the Sudan is a strategic goal aimed at reinforcing
stability in neighbouring countries, the region and the
continent. Thus, we appeal to all members of the
international community, through the Assembly, to
support the efforts to achieve peace and stability in the
Sudan. By so doing, they will promote, enhance and
guarantee peace and stability in the region and on the
African continent. We must avoid doing anything that
could negatively affect or jeopardize those efforts.
 While our country is firmly committed to
implementing the provisions of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement, in particular by holding general
elections during the first half of next year and by
completing our national programmes for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration and de-mining, we
hope that the international community will honour its
financial commitments, including those pledges
announced in Oslo in 2005 and in Norway in May
2008.
 Here, in view of the difficulties and obstacles that
we have encountered in implementing the Agreement, I
should like to recall a principle of Western thought
regarding the difference between words and deeds. We
in the Sudan believe that our desire for the cancellation
of our foreign debt is in accordance with the spirit and
requirements of peace agreements, since that debt is
hampering our reconstruction efforts. We also call for
the lifting of the unilateral sanctions imposed against
our country, which defeat the true purpose of a
comprehensive peace. In that way, the citizens of the
Sudan could benefit from the dividends of peace.
 The problem of Darfur has been the chief concern
of the people and the Government of the Sudan. No
one is more eager than our people to achieve peace and
stability in Darfur, which, after all, is their problem and
their responsibility. From this rostrum, we reaffirm our
full commitment to achieving a peaceful political
settlement of the crisis in Darfur, one that will enhance
the ongoing peace process through positive actions.
These include the implementation of the People of the
Sudan initiative, aimed at developing a national
consensus as to the best way to resolve the issue, as
stated by the President of the Republic during his
recent important visit to Darfur; the appointment of
Mr. Jebreel Basoli, Joint Chief Negotiator, whom we
fully support; the establishment of an Arab-African
committee, co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Qatar,
the Chairperson of the Commission of the African
Union and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab
States, to mediate peace negotiations between the
Government of the Sudan and the armed movements in

21 08-51851

Darfur, in close cooperation and coordination with the
representatives of the African Union and the United
Nations; and the implementation of the initiative that
was supported and welcomed by the African Union, the
League of Arab States and the Secretary-General of the
United Nations. The Sudanese Government of National
Unity sincerely hopes that those efforts will promptly
lead to comprehensive peace and stability in Darfur.
 We had hoped that the signing of the Darfur
Peace Agreement on 5 May 2006 as a result of the
generous mediation of the African Union would
encourage the movements that had not signed the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement to do so. In
particular, in order to ensure full implementation of the
Agreement, power-sharing and the establishment of the
Transitional Darfur Regional Authority, male and
female citizens of Darfur have been appointed to
executive and legislative positions and various
arrangements have been put in place to ensure wealth-
and power-sharing and security.
 However, as members are all aware, the
movements that oppose peace have continued to
boycott all the negotiations, undermining the efforts of
Mr. Jan Eliasson and Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim. The
movements have continued to reject the peace option
and to choose the military option, not to serve the
interests of the people of Darfur but to pursue a policy
aimed at regime change in the Sudan, as demonstrated
in the military aggression carried out on 10 May 2008
against the Sudanese capital itself. Those movements
would not have been able to do what they did had they
not been receiving mixed or wrong messages from
some circles, since they saw that the non-signatories
were not being pressured to join the organ of peace,
while those who signed the treaty were. That increased
the intransigence of the non-signatories, threatening
the chances for peace and the humanitarian conditions.
 With regard to peacekeeping — and in
accordance with the principles of positive cooperation
with the United Nations and the African Union under
the agreement reached at the high-level understandings
in Addis Ababa on 16 November 2006, which led to the
adoption of Security Council resolution 1769 (2007)
establishing the mandate of the joint African Union-
United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
(UNAMID) — the Government of the Sudan has
fulfilled its commitments with regard to its role in the
peace process in Darfur and indeed has fulfilled many
other steps. The status of forces agreement has been
concluded. The mandate was transferred from the
African Union Mission in the Sudan to UNAMID on
31 December of last year. The headquarters have been
built and operational capacities have been established
in the three states of Darfur. Periodic coordination
meetings between the Government of the Sudan and
the command of the joint operation have been
deliberating on all the problems and resolving them.
 On the humanitarian level, the Government of the
Sudan remains committed to executing the
humanitarian communiqué concluded with the United
Nations on 28 March 2007, which is being
implemented in an exemplary manner as a result of the
matchless follow-up mechanism to track the
implementation of the humanitarian communiqué and
the special efforts of the Government to open
humanitarian corridors in Darfur and to facilitate the
delivery of humanitarian aid. Once again we renew our
commitment to that effort.
 At a time when the Government of National
Unity has taken giant strides to implement the peace
agreement, with the full support of the President of the
Republic, the electoral law has been passed and
approved by parliament to usher the Sudan to yet
another phase of democratic transformation and
peaceful transfer of power through general elections to
be held in 2009.
 The country is fully mobilized and engaged in
turning over the page of violence and war in Darfur,
and amid those developments came the request of the
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue an arrest warrant. An
arrest warrant against whom? Against a man who
ended the longest war in Africa, a man who brought
peace to eastern Sudan and laid the foundations for
peace in Darfur. That request targeted the leadership of
the State, the symbol of its sovereignty and dignity, in
a failed attempt at political and moral assassination, as
well as causing delay or erosion of the peace process
for ulterior motives unrelated to justice or to the
realization of peace and stability in Darfur, and in a
State that is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.
 Moreover, the actions of the Prosecutor disregard
the road map agreed upon by the Sudan, the United
Nations and the African Union on the basis of the
Addis Ababa understanding in November 2006 and the
international conference on Darfur held alongside the
last session of the General Assembly. The road map

08-51851 22

was further reiterated and endorsed by the Security
Council in its resolution 1769 (2007). The road map
was based on four tracks: rehabilitation and
development, the peace process as a priority, the
peacekeeping operation and the humanitarian track.
Thus the Prosecutor is turning upside down the issue of
accountability, which the Government of the Sudan
supports and which is already being handled by a
competent and effective Sudanese judiciary, and giving
it a completely different character by introducing it
into the International Criminal Court and destabilizing
justice and peace in the Sudan and the region. It is an
open invitation to the rebel movements that oppose
peace to stay away from the peace option. The actions
of the Prosecutor seek to influence negatively the
elections to be held in 2009, through which the
Government will enter into a new phase of peace and
democratic transformation.
 From this rostrum, in the name of the
Government and the people of the Sudan, who were
unanimous in rejecting that step, I thank and commend
all the active forces of more than two thirds of the
international community, which through their regional,
geographic and political institutions and organizations
have condemned the measures taken by the ICC
Prosecutor and called on the Security Council to rectify
the situation arising from that action. Here I
specifically mean the member States of the African
Union, the League of Arab States, the Non-Aligned
Movement, the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, the member States of the African,
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and other
countries that have expressed their disapproval and
their complete rejection of that step taken by the ICC
Prosecutor.
 I would like to assure the Assembly that the
Government of the Sudan is making progress in its
resolute and principled goal of achieving lasting peace
and removing the bitterness of war and its legacy in
accordance with the values and principles of the people
of the Sudan and their mores, customs and traditions,
which are based on peaceful coexistence, reconciliation
and tolerance. The establishment of peace in Darfur
and in the Sudan and the steps taken by the Prosecutor
of the International Criminal Court are two parallel
lines that can never meet, hence such situations must
be rectified as soon as possible and there must be a
return to the commitment to the political process.
 Since the issue of more democratic international
relations was one of the subjects proposed for the
general debate of this session, our country, like all
other African countries, has been following the efforts
to reform this Organization — especially the Security
Council, which is charged with the maintenance of
international peace and security and which has
remained as it is since its inception while the entire
international arena has been changing. That made
reforming that Council an urgent priority, so that it can
be more responsive to the aspirations of the developing
nations.
 I am referring specifically to Africa, which has no
permanent representation in the Security Council,
whose agenda is beset with African issues. Here I
would like to reiterate that the Sudan is in accord with
the African position included in the Ezulwini document
on the issue of reforming the modus operandi and rules
of procedure of the United Nations so that it can be
more democratic, transparent, express equitable
geographic representation of the world’s continents and
reflect the developments that the world has seen since
1945.
 Economic and trade developments compete with
each other. The failure of economic structures in many
developing and least developed countries constitutes a
problem that raises obstacles for the movement to
realize the MDGs as soon as possible. The current
structure of the international economy, with its
restrictive, unfair trade practices and restrictions on the
exports of developing nations, is a negative impact of
globalization, in addition to the heavy external debt
burden that paralyzes the region’s national economic
development. Those obstacles are very serious and
retard development, especially in the African continent.
 The United Nations Millennium Summit
emphasized the special position of Africa as a priority
with regard to international assistance and channels of
cooperation and support through relevant initiatives
like the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) and other regional, subregional and national
initiatives.
 Here, let me mention that the Sudan has
implemented several quick-income projects and several
short-term projects to benefit vulnerable groups.
Regarding the attainment of MDGs — especially the
alleviation of poverty, the development and support of
education, health and the fight against diseases like

23 08-51851

malaria — the State is still directing its efforts to attain
those objectives and to realize sustainable
development. We must take into consideration the
potential of the country and its vast resources, which,
according to reports of relevant international
organizations, make it capable of helping to solve the
global food crisis by providing food for millions
around the world.
 National efforts in the Sudan can currently be
seen in the context of efforts to develop and revitalize
the agricultural sector and to realize a comprehensive
green revolution. Here I must emphasize the serious
negative impact of phenomena like climate change and
environmental deterioration, which have constituted
reasons for war and conflict in Africa. The conflict in
Darfur is one practical example of the impact of those
phenomena and how they directly affect the daily lives
and needs of individuals.
 The Sudan, as a party to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
since 1999, emphasizes the need to put more effort and
coordination into intensifying multilateral action to
face those phenomena and to achieve a more efficient
system for the post-2012 era. Developing nations must
also participate in dealing with the causes and effects
of climate change.
 The Sudan is of the view that developed nations
should fulfil their commitments to capacity-building
and should provide the financial and technical
resources to support developing nations in facing those
problems.
 The Sudan emphasizes the fact that the
maintenance of international peace and security
requires, first and foremost, an urgent solution to the
problem in Palestine and that the situation be dealt
with in a decisive and serious manner, especially in
view of the tragic situation that the Palestinian people
in the occupied territories are facing. The international
community is called upon today more than any other
time to put pressure on the occupying authorities to
abide by resolutions of international legitimacy so that
the Palestinian people may realize their full right to
self-determination and the establishment of an
independent State with Jerusalem as its capital.
 In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that for
the United Nations to continue playing its important
role imposes on us a collective responsibility to find
the solid will and determination to make the
Organization a truly collective framework for
multilateral, international efforts to deal effectively and
justly with international issues and problems. The
United Nations must establish clear and transparent
partnerships according to the Charter with regional
organizations in order to realize regional and
international peace and security. The Sudan, as a
committed and active member of this Organization,
will remain faithful to the objectives that constitute our
collective effort.


It is an
honour for me to represent my country, Guatemala, in
this high international forum. It is an honour for me to
represent a people who have fought for their well-being
and freedom for decades, specifically the past 54 years.
My Administration is an expression of precisely that
desire, because, after all those years, governmental
actions are now being prioritized around the human
person, the concepts of solidarity and social cohesion
and, especially, in the 254 days since I took office,
attention to the poorest and most marginalized among
our population, in particular the 23 indigenous peoples
that constitute our nation.
 First, I should like to commend Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann, whom we, with much Central
American pride, see presiding over the General
Assembly at its present session, following in the
footsteps of a fellow Guatemalan, Mr. Emilio Arenales
Catalán. I know that Miguel’s experience and life
example will ensure the success of this session.
 I also wish to thank the United Nations for
assisting Guatemala in its peace process and for
following up on it with the United Nations Verification
Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and, most
recently, with the presence of the International
Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a
unique mechanism that will help us combat
impunity — indeed, we are the only country to have
such a mechanism.
 Participating in the present session of the
Assembly are world leaders who will be remembered
in 10 or 20 years’ time for having had the wisdom to
emerge from the present crisis — a crisis regarding
which, in certain areas and at certain times, there has
been a marked absence of global solidarity. I join
Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann in his appeal for
solidarity. I believe that the great remedy for this crisis
is global solidarity. We have globalized trade and
information, but we have not gained the wisdom to
globalize humanity or to globalize labour to ensure that
migrants are not treated as criminals and that — like
products, trade and money — they have freedom of
movement across borders. Our migrants seek nothing
more than the opportunities offered by globalization
and the opening of borders. It was that very opening
that worsened their poverty and encouraged them to
abandon their communities.
 That is why I am making a special appeal and
proposal to the Secretary-General that we no longer try
to resolve the problem of migration bilaterally; rather,
we must do so as a bloc. For example, I should like to
propose that the United Nations create a forum
composed of former Presidents of countries of origin
and countries receiving great numbers of migrants,
such as the brotherly countries of El Salvador,
Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
Together, in six months’ time, we could formulate a
specific proposal to finally put an end to a situation
that is a scourge for so many families, so many
Guatemalans and many other nations.
 I should also like to discuss the scourges of drug
trafficking and organized crime, which greatly afflict
our populations. Only 254 days after taking office, our
Government has begun a comprehensive process of
reforming the security forces. We have changed the
high command of the army and the entire command of
the national police so that we can fight impunity
together with CICIG and the United Nations system.
Thus, Guatemala can finally achieve the true, firm and
lasting peace for which, with such hope, we signed an
agreement here on 29 December 1996.
 Everything that happens in the outside world
affects us. Foreign manipulation and speculation
related to oil and food affects us. As my good friend
President Saca of El Salvador said earlier, our
countries are accomplishing their national tasks. In 254
days, my Government has, through social cohesion,
returned to the people of Guatemala what belongs to
them under their Constitution: free education and
health care — totally free, as stipulated in the
Constitution. We have broken a paradigm. In
Guatemala, it used to be forbidden to get sick after
5 p.m., because the country’s health clinics closed at
that time. Today, 52 municipalities out of a total of 333
already have comprehensive health services. In
addition, 300,000 children now have renovated schools
with teachers, desks and all the necessary equipment.
 With determination, we can do what is required,
but we need solidarity among everyone. We need and
participate in Central American solidarity, which
enables us to tell the world that the free market works.

29 08-51839

We have had a common market for 50 years, and we
know that it works. But we also know that that
common market requires social solidarity among
ourselves.
 I have always believed that solidarity is not
giving what one has left over, but rather giving what
someone else needs; it is very easy to give what one
has left over. Giving what someone else needs requires
will and solidarity. We are aware of — and have heard
our colleagues’ statements about — this international
crisis, but there is a much deeper crisis. The crises that
the world’s leaders must face are the crisis of hunger,
the crisis of discrimination and the crisis of poverty. It
is the crisis of hunger that all the Governments present
here today are fighting against, but that is also a global
issue. We in Guatemala are a people of maize, but a
few years ago they said it was bad business to plant
maize and destroyed the production systems. Today,
Guatemala imports maize.
 I believe that now is the time for solidarity and
true global security. Perhaps civil security is the easiest
to achieve, despite the fact that my country is complex.
Sovereignty of food, sovereignty of health, sovereignty
of knowledge — these are more difficult to achieve.
 We have planned to achieve solidarity,
productivity, a regional spirit and governance. We have
established a system of national dialogue that is
enabling all the country’s social sectors to come to the
negotiating table, to arrive at a true national
understanding and to begin rebuilding a country that,
for 54 years, was afflicted by marginalization, the cold
war, hunger and bad Governments.
 I am convinced that new times have come for
Latin America. I am convinced that all our Latin
American summits and meetings herald new times. We
have our differences and individual characteristics, but
Latin America has begun to look north, south and to
the centre, to the Caribbean, and we see a continent
with the possibility of stronger unity, of stronger
horizontal South-South cooperation and North-South
cooperation. Our neighbours, our dear Central
America — we are peoples rooted in the region who
want a strong and united Central America.
 This Assembly could take a momentous turn for
our future as a planet. Of course we are concerned by
climate change, but we have to maintain our Mayan
biosphere so that others can breathe while our
communities are dying of hunger. That is solidarity. We
give oxygen, but we receive technology. We give
oxygen, but we receive solidarity. We give oxygen, and
we receive the understanding of countries that we
deserve a better fate on the basis of this international
solidarity.
 We have also promoted tax reform. It is no secret
for many that tax reform in Guatemala meant problems
and coups d’état. But now we have tax reform, with a
good level of consensus. There is also commitment to
transparency and to the quality of expenditures. In only
254 days 7 per cent of the national budget was directed
to the poor, money that used to be and today would
have been spent entirely on other things and without
reference to the poor. Seven towns have begun to lower
their maternal mortality indicators. Health centres are
packed, because they now provide services and they
are open. There are significantly more children in
schools in the 45 towns that are priorities. This can be
done, if there is the determination to do it.
 Our security is perhaps the greatest while El
Salvador, Colombia and Mexico are more successful in
fighting drug trafficking. Guatemala pays the bills.
That is why in this brief time I wish to thank my
neighbours, Colombia, for the support that they have
given us so that we can confront drug trafficking and
organized crime on a regional scale. Our young people
should not have to pay for the weaknesses of others.
Our unassuming people and our indigenous people
should not have to pay for the vices of others. I believe
that if we work regionally things will go better.
 I should like to acknowledge and reiterate our
gratitude to the United Nations system for the peace in
Guatemala that was sought during the eight years of
negotiations, in which I had the honour to take part. Its
follow-up with the United Nations Mission for the
Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with
the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on
Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and now
with the presence of the International Commission
against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) makes it easier
for us to take the difficult road towards the integration
and development of Guatemala and towards equity in
Guatemala.
 I should like to share with members that the
programmes for social cohesion that were learned and
developed in Guatemala, but also acquired in friendly
countries, are yielding results. The “My Family Makes
Progress” programme is now affecting 40,000 families,

08-51839 30

and the young people are going to school and to health
facilities. The “Shopping Bag Solidarity” programme is
yielding results in the urban areas, and “Open Schools”
is reducing delinquency in the areas of higher risk in
Guatemala City.
 If we had the courage to globalize the economy
we would now have the challenge, and almost the
obligation, to globalize all of mankind. Such
globalization would lead to comprehensive, global
solidarity; it could be the way to save our planet. It
could be that we save it by combining our successes
and trying to avoid our errors.