Year after year the international community meets in
New York in September to debate the major issues of
concern to humankind. This traditional encounter is of
special importance in that it enables us to grasp very
directly and intensively, in all their complexity, the
challenges that confront us, but also to bolster our
determination to search for common solutions. That is
the very essence of the effective multilateralism that,
with great conviction, my country, Luxembourg, has
placed at the heart of its international action.
 And what could be a stronger illustration of this
shared perception of what is at stake globally and this
resolve to seek viable solutions in the short, medium
and long, even very long, term than the high-level
event organized at the beginning of the week at the
initiative of the Secretary-General devoted to the
problems of climate change?
 As already said on behalf of the European Union
by the Prime Minister of Portugal
whose statement I fully support, it is essential that
December's Bali negotiations on an effective and
viable post-Kyoto regime get off to a successful start.
That is our most basic responsibility vis-a-vis present
and future generations. For its part, as a member of the
European Union and a State party to the Kyoto
Protocol, Luxembourg, which has already undertaken
weighty individual commitments, is ready to engage
with great resolve in the quest for innovative and bold
solutions.
 In order to address successfully the problems of
climate change, we must tackle them in all their
complexity. In this regard, it should be noted that in the
absence of concerted and energetic international action,
there is a great risk that countries and populations that
have contributed the least to the emergence of this
phenomenon are likely to be the ones to bear the
heaviest adverse consequences.
 This, as I see it, is a political problem and, I
would say, a moral problem   of the first order. More
than ever, the issue of development and hence of
sustainable development both in the North and in the
South must remain in the forefront of international
attention. Important decisions have already been taken.
Here, I would refer in particular to the decision taken
by the European Union in 2005 under the Luxembourg
presidency to attain the objective of 0.7 per cent of
gross national income for official development
assistance (ODA) by 2015. Faced with the risk of
stagnation in ODA, we must redouble our efforts to
meet our commitments.
 A member of this all-too select Group
with ODA that in 2007 reached close to 0.9 per cent of
gross national income, and looking forward to
achieving the objective of 1 per cent that we have set
for ourselves   Luxembourg can only look forward to
the expansion of this club.
 The year that lies ahead is crucial from the
standpoint of development. There will be a need to
undertake resolutely, and in a way that seeks a
convergence, the World Trade Organization trade
negotiations, the follow-up to Monterrey in the area of
financing for development, and the implementation of
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Only if we
adopt generous and courageous policies will we be able
to build on these advances and reduce the delays that
unfortunately persist, particularly in a number of
sub-Saharan African countries, with regard to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
 The convening in 2008 of a high-level meeting on
mid-term implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals would undoubtedly be a good
opportunity to take stock and relaunch our efforts. Here
I would also applaud the recent establishment at the
initiative of the Secretary-General of the Millennium
Development Goals Africa Steering Group. I am
convinced that this will make a significant contribution
in terms of coordination and intensification of efforts
vis-à-vis a continent with which Luxembourg
maintains relations of intense and multifaceted
cooperation.
 The problems associated with climate change and
sustainable development bring me to another subject
that is dear to my heart and is at the core of the
international activities of the Luxembourg Government:
humanitarian action. When it first discussed the
question of climate change (see S/PV.5663), the
Security Council highlighted the numerous complex
interactions that could exist among natural disasters,
the stepping up of violent conflicts within and among
States and humanitarian disasters in various parts of
the world. We must tackle these emergency situations
on the operational level, seeking to make our action as
efficient and prompt as possible. But there is also a
need increasingly to place these emergency situations
in their political, socio-economic and cultural context
in order to try to mitigate their effects and, as far as
possible, to prevent recurrence.
 It is from this standpoint that a new Luxembourg
Government strategy in the area of humanitarian crisis
management has recently been presented. The strategy
that rests on three pillars: emergency relief;
rehabilitation and reconstruction in the transitional
phase; and prevention.
 On the basis of the United Nations finding that
one euro invested in prevention may make it possible
to save eight euros in crisis response and resolution,
nearly 5 per cent of the Luxembourg humanitarian
budget will henceforth be devoted to a proactive,
preventive approach.
 The 2005 World Summit Outcome, which is more
than ever the road map for international action,
stressed the fundamental finding according to which,
“development, peace and security and human rights are
interlinked and mutually reinforcing. For my part, I believe that this is a cardinal
principle that should guide and inspire all action by the
United Nations and its Member States from an overall
standpoint of coherence in addressing the great
problems of the time: conflicts in Africa   and I am
thinking particularly of the situations with tragic
humanitarian consequences currently prevailing in the
Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, and, to be sure, Zimbabwe; the Middle East,
where it is important to support fully ongoing Israeli
and Palestinian efforts and to progress ultimately
towards a negotiated solution of two States living side
by side in peace and security, and also towards a
lasting solution for the whole region; and Afghanistan,
Burma/Myanmar and other hotbeds of violence and
instability. There is no denying that we must take into
account simultaneously the dimensions of peace and
security, human rights, States rights, the rule of law
and socio-economic development.
 I would like now to speak of the courage of the
Burmese monks and other citizens who for weeks have
been peacefully expressing their aspiration to
democracy and respect for human rights. I condemn
most energetically the violence of the Burmese security
forces against these peaceful demonstrators and call the
authorities to put an end to it.
 The imperative that I mentioned a moment ago
can also be seen very clearly in the work of a new and
innovative organ, of which Luxembourg has been a
member since the beginning of the year: the
Peacebuilding Commission. The integrated
peacebuilding strategies for each of the countries
concerned should take into account all the factors
involved in order once and for all to break the cycles of
violence and place those countries on a stable track
towards development. I would like also to mention in
this context the essential dimension of reconciliation
and combating impunity and to applauding in
particular the activities of the various international
courts, in particular the International Criminal Court.
 The protection and promotion of human rights is
one of the key focuses of Luxembourg’s foreign policy.
I continue to place great hope in the new Human
Rights Council, which has just finished setting up its
institutional structures, including, in particular, the
universal periodic review mechanism, which is a
significant innovation.
 Faithful to its convictions and commitments, my
country fully associates itself with the initiatives
announced by a group of States from all parts of the
world aimed at making progress in the international
debate on the question of abolishing the death penalty.
 In this rapid overview of the international
situation in the area of peace and security, allow me to
linger for a moment on an important issue that is of
such concern to both the United Nations and the
European Union, namely Kosovo. The last act of the
Yugoslav tragedy, an urgent solution for the Kosovo
issue must be found. The Special Envoy of the
Secretary-General, President Ahtisaari, has been
working energetically to establish, in keeping with the
established guidelines, the basis of the future status of
Kosovo. The Troika of representatives from the
European Union, the United States and Russia is also
committed to a final attempt to bring the two parties
together. These efforts have been continued in recent
days in New York. As members know, the parties are
even now meeting in this building; I have high hopes
that dialogue will ensue. The Troika has agreed to
submit its report to the Secretary-General by
10 December. I reiterate that the European Union is
ready to fully assume its responsibilities in the region,
for which a European future lies ahead.
 I turn my attention to another issue that is of
concern to international public opinion and whose
potential impact on peace and security is very
worrisome: the area of disarmament and nuclear
non-proliferation. A few days ago, I had the
opportunity to state the views of the Luxembourg
Government at the General Conference of the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Here at
the General Assembly I advocate once again for
continued efforts in the area of nuclear disarmament
and a strengthening of the non-proliferation regime, of
which the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons is and should remain the keystone.
 I would also like to speak briefly about other
types of arms with destabilizing effects or unacceptable
consequences for civilians; small arms and light
weapons and sub-munitions. I hope that significant
advances may soon be made, on those two categories
of weapons in particular. The Luxembourg Government
for its part intends to participate actively in this debate
and is currently preparing a bill forbidding the
manufacture, storage, utilization and trade in weapons
employing sub-munitions.
 The quest for international disarmament and the
strengthening of international regimes on weapons of
mass destruction consistently remain objectives of the
Luxembourg Government, because of the serious
concern we feel as we observe certain current
developments with regard to respect for existing
international norms, in particular with reference to the
Iranian issue.
 While the agreement that has just been concluded
between the secretariat of the International Atomic
Energy Agency   specifically Mr. ElBaradei   and
the Islamic Republic of Iran goes in the right direction,
we note with concern that Iran has not yet taken the
necessary measures to bring itself into conformity with
the three relevant resolutions of the Security Council. I
appeal to Iran finally to take that action and to suspend
all activities linked to enrichment.
 On the set of issues that I have just mentioned,
the Charter has entrusted a central role to the Security
Council. It is essential for the Council to adapt to the
political realities of the beginning of the twenty-first
century by enlarging its membership in the categories
of permanent and non-permanent members,
guaranteeing an appropriate place for the small States
that represent the vast majority of States Members of
the Organization. It is important also to modernize the
Council’s functioning for the sake of enhanced
effectiveness and transparency, with broader
involvement for the entire membership. On the basis of
the consensus decision that was adopted at the end of
the sixty-first session of the General Assembly (see
A/61/PV.109), I venture to hope that significant
progress will be achieved in the area of Security
Council reform in months to come. My country is
eager to make its contribution to the achievement of
the purposes of the Charter and to shoulder its share of
responsibility in international peace and security, and
thus wishes to become   for the first time since it
placed its signature on the San Francisco Charter in
1945   a non-permanent member of the Security
Council for 2013 and 2014.
 Security Council reform is an important portion
of the United Nations reform agenda outlined at the
2005 Summit. If recourse to a multilateral machinery,
with the United Nations at its core, is to be credible,
then the tool made available to the international
community must be commensurate with the
developments of our time and capable of responding
adequately to the expectations of efficiency and
effectiveness harboured by States and peoples
worldwide.
 The reform effort should be pursued and
supported with conviction by a revitalized General
Assembly, exercising its prerogatives with energy and
discernment and achieving its priority objectives.
Reform, and thus the modernization of multilateralism,
can succeed only if it rests on the common will of all
Member States.
 That applies in particular to the field of system-
wide coherence in operational activities. To overcome
the fragmentation that has developed over more than
60 years of United Nations history, to restore to the
system and its actors a more effective capacity for
action, particularly at the level of the countries and
populations concerned, and to strengthen operational
coherence in the eight areas covered by the report of
the High-level Panel (A/61/583) are primary objectives
for the performance and thus the credibility of the
United Nations system. They are also decisions that
need to be taken courageously and proactively in the
appropriate forums.
 While the success of reform would be reflected in
a win-win-win situation for donor countries, recipient
countries and the United Nations as a whole, as
Mr. Ban Ki-moon has rightly said, the failure of reform
would be likely to marginalize the entire system over
the long term. The choice is before us; we must
shoulder our political responsibilities.
 More than ever, effective multilateralism is a
great hope of our populations aspiring to a more just,
more peaceful and more prosperous world, where the
great ecological balance is preserved and where every
man and every woman can live in dignity and in full
enjoyment of his or her human rights. Let us not
disappoint that expectation.
 And let us remember this very wise saying from
the Roman philosopher Seneca: It is not because it is
difficult that we do not dare to do it; it is because we
do not dare to do it that it is difficult.


Allow me at the outset
to convey my warm congratulations to Mr. Srgjan
Kerim on his election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session. My delegation is
confident that with his immense wealth of experience,
he will steer the session very successfully. Zambia
assures him of its total support during his tenure of
office.
 Let me, at this point, pay tribute to Mr. Kurt
Waldheim, the fourth Secretary-General of the United
Nations, and later President of Austria, who died on
14 June 2007. To us, he was a great diplomat who
made Africa one of his priorities, especially at the
height of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.
 May I take this opportunity to thank Her
Excellency Sheikha Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain for
having presided over the affairs of the sixty-first
session in an exemplary manner. Among her
accomplishments was the carrying forward of the
United Nations reforms called for at the 2005 World
Summit. It was gratifying to have a lady preside over
the highest office of the General Assembly after almost
three decades of male dominance. I hope that this
organ will not again take that long to have an excellent
woman as President.
 Let me now congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the
Republic of Korea on his election as the eighth
Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am
confident that he will build upon the strong foundation
that was laid by his predecessor, Kofi Annan of Ghana,
to whom I wish to pay tribute for the manner in which
he steered the Organization during his tenure in office.
He made Africa proud, and I wish him success in his
current and future endeavours.
 Our world today presents many challenges. These
include abject poverty for the majority of the world’s
inhabitants, underdevelopment, conflict, human
trafficking, climate change, terrorism, violations of
human rights, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and gender
inequality. While some of these challenges have only
recently emerged, others have been with us from time
immemorial. These challenges cannot be entirely
resolved within national boundaries or at the regional
level. They can be resolved only at the multilateral
level, with all the players carrying out their roles
diligently. For that reason, Zambia supports a strong
and coherent United Nations. We agree with the
recommendation of the High-level Panel on United
Nations System-wide Coherence that the United
Nations urgently needs more coherence and synergy.
That will enable it to perform as one and to use its
unique universality, neutrality and capacity to operate
efficiently.
 Furthermore, Zambia supports the ongoing
reforms of the United Nations. In particular, we
welcome the mandate given to the Economic and
Social Council to make it more effective in executing
its duties, which include formulating policy
recommendations on international and social issues, as
well as coordinating activities of specialized agencies
in the economic, social and related fields. In that
regard, collaboration of the United Nations with the
international financial institutions and the World Trade
Organization should be further enhanced; we welcome
the work going on in this area.
 This brings me to another issue: reform of the
Security Council. This matter has remained unresolved
for more than a decade. United Nations reform cannot
be complete without meaningful reform of the Security
Council. Any new proposals to reform that vital organ
should seriously consider Africa’s call to have two
permanent seats with full veto power. Africa is aware
that the veto is an undemocratic instrument and would
prefer to do away with it altogether. However, as long
as others insist on keeping the veto, Africa should have
it as well. The status quo is unacceptable. It is my hope
that during Mr. Kerim’s tenure of office, this aspect of
the reform process will be concluded successfully.
 The issue of climate change is very important to
the current and future inhabitants of our planet. It is
therefore fitting that one theme of this session is
responding to climate change. I commend the
Secretary-General for organizing the 24 September
2007 high-level event on this matter. Indeed, the
effects of climate change are being felt mostly by the
developing countries. For instance, Southern Africa is
experiencing critical food shortages due to torrential
rains in some areas and severe drought in other parts of
the region.
 The problem of climate change is a global issue
requiring global action within the multilateral context
of the United Nations. As a signatory to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Kyoto Protocol, Zambia has already taken
several measures to implement those international
instruments. In that regard, we submitted our first
national communication report in 2004. We have also
taken deliberate steps to create public awareness about
the problem of climate change so that our people can
devise appropriate local interventions.
 Regarding measures aimed at adapting to climate
change, Zambia has just finished formulating its
National Adaptation Programme of Action. The
programme will help us identify the most vulnerable
sectors of our economy, as well as adaptation activities
required to alleviate the adverse effects of climate
change. For this reason, we call upon the international
community to ensure that the Adaptation Fund under
the Climate Change Convention, which has taken
rather long to establish, is made operational.
 While placing emphasis on adaptation, we also
pledge to reduce emissions from industrial and other
sources. We call upon industrialized countries, which
have a history of producing these emissions, to take
serious steps to reduce them. We believe that the
situation is now serious and that narrow national
interests in this matter must be discarded forthwith.
 As a developing country, Zambia needs assistance
to enhance its capacity in key adaptive areas, such as
scientific research, early warning and rapid response,
to address the adverse effects of climate change.
Accordingly, Zambia calls for the speedy development
and transfer of appropriate technologies to help us cope
with the negative impacts of climate change, as well as
to put us on a low-carbon path to economic growth. We
also call for a more comprehensive institutional
framework for international environmental governance.
 In 2000, the developing world embraced the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a
comprehensive strategy to move our countries out of
economic and social decline and better integrate us into
the global economy. Halfway through the
implementation period, many countries are far from
attaining most of the Goals. That is so in spite of the
improved economic performance recorded by some
developing countries following recent debt relief
initiatives, coupled with sustained prudent economic
management.
 To illustrate the point, in Zambia the economy
grew by 6.2 per cent last year, and inflation declined to
a single digit level for the first time in 30 years. Those
economic gains, however, have not translated into a
significant decline in the incidence of poverty, which
stands at 68 per cent. Zambia’s development efforts are
further compromised by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and,
now, the adverse effects of climate change.
 With regard to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, my
Government has declared it to be a national crisis,
requiring sustained mitigation and preventive
measures. I would like to take this opportunity to thank
all our cooperating partners for their support to Zambia
in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria.
 Despite these challenges, Zambia, for its part, has
made steady progress and is likely to meet most of the
MDGs by 2015. The Goals most likely not to be
attained by 2015 are: reducing by three quarters the
maternal mortality ratio, integrating the principles of
sustainable development into the country’s policies and
programmes and reversing the loss of environmental
resources. Our goal now is to translate the economic
achievements into tangible improvements in the quality
of life of the Zambian people. That goal is enshrined in
Zambia’s Vision 2030, which is aimed at raising the
country to middle-income status, significantly reducing
hunger and poverty and fostering a competitive and
outward-oriented economy.
 But that goal will remain elusive if our
cooperating partners do not fulfil their commitments.
Indeed, it is saddening to note that total official
development assistance declined in real terms by 5.1
per cent between 2005 and 2006, and only five donor
countries have met or exceeded the 0.7 per cent target.
I urge the cooperating partners to fulfil their
commitments. Furthermore, while Zambia welcomes
the discussions and progress made on aid effectiveness
following the Paris Declaration, we call for official
development assistance to be delivered in a more
efficient manner, in accordance with the Declaration.
 Aid cannot be effective unless corruption is
uprooted. My Government has, therefore, declared war
against that social vice. Accordingly, I take this
opportunity to urge the international community to
desist from providing safe havens for leaders who
plunder national resources. Such ill-gotten wealth
should be returned to the countries from where it was
misappropriated so that it can be used to fight poverty.
 Zambia condemns international terrorism in all
its forms and manifestations. For this reason, we call
upon members of the international community to
refrain from harbouring terrorists. Zambia, for its part,
supports the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear
Terrorism.
 Through regional bodies, such as the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), developing
countries enhance their ability to cooperate and also
jointly negotiate for better access to developed
countries’ markets. Consequently, during Zambia’s
current chairmanship of SADC, we shall continue to
consolidate the formation of the SADC free trade area
by 2008 as a prerequisite to the Regional Customs
Union. In addition, Zambia will, on behalf of SADC,
seek funding to develop an adequate regional
transboundary infrastructure in support of
much-needed connectivity in areas such as water,
transport, energy, communications and information
technology.
 Many regions, including Africa, have been
dogged by conflict. This has adversely affected the
countries’ potential to participate in the global
economic arena. In the quest for peace in our
subregion, SADC has launched a stand-by brigade,
which will have the capacity for peace support
operations. It is our hope that the international
community will render necessary support to the
brigade to enable it to fulfil its mandate.
 Better still, SADC and Zambia value the tenets of
democracy, political stability and integrated economic
development as the ultimate sound basis for peace and
stability. SADC will, therefore, continue to promote
the conducting of free and fair elections in the region.
 Mr. Berdymukhammedov (Turkmenistan), Vice-
President, took the Chair
 In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm, with regard to
the theme of this session, Zambia’s commitment to
cooperate with the international community in
addressing the problem of climate change. It is my
sincere hope that all of us will play our full part,
according to our abilities to deal with this serious
global challenge. To that end, we should not remain
indecisive and indifferent to this serious issue. Neither
should we miss the opportunity to do what we can to
make the world a better place to live in.


Over the 62 years of its
existence, the General Assembly has witnessed many
moments of historical reckoning. It was one such
moment, five years ago, when Afghanistan returned to
the Assembly as a country emerging out of a long, dark
era of war, violence and terror. As I stood before the
Assembly in September 2002, the challenges of
restoring security to the lives of the Afghan people and
of rebuilding Afghanistan into a stable and democratic
country seemed all but insuperable. The fate of a
nation swayed between the promise of a safer and more
prosperous future, on the one hand, and the enormity of
the tasks, on the other hand.
 Today, efforts in support of stability and
reconstruction in Afghanistan are proceeding resolutely
apace. The Afghan people continue to make the best of
the new opportunities. Our economy is surging ahead.
The legitimacy of our newly founded institutions is
gradually taking root. Our society is brimming with
freedom and activity.
 For too long, Afghanistan was in an unenviable
position in terms of most human development
indicators. That situation is no longer acceptable, and
is changing rapidly. Today more Afghans enjoy access
to health and education than ever before in our history.
We have very fortunately cut our child mortality rate,
which was one of the highest in the world just two
years ago, by 25 per cent. As a result, over 85,000
more children have a chance to live today.
 For the first time in 40 years, Afghanistan is set
once again to become self-sufficient in food
production. Already, the fruits of relative stability and
increased prosperity in Afghanistan are spilling over
the borders to the wider region. Having enjoyed
unprecedented growth in our regional trade over the
past six years, we are now moving to consolidate
Afghanistan’s role in the economic integration of the
region. Earlier this year, we assumed membership of
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC). The significance of that step lies in the
potential for Afghanistan to connect South Asia to
Central Asia and the Middle East in commerce and
interaction.
 Last month, President Rahmon of Tajikistan and I
were joined by the United States Secretary of
Commerce to inaugurate a transit bridge financed by
the United States that connects Afghanistan with
Tajikistan and beyond. That bridge, alongside many
other infrastructure projects we have completed, is to
play a significant role in the further economic
integration of the region.
 Make no mistake: despite our achievements, a
safer and brighter future for Afghanistan still hinges on
many serious challenges. Poverty, underdevelopment,
climatic hardships and, above all, the menaces of
terrorism and narcotics, are challenges of global
proportions that continue to be shared by Afghanistan
as a member of the global village.
 To the extent that terrorism remains a threat,
world citizens will never be safe. Six years after
Afghanistan’s liberation from the grip of international
terrorists, we are still grappling with this threat on a
daily basis. Terrorists continue to kill innocent people,
including those who have come from the outside world
to help. The past two years have witnessed a
significant increase in terrorist attacks carried out with
new and brutal tactics such as beheadings, kidnappings
and the burning of schools and clinics.
 Terrorism can only be overcome if it is addressed
appropriately across its regional and international
dimensions. We are monitoring with deep concern the
continued presence of a terrorist infrastructure in our
region, and condemn, in equally strong terms, the
atrocities that terrorists are committing in places
beyond our borders.
 Recognizing that constructive regional
cooperation is vital to a successful counterterrorism
strategy, we proposed the holding of a joint jirga, or
council, between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are
pleased with the support that that initiative has
received from our friends in the international
community. The first joint peace council between
Afghanistan and Pakistan was held in Kabul last
month. It was a promising step in harnessing the
unequivocal support of civil societies in both countries
in our common fight against terrorism and extremism.
We expect that the outcome of the council will
translate into concrete action.
 While we continue our struggle against terrorism,
we will also focus on reconciliation with those that are
not part of Al Qaida and other terrorist networks.
 I also note, with deep concern, the particularly
heinous use by terrorists of local populations as human
shields, resulting in the loss of civilian lives. While
condemning such deliberate targeting of civilians in the
strongest possible terms, I would like to emphasize the
need for maximum caution on the part of the
international forces operating in Afghanistan, as well
as for increased coordination with Afghan authorities,
in order to avoid civilian casualties.
 Narcotics is another global peril that, like
terrorism, seriously undermines the stability and well-
being of our societies. In Afghanistan, that scourge is
the legacy of the decades of misfortunes that befell our
country — from the widespread despair induced by war
and oppression, to drought and climatic hardships. We
are working with our international partners to tackle
the menace. We will prioritize the provision of
alternative livelihoods to farmers and expedite
implementation of other strategies, including poppy
eradication and the interdiction of traffickers.
However, addressing the world’s drug challenge must
involve focus on the far greater dimensions of the drug
trade that lie outside Afghanistan, such as fighting the
international drug mafia, ensuring stricter border
control, and reducing demand in foreign markets.
 Climate change has rightly been recognized as a
serious challenge facing the entire world. No country,
developed or developing, is immune to its impact.
Yesterday’s high-level event on that important topic
was an essential step forward in strengthening the
resolve of the international community to address that
global threat with unity. We fully support the
recommendations of the Chairman’s summary.
 We are also watching the situation in the Middle
East with deep concern. In particular, we remain
concerned about the situation in Palestine and call for
the full realization of the rights of our Palestinian
brothers and sisters, including their right to an
independent State, living side by side with its
neighbours in peace and coexistence.
 The adoption of the Iraq Compact, sponsored by
the United Nations and the international community,
was an achievement marking Iraq’s new partnership
with the international community to consolidate peace
and promote social and economic development. We,
the Afghan people, wish our brothers and sisters in Iraq
every success in achieving their aspiration of a
peaceful and prosperous Iraq.
 Allow me to thank our partners in the
international community, the United States, Japan,
members of NATO, the European Union, our brothers
in the Islamic world, our neighbours, China, India,
Australia and all other countries for supporting
Afghanistan during these years of challenge to our
country. We appreciate the role that the United Nations
and the Secretary-General are playing in coordinating
the international community’s role in the development
process in Afghanistan. I am particularly thankful to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his initiative, two
days ago, of calling a high-level international meeting
on Afghanistan, at which our partners once again
reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan’s
rebuilding and reconstruction.
 Six years ago, in an unprecedented convergence
of interests, the international community united behind
Afghanistan, facing up to the inescapable reality that
the world’s security had come to depend on stability
and progress in Afghanistan. Today, many of the
nations represented here can rightly take pride in what
we have achieved together. I thank them all for their
commitment and for the steadfast support they have
provided to Afghanistan over the past six years.
Without that support, the progress we have made in
Afghanistan would be simply unthinkable.


I  wish to congratulate Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
second session.
 On behalf of my country, Uruguay, I would like
to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and to all of those
who today are paying their respects and are celebrating
this International Day of Non-Violence.
 The Eastern Republic of Uruguay would like to
begin by reiterating its ongoing commitment to the
principles and guidelines which are and will continue
to be at the very core of its international activity: the
sovereign equality of States, the rejection of the use of
force or the threat of the use of force, peaceful
settlement of international disputes, attachment to and
support for institutions of international law, support for
international law itself, non-intervention in the internal
affairs of other States, the self-determination of
peoples, the promotion of human rights, international
cooperation in economic and social matters, and
support for multilateralism and for the quest for
collective answers based on consensus and respect for
law, and within the framework of the principles of the
United Nations Charter   which means the rejection
of any attempt to impose the will of one State over that
of others.
 Achieving these principles is sometimes impeded
by the attitude of a few dominant States that impose
illegitimate decisions, provoking conflicts that involve
a large part of humankind and affect the weakest
countries. But above all, they weaken the legal and
political authority of the United Nations. It is clear
today that lying behind those attitudes we can discern
hegemonic economic interests.
 In accordance with the suggestion of the
President, we will address the proposed agenda,
beginning with climate change.
 At the High-level Dialogue here on
24 September, Uruguay expressed its opinions and
referred to various aspects of this problem that lead to
a serious and paradoxical situation for less developed
countries: even though they do not contribute
significantly to global warming, they are the ones that
suffer the most and are the most vulnerable to its
affects.
 Regrettably, as we all know, there are highly
industrialized countries responsible for emitting
millions of tons of gas that cause global warming and
climate change, which, however, do not seem ready to
reduce their emissions nor to cooperate with the
international community to compensate for these
effects. We must call upon those countries to sign the
Kyoto Protocol and to contribute, in a way that is
proportionate to their responsibility in generating this
problem, so that this struggle can be carried forward by
all the nations of our planet in solidarity.
 For basically agricultural and fishing countries
such as Uruguay and many other undeveloped
countries, climate is a decisive factor for development.
The dramatic climate variations that are increasingly
notorious constitute a serious threat for their
possibilities for progress and the well-being of their
populations. This is why our countries have affirmed
that temporary aid and depending on the goodwill of
rich countries when faced with specific catastrophes
does not accomplish much. Rather, we need effective
measures to be adopted from now on to prevent these
catastrophes and commitments that are to be made now
in order to avoid continuing to create the conditions
that produce these catastrophes.
 In considering the topic of financing for
development, we should begin with the following
question. What have been the causes of
underdevelopment, economic and political dependency
and poverty for billions of people, most of whom live
in the southern part of the planet?
 Looking for such financing, we tend to
immediately think of financial organizations like the
World Bank, or those which, in order to maintain
budgets   that is, economic and social programmes
reflecting fiscal imbalances, have for decades
prescribed economic formulas, such as those applied
by the International Monetary Fund, which instead of
leading to development have destroyed the productive
apparatus of entire regions of the planet, thus
generating unemployment, increasing poverty and
concentrating wealth.
 My country, along with other countries of the
South American region, the Cairns Group and the
Group of 22, has been saying for two decades that it is
important to have just standards of trade rather than
preaching about the unconditional opening of markets
on the pretext of free trade while simultaneously
practising the crudest and most ruthless protection of
the world’s predominant systems of production and
stubbornly refusing to comply with part V of the
Agreement on Agriculture, annexed to the Marrakesh
Agreement, whose objectives include the elimination
of subsidies and the opening up of markets.
Unfortunately, we have not managed to convince the
United States and the European Union of this.
 To put it briefly and concisely, developing
countries do not need to be “helped”; they need
guarantees of free access to markets and, in particular,
the elimination of domestic production subsidies,
which violate the competitiveness guarantees, which
are so highly touted. It is in agriculture that the
southern countries are highly competitive and produce
consumer goods of high quality, generally free of
genetic modification. Real free trade would not make
them turn to international credit and would enable
them to generate their own resources to finance their
own development, integrate their economies, to expand
their markets, create their own multilateral credit
institutions and diversify their products and, as a result,
their markets.
 Uruguay is the Chairman pro tempore of the
Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and we
firmly believe in the regional integration of all of the
countries of South America. That is their strategic
option in foreign policy.
 Our South America possesses all of the natural
resources that we find in the world; we have energy
reserves for more than 100 years; we have the potential
to produce food for 4 billion people; we have the
largest global freshwater reserves; we have major
mineral resources. Hence, we can make decisive
economic and social progress, with a view to
eliminating poverty.
 But despite all of that, we face an absurd and
criminal situation: out of 400 million people in South
America, 200 million live under the poverty threshold;
there are areas of the continent where there are
extremely high rates of infant mortality. Life
expectancy for part of that population is practically
half of what it is in developed countries.
 We cannot forget that in today’s world South
America is a factor of peace and political stability. All
of the current Governments of South America have
been democratically elected. Both in MERCOSUR and
in its associated States, we have adopted the so-called
democratic clause that says that a country can belong
to these integration systems only if it respects
democratic principles.
 That is why, after 200 years of non-integration,
we will tenaciously defend that achievement   so that
anti-democratic and destabilizing interference will fail
and so that the continent of hope, as we call it, can
have an impact on the world to affirm peace and
respect for international law, democratic stability,
fundamental freedoms and human rights, which with
great sacrifice these people have recovered after
decades of a doctrine focusing on national security.
 Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In order to
achieve them, we need greater social justice, a better
distribution of wealth and the gradual establishment of
new criteria that would place the economy at the
service of humankind instead of being a factor of
slavery and poverty for a large part of humankind   a
tool that is used for the excessive enrichment of
privileged groups.
 Our country knows the difficulties that all
developing nations face in working towards those
objectives. The current Uruguayan Government
inherited a country that had experienced the worst
crisis in its history, with levels of poverty affecting
1 million people out of a population of 3.5 million
people; in tens of thousands of cases poverty reached
the levels of abject poverty. All of this was the result of
the application of a foreign economic model which was
contrary to the interests of the region and its people.
 Tackling this reality meant not only medium-term
and long-term productive development measures, but
also emergency social measures. Thus, in 2005 we
implemented an emergency plan which in two years
reduced the number of poor by 120,000, eliminated
abject poverty and helped to socially reintegrate a large
percentage of those who had been affected.
 The Government is moving forward with a social
equity plan, which involves the integration of more
than 500,000 people   one seventh of the
population   into the national health system, which is
also being substantially modified. It also includes
benefits of roughly $40 per month to all children who
go to primary school and roughly $45 per month for
those who attend secondary or technical school. All of
this will help bring about a positive process of social
inclusion.
 Likewise, laws are being considered to transform
the entire educational sector and which are also aimed
at achieving the MDGs. At present, school is
mandatory from the age of 4 and special attention is
being paid to dealing with the problem of dropouts.
 For Uruguay, no type of terrorism is acceptable or
justifiable: neither State terrorism, which we
experienced during the 1970s and 1980s and which
became a national security doctrine, nor the terrorism
that is practiced by some groups to further their social,
political, religious or other demands, claiming victims
who, in the end, are always innocent people.
 In the United Nations context, Uruguay is a party
to all United Nations-system counter-terrorism
conventions. We have submitted the relevant reports to
all United Nations committees in this area.
 Uruguay is concerned both by acts of terrorism
and by their underlying causes. These include the
promotion of hate based on cultural, political, racial or
religious differences; the talk of a so-called inevitable
clash of civilizations; military invasions; and the
persistence of difficult conditions for part of
populations living in occupied territories.
Interventionism and non-compliance with United
Nations resolutions to resolve conflicts are causing an
increase in extremism and religious fanaticism among
such peoples and seem to be the factors that have
contributed most to the worsening and proliferation of
terrorist attacks.
 Uruguay calls for all cultures and peoples to
come together in a respectful dialogue so that what is
different or foreign will not be a reason for aggression,
discrimination, subjugation or hatred. We fully support
the initiative of Spain and Turkey: the Alliance of
Civilizations.
 In the view of Uruguay, peacekeeping in conflict
zones is an essential mission not only of the United
Nations, but also of all countries wishing to cooperate
in building a safer world where peace and cooperation
are the norm. Our country currently takes part in 12 of
the 15 peacekeeping missions of the Organization
deployed in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Despite
the fact that we have only 3.5 million people, we are
the seventh largest troop contributor to those
operations and we are the greatest per-capita troop
contributor in the world.
 Uruguay has acquired experience in matters
linked to peacebuilding and reconstruction in areas
devastated by conflict, and offers electoral assistance
to States as well.
 With respect to United Nations reform, Uruguay
believes it is a priority to strengthen mechanisms to
eliminate the resort to preventive wars, interventionism
and unilateral actions that are undertaken without
taking into account the opinion of the international
community. Uruguay also expresses its full support for
the new Human Rights Council, in which we have been
honoured to serve as one of the Vice-Presidents. With
respect to Security Council reform, we hope that in the
current session we will be able to move forward on the
basis of a consensus. Uruguay supports the inclusion of
Brazil as a permanent member, as well as that of India,
Germany and Japan, and an increase in the number of
non-permanent members.
 The effectiveness of the United Nations is a topic
that concerns us. Uruguay is one of the countries that
have been chosen for the “One United Nations” pilot
plan, within the framework of the recommendations of
the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence. The
Government of Uruguay has committed itself to
carrying out this pilot project in coordination with the
United Nations agencies in Uruguay, defining three
strategic areas as the basis of that coordination: State
reform, especially in health, education and
development strategies; decentralized development,
with civic participation; and policies to eradicate
poverty and structural inequities.
 Lastly, Uruguay believes that all United Nations
Member States must abandon patterns that date back to
the Second World War and develop organizational
standards for the General Assembly, the Security
Council and the other principal organs of the United
Nations. Member States should establish conditions
that would bring the United Nations into the twenty-
first century, thus guaranteeing peace and providing a
forum in which to promote a dignified life for peoples
along the axis of freedom, which is the basis for
justice.


On behalf  of my country, and on my own behalf, I would like to
congratulate Mr. Kerim on his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at the sixty-second
session. I should also like to commend Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon for his encouraging message this
morning.
The Charter of the United Nations has been the
subject of revisions almost from the moment it entered
into force. Some of those changes were successful and
timely. However, today we are acting too slowly in
adapting United Nations structures to the realities of
the twenty-first century, despite the fact that the
Millennium Development Goals have given it new
vigour and almost a new raison d’être. Although there
seems to be broad agreement to strengthen the General
Assembly and to make the Security Council more
representative and transparent, we are spending too
much time trying to decide how to do it.
 Panama has been very clear in its support for the
aspirations of Brazil, Japan and Germany to become
permanent members of the Security Council. But we
have also deemed it appropriate to offer Member States
alternatives that would enable us to make progress in
this debate. We urge an open mind so that we can
complete this debate and come up with the relevant
changes quickly.
 Panama became a Security Council member with
a great feeling of regional solidarity and fiduciary
responsibility vis-à-vis the international community on
all matters relating to the maintenance of international
peace and security. We are grateful for the confidence
that the General Assembly placed in my country, and
we are always ready to seek agreement between parties
to a conflict and to help remove obstacles that stand in
the way of peace and agreements. To that end, we have
encouraged and supported efforts to advance
democratic institutions and the rule of law, the
promotion and protection of human rights and
humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced
persons.
 No conflict in the world has been given greater
attention by the international community than that in
the Middle East region. Although agreements have
been arrived at that have eased tensions, the path
towards peace has always been elusive, and new
obstacles arise all the time. The conflict between Israel
and Palestine is at the very core of the problems in the
region. Panama therefore encourages and promotes
negotiations between the parties, geared towards
creating a Palestinian State that can live in peace with
the State of Israel, with secure borders for both. This
will require a cessation of attacks on Israel from Gaza,
withdrawal from all the occupied territories in the West
Bank and the achievement of an agreement about the
status of Jerusalem that would satisfy the parties
directly involved and the entire international
community.
 On the situation in Lebanon, it is important for
the international community to realize that a lasting
peace in the region requires the establishment of a
government of unity which can end the current
political deadlock. If it is not resolved, this could lead
to a return to civil war, which is something that we all
thought was now over and done with.
 From this rostrum, we join in the call for an
immediate reduction in tension and peaceful solutions
in all parts of the world where international peace and
security are threatened. It is much less costly to invest
our efforts in avoiding confrontation than to stop it
once it has begun. Accordingly, we appeal to this
Organization to reconsider its actions vis-à-vis the
conflict in the Middle East which, far from being
resolved, seems to be intensifying.
 Turning to the dispute between Serbia and the
Kosovar Albanians, today we can be cautiously
optimistic that, after several months of Security
Council debate, which included a visit to the region,
the parties have agreed to resume dialogue. Only an
agreement between them can ensure peace and
economic development in the region.
 Panama strongly supports the renewal and
extension of the mandate of the United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti. We recognize the
progress made by the Haitian Government with support
from that mission. However, there are many matters
that still require more efforts, and it is essential that the
mandate not end before that country’s institutions have
been strengthened.
 We welcome the progress made, but we must
condemn the violation of human rights in Myanmar
and the continued detention of Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Although every conflict
has its own particular causes, we can say that
violations of the human rights of certain groups, a
culture of impunity or the absence of strong institutions
able to guarantee the human rights of all are the
common denominator of most conflicts.
 In Africa, there are examples of how institutional
weakness and abuses of human rights become the main
causes of conflict. On the initiative of the President of
France, the Security Council is meeting this very
afternoon to analyse all the problems that afflict that
continent (see S/PV.5749). It is only by strengthening
institutional capacity and building a culture of justice
that it will be possible to restore to those peoples the
rights that this Organization enshrined for all
inhabitants of the Earth.
 Responsibility for solving disputes and
preventing conflict lies primarily with the States
parties to a dispute. However, achieving peace depends
to a large extent on our commitment to the collective
security architecture that we have built here in the
United Nations. Since the end of the cold war, the
United Nations has responded to the major challenges
to international peace and security by increasing the
number and the quality of peacekeeping operations in
cases where diplomacy has failed. To avoid a return to
conflict situations, peacekeeping operations cannot be
confined to simply separating rival forces. It is
essential to strengthen the concept of integrated
missions to include new responsibilities that cover a
broader range of activities. Achieving a lasting peace
means more than simply laying down one’s weapons.
One must set off on the path towards development;
legal and political institutions must be rebuilt and
human rights must be respected.
 We cannot talk about lasting peace while we live
under the threat of terrorism, whose definitive defeat is
an ongoing challenge for the international community.
Panama supports United Nations efforts to combat this
scourge in an integrated manner, such as the adoption
of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism
Strategy (see resolution 60/288). And, because we
attach high priority to the adoption of a comprehensive
convention on international terrorism, we have
shouldered the responsibility of chairing the Security
Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee.
 The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (see resolution 61/106) was a
major milestone on the path towards a world without
exclusionism and reaffirmed the universality of human
rights. Specific measures have been defined to
guarantee full participation. Above all, we have
categorically said that discrimination against any
person on the basis of disability is a violation of the
inherent dignity and worth of the human person. I
would like to say that Panama has made significant
progress in this area; inclusive education is a State
priority. We have signed the Convention, and we are
committed to implementing it.
 Of particular importance to Panama is the recent
adoption of a declaration on indigenous peoples for the
Latin American region. It strengthens respect for
cultural diversity, with emphasis on preserving cultural
assets.
 A year ago, I told the General Assembly (see
A/61/PV.12) that my country would hold a referendum
to decide whether to undertake the work of widening
the Panama Canal so that larger ships could transit
between the two great oceans. As I believe is generally
known, the people of Panama approved the project, and
barely three weeks ago the work began. It will be
completed by the year 2014.
 Panama, which has always contributed to the
development of international trade and to
understanding among nations, is especially pleased to
reaffirm that unifying mission today, as well as its
commitment to peace, development and full respect for
human rights.
 I should like to conclude my statement by
referring to some words spoken from this same rostrum
by a Panamanian more than 50 years ago and that are
still just as true today. He said that to attempt to
preserve peace without at the same time improving
peoples’ living conditions is to leave the task
unfinished and inconclusive. We should not tire of
repeating that the most serious threats to peace and
freedom are rooted in human poverty, social injustice,
ignorance and economic backwardness; and that the
only peace worth keeping and defending, and which
can be lasting, is peace with honour, justice and
freedom.


Echoing  previous eminent speakers at this rostrum, on behalf of
my country, the Union of the Comoros, and on my own
behalf, it is a genuine pleasure to address our warm
congratulations to the President on his brilliant
assumption of the presidency of the sixty-second
session of this Assembly. It is a pleasure likewise to
address our warmest congratulations to the Secretary-
General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the effective manner in
which he has carried out his duties in this world
undergoing vast change, which requires increased
commitment by our Organization. May I also extend
our sincere thanks to the American Government and to
the leaders of this magnificent city of New York for the
fine preparations that they have made to receive and
welcome us here.
 The situations of conflict that claim innocent
victims   in the Middle East, in Darfur, in Somalia
and in so many other regions where hotbeds of tension
erupt   appeal to our collective conscience and call
for urgent measures for calm and for the resolution of
such problems. My Government endorses any action
taken by the international community, particularly the
African Union and the United Nations, in seeking
solutions to these problems, which are a source of
concern for the whole world.
 The world has reason to be concerned. Fear and
uncertainty have become widespread, within both
developed and developing countries. Paradoxically,
science and technology have never been so effective.
The world has never been so rich, nor has it displayed
such great profits.
 Today, the countries of the South are
overwhelmed by the burden of debt, civil war,
insecurity, destitution, precariousness and endemic
disease. Therefore, security and harmony in this world
call for greater solidarity and greater humanism.
 The international community should thus
emphasize development assistance to help the small
countries to meet environmental challenges,
particularly the effects of climate change, degradation
of the ecosystem and desertification. Such solidarity
should also be forthcoming in combating other
scourges affecting our countries, most specifically
HIV/AIDS, malaria and all other diseases that decimate
our peoples and impede our development.
 In addition, yet another scourge besets the world,
and that is terrorism, which recognizes no borders. Nor
does it recognize race or religion in its unspeakable
cowardice and blindness. We should do everything
possible to ensure that it can no longer flourish on
poverty and prosper on the weakest links of the world
chain.
Also, we must ensure that fanaticism and
intolerance can no longer impose their law on the
world and destroy humankind. Indeed, in bolstering
tolerance and respect for the right to difference and for
the dignity of every people, we will avoid possible
setbacks, attacks on human rights and the amalgam of
terrorism and particular religions or regions. In this
way, we will be successful in guaranteeing lasting
peace, stability, security and development, because it
would be an illusion to speak of such ideals in a world
of poverty, where economic development and the
well-being of each and every individual have not yet
been achieved.
 Moreover, at this midpoint on the way to the
deadline of 2015 set for the Millennium Development
Goals, while notable progress has been achieved, full
achievement of these objectives depend to a large
extent, on international solidarity and respect for the
various commitments entered into by the wealthiest
countries.
 The reform of our Organization is more necessary
than ever to ensure that it is fully representative and
better reflects its universal nature. Thus, Africa and all
other regions of the world should be appropriately
represented within the Organization in order to more
effectively embody the principle of equality of States
within this great concert of nations.
 The President took the Chair.
 Allow me to take this exceptional opportunity to
present some insight into the situation in my country,
the Union of the Comoros.
 Since assuming the highest office, I have
endeavoured, with my Government, to give effect to
the commitments made to the people of the Comoros
and to the international community in connection with
respect for human rights, the rule of law and good
governance, particularly through the restoration of a
system of justice that should serve as a model, the
struggle against corruption, the struggle against
insalubrious housing and advancing the situation of
women.
 In this certainly very ambitious endeavour, I rely
largely on the people of the Comoros themselves to
establish at the national level the conditions necessary
for the success of the mission and task I have set
myself. I am also confident that international solidarity
will continue to increase, to support to a small country
such as ours in confronting the numerous problems that
it encounters daily. Indeed, I would like to express
from this rostrum our gratitude to all the countries and
organizations that support us in this undertaking of
building a nation in the Comoros that is peaceful and
prosperous.
 But I have to emphasize that there was a time not
so long ago when the African continent and other
regions of the world were shaken by endless coups
d’état. That illegal, antidemocratic and frequently
violent form of access to power plunged the countries
in question into instability.
 It would appear that that time is now passed, with
the advent of democracy and multiparty systems. The
large majority of political forces would appear to
accept democratic succession through free and
transparent consultation of peoples as being the only
acceptable means for acceding to power.
 However, another mode of violent political action
continues to exist in developing countries and appears
to be assuming particular importance, namely, the
armed rebellions affecting many countries, including
the Comoros, my country. Armed uprisings are a
source of destabilization and an obstacle to
development efforts. Such uprisings are frequently at
the centre of political and geopolitical interests that
support them, to the detriment of the best interests of
the countries themselves. They benefit from the
explicit or hidden support of internal or external forces
which use them.
 My country is not free from this phenomenon.
Indeed, the former Head of the Executive of the island
of Anjouan refuses to hold free and democratic
elections at the end of his term. He is leading an armed
uprising that has attacked the presidency of the Union,
the representation of the Government of the Union in
the island and the contingent of the National
Development Army. The uprising jeopardizes the hopes
for development of the country by causing delays in
repayment of the debt of the Comoros to the
international institutions and hampers the resumption
of investment from abroad. It is for this reason that I
state here our major concern at the political crisis that
we are experiencing.
 Therefore, I make a solemn and urgent appeal to
the entire international community to assist us in
establishing lasting stability in the Union of the
Comoros by settling the problem of the uprising that
continues in the autonomous island of Anjouan.
Indeed, all the steps taken by the Government of the
Union have encountered to date the intransigence of
the rebels of Anjouan, who refuse to comply with the
resolutions of the African Union and the
recommendations of the international community
regarding the organization of free and democratic
elections in Anjouan, as occurred in the other two
islands and in respect of the constitutional legality,
particularly, the exercise in Anjouan of legitimate
powers.
 From the bottom of my heart, I would wish to
thank all our bilateral and multilateral partners for their
unflagging support in the search for a prompt and final
solution to the crisis that we are experiencing. For all
these partners, I have always demonstrated our
goodwill in seeking to settle the Anjouan crisis by
peaceful means because the important thing is to save
national unity and preserve the people of the Comoros
from anything that might damage our development
efforts.
 I take this opportunity also to thank the
authorities of the African Development Bank and all
those instrumental in providing partial debt relief to the
Comoros, with a view to facilitating our economic
recovery.
 The Assembly will understand that the Comorian
Government cannot sanction any action that would
establish the Balkanization of our country. The
Comorian people remember only too well the
unfortunate experience regarding the sister island of
Mayotte. Although the one case is a problem within the
Comoros and the other a dispute with France, which is
a friendly country and principal partner of the
Comoros   and I stress that fact, France is a friendly
country, a friend and principal partner of the
Comoros   both situations involve the disunion of our
country, and we cannot remain indifferent to them.
 Over 30 years have passed since the independent
nation of the Comoros was admitted to the United
Nations, within its authentic borders, that is, comprised
of four islands: Ngazidja, Mwali, Ndzouani and Maoré.
During those 30 years, all organizations that have
recognized our independence have unflaggingly
supported the just claim by the Comoros of sovereignty
over the island of Mayotte, a claim upheld by the
successive Governments in Moroni. That is a principle
that the people of the Comoros will never give up, even
if the approach has varied from one administration to
the next. Today, my Government would like, in a calm
atmosphere, to deal with this matter with France,
giving priority to dialogue and consultation. For we
must together find a rapid response to the problem of
the human tragedies caused by the frequent shipwrecks
of makeshift boats transporting on virtually a weekly
basis dozens of Comorians from the other islands who
visit Mayotte to meet with their families. We must
promptly together deal with the inhuman treatment
inflicted on Comorians from the other islands residing
in Mayotte, and we must seek to facilitate the free
movement of goods and persons among all the islands
of the archipelago. Lastly, we must find together a
modus vivendi that reflects particularly the social,
cultural, linguistic, economic, religious and historical
realities that shape the life of all Comorians.
 To that end, I am happy to note the convergence
of views with Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the
French Republic, who, during his address to this
Assembly stated,
 “I want to say, in the name of France, that there
will be no peace in the world without respect for
diversity, without respect for national identities,
without respect, I venture to say, for religions and
beliefs, or without respect for cultures.
Attachment to one’s faith, to one’s identity, to
one’s language and culture, and to one's way of
life, thought and belief in all that is legitimate,
and profoundly human.
 I thus appeal to the United Nations to take on this
matter by working to achieve a closer rapprochement
between the two parties, with a view to a prompt
settlement of the question. I truly believe that together
with the French authorities we can find the ways and
means to move towards a final, just and lawful solution
to this problem.
 In the ongoing quest for peace and freedom, I
have a particular thought for those who, throughout the
world, are engaged in struggle and are claiming their
rights to unity and territorial integrity. Thus, from this
rostrum, I would like to renew to our friend the
People’s Republic of China, our commitment to a
policy of a single China, single and indivisible. To our
brother country the Kingdom of Morocco, I would like
to reaffirm our support for its legitimate fight to
recover its territorial integrity.
 In conclusion, I hope that peace reigns in our
world, that goodness and good faith win our hearts so
that the people of the world can live in happiness and
in greater solidarity than ever.
 I would like to finish with a few words in Arabic.
 The Israeli-Arab conflict is the source of tensions
in the Middle East, and the Palestinians in the occupied
Arab territories live in inhuman and tragic economic
conditions because of Israeli practices. The
international community must deal decisively with this
situation by requiring the Israeli authorities to
implement relevant Security Council and General
Assembly resolutions and decisions. Additionally, the
provisions of international law, international
humanitarian law and human rights must be observed.
As we all know, there can be no peace in the Middle
East without a just and lasting solution to the
Palestinian question effected by the withdrawal of
Israel from the Arab territories that it occupied in 1967.
 Without the establishment of a viable Palestinian
State, with East Jerusalem with its capital, and the
settlement of the question of refugees on the basis of
the General Assembly resolution of 1949, the conflict
will not be settled. Construction of settlements must be
stopped, the separation wall must be demolished and
Palestinians must be compensated for damage caused
by its construction. I also invite our Palestinian
brothers to renounce division and disintegration and to
engage in dialogue. The international community and
the United Nations must provide swift humanitarian
assistance to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, open
the crossings and dismantle anything that hampers
movement.
 We also state our solidarity with our brothers in
Lebanon, and we call for full implementation of
Security Council resolution 1701 (2006), the cessation
of Israeli incursions into Lebanon and withdrawal from
the Sheba’a Farms.
 On the subject of Darfur, we give priority to the
peace talks to be held in Libya on 24 October this year.
We hope that all the parties will attend these talks. The
international community must assume its responsibility
and urge the parties to participate in those negotiations,
which we hope will be final and decisive. We also hope
that the African Union mission and character in Darfur
will be respected and that the sovereignty, unity and
territorial integrity of the Sudan will be fully respected.


On behalf of the President of
Palau, Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., and the people of
Palau, let me begin by offering my congratulations to
the General Assembly President on his election and
assuring him of our cooperation in the coming year. We
express our appreciation to the Group of Asian States
and the General Assembly for the confidence they have
demonstrated by electing a representative of Palau as a
Vice-President. Palau is the smallest country in the
history of the United Nations to have this honour, and
we take it very seriously.
 Palau congratulates the Secretary-General on his
leadership on stopping the genocide in Darfur. We were
moved by the calls for immediate action that we heard
from President Bush and others here at the United
Nations. In this respect, I wish to announce that Palau
will send peacekeepers to Darfur and will play our part
in this critical demonstration of international concern.
 Despite our capacity issues, this will not be
Palau’s first peacekeeping deployment. But while we
are a responsible and proud Member of the United
Nations, we note the continuing lack of a permanent
United Nations presence in Palau. Last June, the
United Nations Development Programme, the United
Nations Population Fund and UNICEF announced that
eight new joint offices would open in Pacific island
countries, including Palau. We welcomed that historic
accomplishment, but we are concerned at the fact that
the offices have yet to open. Existing mechanisms
appear to have blocked progress on the ground. But we
believe that the original goals and intentions of the
project can be salvaged if there is a will to respond to
the needs of small island nations like Palau. We would
welcome the intervention and assistance of our
partners, as well as the recommitment of the Secretariat
to our original shared goals.
 We note the President’s call to ensure that the
United Nations as an organization and we as Member
States are properly prepared to confront terrorism.
Palau has worked to improve its anti-terrorism
capacity. We have also met with the Counter-Terrorism
Committee Executive Directorate to advance our
requests for assistance, particularly in the area of
combating money-laundering and terrorism financing.
Unfortunately, the efforts of the Directorate have been
insufficient. Our hope is that during the sixty-second
session of the General Assembly, the United Nations
will be able to help small countries in addressing this
threat and in meeting our Security Council obligations.
 The Pacific is home to some of the world’s
largest and most important biodiversity hotspots. Our
ocean ecosystems provide the backbone for Palau’s
existence, and we are committed to their preservation.
Last year, our nations banded together to protect
vulnerable marine ecosystems from deep-sea bottom
trawling, a destructive fishing practice responsible for
95 per cent of worldwide damage to seamounts. As a
result, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries
Management Organization adopted interim measures
that took a substantial step towards eliminating this
unsustainable practice. We encourage all other regional
fisheries management organizations and flag States to
follow this example, and we remind them of the
deadlines to take action.
 Palau has been vocal in its crusade to end bottom
trawling because of its effects on ocean ecosystems.
The North Pacific is home to some of the world’s best
fisheries. Their diversity is the key reason for the
Micronesia Challenge, an initiative launched by
President Remengesau, whereby countries and
territories of Micronesia have joined together to
conserve 30 per cent of near-shore marine resources
and 20 per cent of land resources by the year 2020.
This project is the first of its kind in the world. It
covers 6.7 million square miles of ocean, and it will
help protect 10 per cent of the world’s coral reefs,
including more than 60 threatened species.
 While eliminating bottom trawling and
establishing protected areas are certainly important
actions, they will be fruitless if rapid progress on
climate change cannot be made at the international
level. We are no longer in total control of our destiny.
When temperatures increase, our corals bleach, the
seas rise and the oceans acidify, threatening to
demolish our marine biodiversity, jeopardizing our
livelihoods and eventually destroying our identity.
 In the light of the high vulnerability of small
island developing States to the impact of climate
change, we stress the absolute need to reach an
agreement on a set of quantified emission reduction
targets for the second commitment period of the Kyoto
Protocol. These emission reduction targets must be
ambitious, must reflect the urgency of our collective
circumstances and must be consistent with a mitigation
framework that protects the most vulnerable parties to
the Convention, in both the short and the long-term. It
is imperative that the effectiveness of the post-2012
regime address the issue of mitigating the impacts of
climate change on small island developing States, as
the key benchmark of its adequacy and effectiveness.
 We note too the ongoing debate on General
Assembly reform and join our voices with others who
note the need for concrete results on Security Council
reform. Without Security Council reform, there can be
no genuine United Nations reform. The early
conclusion of the discussion is essential. Japan has
demonstrated its concern for and commitment to the
Pacific and the international community. It should be a
permanent member of the Security Council. That is
true too of India, the largest democracy among
developing nations, whose contributions to global
security have earned it the right to a permanent seat on
the Security Council. We have supported and continue
to support the draft resolution of the Group of Four and
hope that the Assembly will address the resolution this
year.
 We also note our disappointment that Taiwan
continues to be excluded from this Hall. The world
would benefit from Taiwan’s membership in the United
Nations and other international institutions. We were
disappointed that the Secretary-General failed to
follow the Charter and the rules of the Security Council
by refusing to transmit and circulate Taiwan’s
membership application to the Security Council and
the General Assembly. Ultimately, legitimate
democracies must be recognized and supported across
the breadth of our planet no matter how large or small
the country.
 On behalf of Palau, a small and peaceful island
nation in the wide Pacific Ocean, let me thank all of
you in my country’s native language: Kom Kmal
Mesulang.


On behalf of the Government and the people of the
Dominican Republic, it is a pleasure to extend our
warmest congratulations to Mr. Srgjan Kerim of the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia upon his
recent election as President of the General Assembly.
We would also like to take this opportunity to greet the
members of the General Assembly.
 During the four years following the Millennium
Summit of 2000, the Dominican Republic went through
a crisis, during which our national currency was
devalued by 100 per cent. Our working class had to
double its efforts simply to meet their basic subsistence
needs. Drug trafficking and high levels of crime gained
a foothold, and our credibility went down worldwide.
According to the statistics of the World Bank, the
United Nations Development Programme and the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean, more than 1.5 million out of the 9 million
Dominicans sank into the lowest levels of poverty. At
that time, we were facing one of the most dramatic
crises in the modern history of the Dominican
Republic.
 Since we took the reins of administration in 2004,
the Dominican Republic has managed to recover the
confidence of investors and entrepreneurs. We have
been able to reactivate economic growth. We have been
able to reduce inflation. We have increased jobs and
improved social conditions and quality of life for the
Dominican people.
 However, exactly when we began, just like the
phoenix rising from its own ashes, a gloomy
international picture threatened to darken our prospects
for future growth. In recent weeks, for example, the
price of oil on the international market has reached an
unprecedented rate, and projections point towards
continued increases. These price increases are
asphyxiating our economies.
 Similarly, in recent times, as a result of changes
on the international stage, free zone companies in the
Dominican Republic, alongside those in Mexico and
Central America, have been losing their competitive
edge to Asian countries. This drop in competitiveness
has resulted in the loss of jobs, production stagnation
and a shortage of new investment.
 Moreover, while the price of oil is rising, and
with the prices of goods in the global economy
fluctuating, we also find ourselves unexpectedly
affected by price increases for food. All of a sudden we
are surprised by the news that owing to the elimination
of export subsidies in Europe, the price of milk has
increased on the international market. The same has
occurred, although for different reasons, with the cost
of corn, soybeans and wheat as well as with other
products that comprise the basic nutrition of the family.
Because of the climbing prices of those products, the
cost of chicken, turkey, bread and eggs have also risen.
 As will be appreciated, we are facing a dangerous
situation which could lead our people towards
widespread famine and, consequently, a plunge into
extreme poverty. Those factors have led to a vicious
cycle that is spreading throughout the global food
chain, while, in spite of the plea for free trade,
producers in the world’s most powerful countries
remain protected. As an example, while a United States
farmer has access to state-of-the-art farming
equipment, the most modern facilities and
technologically proficient staff, that farmer also
receives government subsidies of approximately
US $750,000 per year. Furthermore, the farmer might
produce a pound of corn for a mere 7 cents.
 At the same time, Félix David García Peña, also a
corn farmer, who belongs to the Association of Farmers
in San Juan de la Maguana in the southern part of the
Dominican Republic near our border with Haiti, is
struggling alone to make ends meet and to lead a
decent life. His farming equipment is outdated. His
tractor emits clouds of smoke every morning when he
attempts to turn it on. His facilities are dilapidated. He
receives no government subsidies since the
Government is in no financial position to help him, and
his production cost for one pound of corn is 12 cents,
almost double the production cost of the subsidized
United States farmer. When we asked Felix how we, as
the Government, could help him, he stated, “I don’t
want anything. All I want is fair trade to be able to sell
my corn.
 The fact is that the challenges of globalization are
having a marked impact on countries like the
Dominican Republic. What we are experiencing is the
interdependent character of current international
trends. What seems to be a distant or remote event
nevertheless has a direct impact on the daily lives of
our peoples.
 Another example that illustrates the undeniable
interdependence of all nations on earth is climate
change. That topic is not new to our discussions in this
Organization, but with each year that passes we find
ourselves closer to the predicted disasters.
 In the Dominican Republic, we are already
experiencing the impact of climate change in various
ways: an increase in the volatility and frequency of
floods, droughts and hurricanes that destroy our
ecosystem, our biodiversity and our infrastructures.
Also, we are experiencing increased coastal erosion
and loss of beaches as well as frequent bleaching of
our coral reefs, thus reducing our marine biodiversity
and making tourism less attractive.
 Given all those challenges presented by
globalization, a country like the Dominican Republic
asks itself: where is international solidarity, where is
cooperation between peoples, how are we going to
address together all of those challenges which affect
most of the peoples of the world?
 The truth is that there cannot be solidarity when
there are those in the world who seek to accumulate
wealth even while others suffer. There cannot be
cooperation when there are people who think only of
conducting business without taking into account the
pain and anguish of others.
 The United Nations system was created to
promote solidarity and cooperation, and it is only fair
to recognize that there is no other organization at the
world level that has the prestige, capability and
vocation of the Members of this world Organization.
However, this grand forum of humanity, established
after the enormous sacrifices of the Second World War,
must also reform itself, if it intends to fulfil the ideals
that inspired its creation, as enshrined in the Charter at
the San Francisco Conference.
 The current structure of the United Nations is no
longer adequate today. The structure still corresponds
to the cold-war period, even though humankind has
advanced beyond an era when all events of importance
were determined by the rivalry of two super-Powers.
 Now, in the twenty-first century, we in the
Dominican Republic do not truly comprehend why the
President of the World Bank must be an American and
the Managing Director of the International Monetary
Fund, a European and why major global decisions are
the responsibility of only five countries.
 As one of the founding Members of the United
Nations, the Dominican Republic aspires to a position
on the United Nations Security Council as a
non-permanent member. In that position, we would
strive to be a voice in favour of the weak, those
without protection or shelter, the forsaken of the world.
That is our sole aspiration. The Dominican Republic
will uphold, responsibly and with conviction and
determination, the values and principles the
Organization has pledged to represent, as a beacon for
peace, human dignity and the civilized coexistence of
all inhabitants of the Earth.


Allow me to begin by
congratulating you, Mr. President, on your election to
the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
second session. I would like to assure you of my
country’s fullest cooperation in the discharge of the
responsibilities bestowed upon you. I have no doubt
that this Assembly will benefit from both your personal
and professional experience. May I take this
opportunity to commend your predecessor, Ambassador
Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her invaluable
contributions and wise leadership during the
Assembly’s previous session.
 I would also like to extend my sincere
appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He is
already fully engaged and has made an excellent
beginning in the efforts to address global challenges
since he took office a year ago. I would therefore, on
this occasion, like to underline Ethiopia’s firm
commitment to cooperate in every way in assisting him
in his demanding endeavours.
 Just three weeks ago, Ethiopia began its third
Millennium. This Assembly has recognized the
Ethiopian Millennium as a world event. On 15 June
2007, it adopted resolution 61/270, designating the
year from 12 September 2007 to 11 September 2008 as
the year of the Ethiopian Millennium. The Assembly of
the African Union also declared the Ethiopian
Millennium as a part of African heritage and a unique
occasion. We thank you all for that honour and for that
expression of solidarity.
Those who have witnessed how Ethiopians of all
walks of life have received the new Ethiopian
Millennium could not have missed the new spirit that
has been on display in the country. This is a spirit of
renewal and commitment to stand in unity for a better
future for the country. The new Millennium was
greeted by all Ethiopians with a pledge to do more for
national harmony and for durable peace and stability
and to prevail against the poverty that has been the
hallmark of the country in recent decades.
 Two thousand years ago, Ethiopia was the home
of one of the great civilizations of the world, at Aksum.
A thousand years ago, we could still produce two of the
world’s greatest heritage sites. One is the city of Harar,
the fourth holiest city of Islam, which by happy
coincidence also celebrates its own millennium this
year. The other is the city of churches built by Lalibela,
a saint, priest and emperor in the town that still bears
his name today.
 But Ethiopia’s fortune began to change,
commencing in the second half of the last Millennium.
Though a survivor of colonialism and a representative
of the greatness of Africa’s past, Ethiopia also
unfortunately came to represent and symbolize the
poverty, dearth and destitution of Africa’s more recent
history.
 Despite the formidable challenges we have faced,
all of this has begun to change in the last decade.
Hopelessness and frustration growing out of a lack of
confidence in the future is no longer an image
reflecting the reality of Ethiopia. That is perhaps the
explanation for the exuberance displayed by all sectors
of Ethiopian society in welcoming the new
Millennium. A new and strong national consensus is
being created in Ethiopia today. It is a consensus
around conviction and the resolve to make the opening
of our third Millennium a symbol of Ethiopian
renaissance.
 That overwhelming optimism displayed by all
Ethiopians at the opening of the new Millennium rests
on a tangible foundation. The political, social and
economic realities in Ethiopia have been changing over
the past decade. We are making meaningful progress.
Indeed, we have no shortage of detractors. These are
non-Ethiopians determined to scuttle the progress we
are making in all areas. Their attempts include efforts
to undermine national unity and to micromanage
Ethiopia’s internal affairs. We have seen this, including
over the past few days.
 Despite all this, however, we continue to make
progress. For five consecutive years now, our real
gross domestic product growth rate has averaged over
10 per cent. Our per capita income growth has
averaged nearly 8 per cent for the last seven years.
 More tangible perhaps, in terms of the progress
we have been making to change the life situation of our
people, is the advance we have registered towards
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. We are
set to attain universal primary health care by 2010. We
are well on the way to achieving the goals set for
reducing child and maternal mortality well prior to
2015. We have made much progress in combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. We have
managed to halt and stabilize the spread of HIV/AIDS
and reduce the incidence of malaria.
 What we have been able to achieve in the area of
education has been quite remarkable as well. There is
now little doubt that we are on our way to achieving
universal primary education by 2015. Primary school
enrolment at present is 91.6 per cent. Sixteen years
ago, it stood at 19 per cent. We have also begun to
ensure that the education available will, in fact, be
quality education.
 We have also committed ourselves to
environmental sustainability in a tangible manner. Our
New Ethiopian Millennium celebrations and the
preparations leading to them have underlined practical
expressions to this commitment. The slogan “Two
Trees for 2000” has been enthusiastically taken up
throughout the country. Popular enthusiasm has led to
the acceleration of the process that began earlier,
culminating, after just three or four months, in the
opening of the New Millennium and the planting of
close to a billion trees. This is a process that will
continue throughout the year and beyond.
 Nor are we oblivious to the spectre of global
warming and the threat of climate change. Africa is
exceptionally vulnerable to the effects of climate
change: so many of us live on the margins that the
smallest difference in climate can mean the difference
between sufficient food and famine, survival and death.
It is a global challenge that requires a global response.
 However, the need for speedy economic
development in countries such as Ethiopia, and in
Africa as a whole, should not be compromised simply
in order to reverse dangerous climatic situations for
whose creation we have no responsibility. It should,
nonetheless, be possible, through effective
international collaboration, to ensure that the
developmental process in countries such as Ethiopia is
environmentally friendly.
 In this regard, we welcome the proposal of Brazil
for a new United Nations conference on the
environment and development to be held in 2012. We
are also appreciative of the European Union's (EU)
commitment to further cut its greenhouse gas
emissions and to introduce more responsible and
sustainable energy policies. We endorse the EU's
support for reforming the institutional framework of
United Nations environmental activities.
 The economic and social progress Ethiopia has
made over the past decade has, no doubt, been
underpinned by the real and concrete advances we have
made in building democratic institutions and fostering
the rule of law. In this regard as well, we are entering
our New Millennium with even greater and renewed
commitment to deepening the democratic process in
Ethiopia and strengthening a culture of tolerance and
mutual understanding among our people. There is a
new spirit of tolerance, dialogue and inclusiveness and
of commitment to peace among our people.
 The further democratization of the country and
the nurturing of the rule of law is a pledge that every
Ethiopian is making as we enter our New Millennium.
This commitment is rooted in the conviction that
durable peace in our country and the successful
achievement of our objectives in the economic and
social spheres can only be viable if we succeed in
advancing towards achieving the democratic
aspirations of our people. We urge those who wish to
meddle in our affairs to remember that they will be
held accountable for their action and that they should
desist from seeking to place a trojan horse in our
society.
 It is that same spirit of the New Ethiopian
Millennium that must guide our foreign policy. We
have, over the last decade and a half, worked in good
faith for peace in our region. We are more prepared
now than ever and, in the spirit of the New
Millennium, to contribute our share to achieving peace
and understanding among peoples and countries, most
particularly in our own subregion.
 We are indeed fully aware that the basis for the
renaissance of Ethiopia, to which we are committed in
our New Millennium, cannot be limited to what we do
in Ethiopia alone. To be true to the new spirit and to
succeed in the rejuvenation of Ethiopia, we feel we
have the obligation to stretch a hand of friendship to all
of those, near and far, who see wisdom in a positive
response to this gesture. We are well aware of the need
for a regional atmosphere conducive to the
rejuvenation of our region and of ourselves. It is not
just the absence of conflict and dispute, but the reality
of peace and cooperation, which is, we know, an
absolute necessity. Without this we cannot achieve our
aims, whether in Ethiopia, our region, or in Africa.
 Allow me to express our profound appreciation to
all those who have helped us make the progress we
have made over the past decade. There are those who
have been steadfast in their support for our endeavours
and who have stood with us through thick and thin. We
are indebted to them. Our obligation is to be true to the
principles that underpin those expressions of solidarity.
 Ethiopia, a founding Member of the United
Nations, will continue to be devoted to multilateralism
and the fullest cooperation with the United Nations.
Therefore, as I conclude, I wish to reiterate, once
again, our readiness to cooperate fully, and without
reserve, with our Secretary-General in all areas where
our contribution is needed and to seek friendship with
all nations in the spirit of our New Millennium.