I offer my
congratulations to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on
his election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session. I wish him every success.
The United Nations mandate to establish and
maintain peace and security has lost none of its
urgency in 2008. The task remains. However, fulfilling
it is more demanding than ever.
When the Berlin Wall fell, no one had greater
hopes than we Germans not only that Germany would
be reunited but that a new age of global cooperation —
beyond the traditional front lines — would begin. The
Iron Curtain had divided the world into two blocs and
when it came to dealing with crises and conflicts, often
enough, loyalty within the blocs had priority; what was
needed to improve the lot of ordinary people was of
secondary importance.
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The end of the East-West confrontation in the
early nineties seemed to mark the dawn of a new age of
effective multilateralism, while the United Nations
seemed to be on the threshold of a great renaissance.
Disillusionment has now set in, more quickly and more
profoundly than we had feared. The hoped-for peace
dividend did not materialize. On the contrary, the
cynical certainties of the cold war had disappeared, and
they were not replaced by new ones.
The world is clearly searching for a new order,
and multilateralism does not always seem to be the first
choice in this quest. What we have experienced since
then is the confluence of the traditional power politics
of the 19th century, the legacies of the cold war and the
new challenges of the 21st century.
At the same time, new players and Powers that
have still to find their place in the international order
are seeking to enter the global stage. It is now
generally accepted that we can master the new
challenges of the twenty-first century, such as climate
change, scarcity of raw materials, access to food and
water and the fight against epidemics, pandemics and
terrorism, only if we act together. Although we know
that and although it is absolutely vital that we focus on
finding common solutions to the key issues of the
future, time and again we are called upon to resolve
conflicts that have their roots in a past that we have
only seemingly put behind us.
One conflict that smouldered for some time and
then escalated suddenly and violently is the crisis in
Georgia, where an entire region found itself on the
edge of the abyss of war and destruction and where
common sense failed to prevail on all sides. The United
Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union agree that
the weapons must be silenced for good. We must help
the suffering population without delay. That does not
mean accepting the status quo; nor does it mean the
calling into question of Georgia’s territorial integrity.
Nevertheless, we have to work together to ensure
reconstruction, the return home of the refugees and
long-term security in Georgia and the entire region.
The European Union is making an important
contribution by sending an observer mission, which my
country is leading. Together with the United Nations
and the OSCE, the mission will put forward a
comprehensive strategy in Geneva this October. We are
aiming to pave the way towards the durable resolution
of the conflict through stabilization and confidence-
building in this particular region of the world, the
Southern Caucasus.
The same task is even more demanding in
Afghanistan, a country where the situation is still
precarious. It is clear to us that, without security,
Afghanistan will not, and indeed cannot, develop.
Equally, however, we need economic development in
order to improve the security situation and to
encourage people to reject fundamentalism and terror.
We have achieved much together in recent
months and years. Millions of children — many of
them girls — are going to school again, while streets,
bridges and hospitals are being built. The training and
build-up of the Afghan police force and army are
progressing. Compared to the deteriorating security
situation, however, they are not progressing fast
enough, especially in the present situation. Germany
intends to do even more in the future.
However, we cannot afford to look at Afghanistan
by itself. We need to step up our efforts to help
Pakistan master the economic and social challenges it
faces. Pakistan’s internal stability is crucial to stability
in the entire region. This will require concrete support
from everyone in the international community, and my
country — rest assured — will play its part.
International engagement is also still necessary in
the Middle East. In the current phase of domestic
uncertainty, we call upon all parties to the conflict not
to ease up in their efforts to resolve the conflict. As
experience has shown, to stand still in the Middle East
often means to take a step backward. A new wave of
terror and violent clashes would result, and neither
Israel nor Palestine, nor the international community,
can afford to let that happen.
Germany believes it has a particular
responsibility to provide concrete assistance to
improve the framework conditions. Just recently, at the
Berlin Conference in Support of Palestinian Civil
Security and the Rule of Law — which many of those
here attended — we agreed on concrete measures to
strengthen the Palestinian security sector. Those
measures are already having an impact.
An Iran armed with nuclear weapons would pose
a threat to security throughout the Middle East and
would trigger a nuclear arms race. Therefore, Iran must
put its cards on the table. We have made our offer,
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which is a tangible solution. The delaying tactics of the
Iranian side must not exhaust the patience of the
international community. We expect a clear signal from
Iran indicating its willingness to comply with the
international community’s demands and to build
confidence. And let me make the following very clear:
the Iranian President’s remarks concerning Israel are
irresponsible and unacceptable. In my view, the blatant
anti-Semitism that he expressed in his statement once
again this year (see ) is outrageous and
should be condemned by all of us. We must stand
together on that issue.
The problems in Georgia, Afghanistan, Pakistan
and the Middle East highlight one fact: it is more
urgent than ever that we develop the foundations for a
stable world order. My country stands for dialogue and
the reconciliation of interests. That does not mean
dialogue for the sake of discussion, without any
results; nor does reconciliation of interests imply that
we are prepared to abandon our own principles. We
believe that it is essential to renounce violence, ensure
fairness and recognize international law.
For us, that is the alternative vision to a world of
fabricated opposing interests, the bloc mentality and
oversimplified categories such as good and evil. East
against West, North against South — that is yesterday’s
thinking, and it no longer has a place in today’s world.
In order to resolve the problems of today and
tomorrow, we all need more partners, not more
opponents. The twenty-first century is the first in
which we can resolve problems only if we work
together.
The same applies to disarmament policy. Only a
partnership of shared global responsibility can achieve
lasting results. The dangerous trend in which an ever-
increasing number of countries strive to gain access to
nuclear technology, or even to build nuclear weapons,
must be stopped. My proposal to multilateralize the
fuel cycle showed how those risks can at the very least
be minimized. Furthermore, I call upon all States to
sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,
because its entry into force would mean a huge gain in
security.
For all that, however, we must remember that
more people die every day as a result of hunger than as
a result of war. The pledges that we made at the turn of
the millennium must not remain a mere piece of paper.
The fight against hunger and poverty is also part of a
global responsibility partnership. Germany will
therefore step up its efforts to promote poverty
reduction and global fairness. As part of those efforts,
we will increase our official development assistance
contributions in accordance with the plan of the
European Union. In the next budget alone, we will
increase development assistance by $1.2 billion.
In that connection, I would like to say something
about Africa. For too long, we have perceived that part
of the world only as a continent of wars and conflicts.
However, I also know an Africa that has set off on the
road to the future with courage and resolve. It deserves
our partnership and support along that road.
At present, the headlines are dominated by the
international financial crisis. Recklessness, greed and a
lack of common sense among those involved has set us
back years. The long-term consequences cannot be
assessed yet. However, I am certain that the painful
tremors on the world financial markets will accelerate
the multipolarization of the international financial
system. There can be no future without rules, and no
single player will be able to lay down those rules. It
will no longer be possible for any one country to act as
if it were immune to undesirable developments.
Europe, with its tried-and-tested policy of mediation
and reconciliation of interests, could play a key role in
this.
Together, we must now finally ensure long-
overdue transparency, stability and provisions to guard
against risks on the world financial markets, along with
oversight. My country developed concrete proposals in
that regard a few years ago. I hope that, in the face of
this deep crisis, the international community will now
act quickly and with resolve. We need universal rules
for the international financial markets.
That does not apply only to the international
financial sphere, however; clear rules, solid structures
and joint action are the vital prerequisites for meeting
global challenges. That is why we need a strong and
effective United Nations that enjoys the confidence of
the international community, has the requisite
legitimacy and can be the umbrella for a global
responsibility partnership.
We therefore support the process of reforming the
United Nations and its organs. Security Council reform
is overdue, as we are all aware. The Council’s
composition must reflect the realities of world politics
today. Germany is prepared to shoulder greater
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responsibility in that area. Less than two weeks ago,
the General Assembly unanimously decided to begin
the negotiations on reform soon (see decision 62/557).
That important step must now be followed by others.
Germany is firmly convinced that, in the twenty-first
century, we need the United Nations more urgently
than ever before.