First of all, I would
like to congratulate the President of the General
Assembly on his election to his high office and to
express my confidence that, under his able
stewardship, the sixty-third session of the General
Assembly will be fruitful and successful.
When Christopher Columbus reached the shores
of America in 1492, he believed that he had discovered
a new route to India. Today we know that, many years
before Columbus made that voyage, European
explorers had reached Saint Lawrence Bay. Obviously,
prior to the so-called discovery of America, developed
civilizations had already existed there. At the same
time, Columbus did discover America in a certain
sense, because it radically altered the understanding of
world geography.
It is globalization that is giving us a new vision
of the world in the twenty-first century. While offering
new opportunities to the world economy and human
development, globalization is also triggering a new
surge of political and economic competition
worldwide.
We can now see clearly that it is imperative to
prevent the interests of peoples and countries from
being sacrificed for the sake of that competition. Given
recent complications and disputes, it is urgent that we
preserve the basic principles of international law,
including that of territorial integrity. It is crucial that
we avoid double standards in the application of that
principle.
Despite the efforts being undertaken, the world is
not becoming a safer place. We must admit that there is
still no international consensus regarding the issues of
disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction. As everyone knows, history could
repeat itself if we do not learn its lessons properly.
Therefore, nuclear disarmament and an enhanced
non-proliferation regime should become a priority for
all, without any conditionalities.
Kazakhstan, a country that voluntarily
relinquished the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal in the
world, believes that it is absolutely imperative to
develop new mechanisms for adapting the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to new
realities. We call on Member States to finalize the
necessary procedures for the entry into force of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the
strengthening of its verification mechanism. That is
precisely the purpose of the integrated on-site
inspection field exercise currently being conducted in
our country at the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing
ground.
The crisis of the non-proliferation regime poses
the real threat that nuclear weapons will fall into the
hands of terrorists. Kazakhstan is actively participating
in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
and in that regard hosted this year the Atom anti-terror
exercises and an international conference on the
physical protection of nuclear material.
The situation in Afghanistan remains a matter of
grave concern. In our opinion, the way to normalize the
situation is to build up the international community’s
efforts for the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan.
To that end, the Government of my county has adopted
a special plan on assistance to Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan is committed to timely and effective
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). We have already reached a number of targets
in several areas, including poverty reduction, access to
education and the empowerment of women. Now we
are embarking on the MDG-Plus targets, adapted to our
national conditions, in order to set up higher
benchmarks and indicators.
Like many other countries, Kazakhstan is deeply
concerned about the situation regarding the global food
market. We share the view of the majority that an
integrated approach is required to overcome the current
food crisis.
Today the international community faces the
challenge of a global rise in basic food prices.
Kazakhstan, as a major producer and exporter of grain
crops and flour, is prepared to make a substantial
contribution to overcoming the food crisis. As of
1 September 2008, we have lifted our ban on grain
exports. That is our contribution to the international
community’s collective efforts to curb global grain
prices.
Because of the critical importance of energy
resources, preserving the global energy balance has
become a more urgent imperative. Kazakhstan fully
understands its ever-increasing role and responsibility
as a reliable energy supplier.
Bearing in mind that energy and environmental
problems are closely interconnected, I would like to
once again draw attention to the initiatives set forth by
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the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev,
from this rostrum a year ago (see A/62/PV.4). They call
for adoption of a Eurasian pact on the stability of
energy supplies, as well as development of a global
energy and environment strategy within the United
Nations framework.
Kazakhstan attaches critical importance to
problems associated with climate change and
sustainable development. To ensure the convergence of
the European and Asian processes of transition to
sustainable development and their merging into a
single Eurasian process, Kazakhstan has put forward an
initiative on convening in 2010 a conference of
ministers of environment, economy and social welfare
of the Asian and Pacific countries and a pan-European
conference on the environment for Europe in 2011.
We would like to express our profound
appreciation to the entire international community, the
United Nations and its agencies and programmes for
the support they rendered to our country in mitigating
the consequences of environmental disasters in the Aral
Sea and Semipalatinsk regions. Calling for continued
active international cooperation, we request support for
the draft resolutions to be submitted at the sixty-third
session of the General Assembly concerning the
problems of the Semipalatinsk region and granting the
International Fund to Save the Aral Sea observer status
at the General Assembly.
The growing number of natural and man-made
disasters makes it necessary to intensify international
cooperation as the most effective means of responding
to emergencies. Kazakhstan supports cooperation in
setting up national and regional platforms, exemplified
by the Central Asian Disaster Response Coordination
Centre.
We strongly believe that the special needs of
landlocked countries should be fully taken into account
in accordance with decisions and recommendations
based on the Almaty Programme of Action. We hope
that the forthcoming midterm review of the Programme
will result in the adoption of specific decisions on
assistance to this group of countries.
Escalation of ethno-territorial conflicts and
increased interfaith tensions indicate that we have
reached a critical turning point in our common history.
Under these circumstances, Kazakhstan has been
consistently and proactively pursuing a policy aimed at
ensuring inter-ethnic and interfaith accord, as well as
preserving political and social stability in our society.
Upon the initiative of our head of State, President
Nazarbayev, the Kazakh capital, Astana, hosted two
Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional
Religions, in 2003 and 2006. With its next summit
meeting to be convened in 2009, this forum has already
proved to be an effective international mechanism for
promoting peace and tolerance on a global scale.
Kazakhstan is actively involved in the work of
the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations.
Our initiative to declare 2010 the International Year of
the Rapprochement of Cultures has been supported by
all Member States, as reflected in resolution 62/90. We
appeal to all countries and organizations of the United
Nations to prepare relevant plans for the attainment of
the goals of the International Year, in accordance with
the provisions of that resolution.
Taking further practical steps to promote dialogue
among civilizations, Kazakhstan has proposed the
convening of a ministerial conference to be entitled
“Common world: Progress through diversity”. Foreign
ministers from different regions of the planet have
been invited to attend the first meeting of that forum,
which is to be held in Astana in October.
As Kazakhstan prepares to assume the duties of
Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe in 2010 and of the Ministerial Conference of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 2011, we
intend to use this unique opportunity to promote the
issues of ensuring greater tolerance and furthering
measures by member States against all forms of
discrimination as serious items in those organizations.
I would like to conclude my remarks with some
ancient oriental wisdom: “Between a man that digs a
hole and the man that fills it, there should always be a
third man ready to plant a tree”. In today’s world, the
United Nations performs that vital function by
fostering dialogue and cooperation among all peoples
and all States.