At the outset, I wish to
warmly congratulate His Excellency Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann of the Republic of Nicaragua on
his election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session. I can assure him of our fullest
cooperation throughout his tenure. I have no doubt that,
under his able leadership, we will be successful during this
session. I also wish to extend my high appreciation to
Mr. Srgjan Kerim of the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-second session, for his relentless efforts in
guiding us to the many outstanding achievements
during the past year.
At present, we have a number of global issues
and challenges that we need to address, both
collectively and individually, in order to ensure a better
world for all of us. Undoubtedly, peace and security
remain at the centre of our preoccupation that obliges
us to take responsibility first and foremost. Terrorism
is a stumbling block to the advancement and prosperity
of our societies and the world at large. We need to
recommit ourselves and strengthen our practical
measures, including putting in place a good strategy to
combat terrorism at the national, regional and
international levels. We must enhance at all levels the
relevant existing instruments on counter-terrorism, in
particular the United Nations Global Counter-
Terrorism Strategy, which was adopted by the General
Assembly in December 2006.
As for Cambodia, the Royal Government has
devoted its time, energy, efforts and resources to join
the international community in combating terrorism in
accordance with the United Nations conventions,
protocols and agreements on security cooperation with
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member
States, including its partners in the region. To live up to
our strong commitment, the Law on Counter-terrorism
was promulgated by His Majesty the King of
Cambodia in July 2007, and our national mechanism in
that area has been constantly strengthened.
Furthermore, our world is still marred by the
spread of small arms and light weapons, which
continue to have implications for our comprehensive
security and livelihoods. We need to address that issue
with seriousness and prompt actions. As a country that
was ravaged by war and conflict for more than two
decades, Cambodia experienced suffering from the use
of small arms and light weapons and other weapons of
war. In that regard, we attach great importance to the
agreed international instruments, especially the
implementation of the 2001 United Nations Programme
of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit
Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects. Over the years, Cambodia has taken practical
measures to strictly control the use and circulation of
arms and ammunitions, as well as to eliminate the
illegal procurement and sale of arms.
On the issue of landmines and unexploded
ammunition, we are of the view that landmines are not
only a security problem, but also a humanitarian one,
as their innocent victims become permanently
traumatized and physically handicapped, while their
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families suffer untold misery of spiritual and material
deprivation.
The problems of landmines and unexploded ordnance
have been integrated into our national agenda — such as
the Cambodia millennium development goals, the National
Strategic Development Plan and the Rectangular
Strategy of the Royal Government of Cambodia — in
order to cope with that challenging issue. Cambodia
highly appreciates the valuable contributions of
development partners and donors in terms of financial
and material support over the years.
With our demining experience and as part of our
contribution to international peace, security and
development, Cambodia has dispatched its third group
of 135 deminers of the Royal Cambodian Armed
Forces to the Sudan for mine clearance activities under
the umbrella of the United Nations peacekeeping
operations.
We are now confronted more than ever with
increasing natural disasters, from floods to droughts,
from tsunamis to storms and global warming, to name
just a few that are caused mostly by climate change.
Nowadays, industrialized countries consume 75 per
cent of the world’s energy and produce 80 per cent of
greenhouse gas emissions, while developing countries,
which produce little of such gas and have essentially
agricultural economies, are the main victims of
increasing global warming and continuing climate
change.
According to a report of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if the
temperature increases by two degrees Celsius, up to
30 per cent of plant and animal species worldwide
would be at risk of extinction. However, according to a
separate study of the Climate Change Policy Unit of
the World Wildlife Fund, it would take only 0.1 per
cent of global gross domestic product to save the
world’s climate, and thus our own human survival.
Fully aware of the danger and consequences of
climate change and global warming on the well-being,
livelihood, and development of people around the world,
Cambodia has led a vast campaign of reforestation
throughout our country, where 14,300 hectares were
planted between 2003 and 2006. The rationalization
and ban of wood-cutting have been implemented. As a
party to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, Cambodia has
made its utmost effort to implement the Convention
and the Protocol, promote clean development
mechanism projects, and to prepare a national
adaptation programme of action on climate change.
Cambodia also strongly supports the Bali Action Plan
aimed at greenhouse gas reduction as well as the
Japanese initiative Cool Earth 50.
We are also of the view that, to help reverse
climate change, we will need to preserve nature’s
biodiversity as much as possible and to put an end to
the ongoing deforestation in the world, especially in
the least developed countries, by assisting people in
finding sources of income other than deforestation.
It is also important for us to actively promote
world public participation in the issue by mobilizing
public awareness of the absolute necessity to work
together to struggle against global warming and
climate change. We should forge a shared awareness of
climate change caused by industrialization, which is
the other side of the coin of development. We need to
mobilize the support of all countries, especially the
industrialized developed nations, to respect and
implement the Framework Convention and its Kyoto
Protocol.
I would like to take this opportunity to call on the
United Nations to organize a world summit on climate
change so that the issue will remain at the top of world
leaders’ agendas and to ensure that concrete and timely
measures and action will be undertaken to help reverse
the current trend of global warming and climate
change.
Concerning the Korean peninsula, we are
confident that the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and the United States, as well as other parties
involved, will maintain the momentum in fulfilling, in
good faith, the implementation of the 2005 Joint
Statement for the sake of peace, stability and security
in the region and the world at large.
Regarding the Middle East, the peace process has
been on our agenda for long enough and we are
hopeful that all parties to the conflict will have the will
and the wisdom to end the conflict as soon as possible
in the interests of all countries concerned. In that
regard, Cambodia welcomes the 24 June 2008 Quartet
statement and the ongoing negotiations between Israel
and Palestine to bring about peace. Israel and Palestine
must seize this opportunity to use every potential for
achieving an agreement acceptable to both sides.
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With regard to the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), eight years have gone by since their
adoption. We all know that the pace of achieving
progress towards the MDGs is very slow and that we
risk the possibility of missing the 2015 target date. The
outcomes of the high-level meeting on the Millennium
Development Goals have clearly underlined the
importance for the need to continue implementing the
MDGs with greater effectiveness by enhancing closer
cooperation between developed and developing
countries.
In that regard, there is a need to ensure greater
flows of financing for development through foreign
direct investment, official development assistance and
more trade. At the same time, developed countries
should make greater efforts to transfer innovative and
relevant technology to developing countries.
For its part, Cambodia is firmly dedicated to
achieving the MDGs. Various strategies for sustainable
development and poverty alleviation are in the early
stages of elaboration. The eight United Nations Goals
have been incorporated into the framework of our
National Strategic Development Plan, the Cambodian
millennium development goals and the Rectangular
Strategy. Over the years, with those development
blueprints Cambodia experienced a double-digit
economic growth of 11.1 per cent on average from
2004 through 2007 and the poverty rate dropped from
35 per cent to 31 per cent.
In addition, Cambodia is fully committed to
implementing the principle of good governance and
maintaining macroeconomic stability and fiscal
discipline. The policy of the Royal Government of
Cambodia is to conserve its domestic resources in
order to finance the needs of national development.
However, domestic resources are not enough to
finance investment needs for maintaining the economic
growth rate at an acceptable level and as a response to
key socio-economic targets, including the MDGs.
Therefore, Cambodia continues to need financial
cooperation from its development partners in order to
support ongoing national development and poverty
reduction.
For years, we have all agreed that the United
Nations needs reform. Despite our concerted efforts
and some progress, differences remain on how to make
the United Nations more effective and more relevant in
dealing with the numerous challenges we face today
throughout the world. Cambodia is of the view that
United Nations reform must be comprehensive and
realistic. In order to move forward, we should continue
to build greater consensus and uphold the common
interests of all, without discrimination.
For almost 15 years now, Member States have
intensely deliberated Security Council reform.
Cambodia has consistently reiterated its position in
support of the expansion of the permanent and
non-permanent membership of the Security Council.
However, we have not yet achieved any
acceptable modality and clear framework for the
reform. Therefore, Security Council reform has
remained deadlocked. Although we have agreed that
the status quo is not acceptable, we must not lose the
momentum. In addition, we need to redouble our
collective efforts to ensure a breakthrough in the
current impasse of Security Council reform.