At the outset,
allow me to warmly congratulate Mr. Sam Kutesa of
the Republic of Uganda on his election as President of
the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I have
full confidence that, under his guidance, the sixty-ninth
session will proceed to a successful conclusion. I would
also like to take the opportunity to extend my great
appreciation to Mr. John William Ashe of Antigua and
Barbuda for his wise leadership and relentless efforts
as President of the sixty-eighth session in guiding us to
many outstanding achievements.
In many ways, the world in which we are living
is at a critical juncture, and the current picture is
rather bleak. The international community remains
seriously concerned over recent geopolitical security
developments in many parts of the world. The self-
declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and its
horrendous crimes are menacing peace, security and
stability in those countries, which have already been
seriously hit by armed conflicts and acts of violence.
In Syria, the continued armed hostilities have not only
caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people and
children, but have also led to millions of refugees.
In Africa, some countries have also suffered armed
conflicts and violence, which have placed peace and
stability at risk in that part of the world. All those armed
conflicts and crimes are threatening peace, stability
and human security, not only in those regions, but also
in the world at large.
To contribute to the peace process in the Middle
East and Africa, Cambodia has participated actively
in United Nations peacekeeping operations. We have
dispatched more than 2,000 peacekeepers to Lebanon,
Mali and South Sudan. In November, Cambodia will
deploy another detachment of 216 peacekeepers to
the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated
Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.
While extremism is threatening the world’s peace
and security, the spread of the Ebola epidemic in Africa
has also become one of the worst threats to the world
today. It is of critical importance that the international
community make concerted efforts to address that
global challenge in an effective and timely manner.
With regard to the hostilities between Palestine and
Israel, despite the fragile ceasefire recently concluded,
the situation remains a serious concern. We call on all
parties to make efforts to resume meaningful peace
talks in order to reach a viable political solution of
two States living peacefully side by side. Cambodia
believes that that is the only way to definitively put an
end to that long-lasting conflict.
The situation in the eastern part of Europe, in spite
of the delicate ceasefire, remains worrisome and its
implications could presage a return to the Cold War.
In Asia, the launching of missiles by the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea has aroused international
concern and aggravated the situation in the region. The
Six-Party Talks should be resumed in order to explore
a possible avenue for peaceful dialogue to bring about
a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Climate change is currently an obvious global
challenge, as well as a human security issue. The rapid
pace of climate change is having devastating effects
for both developed and developing countries. The
developing countries, dependent mostly on agriculture,
suffer more from the various negative effects of climate
change, such as frequent typhoons, storms, floods
and droughts. For instance, in 2013, heavy monsoon
rains caused extensive flooding across Cambodia,
claimed 168 lives, caused $1 billion in damages and
affected 1.8 million people. Even this year, 12 out of
the 25 provinces and various cities of Cambodia have
suffered on account of floods, killing 45 people and
afflicting almost 100,000 families.
According to a report by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, the global warming caused
by the increase in greenhouse gases is generated by
humankind’s use of fossil fuels. There is no doubt
that the industrialized countries, which consume most
of the world’s fossil fuels, emit the largest amount of
greenhouse gas, while the developing countries, which
produce only small amounts of such gases, are the main
victims of climate change. It is therefore imperative
that the international community provide further
impetus to revitalize and prioritize actions to address
climate change based on the United Nations principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities.
With that concept in mind and while applauding the
fruitful outcome of the recent United Nations Climate
Summit, held on 23 September in New York, Cambodia
hopes that the twenty-first Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, to be held in Paris in December 2015, will
bring about concrete measures to reach a new global
agreement with legal force applicable to all parties
under the Framework Convention.
In line with the United Nations principles for
sustainable development and in order to mitigate
the threat of climate change, Cambodia has adopted
its national strategic plan on green development for
2013-2030, which aims at achieving economic and
social development in a sustainable manner, while at
the same time protecting the environment, through the
efficient use of raw materials and natural resources,
clean development and green preservation. Cambodia
has also adopted several legal instruments for green
growth development, including the memorandum of
understanding on green growth cooperation between
Cambodia and South Korea’s Global Green Growth
Institute and the National Council on Green Growth.
South-East Asia, which is highly vulnerable to
the adverse impacts of climate change, established
the Climate Change Initiative of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2009 as a
consultative body to further increase the region’s
capacity in both mitigation and adaptation efforts. As
a member of ASEAN, Cambodia is fully engaged in
the implementation of that ASEAN initiative through
the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change and
the ASEAN Action Plan on Joint Response to Climate
Change, with the goal of enhancing closer and deeper
regional and international cooperation on climate
change.
Next year marks the deadline of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). While some MDG targets
have been achieved, we have to acknowledge that much
more effort is need to reach the set goals of the MDGs,
as progress has been uneven and insufficient. Many
developing countries have not attained their MDG
targets, primarily owing to unfulfilled commitments,
lack of resources, insufficient dedication, and food
insecurity. The situation was further aggravated by the
financial uncertainty in the developed countries, which
has had an impact on their commitment to official
development assistance. Therefore, bolder and more
focused global efforts are needed as we approach the
final year to realize the MDGs.
With the aim of realizing the MDGs, Cambodia
has adopted its own development targets, known as
the Cambodia MDGs, which have been incorporated
comprehensively into our National Strategic
Development Plan 2014-2018. As a result, substantial
progress has been achieved, positioning Cambodia
to meet some goals of the MDGs by the end of 2015.
Cambodia’s target in reducing the poverty rate to
19.5 per cent by 2015 has already been achieved ahead
of schedule, as the nation’s poverty rate had already
fallen to 19 per cent in 2013. As a result, Cambodia
received a United Nations Award for cutting hunger in
half before the deadline.
In combating HIV/AIDS, Cambodia has made great
strides by progressively reducing HIV prevalence to
0.6 per cent in 2013. In order to achieve that indicator, the
Cambodian Government has further adopted a getting-
to-zero policy, aiming to realize zero new infections,
zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination by
2020.
In addition to tracking the Cambodia MDGs
achievements, the Royal Government of Cambodia has
put forth a Cambodia MDGs acceleration framework
with an approach aimed at accelerating progress in
achieving the MDGs and other human development
goals. The framework could provide the essential
input for the implementation of our National Strategic
Development Plan 2014-2018 aimed at completing the
remaining MDGs, as well as at setting the stage for the
preparation of the post-2015 development agenda.
Cambodia shares the view expressed in the
report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on
the Post-2015 Development Agenda, entitled A New
Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform
Economies through Sustainable Development, to be
adopted during the sixty-ninth session of the General
Assembly, that
“a new development agenda should carry forward
the spirit of the Millennium Declaration and the
best of the MDGs, with a practical focus on things
like poverty, hunger, water, sanitation, education
and health care”.
Cambodia is of the view that the post-2015
development agenda should be realistic and built
upon the lessons learned from the difficulties in
the realization of the MDGs; in particular, it should
ensure that any process towards a broader development
objective is truly balanced and comprehensive.
Next year, 2015, is a crucial year as the United
Nations celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its
creation and the tenth anniversary of the 2005 World
Summit, where world leaders agreed to reform the
United Nations to meet the needs of today’s geopolitical
and global challenges (resolution 60/1). To that end,
the General Assembly should be further empowered
so that it can play a leading role in strengthening the
wider United Nations system. The Security Council, as
a body mandated with the primary responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security,
should represent the world’s realities today. In sum, we
think that more equitable representation in the United
Nations organs would assist the Organization in coping
with the urgent global challenges.