Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I offer you, on behalf of my delegation and in my own name, my warmest congratulations on the great confidence that the General Assembly has placed in you in electing you to preside over the work of its eighteenth session. Knowing your great ability, we are sure that you will assume this heavy responsibility with competence and dexterity.
66. May I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to your eminent predecessor. Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, who so admirably conducted the work of the seventeenth session of the General Assembly, showing so much wisdom and decision, I wish also to express my high esteem for U Thant, the Secretary-General, and my appreciation of his untiring efforts to ensure the success of the work of this Organization.
67. The agenda for the eighteenth session of the General Assembly reflects three objectives: disarmament, decolonization and economic development,
68. This session has begun its work in a favourable atmosphere of international "détente". The conclusion of the Treaty banning nuclear weapon tests opens the way to further International agreements aimed at avoiding the mass destruction of mankind and ending the arms race, thus allowing great and small Powers to devote to the welfare of humanity the funds now used for armaments.
69. It is with great satisfaction and keen interest that we have listened to the speeches made from this rostrum by the representatives of the three sponsors of the Moscow Treaty. They have indeed swept aside the clouds that have hitherto obscured the atmosphere of international relations, they have renewed the hopes of mankind and have opened up a road which, we trust, will lead to an era of peace and security throughout the world. We hope also that an agreement on general and complete disarmament will follow this important first step and will encourage peaceful co-operation among all nations.
70. One of the most important subjects on the agenda of the present session is decolonization. Imperialism continues to cling obstinately to certain parts of the world, particularly in Africa, in defiance of the United Nations and of the will of the freedom-loving nations which are firmly resolved to eliminate the last vestiges of imperialism. In reaffirming here the attachment of my Government to the principle, proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, of the right of peoples to self-determination, my delegation strongly supports the legitimate claims of the people of Oman, who are struggling to regain independence and sovereignty.
71. The deep wounds caused by the tragedy of Palestine are still painful in the heart of the Arab people. Ever since 1947 my delegation has constantly brought this matter before the United Nations. I ask what justice there can be in uprooting an entire people from their native soil and implanting another there. We have met here to defend the principles and the noble ideals of the United Nations Charter. We denounce injustice, aggression, racial discrimination, apartheid and colonialism. How can we allow a Member of the United Nations to flout all the principles that we defend and to defy the resolutions of our august Organization?
72. Mr. President, in your presidential address you rightly said: "We should not exempt some from what we demand of others, nor excuse in some what in others we condemn; such inconsistencies weaken the moral force of the Assembly and breed mistrust and scepticism." [1206th meeting, para. 29.] In the history of this Organization I have not found a more flagrant example of inconsistency and injustice than in the Palestine question. The United Nations has on its conscience the sufferings of more than a million Arab refugees who have been unjustly torn from their homes and have for fifteen years been living in a pitiful state of poverty, misery and privation. If the United Nations can pretend to be unaware of the fate meted out to the people of Palestine, the Arab nation can never forget it.
73. In her speech to the General Assembly [1224th meeting] the representative of Israel sought to represent herself as a factor of peace and security in the Middle East. She announced her Government's alleged good will and desire to diminish tension and promote a solution of the problem.
74. Would it not have been better, before making such a proposal, to furnish proof of that attitude by positive and specific acts, indicating the will of her Government to accept the resolutions of the United Nations and faithfully to comply with them?
75. My delegation is convinced that no final solution can be envisaged unless it is based on respect for the rights of the Arab people of Palestine, and that peace cannot be established in the Middle East until this problem is solved in accordance with the principles of law and justice.
76. Saudi Arabia is a developing country. In record time it has achieved considerable progress in the economic and social fields. I wish to make it clear that the development programme is financed by a growing balanced budget, without national debts or direct fiscal charges imposed on the population.
77. A very brief glance at the statistics of the last ten years may give a clear idea of the development of the country. In 19 54 the general budget was $110 million; in 1963 it has risen to $550 million. Expenditure on national education has risen from $3 million in 1954 to $45 million in 1963, that is to say it has increased fifteenfold. The budget for public health in 1954was $3million; in l963 it has risen to $20 million. These figures do not include the funds allocated for the construction of schools and medical centres.
78. I should like to say here that education at all stages —primary, secondary and higher— is completely free, as are all medical and hospital services provided for the people.
79. A social security law was promulgated last year providing for an effective system of help and assistance for all needy citizens and complete protection for children and the aged.
80. The budget for social affairs, which was $2 million last year has risen to $10 million this year.
81. Development in other aspects of our country's life is no less great. I shall mention, as an example, the budget of the Ministry of Communications, which is large enough to allow of the achievement of a road network of 5,000 kilometres, in addition to the 2,000 kilometres of roads and the 500 kilometres of railways that have already been built.
82. Together with its national responsibility towards the people, Saudi Arabia has a heavy international responsibility to care for the health and welfare of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who arrive each year, all at the same time, coming from the four corners of the earth to fulfil their religious obligations in the holy places of Islam.
83. In the face of these two heavy responsibilities, Saudi Arabia spares neither funds nor efforts to carry out these noble tasks successfully and to promote the well-being of its own people and of its guests from the different countries of the world.
84. We take this occasion to thank the United Nations and its specialized agencies for the valued assistance they are giving us in the fulfilment of our plans.
85. Within the framework of this general development programme, and in order to promote its achievement, my Government has concluded a cultural and technical agreement with Prance; it has already been put into effect and we hope it will be an example of peaceful, fruitful and useful co-operation.
86. Saudi Arabia places its trust in the United Nations and has always endeavoured to promote the noble ideals proclaimed in the Charter.
87. The United Nations has justified its existence and shown the value of its work on various occasions of international conflict in Africa, in the Middle East and recently in Yemen. The conflict in Yemen is one between brothers, and it should be settled, as Saudi Arabia has suggested from the outset, in accordance with the aspirations and desires of the Yemeni people, for my country is convinced that ultimately it is they who will decide their own future.
88. In view of the traditional friendly relations and spiritual ties between the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian peoples, my Government, which has sincerely collaborated with the United Nations, is prepared to give its honest and loyal support to any effort designed to produce a peaceful, just and equitable solution to this problem.
89. We are sure that the efforts made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations will help to put an end to this conflict and to similar conflicts which might threaten peace in different parts of the world.
90. Saudi Arabia, whose territory covers the greater part of the Arabian Peninsula, occupies a special place, not only among its Arab brothers but in the whole Moslem world. Indeed, this country was the cradle of Arab and Islamic civilization and culture, and throughout the centuries it has remained the repository of the Arab heritage and the guardian of the holy places of Islam.
91. For this reason my country will remain in the minds and hearts of 600 million inhabitants of our planet who still see in it the living symbol of a universal mission which has enriched the world by its contribution in the fields of progress, culture and civilization.
92. It is these inexhaustible spiritual and traditional sources that inspire Saudi Arabia in its policies, which are consonant with the principles of law and justice proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations. It is in this spirit that it holds out, in all sincerity, a friendly hand to all the peace-loving nations of the whole world.