Allow me, Mr. President, to join others in welcoming you and
congratulating you on your election as President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-second session. We are
convinced that your leadership will contribute to
promoting both your country and our entire region, as
well as to a successful outcome at the current session.
May I also extend wholehearted congratulations
to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. He can
count on the full support of Montenegro, as the
youngest Member of the United Nations. Particular
thanks go also to Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa for
her successful presidency of the General Assembly at
its sixty-first session.
It is time for all countries and particularly
smaller and developing countries to realize that
multilateralism is the pre-eminent form of interaction
in our changing world. Multilateralism provides a
framework for choosing democratic, development and
cultural options that can most effectively meet the
major challenges ahead, including the maintenance of
peace and security, climate change, development
processes, the fight against terrorism and the protection
of human rights.
Mindful of the importance of multilateral
organizations, in particular the United Nations,
Montenegro stands ready to actively participate in
making those principles a reality. As a society that is
implementing major structural economic and social
reforms, we understand and support the reform
processes taking place under the auspices of the
Organization. Furthermore, as a Member State, we are
aware of our obligation to respect the international
legal order and to contribute to the consolidation of
peace and democracy in the international community.
Good-neighbourly relations and regional
cooperation, as integral components of the processes of
European and Euro-Atlantic integration, form the basis
of Montenegro’s foreign policy. We strongly believe
that Montenegro and the Western Balkans clearly have
a European future. In that context, we support the
efforts of all of our neighbours to adopt and implement
European standards and values.
In mid-October, we shall sign a stabilization and
association agreement with the European Union (EU),
thus establishing the first contractual relationship
between Montenegro and the Union. That will
complete the current phase of intensive activities on
our path towards Europe, which will enable us to enter
a new and enhanced phase in our European relations. It
is in that context that we view our recent accession to
the Partnership for Peace initiative. Our commitment to
European and Euro-Atlantic integration has been
reaffirmed in all the strategic documents that we have
adopted since the restoration of our independence.
Many development processes are now taking
place in Montenegro: an expansion of our open-market
economy, the transformation of ownership structures
and reform of our public sector, judicial and security
structures. Our institutional reforms and development
programmes, which have been the focus of our
political activities during the current phase, are guided
by the principles of European and Euro-Atlantic
integration, which are a guarantee of stability and
prosperity. It is with a full sense of responsibility that
we are creating an environment that ensures the rule of
law, equality and respect for human, minority and
religious rights. In that way we can contribute to
regional stability as well.
Although we are a small State, we stand ready to
contribute, to the best of our ability, to the
establishment of conditions that will enable the region
to continue along the path of mutual trust, enhanced
stabilization and unhindered cooperation.
By becoming independent, Montenegro has taken
charge of its integration into the system of international
relations as an equal partner and has shouldered its
responsibility for the maintenance of peace, security
and stability in the region, while building an open and
democratic civil society.
In that context, we believe that the direct
negotiations that have begun on Kosovo’s future status
will be fruitful. Montenegro strongly supports that
negotiating process, in which the international
community has invested considerable effort, convinced
that it will lead to a lasting and sustainable solution
that will contribute to the strengthening and
preservation of regional stability over the long term.
Montenegro is particularly sensitive to the theme
underlying the sixty-second session of the General
Assembly: our response to climate change. As the
Secretary-General stated in paragraph 8 of his report
on the work of the Organization (A/62/1), “[C]limate
change, and what we do about it, will define us, our
era, and ultimately our global legacy”. Here, the idea
of the world as a global village, an indivisible whole, is
perhaps most evident. Without a common approach,
there can be no correct response. No one has the right
to remain indifferent to this challenge, either
individually or in global terms.
The negative impacts of climate change could be
many. It could affect countries such as my own in ways
that include a rise in the level of the Adriatic Sea,
rising temperatures and damage to forest and other
ecosystems and to biodiversity. In that context,
Montenegro is making efforts to keep pace with global
trends, contributing to endeavours to ensure better
living conditions and a more humane environment for
us and future generations. We are carrying out many
activities and projects to that end, including efforts in
fulfilment of our international obligations. We have
ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and we have
begun to prepare our first report on implementation of
the Protocol. We also recently adopted a national
sustainable development strategy and are now
establishing a network of public institutions to plan
activities related to the challenges of climate change.
Mindful of our country’s natural resources and of
our responsibility to preserve them, the parliament of
the Republic of Montenegro decided in 1991 to declare
Montenegro an ecological State. As an ecological State,
Montenegro has an additional obligation to support
United Nations efforts to promote sustainable
development throughout the world. Through robust
efforts, we shall continue to strengthen Montenegro as
a State that guarantees sustainable development for its
citizens.
We therefore welcome the efforts of the United
Nations and particularly of the Secretary-General in
this area. We are encouraged by the messages
emanating from the present General Assembly session
and the recent high-level event on climate change. We
hope that those messages will contribute significantly
to the success of the Bali process in December and that
the Bali Climate Change Conference will produce
additional constructive proposals and sustainable
solutions, particularly with regard to the post-2012
goals.
In recent months, we have seen the United
Nations continue to make significant efforts in hot
spots throughout the world. The contributions made by
the United Nations in Darfur alone have repeatedly
demonstrated the Organization’s capacity to adapt and
to play its appropriate role in today’s world.
We therefore believe that the United Nations is
capable of undertaking comprehensive reform of its
system to respond to the increasingly complex
challenges facing it. Given the importance of the
Organization to world peace and security, the
modalities of such reform should result in a stronger,
more organized, better coherent and more effective
United Nations.
We are of the view that effective coordination
among the principal United Nations organs is vital. We
have seen some progress in this area since the 2005
World Summit.
Another essential aspect of United Nations
reform is reform of the General Assembly, which
remains the primary decision-making organ of the
United Nations. Work on that aspect, together with
others, must be intensified and made more results-
oriented.
The same thing applies to the ongoing debate on
reform of the Economic and Social Council and, in
particular, of the Security Council. Equitable
representation for the Group of Eastern European
States, to which we belong, should be guaranteed in
that important organ.
For a small country like Montenegro, effective
cooperation with the United Nations is crucial. We are
therefore most interested in being the agent and
promoter of that cooperation, be it through the One
United Nations Initiative or through a similar modality.
Our commitment to cooperation with the United
Nations is also demonstrated by the project to build the
first United Nations eco-building as the focal point for
all United Nations activities in Montenegro.
As a developing country, Montenegro looks
forward to the High-level Dialogue on Financing for
Development and to the successful conclusion of the
Doha Round negotiations, which we hope will lend
fresh impetus to bringing together economic, financial
and social issues with the aim of achieving
comprehensive progress and development. The world
today faces a multitude of challenges in this area.
Montenegro stands ready to contribute to the global
partnership for development.
In that context, Montenegro will continue its
activities conducive to the full implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals, for we are convinced
that in that way we will contribute to improving quality
of life and overall stability.
With a view to meeting the legitimate security
interests of nations, we must be united and decisive in
tackling terrorism, which continues to threaten the
world. The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism
Strategy and its Plan of Action (resolution 60/288) are
of great importance, and call for agreement on a
comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
Montenegro will continue to demonstrate its full
and unequivocal commitment to, and compliance with,
international obligations through its cooperation with
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY). We shall continue our concrete
cooperation with the ICTY, contributing not only to the
rule of law but also to implementing the Tribunal’s
completion strategy.
We shall continue to craft our policies and to
work towards our development on the basis of the
principles set out in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which represent the foundations of
modern democracy. We therefore view the United
Nations as the most important forum for achieving
progress, a more equitable future and a community of
equal nations.
Our country is proud of its multi-ethnic and
multiconfessional harmony. That is one of our
cherished values, which distinguishes Montenegro in
the regional and broader international context. With
our traditions and culture, Montenegro is part of the
age-old historical currents of the Balkans, the
Mediterranean and Europe. We are at the crossroads of
civilizations and religions, and share the intertwined
influences emanating from them. We want to preserve
and enhance that legacy by working together not only
with our neighbours but also with all other countries
with which we share such advantages of geography,
culture and values.
The world Organization is the only true global
forum, because it reflects all the diversity and qualities
of its Members, which are united by principles and
values that, after 62 years, continue to serve as a
beacon in an increasingly changing and dynamic
world. Following that course while being prepared to
change is an imperative for us all.