First of all, I would like to join in the sincere
congratulations on your election as the President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-second session and wish
you every success in this lofty office. I would also like
to avail myself to this opportunity to express gratitude
to your predecessor, Her Excellency Mrs. Haya Rashed
Al-Khalifa, for her selfless and efficient work during
the sixty-first session. We also join in the words of
welcome addressed to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon.
Tajikistan welcomes the continued reforms of the
United Nations structure and enhancement of its
activities aimed at strengthening peace and
international security, furthering the promotion of
human rights, expanding its humanitarian mission,
placing the problem of climate change as an issue of
top priority and addressing today’s other challenges.
We believe that further progress in dealing with these
issues of global importance is dependent on joint,
concerted and consistent actions of the entire
international community.
Tajikistan attaches primary importance to the
further strengthening of the disarmament process, the
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the speedy entry
into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty and activation of negotiations on the
establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones. In
cooperation with other Central Asian States, Tajikistan
took a very active part in the drafting of the Treaty on a
Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone in Central Asia, which was
signed on 8 September 2006 in Semipalatinsk, and in
the adoption of the relevant General Assembly
resolution (A/Res/61/88) last year.
It is common knowledge that international
terrorism, transnational organized crime and illicit drug
trafficking have become a serious obstacle on the road
towards sustainable development, inflicting much
suffering and causing trouble to humanity. The
international community should intensify its efforts
aimed at counteracting the commission of acts of terror
and the proliferation of ideologies based on terrorism,
extremism and separatism, interreligious and
inter-ethnic intolerance and hostility, and should
enhance its struggle against the financing of terrorism.
The global system of combating terrorism, which
is currently taking shape, cannot be established without
the involvement of regional and subregional
organizations. In our region, the Commonwealth of
Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty
Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization are serving this purpose.
We believe that long-term success in combating
terrorism and religious extremism depends on
eliminating the root causes of these negative
phenomena associated with social and economic
problems within society. It is essential to jointly search
for ways of addressing poverty issues, overcoming
negative consequences of globalization, and resolving
internal and regional conflicts. Actions based on force
alone will not be able to uproot terrorism.
Regrettably, today, we witness the merging of
terrorism with transnational organized crime and the
drug trade, which gives rise to our shared and
justifiable concern. Prevention of illicit drug
trafficking, which, to a certain extent, is the breeding
ground for terrorism and international crime, should
become part and parcel of our common struggle against
terrorism. In this regard, I would like to reiterate
Tajikistan’s willingness to continue constructive
dialogue and cooperation with the aim of establishing
an effective global partnership for counteracting the
narcotics threat.
An international conference dedicated to the tenth
anniversary of the signing of the General Agreement on
the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in
Tajikistan was held in Dushanbe in June 2007, in
cooperation with the United Nations. Almost
simultaneously, the United Nations Tajikistan Office of
Peacebuilding successfully concluded its activities.
Moreover, for the first time, the citizens of my country
joined international United Nations peacekeeping
operations. These events provide convincing proof that
the United Nations has the capacity to assist in
reaching a peace and in ensuring further sustainable
development in a country that has lived through serious
internal conflict.
For Tajikistan, like for most United Nations
Member States, the achievement of sustainable
development is a high priority goal. Within the United
Nations framework, much has been accomplished the
world over in order to promote sustainable
development and to alleviate poverty, epidemics,
famine and illiteracy. Meanwhile, the implementation
of a large-scale programme on the attainment of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require
not only extra effort but also additional resources.
Tajikistan’s intention is to realize the greatest possible
progress in the implementation of the MDGs. The main
purpose of the National Strategy for Development of
the Republic of Tajikistan up to the year 2015 and the
Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Tajikistan for the
years 2007-2009 is to ensure stable economic
development and to provide a better standard of living
for the country’s population.
It is also obvious that the attainment of the
MDGs, to a large extent, also depends on the attitude
of the international community when it comes to
rendering assistance to developing countries and on the
timely mobilization of internal and external resources.
With this in mind, Tajikistan joins the appeal addressed
to the donor community to at least double the amount
of assistance targeted for development. The proposal to
pardon the debts incurred by developing countries in
exchange for the implementation of national projects
aimed at sustainable development remains equally
important. In this connection, we attach much
significance to the unification of efforts aimed at
supporting sustainable financing for development, first
and foremost, in the interests of attaining the MDGs.
We are in favour of a joint search for effective and
feasible development financing mechanisms. Partial
writing off of debts could be equally important, since it
would make it possible to invest liberated funds into
education, environmental protection, combating
HIV/AIDS and other MDGs.
Tajikistan wholeheartedly supports the creation of
a mechanism of additional measures aimed at making
further progress in the realization of the right to
development, as enshrined in the Declaration on the
Right to Development. Among the issues that should be
regarded as associated with that right are the rational
usage of natural resources for the purpose of
development, provision for the well-being of the
population and addressing the problems of poverty and
unemployment.
In that connection, Tajikistan believes it has the
right to develop the hydropower sector of the economy
by building water reservoirs and dams on the major
rivers of the country, because sustainable development,
improved living standards of the population,
achievement of the MDGs, the provision of reliable
regulated irrigation water flows and an increased
production of electrical energy depend on the
availability of hydropower resources. Not only is the
implementation of hydropower projects in Tajikistan
extremely advantageous for the country itself, but it
will also be able to influence favourably the
sustainable development of the other States of the
region. For instance, the completion of the construction
of the Ragun hydropower station in Tajikistan alone
will make it possible to supply an extra three million
hectares of land with water in the neighbouring Central
Asian states. Only an integrated approach towards the
use of hydropower and other natural resources of the
region, based on the principles of mutual
understanding, assistance and trust among the States of
the region, can ensure sustainable development in the
region and promote a resolution of environmental
problems, which are closely interconnected with the
rational use of those resources.
Tajikistan is interested in getting support and
establishing a partnership with countries and
international organizations in the field of renewable
sources of energy and energy-efficient technologies,
which help to reduce the usage of other traditional
types of energy that negatively affect our climate and
do enormous damage to the environment and to the
future of humanity.
Tajikistan welcomes the High-Level Event on
Climate Change held recently in New York and the
forthcoming conference on the same subject to be held
in Bali in December 2007.
Within the context of global warming,
degradation of glaciers and the snow cover on the
territories of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which are the
upper watershed zones of Central Asia’s rivers, has
become an ever increasing concern for the Central
Asian region. According to various sources, over the
last 10 years the area of glaciers in Tajikistan has
decreased by 30 to 35 per cent. Although supplying the
population with drinking water is being discussed at
the top level, and the fact that numerous declarations
and other international instruments have already been
adopted on this issue, the situation remains urgent. The
solution of the problem requires further coordinated
efforts on behalf of countries and international
organizations. This problem is not only addressed in
the Millennium Development Goals, but it is also
ranked among those challenges that the world
community encounters on a daily basis.
For this reason, the implementation of the
International Decade for Action “Water for Life”,
proclaimed by the United Nations on the initiative of
the Republic of Tajikistan, is regarded as even more
timely and appropriate. As part of the Decade, the
Government of Tajikistan has planned an international
conference for 2008 in Dushanbe on water-related
natural disasters, to be held in cooperation with United
Nations agencies and other international organizations.
Tajikistan hopes that all United Nations Member States
will participate actively in this conference.
From time immemorial the water originating in
Tajikistan has quenched the thirst of all nations of
Central Asia and has irrigated the dry steppes of the
region. However, it is obvious that the region has
already been experiencing water-related difficulties
that can become more aggravated on a yearly basis. To
address this urgent problem, Tajikistan proposes to
provide the Central Asian States with environmentally
sound freshwater from Lake Sarez, which is located at
a height of almost 3,300 metres above sea level and
which could provide freshwater to half the population
of Central Asia. The implementation of this initiative
would make it possible to eliminate the real threat of
an overflow of Lake Sarez, which could affect millions
of people who reside in the downstream areas in
neighbouring countries.
As for the development of trade and economic
cooperation with other countries, the major challenge
that Tajikistan is facing in this area is lack of access to
the sea and other transportation and communication
difficulties. For this reason, Tajikistan is committed to
the decisions and recommendations outlined in the
Almaty Programme of Action for transit transport
cooperation, which addresses the special needs of
landlocked developing countries to efficiently use the
available transport infrastructure and to increase transit
capacity in order to encourage development of trade
and the advancement of investments in Central Asia.
The rehabilitation process in Afghanistan is
creating favourable conditions for cooperation in the
region in the implementation of transportation and
communication projects aimed at gaining access to
southern sea ports. The creation of new multi-optional
transport corridors and the restoration of the Great Silk
Road routes seek to establish a unified interconnected
system of communications and to provide the Central
Asian States with reliable access to promising markets.
The August opening of the bridge across the Pyandj
River between Tajikistan and Afghanistan was among
the practical measures taken to achieve that goal.
The magnitude of the challenges facing the
international community requires the further
strengthening of our Organization. There is no doubt
that all of us must do our utmost to make the United
Nations even more effective in addressing current
issues. For that reason, we believe that all of us must
shoulder our responsibilities towards the Organization,
in the interests of all Member States.