May I offer
my congratulations to you, Mr. President, your
Government and people on your election. I would also
like to offer my thanks to your predecessor, Her
Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her
leadership of the General Assembly over the past year.
I also offer my congratulations to the Secretary-
General on the progress he has made during the past
nine months. His first report (A/62/1) is very
encouraging, and we welcome his response to the new
challenges we are all facing. I also wish to thank our
United Nations representatives, workers and volunteers
throughout the world who are undertaking very hard
tasks which are often extremely dangerous. We thank
them for their professional dedication. This is
especially so in many parts of the Middle East. Here I
offer once more our continued strong support for all
the efforts being made by the United Nations to find a
solution to the suffering of the Palestinian people. In
doing so we reaffirm our solidarity with the people of
Palestine in their efforts to find a just and lasting
solution to problems that have been going on for
almost 60 years.
My last word of thanks, Mr. President, is to you
personally. We were most encouraged by your
acceptance speech and your plan for the future. We
were pleased to hear you express strong support for
multilateral solutions to world problems. We certainly
agree on the need for the United Nations to strengthen
its central position in the multilateral system. Most of
all, we are very happy with the idea of a lasting
consensus among Member States, the private sector,
non-governmental organizations and civil society. We
are especially pleased that civil societies were
included. That means giving ordinary people a place in
the consensus. That is why we found the statement so
encouraging. Nevertheless, it has set a very serious
challenge to the United Nations. It is most important
that our people gain the understanding that comes from
knowledge, experience and expertise. Our theme of
climate change at this session shows this very clearly.
The many discussions we have had this week
have taught us that all modern problems are extremely
complicated. It has also shown us how important it is
to gain a full understanding of these difficulties. If our
people are to gain such understanding, it will come
from having universal good education, good health and
strong social services. This will come only when all
countries have reached the United Nations Millennium
Goals. So it is more urgent than ever that these Goals
be reached on time. They cover all aspects of modern
life political, social, cultural, and, perhaps above all
today, economic and commercial. As such they provide
a way for people to understand modern problems well,
take a full part in the consensus and help to find a
solution.
I say this because we are now at the critical
halfway point that we set seven years ago in planning
the Millennium Development Goals. The discussion we
have had all week on climate change shows how vital
the next seven years will be. In my own country we
have only just started to realize how difficult the
subject is. It is like security and sustainable
development and energy. These are all new,
twenty-first century problems, and they all mean that
our people need to learn more and more and to learn
very quickly.
We need to include the subject I have mentioned
in all aspects of national development planning, and we
need to share knowledge and expertise. We believe that
this is more important than ever. This is because by
exchanging views and information on climate change
this week we have also learned another new lesson,
which teaches us that when it comes to modern twenty-
first century problems we are all in them together. That
is what your consensus, Mr. President, means. It
recognizes that we all have an important contribution
to make if we work together. That is why we very
much value the partnership you have proposed. We
hope it will result in our people becoming far more
than just receivers of solutions. We hope it will start to
make them one of the most important agents in finding
solutions.
We feel you have begun your term of office,
Mr. President, by inviting us all to share a modern
platform on which we can all work well. We are very
pleased to join you and your consensus for the sixty-
second session of the General Assembly, and we wish
you much success in broadening and strengthening it
during the coming year.