Allow me at the outset
to convey my warm congratulations to Mr. Srgjan
Kerim on his election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session. My delegation is
confident that with his immense wealth of experience,
he will steer the session very successfully. Zambia
assures him of its total support during his tenure of
office.
Let me, at this point, pay tribute to Mr. Kurt
Waldheim, the fourth Secretary-General of the United
Nations, and later President of Austria, who died on
14 June 2007. To us, he was a great diplomat who
made Africa one of his priorities, especially at the
height of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.
May I take this opportunity to thank Her
Excellency Sheikha Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain for
having presided over the affairs of the sixty-first
session in an exemplary manner. Among her
accomplishments was the carrying forward of the
United Nations reforms called for at the 2005 World
Summit. It was gratifying to have a lady preside over
the highest office of the General Assembly after almost
three decades of male dominance. I hope that this
organ will not again take that long to have an excellent
woman as President.
Let me now congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the
Republic of Korea on his election as the eighth
Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am
confident that he will build upon the strong foundation
that was laid by his predecessor, Kofi Annan of Ghana,
to whom I wish to pay tribute for the manner in which
he steered the Organization during his tenure in office.
He made Africa proud, and I wish him success in his
current and future endeavours.
Our world today presents many challenges. These
include abject poverty for the majority of the world’s
inhabitants, underdevelopment, conflict, human
trafficking, climate change, terrorism, violations of
human rights, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and gender
inequality. While some of these challenges have only
recently emerged, others have been with us from time
immemorial. These challenges cannot be entirely
resolved within national boundaries or at the regional
level. They can be resolved only at the multilateral
level, with all the players carrying out their roles
diligently. For that reason, Zambia supports a strong
and coherent United Nations. We agree with the
recommendation of the High-level Panel on United
Nations System-wide Coherence that the United
Nations urgently needs more coherence and synergy.
That will enable it to perform as one and to use its
unique universality, neutrality and capacity to operate
efficiently.
Furthermore, Zambia supports the ongoing
reforms of the United Nations. In particular, we
welcome the mandate given to the Economic and
Social Council to make it more effective in executing
its duties, which include formulating policy
recommendations on international and social issues, as
well as coordinating activities of specialized agencies
in the economic, social and related fields. In that
regard, collaboration of the United Nations with the
international financial institutions and the World Trade
Organization should be further enhanced; we welcome
the work going on in this area.
This brings me to another issue: reform of the
Security Council. This matter has remained unresolved
for more than a decade. United Nations reform cannot
be complete without meaningful reform of the Security
Council. Any new proposals to reform that vital organ
should seriously consider Africa’s call to have two
permanent seats with full veto power. Africa is aware
that the veto is an undemocratic instrument and would
prefer to do away with it altogether. However, as long
as others insist on keeping the veto, Africa should have
it as well. The status quo is unacceptable. It is my hope
that during Mr. Kerim’s tenure of office, this aspect of
the reform process will be concluded successfully.
The issue of climate change is very important to
the current and future inhabitants of our planet. It is
therefore fitting that one theme of this session is
responding to climate change. I commend the
Secretary-General for organizing the 24 September
2007 high-level event on this matter. Indeed, the
effects of climate change are being felt mostly by the
developing countries. For instance, Southern Africa is
experiencing critical food shortages due to torrential
rains in some areas and severe drought in other parts of
the region.
The problem of climate change is a global issue
requiring global action within the multilateral context
of the United Nations. As a signatory to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Kyoto Protocol, Zambia has already taken
several measures to implement those international
instruments. In that regard, we submitted our first
national communication report in 2004. We have also
taken deliberate steps to create public awareness about
the problem of climate change so that our people can
devise appropriate local interventions.
Regarding measures aimed at adapting to climate
change, Zambia has just finished formulating its
National Adaptation Programme of Action. The
programme will help us identify the most vulnerable
sectors of our economy, as well as adaptation activities
required to alleviate the adverse effects of climate
change. For this reason, we call upon the international
community to ensure that the Adaptation Fund under
the Climate Change Convention, which has taken
rather long to establish, is made operational.
While placing emphasis on adaptation, we also
pledge to reduce emissions from industrial and other
sources. We call upon industrialized countries, which
have a history of producing these emissions, to take
serious steps to reduce them. We believe that the
situation is now serious and that narrow national
interests in this matter must be discarded forthwith.
As a developing country, Zambia needs assistance
to enhance its capacity in key adaptive areas, such as
scientific research, early warning and rapid response,
to address the adverse effects of climate change.
Accordingly, Zambia calls for the speedy development
and transfer of appropriate technologies to help us cope
with the negative impacts of climate change, as well as
to put us on a low-carbon path to economic growth. We
also call for a more comprehensive institutional
framework for international environmental governance.
In 2000, the developing world embraced the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a
comprehensive strategy to move our countries out of
economic and social decline and better integrate us into
the global economy. Halfway through the
implementation period, many countries are far from
attaining most of the Goals. That is so in spite of the
improved economic performance recorded by some
developing countries following recent debt relief
initiatives, coupled with sustained prudent economic
management.
To illustrate the point, in Zambia the economy
grew by 6.2 per cent last year, and inflation declined to
a single digit level for the first time in 30 years. Those
economic gains, however, have not translated into a
significant decline in the incidence of poverty, which
stands at 68 per cent. Zambia’s development efforts are
further compromised by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and,
now, the adverse effects of climate change.
With regard to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, my
Government has declared it to be a national crisis,
requiring sustained mitigation and preventive
measures. I would like to take this opportunity to thank
all our cooperating partners for their support to Zambia
in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria.
Despite these challenges, Zambia, for its part, has
made steady progress and is likely to meet most of the
MDGs by 2015. The Goals most likely not to be
attained by 2015 are: reducing by three quarters the
maternal mortality ratio, integrating the principles of
sustainable development into the country’s policies and
programmes and reversing the loss of environmental
resources. Our goal now is to translate the economic
achievements into tangible improvements in the quality
of life of the Zambian people. That goal is enshrined in
Zambia’s Vision 2030, which is aimed at raising the
country to middle-income status, significantly reducing
hunger and poverty and fostering a competitive and
outward-oriented economy.
But that goal will remain elusive if our
cooperating partners do not fulfil their commitments.
Indeed, it is saddening to note that total official
development assistance declined in real terms by 5.1
per cent between 2005 and 2006, and only five donor
countries have met or exceeded the 0.7 per cent target.
I urge the cooperating partners to fulfil their
commitments. Furthermore, while Zambia welcomes
the discussions and progress made on aid effectiveness
following the Paris Declaration, we call for official
development assistance to be delivered in a more
efficient manner, in accordance with the Declaration.
Aid cannot be effective unless corruption is
uprooted. My Government has, therefore, declared war
against that social vice. Accordingly, I take this
opportunity to urge the international community to
desist from providing safe havens for leaders who
plunder national resources. Such ill-gotten wealth
should be returned to the countries from where it was
misappropriated so that it can be used to fight poverty.
Zambia condemns international terrorism in all
its forms and manifestations. For this reason, we call
upon members of the international community to
refrain from harbouring terrorists. Zambia, for its part,
supports the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear
Terrorism.
Through regional bodies, such as the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), developing
countries enhance their ability to cooperate and also
jointly negotiate for better access to developed
countries’ markets. Consequently, during Zambia’s
current chairmanship of SADC, we shall continue to
consolidate the formation of the SADC free trade area
by 2008 as a prerequisite to the Regional Customs
Union. In addition, Zambia will, on behalf of SADC,
seek funding to develop an adequate regional
transboundary infrastructure in support of
much-needed connectivity in areas such as water,
transport, energy, communications and information
technology.
Many regions, including Africa, have been
dogged by conflict. This has adversely affected the
countries’ potential to participate in the global
economic arena. In the quest for peace in our
subregion, SADC has launched a stand-by brigade,
which will have the capacity for peace support
operations. It is our hope that the international
community will render necessary support to the
brigade to enable it to fulfil its mandate.
Better still, SADC and Zambia value the tenets of
democracy, political stability and integrated economic
development as the ultimate sound basis for peace and
stability. SADC will, therefore, continue to promote
the conducting of free and fair elections in the region.
Mr. Berdymukhammedov (Turkmenistan), Vice-
President, took the Chair
In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm, with regard to
the theme of this session, Zambia’s commitment to
cooperate with the international community in
addressing the problem of climate change. It is my
sincere hope that all of us will play our full part,
according to our abilities to deal with this serious
global challenge. To that end, we should not remain
indecisive and indifferent to this serious issue. Neither
should we miss the opportunity to do what we can to
make the world a better place to live in.