Oman

On behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, I am pleased to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of this session. We assure you that we will sincerely cooperate with you in order to contribute to the success of this session and to the realization of the desirable objectives to which we all aspire. We all hope to serve humankind and the cause of international peace and security. I also take this opportunity, Sir, to express my heartfelt thanks to his Excellency Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, your predecessor and President of the Assembly at its fifty-eighth session, for all his efforts to ensure the success of that session and of the concurrent resumptions of the tenth emergency special session. This session of the General Assembly has been convened under very complex and difficult circumstances. There has been a clear decline in the international community’s ability to unite and to reach consensus on solutions to the diverse problems that have undermined international diplomacy. Those problems have deprived preventive diplomacy of its ability to create an environment of international understanding conducive to agreement on issues of common interest to all peoples. We believe that there is an urgent need for the international community to review both regional and international policies and to put an end to the sense of uncertainty, pessimism and vagueness surrounding the work of the United Nations. States that can influence international policy have a moral and material responsibility to take the initiative to review those policies and create an environment of cooperation among international stakeholders. The region of the Middle East is the focus of global attention, because of its potential impact on international stability. We share the interest shown by many countries in the situation in the Middle East, which is prompted by the need to find solutions to the political and social problems facing the region. Here, it is worth noting that the Group of Eight, at its meeting on Sea Island in the state of Georgia in the United States on 9 June 2004, focused their interest on the Middle East. In principle, we welcome their position since we believe that closer cooperation is essential within the Group of Eight and the countries of the Middle East to consider how to prioritize the discussion of the political issues that remain the main obstacle to the march of the people of the Middle East towards progress and stability. The problem of Palestine and Israel’s continued occupation of Arab territories in Syria and Lebanon cannot be put on the back burner indefinitely. Therefore, we should seek fair and just solutions to those problems. The road map announced on 30 April 2003 was welcomed by the Arab countries but has yet to be implemented. We therefore call on the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations — the members of the Quartet that sponsored the road map — to fulfil their commitment to the Middle East. The Security Council adopted resolution 1546 (2004), by which it transferred sovereignty in Iraq from the Coalition forces to an interim Iraqi Government. It was a milestone in the development of the situation in Iraq. However, the deteriorating security situation in Iraq remains a cause of deep concern. We believe that the interim Iraqi Government is making great efforts to restore normalcy and stability. We support the Government of Iraq in its endeavours to unify all Iraqis around a common agenda. We feel that certain successes have been achieved through the adoption of political dialogue, and that it is essential to Iraq to expand that dialogue. In the Sudan, the Government has been making commendable efforts to achieve stability in Darfur. We look forward to ongoing cooperation between the African Union and the Sudanese Government. The Government’s willingness to implement certain measures proposed by the United Nations and to cooperate with the Security Council to implement resolution 1564 (2004) deserves our support and commendation. In our view, the United Nations should provide financial and technical support to the efforts of the African Union and the Sudanese Government to achieve peace in Darfur. Moreover, we believe that any action by the Security Council against the Sudan would be harmful and would undermine the United Nations ability to work effectively on the ground. It would, moreover, hamper the efforts of the Sudan and the African Union to achieve peace. All human beings share this Earth and should work together to develop and preserve its resources. It is highly important that the international community take note of the environmental changes taking place 22 everywhere, such as the destructive storms, floods and fires that have had tremendously harmful effects on all humanity. Those phenomena may be caused by human transgression and destruction of environmental diversity. That is why the international community is called upon to study the environment and do whatever it can to stem the phenomenon of desertification and drought in order to preserve great global sources of food. Recent international policies have resulted in the emergence of serious types of terrorist acts. One of the most horrific of such acts was the hostage-taking in a school in Beslan in North Ossetia in the Russian Federation. We strongly condemn that terrorist act and express our solidarity with the Russian Government in fighting such attacks. We believe that the international community should show solidarity in the face of terrorism everywhere and engage in in-depth consideration of the phenomenon. The convening of an international conference to consider terrorism is a good idea, since the outcome of such a conference could be an important tool that would help defeat the phenomenon. The Sultanate of Oman believes that States’ accession and commitment to disarmament treaties and conventions would enhance and maintain international peace and security. In that context, we should seriously consider the possibility of establishing collective mechanisms for arms monitoring and control, based on unified standards acceptable to all, be it in the field of weapons of mass destruction or that of conventional weapons. Otherwise, the role of the world order will remain limited to theoretical studies or to drawing attention to the dangers of the arms race to development, the environment and international peace and security. The world stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, could destroy human life on our planet many times over. That is why the Sultanate of Oman has signed most conventions on disarmament and arms control, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention. The emergence of globalization and the World Trade Organization raised the hopes and aspirations of peoples for an era of international cooperation that would broaden sustainable development. However, the results of the new developments have been an amalgamation of democracy and dictatorship, of human rights and enslavement, of great prosperity and extreme poverty, of the provision of advanced health care side by side with fatal contagious diseases, of free trade and world trade monopoly, and of a rise in the price of industrial products and a decline in the prices of the raw materials required to maintain their production. The amalgam has led to economic imbalances. Is that what we sought to achieve? The High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change was established in the context of an initiative by the Secretary-General to seek ways of reforming the Organization, and in particular of expanding the permanent membership of the Security Council. We would welcome such an expansion in order to broaden the base of participation in the Council’s decision- making process. However, the permanent members should work to create an international climate conducive to an expansion that reflects the international will. Conditions of membership should be reviewed to include aspects that conform to international changes so as to guarantee equitable representation and international consensus if possible. We believe that it is high time for permanent members of the Security Council to review their own attitudes and policies in the Council in order to facilitate the required restructuring. We believe that the excessive adoption of Security Council resolutions on secondary international issues undermines the prestige of the Council and reduces the ability of the United Nations to deal with priority questions that are important to international peace and security. We believe that the Security Council must not interfere in the internal affairs of Member States, so as to preserve the international consensus in addressing issues related to international peace and security. The Sultanate of Oman would like to express its support to the efforts made by the United Nations. We would particularly like to express our support to the Secretary-General and to the role he plays in conducting the affairs of this Organization. Our delegation will spare no effort to ensure the success of this session, in order to realize the objectives to which we all aspire.