I congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session. I assure you of Tanzania’s support as you discharge your mandate. I pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte, for his able stewardship of the work of the General Assembly. I commend the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and his staff for their dedicated service and tireless efforts during a very difficult time. The Millennium Development Goals represent our vision and hope for a new global partnership for shared global prosperity and security — an ideal at the very heart of the United Nations. But we are still far off the mark in meeting many of them, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We must further strengthen our common resolve to act in their resolute pursuit. In this, as in other things, actions speak louder than words. We commend Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for consistently meeting the long-established United Nations target of allocating at least 0.7 per cent of the national incomes of rich countries to development cooperation. Those countries have a broad national consensus on that matter, and their people are not in any way poorer because of it. We urge the other rich countries to produce timetables to meet that long-overdue target, to have coherent development policies and to earnestly and deliberately build and nurture a national consciousness and consensus on the global war on poverty. That war should now be a central political issue for all countries, rich and poor. Only then will the political will be generated to do more for the timely attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. It is true that money is not a panacea, but the eighth Millennium Development Goal — to develop a global partnership for development — may actually be the single most important key to unlocking new initiatives and latent capabilities to enable us to attain the Goals. And a genuine partnership implies shared rights and responsibilities as well as a shared 19 commitment to be evaluated. I commend the Governments of the Netherlands and Denmark for conducting, and making public, evaluations of their performance in meeting their commitments under the eighth Millennium Development Goal. On our part, never before have so many African Governments committed themselves to good democratic governance, to peer review, to ownership of the development agenda and to the participatory prioritization and sequencing of the tasks necessary for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. We now need an equally unprecedented commitment — in deeds — to the global war on poverty in all rich countries. African countries doing their part in the global compact on poverty alleviation should not be constrained by a lack of supportive external resources. At the International Conference on Financing for Development, held at Monterrey, developed countries pledged to match stronger reform efforts in developing countries with increased support. Tanzania asks that they now show leadership by delivering on their promises. When both rich and poor countries meet their obligations, tangible progress is realized. My country is an example. Our Primary Education Development Programme, for instance, has recorded remarkable progress. We now expect to attain the education Millennium Development Goal in 2006, nine years ahead of schedule. Gender parity has been attained, and the net enrolment ratio is already 90.1 per cent. Pass rates have doubled over the past four years. That was made possible by an increased budgetary allocation to the sector, by debt relief, by increased aid channelled through our own budget and by local ownership and participation. We are grateful for the cooperation we have received from our development partners. Together, we have shown what can be done where there is political will. Yesterday, my colleagues and I launched the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, entitled “A fair globalization: Creating opportunities for all”. The report is a contribution by commissioners with varied backgrounds and experiences; it is also a reflection of the views of many ordinary people consulted through national and regional dialogues. It presents one important consensus: globalization has produced both striking achievements and harmful distortions in global growth and development. We all agreed that, left unchecked, globalization will exacerbate the wealth gap within and between nations, thereby planting the seeds of social instability and crime on a national and global scale. But the report also presents the prospect of hope. Globalization, when properly governed, can be a force for good — a catalyst for change and for meeting the Millennium Development Goals. I commend the report to the Assembly. Responses to the challenges of globalization must begin at home. Good governance, prudent monetary and fiscal policies, macroeconomic stability, peace and security, the protection of property rights, setting priorities for poverty reduction and the creation of a conducive environment for investment and trade, both between Africans themselves and between Africa and the rest of the world — all those are things that we in Africa have agreed to address. But I must stress one conditionality: no solutions to Africa’s problems can be sustainable unless they are genuinely embraced and owned by Africans themselves. We have shown our new resolve to come to terms with our problems and to take the initiative and the lead in finding solutions. From our development partners, we ask in return for genuine respect for our ownership and the policy space for local initiative and leadership. We need policy space to deal with problems such as conflict, ethnicity, land and agrarian reform and institution-building, and we need adequate, consistent and predictable external support to implement the solutions we put forward. The Democratic Republic of the Congo deserves our continued and strong support. Instability in that country robs the entire region of its potential for shared progress, development and solidarity. The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo must continue to walk down the path of peace, reconciliation and unity. They and the Government of President Kabila need and deserve our robust help. We commend President Mbeki and the South African Government for their efforts, and Tanzania pledges its unwavering support to them. In Burundi, we commend President Museveni of Uganda and the South African Vice-President, Mr. Jacob Zuma, for their dedication to helping Burundi realize a new political and social dispensation of inclusive governance, development and peace. The Regional Initiative for Peace in Burundi has made strenuous efforts to accommodate, through negotiations, all the parties in a Government of 20 national unity. Sadly, the Parti pour la libération du peuple hutu-Forces nationales de libération (Palipehutu-FNL) has refused to be part of that process. Its declaration of responsibility for the massacres against innocent and unarmed refugees at Gatumba was the proverbial last straw for us in the region, so we took a stand and declared the FNL a terrorist group. We appeal for the Assembly’s support in treating it as such. The first international conference on the Great Lakes region, which Tanzania will host in November 2004, will review aspects concerning peace and security, governance and democracy, economic development and regional integration, as well as humanitarian and social issues in the region. Ultimately, we hope to adopt a comprehensive security, stability and development pact for the Great Lakes region. I thank the Group of Friends of the Great Lakes region for supporting the preparatory process and appeal to the United Nations and the international community to render their support to that process. The humanitarian tragedy in Darfur is harrowing and demands urgent remedy. A humanitarian ceasefire agreement must be promulgated, presaging the evolution of a democratic and political culture. We commend and support the effort by His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria and African Union Chair, and President Idriss Deby of Chad. We ask for the practical, urgent and increased support of the United Nations and the international community as a whole for the initiatives of the African Union in addressing this tragedy. The question of Western Sahara has dragged on for too long. We fully support the right to self- determination of the people of Western Sahara. It is the duty of this body to help them realize it. We support the United Nations peace plan and call on all sides to cooperate fully in its speedy implementation. When the Middle East road map was put forward in 2003, we supported it, believing that it addressed comprehensively the issue of the establishment of a viable Palestinian State living with the State of Israel, with recognized and secure borders between them. It is regrettable that the road map has been put aside. In our view, the road map remains the most reasonable, viable and sustainable way of resolving this long-standing conflict. We condemn the cycle of violence and killings and the use of excessive force. We urge that the implementation of the road map be brought back on track. We are living with the spectre of international terrorism: the most vicious and pernicious among international crimes. The people of Tanzania will never forget the terrorist attack directed at the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam in 1998, which killed or wounded innocent Tanzanians. There should never be any doubt about our unflinching resolve to cooperate with others in combating terrorism in all its forms. Tanzania is a faithful and active Member of the United Nations, and we reaffirm our readiness to work with our fellow Members in addressing global concerns in furtherance of the ideals of the Assembly and the Charter of the United Nations. It is, therefore, with deep humility and gratitude that the United Republic of Tanzania has secured the endorsement of the African Union to seek a non-permanent seat in the Security Council. Our candidature will be placed before the Assembly for election later during this session, and we appeal for the full support of our candidature. The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to ravage many of our countries. As public awareness grows and technology improves, so do our chances of protecting the most basic human right, the right to life. That right can be enjoyed by our people if current and future advances in science and technology are extended to the many poor who are infected with HIV/AIDS. Preventive care, access to affordable drugs and the health delivery infrastructure in developing countries all need to be widened and strengthened. On this front, too, we need help. Democratic governance is a universal norm, which has to be reflected also in the United Nations system. What is desirable for our individual countries must also be true for the United Nations. Recent developments in the reform agenda of the Organization must therefore be expedited. Our hope is that the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change will bring forth recommendations for a firm jump forward in the reconfiguration of the reform process. The Security Council must be representative of today’s wider membership of the United Nations and reflective of the current geopolitical and economic structure of the world. There are countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that deserve permanent seats because of their major contribution to the sustainability 21 of the Organization and to global peace, security and development. The time to bring them in has come. Members of the United Nations must uphold steadfastly, in word and deed, the ideals of its Charter for peace with justice and for security with development for all. These common aspirations are the foundation of international law, of international order and of international cooperation. They also invest with credible legitimacy our collective pursuit of the happiness of humanity and the renewal of humanity’s environment. Working together, we can ascend to the heights to which we aspire. Only then shall we leave to coming generations a deserved legacy of a common future for all mankind.