I have
great pleasure in participating in the current session of
the General Assembly to discuss the vital issue of post-
2015 sustainable development and the achievement of
its goals, which we all hope to be able to accomplish.
Having overcome the serious consequences of
the economic, political and social policies pursued by
the former regime, which were not based on scientific
grounds but on the regime’s personal reckless whims,
Iraq has sought to translate what was agreed upon
by world leaders in 2000, notably the development
goals, into practical and concrete steps. By adopting
plans, strategies and enacting laws that provide for
the necessary mechanisms, Iraq has endeavoured to
achieve the essence of sustainable development, namely,
the integration of its three dimensions: economic,
environmental and social.
Iraq has been working on financial and monetary
policies to increase the financial flows to its public
budget, which is expected to reach approximately
$150 billion in 2015, 40 per cent of which is envisioned
to be allocated to the requisite investment expenditure in
order to provide basic services, improve infrastructure
and strengthen the Iraqi economy.
Iraq is expected to achieve steady growth in the
economic sectors through its 2013-2017 development
plan. However, oil is still the main engine driving the
other sectors, thanks to Iraq’s abundant oil and gas
reserves, which surpass confirmed reserve estimates
by a very large margin. Estimates put the potential of
extractable oil reserves at 250 billion barrels and that of
gas at more than 250 trillion cubic feet.
We expect to double oil production by the end of the
2013-2017 development plan, with a steady increase in
oil exports, which are expected to reach approximately
3,750,000 barrels per day in 2015. Therefore, the 2010-
2014 development plan focuses on environmental
sustainability and the green economy in Iraq. Strategic
goals have been identified for the aforementioned
plan and for the 2013-2017 National Development
Plan, which was recently approved by the Council of
Ministers, as follows:
First, a poverty alleviation strategy will be
adopted as one of the components for the attainment
of sustainable development. The poverty rate fell from
23 per cent in 2007 to 19 per cent in 2012, and it is
hoped that it will fall further, to 16 per cent, in 2017.
Second, the unemployment rate was reduced from
15 per cent in 2007 to 11 per cent in 2012, with an
expected decline to 6 per cent in 2017.
Third, the average per capita income increased
from $3,000 in 2009 to nearly $6,000 in 2012, with an
annual growth rate of 15.9 per cent, clearly indicating
noticeable economic progress.
Fourth, infant mortality must be reduced to
18 deaths per 1,000 births in 2017. It is noteworthy that
those figures fell from 32 deaths per 1,000 births in
2011 to 22 deaths per 1,000 births in 2013. The plan also
aims at reducing the mortality rate for children under
five years of age to 24 deaths per 1,000 live births in
2017, following the decline from 37 in 2011 to 28 deaths
in 2013.
Fifth, primary school enrolment must increase to
95 per cent in 2017 from its 2012 figure of 92 per cent.
Sixth, the plan focuses on increasing secondary school
enrolment to 40 per cent and that of universities to
20 per cent by 2017.
Seventh, the plan works to curb desertification
through the expansion of land reclamation, where
approximately 4 million dunums have been reclaimed.
We hope to reclaim 2.5 million additional dunums by
the end of the plan.
Eighth, it also advocates utilizing modern
techniques in irrigation and increasing the latent
energy of water resources by focusing on the economic
exploitation thereof.
Ninth, it plans to minimize the quantities of burned
gases associated with oil production by devising plans
for full investment therein in 2015.
Tenth, it is hoped that, by beginning the
implementation of a housing programme for the poor
and limited-income people, 1 million housing units will
be available by the end of the plan.
Eleventh, the plan also includes achieving self-
sufficiency in terms of electricity production, which
is envisioned to reach 22,000 megawatts in 2015. That
means a 15 per cent surplus over peak consumption,
while the production of electricity in 2003 was around
2,500 megawatts.
In that connection, we deem it necessary to
emphasize the following significant points during the
sixty-eighth session.
First, Iraq calls for strengthened international
cooperation, particularly South-South cooperation, and
we call upon the international community to fulfil its
financial obligations in relation to achieving sustainable
development.
Second, we favour facilitating the transfer of
technology to developing countries, so as to reduce
the gap between them and the developed world and
contribute to solving the problems caused by global
warming and climate change.
Third, we aim to address the problems caused by
water scarcity, which has destabilized certain regions
of the world, and we stress the need to determine fair
water quotas among riparian States on international
rivers.
Fourth, we want to extend special support for people
suffering from the effects of international conflict and
international economic sanctions, which constitute
significant obstacles to the attainment of sustainable
development.
Fifth, we intend to appropriately address pressures
caused by unsustainable production and consumption
patterns, particularly in the areas of deforestation, water
scarcity, food waste and elevated carbon emissions.
Sixth, we will focus on building effective and
accountable institutions; promoting the rule of
law, property rights, the freedom of expression and
information, in addition to the administration of justice
and the fight against corruption.
Seventh, we want to ensure that the post-2015
plan is underpinned by a new spirit of solidarity,
responsibility, cooperation and integration built on a
common understanding of our humanity and on mutual
respect through the involvement of more participants
from among women, the poor, civil society and local
governments, academia and philanthropic institutions
and charities.
Eighth, we will advocate for the need for
Governments to play a leading role in the field of
education and the need to recognize that education
is a shared responsibility between families, local
communities and civil society organizations, which all
must contribute to the improvement and development of
education and its ways and means.
Ninth, in addition to securing international
cooperation and integration to help address the issues of
sustainable development and the fight against extreme
poverty, we hope to include, as one of the priorities,
the achievement of the objectives of sustainable
development beyond 2015 and the elimination of
violence against women, and to achieve gender equality
with appropriate work and decision-making positions,
as well as comprehensive economic and social security..
Tenth, we stress the importance of existing
standards in the field of human rights, the right to
compensation for victims and equity in cases of human
rights violations.
Eleventh, we look forward to the completion of
tasks by the Working Group that came out of the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, on
financing for development, as well as to the creation
of sound foundations in the field of financing the
sustainable development goals and the post-2015
development agenda in a sustainable and predictable
fashion.
I must stress, however, that no pre-2015 or post-
2015 development is attainable with the existence
of organized terrorism, which thrives on the blood
of innocents and claims their lives. That scourge
has adopted extremism as its approach, death as its
craft, violence as its means, hatred as its culture and
senseless and indiscriminate murder as its hobby and
pastime. Such a phenomenon calls for a strict and
pragmatic stance by the entire world, so as to face up
to terrorism’s brutal, ferocious, crazed and destructive
attacks. International cooperation must seek to dry up
the financial, intellectual and armament resources of
terrorism, so as to save humanity from that scourge and
the universe from its effects and dangers and the harm
it inflicts.
We also wish to reiterate that no sustainable
development can be achieved while the drums of war
are beating in more than one place in the world, because
the concepts of peace, development and life cannot be
upheld in conjunction with the will to bring about death,
war and genocide. Nor can development be achieved in
the absence of peace and security. There will therefore
be no political stability or social development without
peaceful coexistence, security and stability, where
human beings can rest and have shelter.
Against that backdrop, Iraq reiterates its calls and
initiatives for a peaceful solution for each and every
land where gunfire, bloodshed and the smell of death
prevail, and where people witness scenes of destruction.
That is because the logic of force cannot produce peace,
nor can instruments of death or war mills bring about
security or create development or growth.
Hence, we in Iraq, whose people have suffered
tremendously from the horrors of war caused by the
recklessness and folly of the defunct Saddam regime,
are deeply concerned by the worsening events and
tense situation on our borders with Syria, a country
with which we have borders over 600 kilometres long.
That is why we consider the Syrian armed conflict a
serious threat to our security and stability and to the
integrity of our land and people.
For that reason, we insist on putting forward our
initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis politically in order
to avoid a devastating humanitarian disaster unfolding
in our neighbouring country and on our borders, which
could undermine all aspects of the development,
stability and prosperity that we and other States aspire
to achieve in our vitally important region. Therefore,
I invite the Assembly to support the Iraqi initiative
in its effort to ensure peace, security and stability.
Otherwise, developments in the region could take an
unpredictable turn.
Our region is beleaguered by concerns that regional
and large-scale wars may erupt or be triggered by a small
spark. No one can guess the scale, trends, trajectory or
duration of such conflicts. There can be no hope for
sustainable development, stability or prosperity in a
region that is already fragile, volatile, explosive and
complex. That is the message of the Government and
the people of Iraq to the Assembly.
In the aftermath of the fall of the dictatorial regime,
Iraq has opted for democratic mechanisms as the sole
means of ensuring the peaceful rotation of power, for
we believe in the freedom, dignity and rights of human
beings. We have adopted an open-door foreign policy in
our relations with the international community, and are
always looking for common denominators to overcome
disagreement through positive dialogue based on
justice and responsible involvement with neighbouring
countries, our region and the world.
We are firmly convinced that peaceful solutions
are the most effective means to settle all problems
between peoples, nations and Governments. We reject
violence, terrorism and aggression, irrespective of
their sources. Internally, we have called for tolerance,
national reconciliation and cooperation, with a view to
attaining communal coexistence, social peace, stability
and prosperity. These principles were formally adopted
by the National Conference for Social Peace that was
held recently in Baghdad and signed with the code of
national honour by most of Iraq’s leaders and national
representatives.
Iraq suffered more than two decades under
international sanctions because of the invasion of
brotherly Kuwait under the previous regime. However,
today the new Iraq has managed, through its cooperation
with the international community and the development
of good-neighbourly relations with Kuwait, to overcome
the effects of the sanctions. Furthermore, Iraq worked
with the Security Council towards the adoption of
its resolution 2107 (2013), of 27 June 2013, which put
an end to Iraq’s obligations under Chapter VII of the
Charter of the United Nations. Thus, the crises and
problems suffered by the two brotherly countries of
Iraq and Kuwait are now part of the past. Today, we
look forward together to developing our new relations
as a springboard and a solid foundation for a prosperous
future for generations to come that will have positive
effects on the entire region.
Our faith in humankind does not preclude us
from taking up the just cause of the oppressed, the
disadvantaged and the vulnerable, or from showing
solidarity with the just causes of our Arab and Islamic
nation, raising our voices in defence of their rights, their
humanity and their causes. Foremost among those is the
cause of the Palestinian people, who are still suffering
from systematic oppression and ongoing settlement
activities that violate their rights and threaten their
identity and existence. The situation requires the world
and its international institutions to assume their due
roles and responsibilities and stand by a people who
seek only the realization of their rights, freedom,
justice and independence and the establishment of a
viable Palestinian State, without which the Middle East
region will remain prone to tension and instability.
For the sake of a Middle East living in peace and
security, we reiterate the call for the establishment of a
Middle East free of nuclear weapons, with an emphasis
on the need to hold the Helsinki conference on the
establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone as soon
as possible. The failure of international efforts in that
area would adversely affect the credibility of the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which in
turn could lead to an arms race, raising the levels of
violence, tension and instability.
While the United Nations is our agreed forum
for international cooperation to address the problems
and challenges that we face through multilateral
negotiations, we believe that the time has come to
reform its bodies, in particular the Security Council,
as the primary body responsible for international peace
and security, in order to make them consistent with the
aspirations of the peoples of the world in the twenty-
first century and more representative, transparent and
able to meet the challenges they face.
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to express,
on behalf of the Iraqi people, our sincere thanks and
profound appreciation to all those who have contributed
to helping Iraq lift the burden of Chapter VII from its
shoulders. We wish each and every nation all over the
world a free, safe and secure life with dignity and a
promising prosperous future. Peace be upon the
Assembly.