At the outset, allow me to
join the previous speakers in expressing my sincere
congratulations to His Excellency Joseph Deiss of
Switzerland on his election as President of the sixty-
fifth session of our General Assembly. I am confident
that under his able leadership our Assembly will be
crowned with significant progress on many global
issues of international concern. Likewise, I would like
to take this opportunity to pay tribute to His
Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki for the
professionalism and dedication with which he
conducted the previous session of our General
Assembly.
This sixty-fifth session is particularly significant,
combining in a timely manner two important high-level
meetings, namely, the high-level meeting on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the High-
level Review of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further
Implementation of the Programme of Action for the
Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States. Those important meetings remind us that there
is no better entity than the United Nations to address
global challenges and that multilateralism is relevant in
addressing the world’s interconnected and proliferating
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challenges, including the global economic and
financial crisis, climate change, food security,
international peace and security, regional conflicts and
others.
The global economic and financial storm seems
to be over, but the task of restoring confidence and
promoting economic recovery is far from complete and
remains a daunting task, especially for the developing
countries. However, achievement of the MDGs is
uncertain owing to the fragile economic recovery of
those countries. Failure to meet the MDGs by 2015
will leave millions of people locked in the cycle of
poverty. Therefore, as the economic recovery
continues, a joint effort towards concrete action is
needed to further boost confidence and maintain the
momentum of global economic growth.
In Cambodia we adopted our own MDGs in 2003,
known as Cambodian MDGs and have thus achieved
the MDG targets on reducing child mortality and
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. According to a
recent study issued by the Overseas Development
Institute and the United Nations Millennium
Campaign, Cambodia ranks among 20 countries that
have made the most absolute progress on the MDGs.
Our world today is facing most serious global
challenges. Climate change presents a major threat for
every country, although it is more severe for poor
countries. Daily, we see an increase in headline news
and reports on chaotic weather occurring worldwide,
with record heat and cold waves, unusual torrential
rains leading to apocalyptic floods and landslides and
mudslides that kill hundreds and displace millions of
people. Intense forest fires resulting from to extreme
heat indicate that Mother Nature is raging.
The confluence of those natural calamities also
means that the agricultural sector, which depends
largely on weather, has been hit most often, resulting in
adverse impacts on food security. All those events have
aggravated poverty and led to increased illegal
immigration, which has already become a serious
human security problem.
Although the much awaited summit of the
fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties in
Copenhagen last year failed to achieve a binding
agreement, it established a good foundation at the least
to enhance international cooperation on a number of
key issues, such as deforestation, renewable energy and
financial support for the world’s poorest countries to
mitigate and adapt to climate change. We regret,
however, that the pledges have not been actualized.
It is still uncertain whether a binding agreement
will be secured in Cancún this year. In particular, the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
for developed and developing nations should serve as
the foundation for negotiations. Such a principle is key
to rebuilding mutual trust among nations, which is the
most urgent task needed to achieve a meaningful result
at the Cancún Conference. The spirit of compromise is
absolutely necessary for the sake of humanity. Climate
change has already reached a point of no return.
Cambodia urges developed countries to honour
their commitments to provide financial and
technological aid to developing nations for the fight
against climate change and to take the lead and cut
their respective carbon dioxide emissions, so that the
Conference in Cancún can produce tangible results.
Fruitful outcomes in Cancún will depend on efforts by
all to save humankind from much more serious
catastrophes. Climate change is not a vital problem of
only one country or one region, but of the world as a
whole.
Cambodia is pleased to join the group of
countries for implementation of the Copenhagen
Accord. We have launched our own initiative called the
Cambodian Climate Change Alliance, which focuses
on capacity-building and strengthening national
institutions. Cambodia has also steadily implemented
projects aimed at reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation and will continue
to assume its share of responsibility in curbing carbon
dioxide emissions and bringing about adaptation and
mitigation measures.
Cambodia believes that the problem of food
security also deserves great attention. At the World
Summit on Food Security in November 2009 it was
disclosed that the number of hungry people had already
reached 1 billion. That number will certainly increase
day by day with the augmentation of the world
population, thus further aggravating food security in
the world, particularly in the poorest countries.
The lack of financial resources devoted to
agriculture, the lack of access to agrotechnologies and
the irrational use of water resources are among the
catalysts of the food crisis. At the same time, as a result
of recent high fuel oil prices, agricultural land has been
diverted to grow bioenergy crops to meet increasing
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demand for fuel, while the world population needs
more and more food. Furthermore, official
development assistance (ODA) has not been
sufficiently focused on agricultural production.
Therefore, Cambodia hopes that the international
community will turn its attention to redirecting and
increasing ODA to emphasize food security. At the
same time, adequate and timely measures must be
taken to address the various obstacles to food security,
in order to avoid recurrence of food crises in the future.
In this context, the pledge of $20 billion over
three years made at the 2009 Group of Eight Summit in
L’Aquila to support agricultural production in poor
countries was extremely opportune and offered much
hope, not only with regard to narrowing the food
shortage but also for progress towards the MDGs and
poverty reduction in general. Still, respecting that
commitment through timely disbursement and efficient
utilization of that funding are absolutely essential.
Within Cambodia, food production is the top priority of
our Government policy, and agriculture and irrigation
are being aggressively promoted as a springboard for
broader economic development, with the ambition of
turning Cambodia into a more important rice-exporting
country.
Peace and security remain issues of grave
concern in many parts of the world. Terrorism remains
a very serious threat to the world, killing innocent
people every day in many parts of the world. The
regional security landscape in Asia and the Middle East
constitutes a concern for the international community,
compelling us to be ever vigilant.
The situation in the Korean peninsula still
presents a threat to peace and security in that region.
Cambodia earnestly calls on the parties to refrain from
any act that could escalate tensions, with a view to
promoting conditions that could enable the Six-Party
Talks to resume as soon as possible. Peace will prevail
only as a result of negotiations aimed at re-establishing
the confidence necessary to a peaceful Korean
peninsula.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue remains one of the
longest and most explosive running conflicts in the
Middle East. Year after year the Palestinian people are
denied their right to establish a Palestine State living
side by side in peace with the people of Israel. Year
after year this Assembly urges the parties concerned to
comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions,
while the whole world waits impatiently for a peace
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Cambodia urges both parties to act with utmost
restraint and to avoid any act of provocation, in order
to pave the way for a peaceful solution.
Cambodia warmly welcomes the recent direct
peace talks between the Israeli Prime Minister and the
Palestinian President in Washington and in Egypt, as a
step in the right direction for bolstering an atmosphere
of trust between the two sides. Cambodia shares the
view of the international community that new
settlements in the West Bank present the main obstacle
to efforts towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Cambodia hopes that both sides can finally look for a
compromise on this crucial issue in order to achieve a
breakthrough for the sake of a lasting peace in the
Middle East.
With regard to the embargo imposed by the
United States of America against Cuba, Cambodia
firmly supports the resolutions of our Assembly on the
necessity of ending that embargo and calls upon all
Members of the United Nations to implement those
resolutions in order to end the prolonged suffering of
the innocent people of Cuba.
Given the very serious emerging global
challenges, the United Nations must be ready to fulfil
its growing responsibilities to tackle those complex
worldwide issues. The functioning of every organ of
the United Nations should be readjusted and
reinvigorated so as to effectively manage the
complexity of the world today to overcome all the
challenges in order to build a suitable world for all.
Regarding the reform of the United Nations Security
Council, Cambodia is of the view that priority should
be given to increasing the representation of developing
countries, which comprise a vast majority of the United
Nations membership. For many years, many have
raised the matter of reform, but unfortunately particular
interests have prevailed over the world’s concerns and
prevented the reform from taking place.