The
beginning of the sixty-fifth session of the General
Assembly coincides with the preparations of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), chaired by my
country, to celebrate 50 years of achievements. During
those years, the Movement has greatly helped to
reinforce international and multilateral action under
changing regional and international circumstances. The
Movement’s work over those years has demonstrated
the ability of developing countries to contribute
effectively to the maintenance of international peace
and security, make progress in development, and
promote human rights, basic freedoms and the
furtherance of good governance at the international
level.
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This week’s NAM ministerial meeting represents
the point of departure for a major celebration, to be
hosted by Indonesia in April or May 2011. The meeting
will chart a clear and integrated future course, drawing
on past achievements as an impetus for future
endeavours. It will define the elements of the
Movement’s future commitment to greater openness
towards and interaction with the international
community, in the context of fairness and mutual
interest, to ensure that the aspirations and hopes of our
countries and peoples are met.
Egypt appreciates the main theme that the
President proposed for discussion at this session.
Global governance touches on many political,
economic and social issues. Egypt believes that the
elected organs of the United Nations should handle the
principal tasks in that area. We must all ensure that the
United Nations discharges such roles effectively and
wisely.
In the political field, for example, it is no longer
acceptable for permanent membership of the Security
Council, the main organ entrusted with maintaining
international peace and security, to continue to operate
under obsolete rules of an era long past. Similarly, it is
unacceptable for the work of the Council or its
mechanisms to continue to be characterized by a lack
of transparency or balance.
A serious approach to current historic challenges
requires more balanced, conscious and responsible
management of this core issue. The Security Council
has made numerous grave mistakes, resulting in the
loss of innocent lives. Many resolutions that have been
blocked by the Council would have corrected the
disparities, returned rights to victims and restored the
confidence of world public opinion in the Council’s
performance and impartiality.
Turning to the economic sphere, we note that the
United Nations, and even the key Bretton Woods
international financial institutions, no longer lead in
managing the top international economic issues. Other
international bodies are now beginning to assume that
role.
At its summit last year, the Group of 20 declared
itself the forum to coordinate global economic policy.
Such a development prompts us to be cautious of its
repercussions, since that forum or any other assuming
such a responsibility should have the geographical
representation necessary to ensure the fair airing of all
trends and approaches prevailing in the international
community. It must also ensure fair participation in
formulating policy and in providing a balanced
approach to current challenges. Marginalization is no
longer acceptable. Countries of the South have rights
and must have a voice and participate in any forum that
deals with the international situation.
Egypt will continue its tireless work to achieve
the wider and more balanced participation of the
developing world in international economic decision-
making. Our world has experienced successive years of
poor economic performance and stubborn crises. That
has aggravated the current inequities and heightened
the challenges faced by all countries, developing
countries in particular. It requires us all to support
coordinated and joint action to address the
shortcomings and inequities and to achieve sustainable
and balanced global growth.
In that context, we welcome the outcome of the
recent High-level Plenary Meeting of the General
Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, at
which the delegation of Egypt expressed its view on
the Goals and the extent to which we will be able to
achieve them. We hope that the conclusions of the
summit will provide us with the necessary momentum
to speed up the achievement of the Goals ahead of the
final review in 2015.
The fact that Egypt is part of the Islamic world is
common knowledge. We feel the pain of Muslims
wherever they are. We share their joys and
celebrations; we grieve with them and we feel their
pain. There is no doubt that regrettable and appalling
incidents against Muslims and Islam are increasingly
frequent, and systematic in certain cases. They have
ranged from attacks on the symbols and sanctities of
the faith to the harassment of Muslims. In general, we
find the West being drawn into a clash with the Muslim
world. Such a clash would serve no one except
extremists and those who hold perverse ideas on both
sides. It would not be in the interest of security and
stability in the world. It would not be in the interests of
moderates. In such a clash, the winner is a loser and
the victor is defeated.
Need I remind this gathering of the need for
coordinated action among the influential advocates of
religious, civilizational and cultural moderation in
order to eliminate the threat before it becomes more
ominous and destroys much of everything? We can no
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longer accept pretexts to condone practices against
Islam and its followers — such as the right to freedom
of expression — which are surprisingly naïve,
excessive in essence and offensive in nature.
Egypt will continue to do its utmost at the
political, cultural and religious levels to address such
threats. We call on all countries, in particular
Governments, to play their part in highlighting the
potential horror of a terrible clash of faiths and
civilizations. We call on them to spread a culture of
enlightenment based on tolerance, respect for
differences and the renunciation of fanaticism, hatred
and zealotry. Laws must be enacted to protect
minorities and their beliefs from the aggression of
extremists and promoters of strife.
With regard to matters of international peace and
security, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are
priorities on Egypt’s agenda. Only a few months ago,
the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons successfully
concluded its work. It adopted an important document
on the Middle East that included an action plan and
measures to implement the 1995 resolution on the
Middle East. Egypt will closely follow all steps taken
to implement that plan, including the serious
preparations for the 2012 conference.
Once again, let me reiterate Egypt’s position that
adopting double standards on the question of
non-proliferation will result in a continued threat to
world stability. In the Middle East particularly, we note
increasing efforts to add to the commitments of
non-nuclear-weapon States that are signatories to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
while the need for the Treaty to become universal in
our region and for all nuclear installations in the
Middle East to be subjected to the comprehensive
safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy
Agency is disregarded. This uncomfortable situation is
a source of concern to us. We will work with all like-
minded parties to address and redress this situation in
relevant international forums.
Year after year, we return to the United Nations
to debate the question of Palestine and the ongoing
Arab-Israeli conflict. Every year, our words swing
between the hope for a complete but unrealized
breakthrough, and the fear of a deterioration and an
explosion that would compound the pain and suffering
of the Palestinian people and aggravate the dangers of
overreaching extremism, militancy and violence faced
by our region.
This year is no different. It is true that there is
hope in the wake of the start of direct negotiations
between the Palestinian and Israeli sides; however,
chances for success remain slim. Despite the agony of
the road to negotiations, Egypt believes that their
relaunch may represent an important opportunity that
should not be squandered.
It is important for the Israeli side to realize that
negotiations are not an end in themselves. They are
neither a game nor a waste of time. A serious approach
must be the basis and distinguishing mark of the
negotiating process. Without the required seriousness
and credibility, the process will soon lose the little
support it enjoys from the public on both sides. Egypt
believes that these negotiations should seek to end the
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the
implementation of the two-State solution through the
establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with
East Jerusalem as its capital and its borders based on
the lines of 1967, as has been confirmed by the United
States, the sponsor of the negotiations, and the
international Quartet on all occasions and mentioned
by President Obama a few days ago.
During the first round of negotiations in
Washington, D.C., and later in Sharm el-Sheikh, we
heard Israel’s assurances of its commitment to the
required seriousness. Therefore, we call on the Israeli
side to take the difficult and necessary decisions, as
President Mubarak said two days ago, to achieve a just
political settlement that would allow the peoples and
countries of the region to transcend decades of conflict,
victimization and wasted resources.
There is no doubt that a freeze in Israeli
settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian
territories has become a major factor in determining
the intentions of the Israeli side and its level of
commitment to the success of the negotiations. Should
Israel fail in its commitment to prolong the moratorium
on its settlement activities, it would expose the
negotiation process to collapse and bear full
responsibility before regional and world public
opinion, as well as the sponsor, for wasting a valuable
opportunity afforded by a major United States effort.
Israel would also bear responsibility for any negative
consequences. Were Israel to pass this test, we would
look forward to a quick resolution by both parties of
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the question of borders between them. The solutions in
this respect are known to all. Settling the matter of
borders would enable us to take important steps
towards settling the conflict as a whole.
Egypt also supports any serious effort to resume
direct negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks
in a way that would allow both countries to regain their
occupied territories and consequently reach a
comprehensive peace, implement the Arab Peace
Initiative and end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for
all.
Brotherly Sudan is currently facing the most
difficult juncture since its independence. In addition to
developments in Darfur, the referendum on self-
determination for Southern Sudan is drawing near.
Egypt follows this situation with the greatest interest,
given our common border with that country. Our
interest is based not only on the close brotherly
relations between our two peoples, but also on our
anticipation of any possible consequences of the
referendum. Egypt will pursue its efforts to preserve
the unity of the Sudan as long as that is the choice of
the majority in that country. But if the wish of the
Southern Sudanese, who are also our brothers, were
any different, Egypt would respect the outcome and
work with all parties in the interests of development
and stability.
The security of the Arab Gulf is one of Egypt’s
major concerns and foreign policy priorities. Apart
from our age-old relations, Egypt understands that it is
of strategic importance for its Arab brethren in the
Gulf. Egypt will therefore continue to work with the
Gulf Cooperation Council countries for the
maintenance of Arab national security in the region and
to ensure that any security arrangements reached are in
consonance with the requirements and concerns of
Arab countries.
Egypt affirms the urgent need to reach a political
settlement on the Iranian nuclear issue, especially since
its dangerous escalation would threaten an eruption of
the situation that could endanger peace and stability in
that vital region of the world. While it is true that
threats against a State member of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference are not acceptable, we
nevertheless ask Iran to refrain from any measure that
could exacerbate the situation in the region, and
specifically in the Gulf area, and lead to a
confrontation with different forces in the international
community. All parties must adhere to negotiations as a
way to a peaceful, political settlement of this issue.
Such a settlement would guarantee Iran’s legitimate
right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and enable
the international community to verify that Iran is in
compliance with its obligations under the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. No evidence
has yet been seen to suggest otherwise.
The southern strait of the Red Sea is an area of
strategic importance for Egypt. It leads to the Suez
Canal, a vital waterway at the centre of the world.
Securing this critically important area is at the heart of
Egyptian interests. On that basis, Egypt has
participated extensively in all international efforts to
combat piracy off the Somali coast and in the Arabian
Sea and the Indian Ocean. Egypt has also provided
support to some countries of the region in areas such as
the development of coast guard capacity, raising
awareness about the prevention of piracy, and the
implementation of a media and communications
strategy to combat piracy. In the same vein, continued
fratricidal fighting in Somalia has consequences for
stability in the Horn of Africa and, as such, remains a
source of concern to us.
Egypt is pursuing its efforts, including in
outreach, to further raise international interest in
Somalia with a view to achieving a ceasefire and
proceeding to a comprehensive and peaceful political
settlement. Such a settlement will be conditional on the
existence of the political will of the Somali parties to
achieve peace and on the commitment of external
parties to refrain from interfering in Somali affairs
while seriously participating in efforts to achieve a
political settlement.
In conclusion, Egypt is a country of many
civilizations, features and characteristic, from its Arab
nationalist to its deep-rooted Islamic and Coptic
identities, and from the genuine African to the
historical Mediterranean. All have intermingled over
the years and left their mark on Egypt’s foreign policy.
All these influences define our overlapping interests
and guide our thinking and action in addressing
problems and crises.
Egypt will continue to work for the achievement
of peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.
It will do its utmost for the well-being of its people,
nation and region. We will continue the struggle for
balanced and sustainable development. We will also
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pursue our serious work for the benefit of the countries
of the South.
Our delegation looks forward to working with
Members in a spirit of openness to ensure the
successful outcome of this session. We extend our hand
to all countries, with an open mind and a sincere desire
to achieve the international agenda before us.