I wish to extend our sincere
congratulations to you, Sir, on your election as the
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth
session. I also thank the President at the sixty-fourth
session for his excellent stewardship of that session.
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of
the United Nations, deserves our sincere appreciation
for his commitment and dedication.
The message of the High-level Plenary Meeting
of last week is still reverberating around this
Assembly: the continuing poverty and hunger in
today’s world, where we have made great strides in all
our endeavours, is unacceptable and must be brought to
an end without delay. It is quite disheartening to note
that the number of poor has surpassed one billion and
that they are concentrated in certain regions and groups
of countries, mostly in least developed countries
(LDCs).
The commitments expressed by the leaders
attending the High-level Plenary Meeting last week
rekindled our hope that it will be a different world in
2015. Otherwise, the Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2) and many other vital documents will
remain only a compilation of lofty promises. Let us
hope that we match our commitments with our deeds.
International peace and security are our shared
desire and a common responsibility. The challenges are
multiple and complex. In an ever-changing world, the
sources and the threats are varied, and so are the
actors. Political and social conflicts have been
aggravated by abject poverty and disparity. Therefore,
the stabilization of global peace and security also
demands ensuring freedom from want and hunger as a
basic human right and enabling people to realize their
full human potential. Thus we believe that
development, peace and security are inextricably
linked with one other.
Nepal has consistently and unequivocally called
for general and complete disarmament of all weapons
of mass destruction, under effective international
control. Nepal stands for the complete elimination of
nuclear weapons in a time-bound manner. The
operationalization of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-
Ban Treaty and the early conclusion of a fissile
materials cut-off treaty should be our priority. We
support efforts for the non-proliferation of small arms
and light weapons.
We welcome the signing in April this year of the
New START treaty between the United States and the
Russian Federation on strategic offensive arms. We
welcome the successful outcome of the 2010 Review
Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. However, we
call for reinvigorating the Conference on Disarmament
as a multilateral body, to start discussions on
substantive issues. We also appreciate the efforts of the
Secretary-General to advance nuclear disarmament on
the basis of the five-point action plan he has proposed.
Nepal strongly believes that regional mechanisms
complement efforts to promote the global disarmament
agenda. The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace
and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, which we are
proud to host, must be strengthened in order to
revitalize the Kathmandu process to facilitate dialogue
and deliberations on confidence-building in the region.
In today’s world, devastating conflicts are a
constant threat to international security. Despite
progress on many fronts, violence and civil wars
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continue unabated. It is a matter of concern that
intra-State conflicts and extremism have steadily
grown over the years. We should work collectively. In
accordance with the principles and Charter of the
United Nations, we should all contribute to resolving
such conflicts through peaceful means and should help
stabilize situations through peacebuilding efforts.
In the Middle East, we are encouraged by the
recent direct dialogue between the Israelis and the
Palestinians. We look forward to the success of the
dialogue leading towards an independent Palestinian
State alongside a secure Israel. We would like to see a
peaceful resolution to disputes in the Korean peninsula
through dialogue.
Terrorism is a threat to all and knows no
geographical boundary. We unequivocally condemn
terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and call
for resolute international actions to fight it. Nepal has
been implementing the United Nations Global Counter-
Terrorism Strategy and is party to the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation Regional
Convention on Suppression of Terrorism of 1987 and
its Additional Protocol.
Legitimacy, universality and common ideals have
been the defining features of the United Nations.
Continued adherence to its core principles and
purposes will reinforce sovereign equality, territorial
integrity, non-interference and the peaceful settlement
of disputes. The inspiring values and the lofty ideals
that underpin the United Nations Charter remain as
relevant as ever.
We live in an era of continuous change. The
economic landscape is also changing with the
emergence of new, yet vibrant, poles of growth.
Globalization has changed the pattern of economic
relations, although its benefits are not widely and
equitably distributed.
The effectiveness of the United Nations depends
on our collective will to act and to deal with global
issues resolutely. In the face of new and emerging
challenges, it is urgent that the ideals of the United
Nations be translated into action effectively and in a
coherent manner. The theme of this year’s general
debate — “Reaffirming the central role of the United
Nations in global governance” — captures that
essence.
We underline the centrality of the United Nations
not only in maintaining peace and security, but also in
promoting international cooperation for development.
Its role in shaping policy debate on and establishing
global norms for economic and financial matters must
not be sidelined. The reform agenda needs to strike the
right balance to promote stability in the broadest sense.
Just as security and peace are critical for the
international community, so is the development
agenda. It must be given a focused priority within the
United Nations system.
United Nations reform should be pursued in a
systematic and holistic manner to further enhance the
Organization’s global standing.
The realities of the contemporary world call for a
change in the composition and working methods of the
Security Council. We support the expansion of
membership in the Council in both categories to reflect
the current realities of the world. We also call for
transparency in its working methods. We welcome
recent efforts to structure the debates with a view to
starting negotiations by taking into account the views
of all Member States.
We welcome the ongoing discussions on the
revitalization of the General Assembly in the context of
the balance between the various organs of the United
Nations, as envisioned by the founders. The role of the
Economic and Social Council must be enhanced in
promoting global economic relations and in advancing
the development agenda, in close cooperation with the
Bretton Woods institutions and other relevant
institutions. The Development Cooperation Forum and
the annual ministerial review are a welcome change in
that body.
We need to make the United Nations more
effective in ensuring coherence and consistency in the
global economic, financial and trading systems. We
call for special support for counter-cyclical measures,
social safety nets to protect the vulnerable, and fiscal
space to mitigate the crisis. We should make all these
steps particularly responsive to the needs and concerns
of vulnerable countries, such as LDCs.
Nepal welcomes the adoption of the resolution on
system-wide coherence by the General Assembly at its
sixty-fourth session, with a view to strengthening and
streamlining the operational activities of the United
Nations in the field of development (resolution
64/289). We also welcome and strongly support the
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establishment of UN Women as a single consolidated
entity to deal with issues pertaining to gender equality
and the empowerment of women.
Global peace and stability are our cherished goal.
Guided by that principled objective, Nepal has
extended unflinching support to all major United
Nations initiatives for the maintenance of international
peace and security through its active and consistent
participation in United Nations peacekeeping
operations around the world. In 2008, we celebrated
the fiftieth anniversary of our association with United
Nations peacekeeping operations with a view to further
consolidating our contributions to the cause of
international peace and security. Today, more than
5,000 Nepalese peacekeepers work in 13 different
peacekeeping missions around the world. Nepal’s
involvement in United Nations peacekeeping missions
has been one of the remarkable features of its
international engagement. We continue to participate
with dedication.
In line with our solemn commitment to the
United Nations Charter and our contribution to
promoting its ideals, I have the pleasure of announcing
at this Assembly that the Government of Nepal has put
forward the candidacy of Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam,
adviser to the Prime Minister of Nepal on the peace
process and international affairs, for the presidency of
the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session.
The gradual increase in the number of
peacekeeping missions is an indicator of the sombre
fact that the number of conflicts around the world has
increased in recent years. The sustainable way to
resolve conflicts is to look at them comprehensively
and remove the factors that generate and sustain them.
Nepal’s commitment to human rights is resolute.
We are party to major international human rights
instruments. We are fully aware that the protection and
promotion of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms strengthen the sustainability of peace and
progress. The National Human Rights Commission, an
independent judiciary, a vibrant civil society and the
media have all played an important role in promoting
awareness and protecting human rights in Nepal.
Our fellow South Asian country Pakistan recently
suffered tragic loss of lives and destruction due to
unprecedented floods. Similarly, fellow LDC Haiti
faced a devastating earthquake. Those disasters have
wiped out hard-earned gains, and therefore we call for
full sympathy and support to them in their hour of
need.
Climate change has become a challenge to human
existence, a multidimensional threat to human lives
and all living things, the global ecosystem and human
civilization. It has a direct impact on our efforts to
eradicate poverty and hunger and to preserve the
ecological balance.
My country, which is a least developed
landlocked country with mountainous terrain, is highly
vulnerable to climate change. The Himalayas remain
the perennial source of freshwater for over a billion
people living in South Asia. Global warming has
precipitated the melting of snow in the Nepalese
Himalayas, and about two dozen of our glacial lakes
could burst their banks any time, causing a huge loss of
lives and property. Moreover, we face extreme weather
events, floods, soil degradation and desertification.
Because of their fragility, mountain countries face
special vulnerability to climate change.
Countries like Nepal contribute the least to
climate change, yet we bear a disproportionate impact,
and it is the poor and vulnerable people among us who
face its severe effects. We cannot wait for action
forever. At the national level, we are pursuing
afforestation programmes and promoting the use of
alternative sources of energy, as well as hydropower
generation.
There is an urgent need to make progress on
climate negotiations through an ambitious and
comprehensive outcome in Cancún, Mexico, later this
year. The international community should agree on
new, predictable, transparent and substantially
enhanced resource mobilization and a fast-track
provision to ensure resources for mitigation,
adaptation, technology transfer, reducing emissions
from deforestation and degradation — REDD-Plus —
and capacity-building in the least developed countries.
LDCs must be given priority so that they may
withstand the sweeping impact of climate change on
their people’s livelihoods.
International responses to the special needs and
concerns of LDCs have had limited success. The
implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action
has produced mixed results. The overall performance
of LDCs in the Millennium Development Goals and
other internationally agreed development goals stands
well below their expectations, despite some progress.
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That is primarily because we continue to face structural
handicaps and constraints, as well as a critical resource
gap in our development efforts.
Mutually reinforcing and exacerbating food,
energy, economic and financial crises, together with
the adverse and disproportionate impacts of climate
change, have further worsened the conditions of LDCs.
Limited economic activity, stagnant growth, the early
stage of industrialization, heavy reliance on
subsistence agriculture as the mainstay of the national
economy and a lack of employment opportunities in
other sectors have made poor countries highly
vulnerable to external shocks.
Such challenges cannot be overcome without a
renewed and scaled-up global partnership for
development. The fulfilment of all commitments to
official development assistance in a predictable,
transparent and accountable manner, the enhanced
provision of duty- and quota-free market access for all
LDCs, and the early conclusion of the Doha Round
with an ambitious, balanced, equitable and
development-oriented outcome and early results in
provisions aimed at LDCs will help generate economic
growth through equitable trade. Enhanced debt relief
measures, an increased flow of foreign direct
investment, technology transfer and investment in
building long-term productive capacity will be
critically important in order to ensure resources for the
financing of sustainable development in LDCs.
The United Nations will host the fourth United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
in Istanbul next year. The Conference must aim to have
an ambitious, comprehensive, forward-looking and
results-oriented outcome. As the Chair of the LDC
Coordinating Bureau, I call upon the international
community to make the Istanbul outcome a turning
point in addressing the multidimensional challenges
and constraints that LDCs face today. The success of
the Conference will be measured by its contributions to
making a difference in the conditions of the millions of
poor in our countries.
Nepal is also a landlocked country. Therefore, our
development challenges are further compounded by
that reality, which increases the cost of our
international trade substantially. Therefore, specific
support measures to improve infrastructure and trade
facilitation in line with the Almaty Programme of
Action for landlocked developing countries will be
critical to promoting their development needs.
I will now touch on the political situation and the
ongoing peace process in my country. Nepal is passing
through the arduous transition from a 10-year conflict
to sustainable peace and stability with a nationally
driven peace process. We have come a long way since
June 2006, when the peace process started, with some
ups and downs, which is only natural for a complex
peace process. Yet our national determination remains
strong and unwavering, and we are fully committed to
bringing the ongoing peace process to a meaningful
conclusion by resolving all outstanding issues.
From a longer-term perspective, Nepal has
achieved some remarkable progress since the signing
of the Comprehensive Peace Accord on 21 November
2006. The promulgation of the interim constitution, the
election of the Constituent Assembly and,
subsequently, the declaration of Nepal as a federal
democratic republic stand as notable achievements.
Today, the 601-member Constituent Assembly of
Nepal, a third of whom are women, is one of the most
inclusive assemblies. The Assembly comprises
representation from different ethnic groups, backward
regions and traditionally marginalized communities,
among others.
Historic and unique as it is, Nepal’s peace
process is not confined only to the issue of signing the
Peace Accord and the elections to the Constituent
Assembly. The next important task is to write a new
constitution for the newly born republic. That will
consolidate the gains made over the years in
establishing the people as the real source of
sovereignty and State authority and in guaranteeing
multiparty democracy, human rights, a federal structure
and inclusive governance. Therefore, the process
encompasses a much broader agenda, leading towards
the historic transformation of Nepal’s political,
economic and social structure.
The people of Nepal nurture the hope of a better
future, which they rightly deserve. Political
transformation needs to be complemented by social
transformation and economic prosperity. While
ensuring political stability, we are making efforts to
revive the economy with new and focused initiatives
for the acceleration of economic activities, including
through the celebration of Nepal Tourism Year in 2011.
We hope that visitors will enjoy the flora and fauna of
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Nepal, including tours to Lumbini in Nepal, the
birthplace of Lord Buddha. To that end and to
revitalize and accelerate our economy, we look forward
to ambitious recovery measures with support from the
international community.
Recently we have made some progress in
addressing the core issues of the integration and
rehabilitation of the former Maoist combatants. In that
context, I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the
Government and the Unified Communist Party of
Nepal-Maoist have agreed to complete the process
within four months, under the monitoring and
supervision of the Special Committee, formed on the
basis of national consensus, as per the Constitution.
We anticipate accomplishing the outstanding
basic tasks in the peace process within the coming four
months, with the positive contributions of national
stakeholders and the goodwill and support of the
international community. Earlier this year, we also
achieved remarkable success, with the help of the
United Nations, in releasing the disqualified minors
living in cantonments, based on the action plan signed
on 16 December 2009.
The United Nations Mission in Nepal has been
involved in support of Nepal’s nationally driven peace
process. We express our appreciation to the United
Nations for its consistent support of our peace process.
Nepal’s commitment to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations Charter is total and
unflinching. For us, the United Nations is the best
expression of multilateralism. It has served the
international community in the past and continues to
work as a linchpin of international relationships today.
We have no doubt as to its indispensability.
However, it needs to do more in this globalized
world. Global problems require global solutions. That
is possible only through multilateralism, based on
inclusiveness and equity. We look for an enhanced and
coherent role of the United Nations in dealing with all
global issues, but in particular those that affect the
lives and livelihoods of the poor around the world.