Mali

It is a great privilege and signal honour for me to address the 10-55276 20 Assembly on behalf of the President of the Republic of Mali, His Excellency Mr. Amadou Toumani Touré, who, because of a very busy schedule resulting from the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Mali’s independence, is unable to be here with us today. He has expressly charged me with conveying to the Assembly his sincere greetings and his wishes for every success for the work of this current session. At the outset I should like to convey to you, Sir, the warmest congratulations of the delegation of Mali on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. Your election is a tribute to your eminent professional skills and is also an expression of the unanimous recognition given by the international community to the commitment of your country, Switzerland, a friend of Mali, to the ideals of our Organization. I assure you of my delegation’s constant support in fulfilling your mandate. Allow me also to express our deep appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, for his deep commitment and the remarkable manner in which he guided our work during the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. In turn, I commend the Secretary- General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his constant efforts and his commitment to meeting the aims and objectives of this Organization. On 28 September 1960, only a few days after the proclamation of independence, my country, Mali, became a Member of the United Nations. Today, on 28 September 2010, 50 years later, I, speaking to you from this selfsame rostrum, would like to reaffirm with force and conviction the commitment of the Republic of Mali to the promotion of the principles and purposes of the Charter, the establishment of friendly relations with all nations of the world and the promotion of international cooperation, and to contributing to the dawning of a world of peace, justice and progress. Indeed, today a new Mali is on the rise. Under the leadership of President Amadou Toumani Touré, this new Mali continues to progress towards the development and well-being of its people, each day further building upon the gains of peaceful democracy, recognized worldwide as being exemplary, and further enhances its presence in Africa and on the international stage. Today, on 28 September 2010, I convey here and now to the peoples of the world, to the Governments of friendly countries, and to Mali’s development partners, the greetings and gratitude of my country and reaffirm the solidarity and commitment of the Republic of Mali in our shared quest for a better world. This general debate has opened by setting out to tackle a timely subject, the reaffirmation of the central role of the United Nations in global governance. In this regard, Mali reiterates from the outset its faith in the capacity of the Organization to be a catalyst in the processes of global democratization and governance. In that connection my country, Mali, continues to call for a reform of the global economic and financial architecture, the only way to prevent the occurrence of even worse crises. In the same vein, Mali believes that just and equitable representation of all regions of the world must be guaranteed within our Organization, in particular through Security Council reform. In that regard, Mali reaffirms its adherence to the Ezulwini Consensus and to the Sirte Declaration, adopted by the heads of State and Government of the African Union, and fully supports Africa’s demand for two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats. A reformed Council would better reflect the geopolitical realities of the world today, thus contributing towards repairing the historical injustices towards Africa, the only region of the world not to have a permanent seat on the Security Council. In the same spirit Mali, together with all other Member States, will strive to reinforce the effectiveness of the role of the Council and to promote the revitalization of the General Assembly. With only five years now to the 2015 deadline set to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and in spite of the tireless efforts made by many developing countries, millions of people worldwide are still waiting for the Millennium Declaration to take concrete effect. The High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, which has just concluded, would have been a useful opportunity for heads of States and Government to evaluate the progress made in various areas, draw lessons from the best practices and define approaches towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. For its part, the Republic of Mali is resolutely committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in a sustainable manner through the adoption of a 10-year plan for the years 2006-2015, and through the implementation of a strategic framework for growth and poverty reduction and a project for economic and 21 10-55276 social development, all of which focus in particular on agriculture and food security, education and health. From this rostrum I invite the international community to continue to support our efforts in implementing this range of economic and social development policies in Mali, as we are encouraged by the results achieved in previous strategies. Indeed, the implementation of such strategies has made it possible to increase the schooling rate from 64 per cent in 2002 to 80 per cent in 2008. Mortality for children under the age of 5 has fallen from 229 per thousand in 2001 to 191 per thousand in 2006, while HIV/AIDS prevalence has fallen from 1.7 per cent in 2001 to 1.3 per cent in 2006. Thus, Mali deems it essential to expedite the implementation of the commitments made at key international conferences, particularly the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development, the Brussels Conference on the Least Developed Countries, the Barbados Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the Almaty Conference on landlocked developing States. Undoubtedly climate change poses one of the greatest challenges currently facing the international community. Today more than ever, the survival of our planet is threatened by natural disasters caused by this phenomenon, which seriously affects the living conditions in developing countries such as my own through — in our case — the encroachment of the desert, the silting up of the Niger river, the deterioration of our ecosystem, the shortening of the winter season and poor rainfall distribution. That is why Mali will spare no effort to make its modest contribution towards finding a global and binding agreement on climate change. To that end, in November 2010 my country will host a regional forum on sustainable development. The AIDS pandemic continues to hamper development efforts in many countries and thus poses one of the greatest threats to the survival of humanity and global security. In keeping with the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases, the Brazzaville Commitment for universal access to treatment in Africa and the Lomé Declaration on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Mali has launched a vast programme of multisectoral reform, both at the institutional and operational levels. That programme compels all the sectors, in particular the public, private and civil society sectors, to become better organized in order to better coordinate their activities to combat AIDS effectively and be held accountable to the nation. The new transnational threats of trafficking in drugs, arms, human beings and terrorism seriously jeopardize international peace and security. The international community must resolutely tackle those threats. That means acting quickly and effectively. As I underscored in the General Assembly during the second review of the United Nations global counter- terrorism strategy on 8 September 2010, Mali has adopted a new strategy to combat the lack of security and terrorism. On the one hand, this new strategy seeks to strengthen national capacities through robust actions in the field of security and community development and on the other hand it seeks to promote effective regional cooperation with the unified commitment of States of the Sahelo-Saharan region and with the support of the international community. Building on this same impetus, the President of the Republic of Mali, His Excellency Mr. Amadou Toumani Touré, has taken the initiative of organizing a conference in Mali on peace, security and development in the Sahelo-Saharan region. The maintenance of international peace and security has been and will remain one of the most pressing concerns of the international community. Without peace there is no development or prosperity, nor will there be, and that is why Mali remains firmly attached to the ideals of peace and stability, both within and beyond its borders. In this regard, we welcome the progress made in national reconstruction and reconciliation, in peacebuilding and in the process of democratic transition, in particular in Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the Middle East, we reaffirm our solidarity with our brother Palestinian people in their courageous struggle for the creation of an independent and sovereign State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, and we have closely followed the evolving situation in that part of the world and continue to support the relevant resolutions of the United Nations in this area. To conclude, I should like to reiterate our solidarity with the brotherly people of Haiti, as they seek to rebuild their country, and to express our deep sympathy to the victims of the natural disasters that have afflicted China, India, Pakistan, Russia and other 10-55276 22 countries, in particular in Africa. Millions of people worldwide continue to place their hopes in the United Nations, and, as the community of nations, we do not have the right to let them down. It is our obligation to guarantee sustainable development for future generations and to preserve them from the scourge of war.