I would like to
congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election to the
prestigious post of President of the General Assembly
at its sixty-fifth session and to wish him every success.
Yesterday, the High-level Plenary Meeting of the
General Assembly finished its work. At the Meeting,
world leaders not only reaffirmed their strong
commitment to the implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) laid down in the
Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2), but also
announced specific new decisions on their practical
implementation.
The leaders who demonstrated their renewed
political will availed themselves of a very important
and timely opportunity for accelerating the
enhancement of concerted efforts at ensuring
sustainable progress in the implementation of the
MDGs. Further advancement in this area depends on
concerted, coordinated and consistent actions by the
entire international community, with the United
Nations playing a central and coordinating role.
We believe that this firm commitment must be
buttressed in every possible way by specific practical
measures that will contribute to the full and timely
achievement of all MDGs without exception. Against
the backdrop of the energy and financial and economic
crisis of recent years and the ever-growing impact of
climate change, our actions should be supported with
adequate financial resources. In this regard, the appeal
to double official development assistance, an important
component of financing for development, remains
urgent. Allocation of additional external funds for
development should not aggravate the burden of debt
of developing countries whose financial situation has
been exacerbated by the world economic crisis.
Strengthening the global partnership is essential
if we are to provide an environment conducive to
sustainable economic growth and job creation. First
and foremost, it is necessary to revitalize global trade
and investment, which are the driving force behind
industrial growth. Such an approach is of vital
importance for landlocked countries, whose
participation in global trade is hampered by their
geographical location and existing barriers to
expanding trade relations, which, in turn, affect
industrial growth and the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals in these countries.
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Efforts should be focused on creating new international
transport systems and corridors as well as promoting
the efficient use of existing ones, as this will help to
end the marginalization of landlocked countries in
global trade.
Tajikistan advocates the speedy completion of the
Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which
will contribute to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. Our view is that the international
trade system must remain open, equitable, predictable,
non-discriminatory and based on agreed rules,
especially in a time of crisis.
Our current stage of development is characterized
most notably by the fact that we have attained
maximum quantitative growth, which must now be
followed by new qualitative development. Such a
transformation requires an entirely new conceptual
approach to development which takes into account the
interests of both the present and future generations.
Governed by the principles of sustainable
economic development, the Government of Tajikistan
has identified three strategic goals, namely, freeing the
country from communications isolation, ensuring
energy security, and ensuring food security.
In order to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals, my country adopted and has been implementing
the National Development Strategy of the Republic of
Tajikistan for the period up to 2015 and the Poverty
Reduction Strategy. As the country’s major strategic
document, the National Development Strategy
identifies priorities and the principal lines of
Government policy aimed at achieving sustainable
economic growth, improving access of the population
to basic social services and reducing poverty.
Despite enormous difficulties associated with the
global financial and economic crisis and natural
disasters, the aforementioned strategies have in the last
five years contributed to progress in the achievement
of the MDGs.
To accelerate progress towards the
aforementioned strategic targets, the Government of
Tajikistan intends to address sustainable
macroeconomic growth issues, improve the system of
government management, develop real sectors of the
economy, and rehabilitate and diversify industries, as
well as to strengthen the country’s export capacity,
improve the investment climate, support trade renewal
activities, ensure social protection of the population,
develop the labour market and strengthen human
resources.
We need to make the transition to sustainable
development in order to address such long-term issues
as climate change, preservation of biodiversity and
prevention of desertification. Finding solutions
requires comprehensive and concerted actions. Our
efforts to address global climate change need to
examined critically, especially in light of last year’s
United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen.
The lessons drawn from that meeting should
encourage us to take more resolute measures towards
mitigation of harmful gas emissions, adaptation to
reduce the adverse impact of climate change, and the
transfer of technologies that promote transition to a
low carbon economy. We are convinced that at the
forthcoming meeting in Cancún the parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change will be able to agree upon those and other
dimensions of a new global agreement that will
become an important milestone in the post-Kyoto
period.
It is known that climate change affects freshwater
resources and increases the probability of floods,
mudflows, landslides, droughts and other water-related
natural disasters. Furthermore, climate change
aggravates an acute scarcity of freshwater in certain
regions of our planet. For example, in Tajikistan, which
is the source of about 60 per cent of the water
resources for the entire region, during the last 30 years
over a thousand glaciers disappeared, out of a total of
13,000. I will add that Tajikistan’s share of gas
emissions is very low. All the electricity in Tajikistan is
generated by hydropower stations.
The depletion of groundwater in the world
remains a serious problem. According to the available
forecast, by 2025 more than one third of the Earth’s
population will experience water shortages, and by
2050 the planet will not be able to fully meet its water
needs.
Tajikistan, as the initiator of the International
Year of Freshwater 2003 and the International Decade
for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005 to 2015, actively
promotes the water agenda in the United Nations. We
act not only as the initiator of discussions on water
issues in the international arena but also as the initiator
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in adapting specific measures on the sustainable use of
this vital resource. All these steps are aimed at an in-
depth study of water issues and the development of
relevant coordinated actions by the international
community.
In that context, the high-level international
conference on the midterm comprehensive review of
the implementation of the International Decade for
Action, held in Dushanbe and organized in cooperation
with the United Nations and in compliance with the
General Assembly resolution 64/198, has made an
important contribution. The conference confirmed once
again that further strategies for water use, irrespective
of the level at which they are developed, should be
based on the principles of sustainable management of
freshwater resources. The universal introduction of
sustainable development is important for achieving
progress in all fields of economic growth and the
strengthening of human potential. Those and other
recommendations are highlighted in the Dushanbe
Declaration on Water (A/65/88, annex), the outcome
document of the conference.
The efforts of Tajikistan in matters of water are
aimed at the sustainable and efficient use of the
country’s potential and at strengthening mutually
advantageous and equitable regional cooperation. We
believe that water cooperation should strengthen rather
than undermine interaction in other areas. It should
increasingly build confidence among all water users
and contribute to the introduction of integrated
management of water resources at the local, national
and regional levels.
With that in mind, we proposed proclaiming the
year 2012 as the International Year of Water
Diplomacy. We are convinced that the adoption of a
relevant resolution by the General Assembly will
contribute to overcoming competing interests in the
management of freshwater resources through such
diplomatic means as early warning, preventive
diplomacy and confidence-building measures, mutually
advantageous and mutually acceptable regional
cooperation, and a dialogue on these issues.
A worldwide move towards the development and
use of renewable energy, which considerably reduces
harmful gas emissions, is an important component of
efforts to address climate change. It is essential to
encourage and support in every possible way projects
aimed at increasing the proportion of renewable energy
used globally, the transfer of new and advanced
technologies and enhancing the efficiency of energy
supply and energy conservation.
Tajikistan fully supports the initiative on ensuring
universal access to advanced energy services and
considers it a prerequisite for the successful
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
For this reason, Tajikistan has been developing its
energy potential in a consistent and planned manner on
the basis of the integrated development of renewable
energy sources. Alongside the construction of small
and medium-scale hydropower stations, we are
considering the implementation of large-scale projects
of regional significance and exploring the possibility of
using solar and wind energy.
Effective regional cooperation plays a significant
role in establishing a global partnership for sustainable
development. The specific feature of our region is that
development of comprehensive cooperation depends in
many respects on the success of the process of
strengthening peace and overall stability in
Afghanistan.
Counteracting terrorism is a long-term objective
because of the multifaceted nature of this phenomenon,
which is alien to humanity, and because of its deep
roots. It is essential to intensify the concerted struggle
for uprooting terrorism by applying the entire range of
political, economic, financial and humanitarian
measures. We consider it important to speed up the
agreement on and adoption of a comprehensive
convention on combating international terrorism.
While combating terrorism, one should take into
account that terrorism cannot exist without financial
and logistical support. It is no secret that today illegal
drug trafficking has become one of the major sources
of financing for international terrorism. The urgency
and magnitude of problems related to drugs and illicit
drug trafficking are clear evidence of the global
menace that threatens international stability and
security at large.
Currently, Tajikistan finds itself between the
major world producer of opium and heroin and the
countries that consume those drugs. Given that our
border with Afghanistan, with a very complex
mountain terrain, is almost 1,500 kilometres long, we
have to act as a buffer blocking the ever-increasing
flow of this “white death”.
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We are absolutely confident that the success in
combating narcotics aggression, which yields
multimillion-dollar profits to the countries far from
Tajikistan, can be achieved only through consolidated
and collective efforts. We consider it necessary to get
Afghanistan involved in the processes of multifaceted
regional cooperation.
In that regard, I would like to underline the efforts by
the Quadripartite Group — comprising Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan — which is gaining in
strength. Within that new format of multilateral
cooperation our efforts are aimed at counteracting the
terrorist and narcotics threats, which are difficult to
uproot unless the problems of poverty, unemployment
and other urgent social issues are dealt with. All those
efforts will help to strengthen specific global measures
to reinforce the peace process. We hope that objectives
and goals recently voiced at the Kabul Conference will
be put into practice.
Intellectual and creative efforts over recent
decades have brought about new principles and norms
for sustainable development, set out in Agenda 21, the
Programme for the Further Implementation of
Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation. Those historic documents laid down a
sound foundation for transition from existing patterns
of production and consumption to a sustainable
pattern — the paradigm of today.
The whole range of long-term objectives that we
confront today demands a clear and sound
reconsideration of the actions by the international
community in favour of sustainable development. We
are convinced that the United Nations should remain
the centre for coordination and harmonization of the
efforts in this area. At the same time the consolidating
role of the United Nations itself should be enhanced by
strengthening its capacity to respond to problems in an
efficient and appropriate way and to efficiently meet
numerous global challenges and the threats of the new
millennium. Tajikistan confirms its willingness and
commitment to contribute to this process as far as it
can.