Last week we reaffirmed
our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). We agreed to accelerate our efforts.
Developing countries themselves have the main
responsibility for achieving the MDGs, and the
international community has the responsibility to assist
by means of development and debt relief where
appropriate. Norway is and will continue to be a solid
and reliable partner in development. We will keep our
development aid at its present substantial level,
including our significant support to United Nations
funds and programmes.
This year in particular, we are heartened to see
strong support for improving maternal health and
reducing child mortality, the Goals on which we are
lagging behind the most. Norway will work with the
Secretary-General to ensure that his Global Strategy
for Women’s and Children’s Health is transformed into
action on the ground.
The many successful and inspiring meetings last
week also illustrate that the challenges facing the
world, which are increasingly global in character,
require inclusive global forums to address them. That
means engaging in dialogue with others, often with
those who have different views. The United Nations is
not designed to comfort different leaders in their own
convictions; it is the place to confront and surpass
differences. It is therefore highly inappropriate when
this rostrum is abused to promote extreme views or
unfounded claims. The challenges before us are too
great to allow us to be derailed by attempts to incite
conflict. We must never forget that we are a global
community by virtue of the shared risks that stand
before us, the shared threats that challenge us and the
shared values that bind us together.
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Climate change threatens all our social and
economic aspirations. Let me point to two important
and dynamic processes that are among the most
promising as we look for potential results in Cancún:
limiting emissions from deforestation, and financing.
The Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory
Group on Climate Change Financing, which the Prime
Minister of Norway chairs together with the Prime
Minister of Ethiopia, is working hard to identify
sources that can enable us to raise the funds we
committed to in Copenhagen. We need to define
workable and acceptable sources, both private and
public, and help pave the way for a new international
climate agreement. We urge all Members to study the
report we will receive this fall with an open mind and
to build on this important work taking place at the
initiative of the Secretary-General, as we prepare for
Cancún and the period beyond.
Norway is leading support schemes for reducing
emissions from deforestation. In Bali in 2007, Norway
pledged to provide up to $500 million on an annual
basis to halt deforestation. We are working with key
partners such as Brazil, Indonesia and Guyana to
develop concrete methods to do this in practice. Such
measures are effective as a means of mitigation and
provide strong leverage for new and additional
financing for developing countries. They take effect
immediately. I call on other countries to join in this
great endeavour.
Ten years ago, we reaffirmed the connection
between the three pillars of the United Nations:
development, security and human rights. Human rights
are an integral part of the United Nations vision and
Charter, and should be mainstreamed in the work of the
United Nations in all areas, as previously called for by
this Assembly. Norway will continue to be active in the
Human Rights Council and promote a human rights-
based approach in United Nations development work.
We will continue to work with partner countries from
the North and South to this end, as we successfully did
last week at the Trygve Lie Symposium on
Fundamental Freedoms, focused on business and
human rights.
This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of
another major United Nations building block —
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and
peace and security. Women’s empowerment is a crucial
factor not only in sustainable development, but also in
sustainable peace. It is time to make good on the
commitments made and follow through on promises
that will enable women to take an active role in
situations that are a matter of life and death, not only
for them, but for their families, communities and even
nations. When we do take stock in October, we should
focus on action taken, and above all on action that
needs to be taken.
Norway would like to echo the vision and hope
voiced by President Obama in this Assembly that we
may in the near future have an agreement that will lead
to the entry of a new Member into the United
Nations — an independent, sovereign State of
Palestine.
The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which is chaired
by Norway, has called for assistance to the Palestinian
Authority in implementing the Programme for the
Thirteenth Government for completing the task of
building a Palestinian State, with regard to institution-
building and the development of a sustainable
Palestinian economy. The donors have been
encouraged by recent reports that the implementation
of the reform agenda accelerated significantly in the
first half of 2010. The World Bank stated that if the
Palestinian Authority were to maintain its current
performance, it is well positioned for the establishment
of a State at any point in the future.
It is crucial that this progress be mirrored by
progress in the peace negotiations. Norway welcomes
the relaunching earlier this month of direct bilateral
negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We
regret that Israel’s settlement moratorium was not
extended. Norway reaffirms its strong commitment to
the two-State solution and to supporting the
negotiations by ensuring full compliance with Road
Map obligations and maintaining their assistance to the
Palestinian State-building effort.
Allow me to underline another process with
enormous importance for regional peace, security and
development. Supporting the parties in the full and
timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement for the Sudan must be on our agenda. We
cannot afford to end up in a situation where we all
regret that we let peace slip in the Sudan.
For over 60 years, the United Nations system,
including the Bretton Woods institutions, has been the
global intergovernmental framework for cooperation
on joint challenges. Current trends in global
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cooperation may point towards a looser, more
fragmented structure of global governance. There is a
fine line between such strategic alliances as
complementary to traditional multilateralism, and as
alternatives for global multilateralism with the direct or
indirect representation of all States. This is why
Norway attaches great importance to the ongoing
discussion on how to best facilitate constructive
cooperation between the Group of 20 and the United
Nations.
United Nations reform has been a topic of many
statements during this debate. In order to remain
relevant, the United Nations must continuously reform
and adapt to a changing environment and new
challenges. As Member States, we have the
responsibility to ensure that the Organization is
equipped to respond to the task it is given. Therefore
we must continue to push for United Nations reform,
but with a view to improving and strengthening the
United Nations. We must build on what is already in
progress and seems to be yielding results. Delivering as
one is showing progress at the country level. It now
needs to be followed up at Headquarters. The
establishment of UN Women is a system-wide
coherence success story. We congratulate Ms. Bachelet
and pledge to support her in delivering on the promises
made to UN Women. Beyond new panels and
processes, we now need to finalize work on proposals
that are already on the table.
For Norway, commitment to the United Nations
also means commitment to reform — to strive for a
United Nations that is efficient and able to live up to
the expectations that we, the Member States, place on
it. We owe it to each other and to future generations to
maintain and strengthen the United Nations as a
unique, inclusive and global meeting place where we,
the peoples of this world, come together to solve the
global challenges of our time. This is our common
responsibility.