Oman

Allow me, Sir, on behalf of the Sultanate of Oman, to congratulate you on your election as President of the General Assembly at this session. We assure you of our readiness to work with you and to contribute sincerely and successfully to the achievement of the noble goals we all seek to accomplish in the service of humanity, and to the safety and security of the international community. I also take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Jan Kavan, who presided over the previous session, for his efforts to guarantee the success of the regular session and the special sessions held during the past year. Let me also acknowledge the tireless and serious efforts of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to promote the leading role of the United Nations in the field of international peace and security. 6 Once again, we stress the Sultanate of Oman’s support for the Organization in its endeavours to achieve the purposes and principles of the Charter. At the outset, I should like to shed some light on the measures taken by my country to develop its important institutions, particularly the judiciary. It is our strong belief that a fair and just judiciary forms the basis for social and economic development. In our contemporary history, the Sultanate of Oman has enabled the judiciary to become the most important means of establishing justice, issuing fair rulings and removing injustices in society, without interference by the Executive branch or by any other branch of Government. That development was endorsed in the constitutional State system enacted by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said through decree 101/96, issued on 6 November 1996. His Majesty also issued decree 90/99, which enacted the law granting full independence to the judiciary, on 21 November 1999. That law regulates the jurisdiction and the functions of courts of various circuits and at various levels. Moreover, the Supreme Court was established at the top of the judicial pyramid, with competence to standardize legal principles and to address faulty rulings. That was followed by a series of laws organizing various judicial organs, including a law establishing the higher judicial system. Additionally, a draft law on civil and trade procedures has been elaborated. All of the aforementioned demonstrates His Majesty’s interest in guaranteeing the well-being of the Omani citizen and in ensuring that all citizens are familiar with their rights and obligations, which are guaranteed through the right to due process. In the spirit of continued development and broadened participation by the Omani people in our social and economic development programmes, my country — since the dawn of the blessed renaissance that began in 1970 at the initiative of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said and that has continued throughout the past 33 years — has adopted an approach utilizing the experience and expertise of Omani citizens in the Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, which includes positive aspects of our cultural heritage in the modern development of the Sultanate. Our Consultative Council process has witnessed a qualitative shift and an important transformation in our modern history. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said issued royal instructions in October 2002 expanding the base of popular participation in elections for the Omani Consultative Council by granting every citizen, male or female, over the age of 21, the right to vote and to participate in the next election — scheduled for 4 October — to select the 83 members of the Consultative Council for its fifth session, from 2004 to 2006. That step complements previous steps aimed at developing the Consultative Council. Those important developments in the Sultanate of Oman will create a strong foundation for more development and advancement programmes to benefit the Omani people. We have followed recent developments in Palestine with grave concern. The Palestinian National Authority responded positively to the international community’s demands by accepting the road map — considered the most important document in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict — which embodies the international commitment to establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel. Nevertheless, the cycle of violence between the Palestinians and the Israeli Government continues unabated, which may doom the entire peace process, plunging it into a dark abyss from which it could be very difficult to rescue it. Therefore, the Quartet — sponsor of the road map — must shoulder its international responsibilities in that regard. One might well wonder how peace can be achieved between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples when the Israeli Government has decided in principle to expel President Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority and elected leader of the Palestinian people. One might also ask whether the Government of Israel, a Member State of the United Nations, is honouring its commitments under the Charter. The United Nations must intervene to put an end to that Israeli policy. Israel must respond to the international community’s demands and must comply with international resolutions. It must respond positively to international efforts aimed at implementation of the road map, which provides both parties with international guarantees aimed at achieving peace based on the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State on all Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. Such a solution would give the States in the region a historic opportunity to build a new Middle East. In that connection, we must warn that failure to commit to the establishment of a Palestinian State in conformity with 7 the road map would create a crisis with catastrophic results. My country shares with many other Member States the view that peace in the Middle East region will not be true and lasting unless our approach is just and comprehensive. In that connection, the Sultanate of Oman reaffirms its support for Lebanon’s right to restore the remaining Sheba’a farms and the Syrian Arab Republic’s right to recover the Syrian Golan, occupied on 4 June 1967. The war against Iraq in the first half of this year was only one link in the chain of wars that have been endured by the Middle East region. That war created a new reality, characterized mainly by the collapse of the former regime, the creation of a huge political and security vacuum and deterioration in basic services for Iraqi society. The continued lack of security in Iraq and the resulting loss of lives — in addition to the destruction of the United Nations Office and the escalation in assassinations — certainly do not help Iraq in this phase of re-establishing the Government and rebuilding the country. Prompted by our concern about the situation in Iraq, we believe that efforts are needed to enable the Iraqis to assume full responsibility for managing their country. Iraq has an abundance of national experts in every field. These qualified Iraqi cadres are capable of leading the process of restoring security and of rebuilding and fully developing their country. Iraq also possesses enormous economic and human resources that could help it to regain its strength and to play its regional and international roles. Undoubtedly, an active role for the United Nations and its specialized agencies will help us to attain our common objective: unity and territorial integrity for Iraq and prosperity and security for all its people. Committed to Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity, we welcomed the formation of the transitional Governing Council. We believe it essential to deal with that political institution so that we begin to build the right foundations for post-war Iraq — including the provision of basic services and the creation of a political climate conducive to the establishment of a stable political system that will respond to the Iraqi people’s wishes — as a prelude to beginning the reconstruction phase. Stability and the consolidation of security are requirements of all peoples throughout the world. We in the Sultanate of Oman — like all other countries in the Middle East — have been following with interest and optimism the official contacts taking place in various conflict areas. We hope that the contacts and discussions between the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the islands belonging to the United Arab Emirates will enable the two countries to arrive at an effective mechanism to settle their dispute. In addition, we appreciate the initiatives by India and Pakistan aimed at starting a dialogue between them. Moreover, my country hopes that the two Koreas and other concerned parties will be able to reach an agreement that addresses the various outstanding issues through constructive dialogue and adherence to international conventions and resolutions. We hope that that part of the world will ultimately achieve peace and coexistence. We also pay tribute to the peaceful efforts to solve the conflicts in Africa, and call on the international community to assist in developing a fair system to improve economic conditions and a mechanism to relieve the onerous burden of debt on African countries. International policies have in recent years led to the emergence of various types of terrorist acts. All of us must pause and deeply focus on this phenomenon, which targets people’s security and safety. We believe that it has become essential to study in a comprehensive and cooperative manner the root causes underlying this phenomenon. Although we fully support international efforts to combat terrorism by all available means, we must allocate part of the massive financial resources devoted to combating terrorism to help the least developed countries that may be fertile ground for terrorist activities. There is no doubt that United Nations efforts in the field of disarmament are leading nowhere. They will remain an exercise in futility so long as Member States cannot count on an effective system of collective security safeguards. Without such a system, responsibility for assessments of the level and quality of weapons needed will be subjective and fall solely to individual Governments. This would open the door wide to further arms races, and hinder progress towards disarmament or the reduction of armaments. While supporting the efforts to limit armaments, the Sultanate of Oman affirms the need to take practical measures in accordance with the International 8 Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regime of mutual guarantees. My country signed a safeguards agreement with the IAEA on 28 June 2001 at the headquarters of the Agency in Vienna. My country also believes that it is essential to promote cooperation between States to reduce the illegal trafficking of small arms and light weapons, which are the reason for most of the conflicts in the world. My country notes the efforts made by the United Nations to achieve the elimination of all lethal weapons from every corner of the earth and from outer space. My country supports all these efforts and underlines the responsibility of the international Organization for establishing a world order that is more capable of guaranteeing security for all States in a manner that reflects the reality of life in the third millennium. It should be consistent with partnership and with responsibilities, which are essential for the success of all efforts. This session is being convened at a time of continuous and intertwined development at the world economic, financial and trade levels. Many economies still suffer from economic stagnation and recession. The Sultanate of Oman appreciates the continued efforts of the International Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to achieve complementarity in their work so that they may confront the challenges that the countries of the world are now facing. These challenges include economic growth, sustainable development, poverty reduction and financial stability and balance. Since its accession to the World Trade Organization in October 2000, the Sultanate of Oman has taken great strides towards implementing its commitments to the Organization. The Sultanate has introduced many amendments and improvements to its systems, organizations and laws, and has enacted new legislation in conformity with the requirements of the World Trade Organization. My country has also been following with great interest the ongoing negotiations in the framework of the World Trade Organization with a view to overcoming the obstacles and difficulties impeding its work. Here, we must point an important difference between developing countries and developed countries, in that the latter control the World Intellectual Property Organization agreements and other conventions. Such agreements should not be misused by multinational corporations in a manner that adds to the burdens of the least developed countries in the fields of pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs and technology transfer, which would only exacerbate the obstacles to trade liberalization that the World Trade Organization is trying to overcome. Although the WTO Council of Ministers issued a separate statement on safeguards for patented drugs, aimed at helping developing countries to combat serious and contagious diseases, such a step may not sufficiently protect least developed countries from being forced to bear excessive costs. The Sultanate of Oman has worked hard at the regional level with its brothers and friends and through regional economic groupings, to enhance the climate for the liberalization of trade and the economy. In the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Sultanate participated in the establishment of the Gulf Customs Union at the beginning of this year. In the framework of the Arab League, we have also pushed forward the deadline for the establishment of a free- trade zone among the Arab States parties to the trade zone agreement to the beginning of January 2005 when full liberalization is expected to occur, opening the door to the free trade of Arab products and paving the way to an Arab common market. At the local level, my country has continued its efforts to enhance the role of the private sector in the national economy, based on the market economy and free competition and a favourable economic and trade climate that aims at the achievement of a true investment and trade partnership with all countries of the world, in the hope that conditions will be conducive to linking the economy of Oman to the world economy. Recognizing that the protection of the environment and its resources is a collective responsibility, my country’s Government has been active in stimulating the role of Omani society and its effective contribution to this cause. Here, we to reaffirm our commitment to the basic principles adopted at the two earth summits, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, and in South Africa, in 2002. We believe that these principles constitute a scientific framework that will guarantee our world partnership and help us to shoulder our collective responsibility for the protection of the environment and its natural resources in the service of sustainable development. 9 We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for the efforts and endeavours of the Secretary-General as reflected in his annual report, in which he details the achievements of the United Nations, as well as and the obstacles it faces, and sets out the strategies for the future for this Organization, which embodies the conscience and aspirations of the world. We support the proposals in the Secretary- General’s report on developing and restructuring the organs of the United Nations to enable the Organization to reflect current political reality. The United Nations should remain a true cornerstone of world policy and the main source of international legitimacy, so that countries may appeal to it for the prevention of wars and conflict. This is only possible through the effective pursuit of preventive diplomacy, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the maintenance of peace, enhancing world cooperation and dialogue among civilizations. This involves working towards resolving the problems of poverty and disease, protecting the environment, combating terrorism and bridging the gap between the rich countries of the North and the poor countries of the South. Relations between the United Nations and regional organizations in the maintenance of international peace and security should be strengthened through the enhancement of weak regional structures to enable them to archive collective security in a world governed by technology and great population increases. We believe that the United Nations represents international legitimacy. It is the crucible in which all regional and international efforts meld to realize the hopes and aspirations of our peoples and to confront the real challenges to peace, security and development in all their aspects. This can enhance relations and stability and spread a culture of peace and constructive dialogue among present and future generations to counter the logic of the threat of force or apprehensions about the future. We hope that this session will be a success so that it may chart a vision for the future that points to ways to serve humanity and renew the Member States’ trust in the Organization, total commitment to the implementation of its resolutions and respect for the provisions of the Charter.