Allow me at the outset to
congratulate Mr. Al-Nasser on his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly. I wish to assure
him of India’s full cooperation in the conduct of the
sixty-sixth session of the Assembly.
It is also my great pleasure to welcome in our
midst the new State of South Sudan.
We meet during this session of the General
Assembly at a time of great uncertainty and profound
change. Until a few years ago, the world had taken for
granted the benefits of globalization and global
interdependence. Today we are being called upon to
cope with the negative dimensions of those very
phenomena. Economic, social and political events in
different parts of the world have coalesced, and their
adverse impact is now being felt across countries and
continents.
The world economy is in trouble. The shoots of
recovery which were visible after the economic and
financial crisis of 2008 have yet to blossom. In many
respects, the crisis has deepened even further.
The traditional engines of the global economy,
including the United States, Europe and Japan, which
are also the sources of global economic and financial
stability, are today faced with continued economic
slowdown. Recessionary trends in those countries are
affecting confidence in world financial and capital
markets. These developments are bound to have a
negative impact on developing countries, which also
have to bear the additional burden of inflationary
pressures.
There has been unprecedented social and political
upheaval in West Asia, the Gulf and North Africa. The
peoples of those regions are demanding the right to
shape their own future. Energy and food prices are
once again spiralling and introducing fresh instability,
especially for developing countries.
The Palestinian question remains unresolved and
a source of great instability and violence. India is
steadfast in its support for the Palestinian people’s
struggle for a sovereign, independent, viable and united
State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital,
living within secure and recognizable borders side by
side and at peace with Israel. We look forward to
welcoming Palestine as an equal Member of the United
Nations.
Terrorism continues to rear its ugly head and take
a grievous toll of innocent lives. New threats to
international security have emerged. At a time when
the world needs more international commerce, the sea
lanes of communication across the Indian Ocean are
under siege. Acts of piracy are being carried out with
impunity from lands that are beyond the writ of any
functioning State or international accountability.
Iniquitous growth, inadequate job and education
opportunities and the denial of basic human freedoms
are leading to a growing radicalization of the youth,
intolerance and extremism.
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We have no choice but to meet these challenges
head-on. We will succeed if we adopt a cooperative
rather than a confrontational approach. We will
succeed if we embrace once again the principles on
which the United Nations was founded:
internationalism and multilateralism. More importantly,
we will succeed if our efforts have legitimacy and are
pursued not just within the framework of the law but
also in the spirit of the law.
The observance of the rule of law is as important
in international affairs as it is within countries.
Societies cannot be reordered from outside through
military force. People in all countries have the right to
choose their own destiny and decide their own future.
The international community has a role to play in
assisting in the processes of transition and institution-
building, but the idea that prescriptions should be
imposed from outside is fraught with danger.
Action taken under the authority of the United
Nations must respect the unity, territorial integrity,
sovereignty and independence of individual States.
Correspondingly, governments are duty-bound to their
citizens to create conditions that enable them to freely
determine their pathways to development. This is the
essence of democracy and fundamental human
freedoms.
There are many other things that we can do. We
must address the issue of the deficit in global
governance. We need a stronger and more effective
United Nations. We need a United Nations that is
sensitive to the aspirations of everyone, rich or poor,
big or small. For this, the United Nations and its
principal organs, the General Assembly and the
Security Council, must be revitalized and reformed.
The reform and expansion of the Security
Council are essential if it is to reflect contemporary
reality. Such an outcome will enhance the Council’s
credibility and effectiveness in dealing with global
issues. Early reform of the Security Council must be
pursued with renewed vigour and urgently enacted.
We should not allow the global economic
slowdown to become a pretext for building walls
around ourselves through protectionism or erecting
barriers to the movement of people, services and
capital. Effective ways and means must be deployed to
promote the coordination of the macroeconomic
policies of the major economies. The reform of the
governance systems of international financial
institutions should be pursued with speed and
efficiency.
The development agenda must be brought firmly
back to centre stage in United Nations priorities. We
need a much more determined effort to ensure
balanced, inclusive and sustainable development for
the benefit of vast sections of humanity. Each of us can
contribute to this task, but we can achieve far more if
we act in partnership.
In the past few decades, India has lifted tens of
millions of its people out of abject poverty. We are in a
position to feed our population better, educate them
better and widen their economic choices. However, we
still have a very long way to go.
We wish to accelerate the pace of India’s
transformation in partnership with the international
community. A fast-growing India can expand the
boundaries of the global economy. A democratic, plural
and secular India can contribute to tolerance and
peaceful coexistence among nations.
Developing countries need investment,
technology and market access for their products. They
need assistance in the areas of education, health,
women’s empowerment and agriculture. During the
recently held fourth United Nations Conference on the
Least Developed Countries Conference in Istanbul in
May 2011, India strengthened its partnership with the
least developed countries through significantly
enhanced lines of credit and assistance in capacity-
building.
We should pay particular attention to Africa.
Africa’s richest resources are not its minerals but its
people. We must empower them and open the doors for
them to human advances through technology, education
and skills development.
At the second India-Africa Forum Summit in
Addis Ababa earlier this year, India offered lines of
credit worth $5 billion and an additional $700 million
in grant assistance for human resource development,
technology transfer and building new institutions.
The United Nations should lead efforts in the area
of food security. We need more cooperation in
agricultural technologies, water conservation, land
usage and productivity, and stability in commodity
prices.
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Developing countries need a peaceful external
environment in which to grow. The fight against
terrorism must be unrelenting. There cannot be
selective approaches in dealing with terrorist groups or
the infrastructure of terrorism. Terrorism has to be
fought across all fronts. In South Asia there are
encouraging signs of cooperation in the area of
security, as exemplified in India’s cooperation with
Bangladesh. Such cooperation is adding to the security
of both our countries.
However, the recent assassination of
Mr. Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul is a chilling
reminder of the designs of the enemies of peace in
Afghanistan. It is essential that the process of nation-
building and reconciliation in that country succeed.
This is vital for ensuring peace and security in the
region. India will play its part in helping the people of
Afghanistan build a better future for themselves, just as
we are doing in other countries in South Asia. We will
do so because prosperity and stability in our region are
indivisible.
We wish to see an open, inclusive and transparent
architecture of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific
region and peaceful settlement of disputes. I call upon
the United Nations to evolve a comprehensive and
effective response to the problem of piracy in the Red
Sea and off the coast of Somalia. As a littoral State of
the Indian Ocean, India is ready to work with other
countries in that regard. Simultaneously, the
international community should continue with efforts
to restore stability in Somalia. We have joined
international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance
to the countries afflicted with severe famine and
drought in the Horn of Africa, specifically Somalia,
Kenya and Djibouti.
Nuclear proliferation continues to be a threat to
international security. The action plan put forward by
former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for a nuclear-
weapon-free and non-violent world provides, even
today, a concrete road map for achieving nuclear
disarmament in a time-bound, universal,
non-discriminatory, phased and verifiable manner. I
commend the United Nations for its efforts in focusing
world attention on nuclear safety. Our plans for
utilizing nuclear power to meet our energy needs hinge
on full satisfaction of our concerns about the safety of
nuclear energy. We have undertaken a thorough review
of the safety of our nuclear plants.
The perspectives I have outlined to the Assembly
are those that have guided our actions in the Security
Council since India became a non-permanent member
of the Council in January. There are still millions of
people living in poverty across the world. Their plight
has worsened, through no fault of theirs, due to the
global economic and financial crisis of recent years.
The actions of Governments around the world are
therefore under close scrutiny. It is vitally important
that through our actions and deeds we renew the
people’s faith in the Charter and objectives of the
United Nations. I am confident that we can do this
through acts of statesmanship, foresight and collective
effort. India stands ready to play its part in this noble
endeavour.