Slovakia

It is a distinct honour and pleasure for me to address the General Assembly at the outset of its sixty-sixth session. This forum provides us with an unparalleled opportunity to strengthen, through dialogue, our concerted efforts in the quest for solutions to the mounting challenges that the international community faces today. We, the leaders of the United Nations, are expected to offer guidance and find solutions. I am convinced that, given the extensive diplomatic experience of the President of the Assembly, and under his able leadership, we will be able to make this session a successful one. I wish him every success in his demanding duties and assure him of my delegation’s full support and assistance. I also wish to express my delegation’s appreciation and gratitude for the exquisite work of his predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss, who so skilfully guided our proceedings during the sixty-fifth session. Let me also join others in paying tribute to the remarkable work of the newly reappointed Secretary- General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon. We deeply value his eminent personal and diplomatic qualities and look forward to working with him during his next tenure. Slovakia warmly welcomes the Republic of South Sudan as a new member of the United Nations family. We wish South Sudan every success and, above all, peace, security and prosperity for its people. Her Excellency Ms. Dilma Rousseff, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, opened her speech with these words: “For the very first time in the history of the United Nations, a female voice is opening the general debate. It is the voice of democracy and equality.” () President Rousseff expressed in two words the main challenge for the coming years: courage and sincerity. This challenge is accurate at a time of economic and debt crisis. We have to say openly that we still do not have adequate solutions. We are facing common risks in economy, governance and politics. Citizens all over the world expect leadership and a mutual synergy of economy and politics. The majority of the world’s population expects economic growth, prosperity and a better quality of life. Those living in poverty — the millions of people without jobs, without water and without food — expect real answers, quick action and results from political leaders. What can such a small country as Slovakia do to address these challenges? First, it has to do its own homework in stabilizing the economy. That means ensuring our pension system’s sustainability through deep reforms, and enacting a fiscal responsibility law that will ensure that fiscal policy is responsible to future generations and counter-cyclical. It means labour market reforms that support the creation of the new jobs the country badly needs, especially for some of its vulnerable groups. It means lowering the administrative burden and decreasing barriers to entrepreneurship, improving the predictability of the legal environment, and ensuring a wider use of e-Government services. Of course, it means measures to tackle corruption and to increase transparency, for example through a legal act ensuring that any contract concerning the use of public funds is valid only if published on the internet. 11-51360 8 The Slovak Republic is a small country, but it is a part of the eurozone, which is in deep economic trouble. Courage and sincerity are most needed most these days in Europe. The financial crisis and its negative influence upon the entire European banking sector have clearly shown that the eurozone was not prepared for a crisis. The chaos in addressing these issues only deepened the general distrust and worsened the subsequent economic recession. The majority of European Union countries did not use the good economic times to consolidate their budgets. Therefore, in many cases, the consequences of the recession shifted public debt into dangerous territory. We need courage in the eurozone to return to the old principles that established the European Union, which are necessary for successful international cooperation and integration. We need stricter European and national fiscal rules. We need to institute default controls, and we need new rules for the careful management of the financial sector. We need sincerity. We have to be honest with our citizens, because we have to be very careful that the response to forcing technical solutions to the debt crisis is not the escalation of nationalism and populism. There is a chance that we will save the eurozone economically, but at the same time we must minimize the risk of losing the project of European integration politically and devaluing it in the eyes of our voters. It is not just Europe; every region in the world is struggling today with serious economic difficulties. We live in a global, interdependent reality in which we cannot afford to ignore anybody’s problems. In this regard, we believe that, as a member of the Economic and Social Council, that body has the capacity to contribute more significantly to our joint efforts. If it is to do that, we feel that it is urgent to adjust its mandate and enhance its ability to react more swiftly to the economic and social needs of the world. In times of dire financial restrictions in our own national budgets, we, as the United Nations, also need to learn to do more with fewer resources. We welcome every effort that the Secretary-General is making to utilize the available resources with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Peace and security are ever harder to maintain in these harsh crisis times. One of Slovakia’s priorities in the fight against international terrorism remains the endeavour to move forward the negotiations on the comprehensive convention on international terrorism. With regard to the United Nations Global Counter- Terrorism Strategy, Slovakia will continue its implementation through concrete projects, as we have by co-organizing a special event on implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia, held in Bratislava in December 2010. Respect for international law, human rights and the rule of law should be an integral part of the fight against international terrorism. Peacekeeping missions are among the most visible and successful activities of the United Nations and the true expression of the commitment to maintaining peace and security around the globe. The Slovak Republic has been an active contributor to the United Nations forces in Cyprus since 2001, and is involved in the Middle East. In recent decades, we have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of United Nations peacekeeping missions. They have become increasingly in-demand, their mandates are widening and their management is becoming more complex. Slovakia therefore supports every measure aimed at increasing their effectiveness and efficiency given our truly constrained budgets. Peace is not merely the absence of war. Peace means safety in all areas of people’s lives, economic prosperity, social stability, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to health care and education, protection of the environment, and access to water and food. There is no chance of lasting peace without sustainable development. That is an area in which we must still do a great deal of work and make concerted efforts. Aid from Slovakia — a small country — has since 2003 been aimed at the most troubled regions of the world. Recently, Slovakia has been providing development and humanitarian aid in the context of 41 projects to help starving children in Kenya, deliver food and water in Ethiopia; provide humanitarian help in South Sudan; assist Pakistan following the terrible floods there; help refugees, from Libya to Tunisia; and also to provide technical assistance for countries in the western Balkans and in the Middle East. Slovakia is also helping to secure the democratization process in Afghanistan through 13 new projects. We need to focus on eliminating the primary causes of conflicts, not just deal hastily with their grave consequences, which, sadly, often occur only after too many lives have been destroyed. No effort 9 11-51360 should be spared in exploring all political and diplomatic options to stop conflicts at their roots. Mediation has proved to yield tangible results. I want to stress the important role of women in these processes, as it is often underestimated. Slovakia is a firm supporter of effective multilateralism, with the United Nations playing a central role. Concentrated efforts help create just and lasting solutions. This will be yet another challenging session for all of us. It calls for a renewed, shared commitment to the fundamental principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter. We cannot afford to lose the ability to understand one another’s needs because of our own domestic problems. In these hard times, I wish all of us enough strength to find necessary, mutually advantageous solutions.