Allow me to congratulate you,
Sir, on your election to the very important post of the
highest representative of the General Assembly at its
sixty-sixth session.
A few days ago New York City and the entire
world remembered the tenth anniversary of the tragic
events of 11 September. I should like to use this
opportunity to pay homage to all the victims and to the
firefighters and other rescue workers who died in
connection with the 2001 attacks. We should not forget
them.
The main topic suggested for the sixty-sixth
session — the mediation of disputes by peaceful
means — is at the very core of the United Nations
Charter, and I can assure members it is also at the core
of the foreign policy principles of the country I have
the privilege to represent, the Czech Republic. Nineteen years ago the dissolution of
Czechoslovakia was negotiated peacefully from within,
without any need for external mediation. Our
experience tells us that if a solution to any country’s
aspirations to sovereignty and freedom, or a solution to
a dispute among countries, is to be lasting and
acceptable for the citizens of those countries, that
solution must primarily come from within the region
itself and from the negotiations of the countries
concerned. In the same spirit, the Czech Republic is
convinced, with regard to the most important issue of
this session of the General Assembly, that it is
necessary for the two sides in the Israeli-Palestinian
dispute to find a way forward themselves.
I agree with President Obama that there is no
shortcut to ending a conflict that has endured for
decades. It requires that both sides take an innovative
approach and overcome some old, inflexible and rigid
schemes of thought. It requires both sides to negotiate
and to find a balanced solution that will last. Such a
solution cannot come through unilateral steps, neither
those forced by the United Nations nor the steps taken
by one side of the dispute only.
The Czech Republic successfully completed the
transition from communism to democracy, and, based
on that experience, we wish the countries of North
Africa to make progress in the same direction. We
know it is not an easy path. To remove several leading
politicians is not the crucial aspect of the much-needed
systemic change.
When the Iron Curtain fell in Europe more than
20 years ago, I used to talk about three mutually
interconnected preconditions for successful
transformation: a clear and transparent concept of
where to go, a feasible strategy how to get there, and to
be able to motivate the citizens of the country to
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promote it. I still do not see these preconditions in
some of the countries of North Africa.
By saying that, I want to stress that the systemic
change cannot be agreed upon or prearranged at
international conferences. It cannot be mediated or
passively acquired as a foreign investment. It is a
domestic task and a sequence of policies, not a once-
for-all policy change.
There is something we can do, however. We can
and should increase our efforts to cooperate with the
countries of North Africa. We should not forget that
there is a complementarity between freedom and trade.
Our relations — and now I speak especially about us,
the European Union member States — with the
countries of North Africa should be based on free
trade, which means on trade with a minimum of
regulation and arbitrary standards. Prosperity in the
countries of North Africa is a guarantee of stability and
is also a precondition for preventing growing migration
to the countries in Southern and Western Europe.
I should also like to mention another issue that I
see as crucial, that of nuclear energy. I welcome the
fact that the Secretary-General called for a special
meeting on this topic. The Czech Republic pays the
highest possible attention to nuclear safety and security
and supports the further development of nuclear
energy.
What happened in Japan in March this year was a
serious natural catastrophe, and there are certainly
lessons to be learned from it. The main lesson is
obvious. Even coastal locations, which are seen as
seismically stable for urban planning, can be affected
by earthquakes far away under the sea. Nuclear power
plants should be built in locations that are the least
prone to damage by natural disasters. Yet after the
tsunami hit the Fukushima power plant, some
Governments decided not to build new nuclear power
plants and some even to abandon nuclear energy as
such.
Speaking for the Czech Republic, we consider
that what happened in Fukushima did not by any means
question the arguments for nuclear energy. These
arguments are strong, economically rational and
convincing. Nuclear power is a stable, legitimate and,
in some countries, irreplaceable source of energy
today.
Let me conclude by saying that the Czech
Republic continues to support the much-needed reform
of the Security Council. The world has changed
considerably since the United Nations Charter was
signed. New countries must take greater responsibility
for this Organization and for its financing.
This year the Czech Republic holds the
presidency of the Executive Board of the United
Nations Development Programme, which supports
projects in 177 countries. We support that Programme
but want to stress that in order for developing countries
to develop, all kinds of unnecessary barriers, standards,
regulations and other constraints in the developed
world must first be removed.
I wish the President every success in his office
and assure him that the Czech Republic will continue
to be an active Member of the United Nations.