I have
the honour to convey the regards of His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos Bin Said of Oman, and his best wishes and
appreciation for the efforts to make this session a
success.
I am quite hopeful that this session will yield a
great deal of understanding on various issues of
common interest that shall enhance global security and
stability in accordance with the aspirations of the
people of the world to achieve prosperity and realize
the Millennium Development Goals.
I would also like to seize this opportunity to
express my appreciation to Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon for his commendable efforts to improve the
performance of this Organization in the interests of the
international community.
In that connection, we would like to emphasize
the role of international institutions and the need to
support their efforts by intensifying cooperation and
coordination with them in order to uphold justice and
righteousness and to entrench security, peace and
stability throughout the world.
Annual sessions of the General Assembly are
important events through which Member States have
the opportunity to express their concerns and views.
There is no doubt that the efforts to preserve the
environment have remained a top international priority,
particularly in view of developments in recent years,
during which the effects of climate change have been
felt across the world.
The international community has made numerous
efforts in that respect, the most salient of which
includes Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development
in Brazil, and the Bali Road Map adopted at the 2007
Conference to the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change in
Indonesia. Those efforts are designed to deepen
understanding and awareness of climate change and to
improve weather forecasting in order to save lives and
property, to discourage human practices that are
detrimental to the environment and to educate people
to live in harmony with it.
More than ever before, however, we are called
upon to intensify and double our efforts and joint
cooperation in order to deal with such circumstances in
a constructive and practical way. We must support
purposeful scientific research aimed at finding creative
means, policies and plans to guarantee a stable and
sustainable environment while taking into account
physical evidence related to climatic cycles and
environmental change through the ages. We hope that
the fourteenth climate change Conference, to be held in
Copenhagen next year, will produce practical and
useful recommendations that meet our hopes and
aspirations.
Economic development and trade among nations
have helped build bridges of communication based on
mutual benefits and common interests. The current
trade system, however, is in dire need of a vision and
systems that keep pace with economic transformations
and with emerging economic entities in order to
maintain the balance of the global economy and to
cater to the needs of developing countries.
Large industrial countries need to lift trade
restrictions on the exports of developing countries and
to share with them modern technologies, effective
marketing mechanisms, and educational and scientific
frameworks that guarantee meaningful human
development everywhere. The World Trade
Organization (WTO) should play a more effective role
towards the removal of trade restrictions and the
application of appropriate policies so as to create a
freer trade environment.
While we welcome the invitation by the Director-
General of the WTO, Mr. Pascal Lamy, to hold another
round of trade negotiations in the context of the Doha
Development Agenda, we would like to emphasize that
such negotiations should rely on WTO rules that are
rooted in equity and justice.
Everyone knows that the Palestinians are
suffering the repercussions of tragic human
circumstances that have deprived them of their right to
a life of dignity. The harsh Israeli policies of closures,
the erection of checkpoints and the perpetuation of
settlement activities make the daily lives of
Palestinians very difficult. Those practices also
undermine efforts and initiatives to achieve peace and
stability. Indeed, they call into question the credibility
A/63/PV.13
21 08-53122
of Israel’s desire to seek a real solution to end the
conflict.
We urge the international community to step up
its efforts to make Israel shoulder its responsibilities, in
view of the importance and inevitability of peace as the
only option for joint and harmonious coexistence
between all peoples of the region. It has become clear
that there can be no peace without the restoration of the
legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost of
which is their right to live safely on their land and in
their independent State, side by side with Israel and
within internationally recognized boundaries.
Our commitment to peace is strategic and
fundamental. Ensuring peace is a collective
responsibility of the international community that
should be forcefully and selflessly shouldered,
regardless of the difficulties encountered. On that
basis, the Sultanate of Oman, in the context of its
friendly relations and cooperation with many countries,
is ever eager to promote long-term relations as a
fundamental pillar of joint efforts in support of peace,
security, dialogue, mutual understanding and harmony.
The progress made towards Lebanese
reconciliation is an achievement that invites optimism.
While we praise the efforts made by the State of Qatar
and all other Arab States, as well as by the League of
Arab States, we call upon all Lebanese parties to
implement the Doha Agreement in order to safeguard
the higher interests of the brotherly Lebanese people.
We also welcome the visit to Syria by Lebanese
President Michel Sleiman and its positive outcome,
including the agreement to establish diplomatic ties
between the two countries.
With regard to the situation in Iraq, we note with
satisfaction the relative improvements in the country’s
security conditions. We hope that the situation will
continue to improve until stability prevails throughout
Iraq. We also hope for continued efforts by the Iraqi
Government and all political forces to reach a
comprehensive national understanding that can unite
all sectors of Iraqi society and restore harmony and
concord to its national and social fabric.
As for the situation in the Sudanese region of
Darfur, we welcome the steps being taken by the
Sudanese Government, in cooperation with the African
Union and the League of Arab States, to establish
peace and stability in the region. We therefore call
upon the international community to support those
efforts in order to help build a national consensus
among all brotherly Sudanese citizens.
From this rostrum, we reiterate our call to all
Somali parties to cease fighting and to refrain from any
actions that could hamper sound diplomatic efforts. We
also hope that all parties will abide by the agreement
reached in Djibouti on 9 June 2008.
In addition, we call for continued consultations
between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other States
on the Iranian nuclear issue. We hope that those efforts
will result in an agreement that upholds Iran’s right to
use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, while
eliminating the concerns of a number of States
regarding the Iranian nuclear programme.
The Games of the XXIX Olympiad, hosted by the
friendly People’s Republic of China in Beijing, were
unique in terms of their organization, which definitely
made that international sports event a great success.
The Games have enriched human civilization in all of
its beautiful cultural diversity. We wish to take this
opportunity to express our best wishes for the next
Olympic Games, which will be hosted by the United
Kingdom in London in 2012, as well as our hope that
they will continue to contribute to human and cultural
coexistence among all nations.
The progress that has already been made in the
field of collaborative international endeavours
encourages us to make further collective efforts to
address the challenges facing us and to protect the
peoples of the world from their political, economic and
social repercussions. We also wish to emphasize the
importance of a joint commitment to the establishment
of justice and the rule of law. Governments must
shoulder their responsibilities in a spirit of positive
cooperation, understanding and mutual respect, which
are basic principles of international peace and security.
In closing, I wish the President of the General
Assembly the best of luck in leading the present
session to a successful conclusion. I should like to
reaffirm the support of the Sultanate of Oman for
efforts to ensure the welfare of all nations and future
generations. We hope that all of this will be achieved in
an atmosphere of cooperation, harmony and love.