I wish
at the outset to sincerely congratulate you, Sir, on your
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session. We are convinced that your
diplomatic ability and skill will help us to ensure the
success of this session and to attain the objectives to
which we all aspire. I should also like to thank
Mr. Srgjan Kerim for his excellent work and his
valuable contributions to the smooth conduct of the
previous session. Our sincere thanks go also to the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his generous
efforts to promote the work of the Organization and to
enhance its performance in addressing various issues of
importance to our countries and peoples.
The choice of the main theme of this year’s
general debate — the impact of the global food crisis
on poverty and hunger in the world — reflects the
importance of that issue and the growing awareness
among all countries of its seriousness and of the need
to work together to find effective solutions to reduce
its impact and repercussions on national economies,
particularly those of developing and poor countries,
and on the increasing rates of poverty and hunger
throughout the world.
In that context, the central role played by the
United Nations is of crucial importance in addressing
those issues and in striving to achieve a better balance
in international relations and greater solidarity, justice
and equality. That requires that we enhance the
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Organization’s reform process and strengthen its
capacity to keep abreast of international developments.
In recent years, the world situation has been
characterized by increasingly swift change, which has
disrupted international balances and undermined
prevailing development formulas. It has also created
many problems and difficulties that have clearly
affected the economies and development processes of
many countries. In addition, it has weakened their
capacity to make progress and increased their
vulnerability. Furthermore, the world has recently
witnessed serious economic problems, in particular an
excessive rise in oil and basic food prices, which has
threatened world food security and reduced the
purchasing power of individuals, thus hampering the
achievement of the goals and approaches set at the
Millennium Summit. If we are to address this grave
situation, we must step up international efforts by
adopting development strategies based on the noble
human aspects of world solidarity. In that context,
Tunisia has called on international financial institutions
and other organizations that specialize in economy and
trade to establish and implement agricultural and
production policies that guarantee the availability of
food, which is a fundamental right enshrined in
international human rights instruments.
I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate
our call for intensified efforts to operationalize the
World Solidarity Fund, endorsed by the General
Assembly in 2002 (resolution 57/265) on the initiative
of Tunisia as a mechanism to address the issues of
poverty and privation in the world and to reduce
disparities among peoples.
In order to keep abreast of the profound changes
on the international scene and the new realities they
have produced in international relations, along with the
various challenges and complexities those changes
represent, we must act to strengthen the capacity of the
United Nations to act more efficiently. We must also
endeavour to reform the Organization, develop its
structures and enhance the role it is expected to play to
ameliorate the current international situation and turn
globalization into a process that helps to guarantee
peace and development for all peoples.
In that context, Tunisia supports all efforts and
initiatives aimed at establishing new frameworks and
mechanisms for action that can help to find collective
solutions to common challenges in the vital fields of
security, peace, development, the environment and
food security, as part of an appropriate approach to
international relations founded on the complementarity
between peace, security and development. However,
that should be accompanied by strengthened
multilateral action on the basis of cooperation,
solidarity and a constructive dialogue among all
countries.
Despite efforts to contain it, the heightened
problem of terrorism in the world strengthens our
belief in the need to unify the international approach to
fighting that scourge and finding adequate solutions to
it. Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has warned the
international community against the dangers of
terrorism and has called for the adoption of a
comprehensive and efficient approach that takes into
consideration the root causes of the scourge. Today, we
renew the call of His Excellency President Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali to convene an international
conference under the auspices of the United Nations to
develop an international code of conduct for the fight
against terrorism to which all parties shall commit
themselves.
Climate change and the resulting intensification
of the problems of desertification, drought and the lack
of drinking water pose a threat to all humankind today
and are a source of great concern to all. While
affirming the close link between the environment and
development and the crucial importance of promoting
cooperation and solidarity to respond to the challenges
in that regard, we should like to emphasize the need to
include concerns about the potential effects of climate
change, particularly in the African and Mediterranean
regions, among the international community’s
priorities, as called for in the Tunis Declaration
adopted by the International Solidarity Conference on
Climate Change Strategies for the African and
Mediterranean Regions, which was held in Tunisia in
November 2007.
We would also like to reiterate the need to
mobilize the necessary financial resources to promote
research into climate monitoring and meteorology and
the development of natural disaster early warning
systems, in addition to the need to invest in reducing
the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global
warming.
We are convinced that the success of
development efforts and the strengthening of
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cooperation among our countries depend on providing
a secure and stable international environment.
Obstacles to success in that effort include the
intensification of tensions and conflicts and the
persistence of unresolved problems. In that regard, we
reaffirm Tunisia’s commitment to the values of peace
and to the principles of international legality as the
path to achieving just and lasting solutions to pending
international issues. We also renew our determination
to promote the values of moderation, tolerance and
mutual respect in relations among countries and
peoples and to establish bridges of communication and
dialogue among all civilizations, cultures and religions.
In that context, while reaffirming Tunisia’s
position in support of our Palestinian brothers and their
just cause as a people, we renew our call to the
international community, especially its most influential
members and the Quartet, to increase their efforts to
bring Israel to end its aggressive practices and
settlement activities. We call on them to intensify their
work to reinvigorate the peace effort and to facilitate
the resumption of negotiations between Palestinians
and Israelis on the basis of the relevant international
terms of reference, the Arab Peace Initiative and the
results of the Annapolis Conference, with the aim of
achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive solution to
the Palestinian question.
Such a solution would guarantee that the
Palestinians regain their legitimate national rights and
establish an independent Palestinian State on their
national territory. It would also guarantee the
withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories,
including Syrian and Lebanese land. That solution
would also provide security and stability for all the
peoples of the region.
We also call for joint regional and international
efforts to address the deterioration of security and
humanitarian conditions in Iraq and to help the
brotherly Iraqi people to restore security and stability
so that they may devote their energies to reconstruction
efforts while preserving their national and territorial
unity.
We wish to take this opportunity to express our
satisfaction with the recent positive developments in
our sisterly country of Lebanon, namely, the election of
the country’s President and the establishment of a
Government of national unity. We trust that our
Lebanese brothers will further strengthen that process
in order to preserve Lebanon’s security and stability.
Since the change of 7 November 1987, and under
the wise leadership of President Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia, we have
succeeded in accomplishing remarkable achievements
in every area, due to substantial reforms that have
strengthened the democratic process, promoted
mechanisms to protect human rights and culture and
consecrated public freedoms. Those reforms have
enabled us to expand the scope of consultation and
participation by the various sectors of civil society in
identifying major trends and determining crucial
national options within the framework of the rule of
law and respect for institutions.
Those reforms have also made it possible to
achieve many of the Millennium Development Goals,
which has led to the improvement of living standards
and the well-being of all segments of Tunisian society.
Those achievements reflect the sound development
choices and approaches implemented in Tunisia, which
have allowed us to reach a high position on the list of
countries with the highest human development
indicators. That has earned Tunisia the respect of
international financial institutions and the specialized
agencies of the United Nations.
In its various development plans, Tunisia has
continued to work for development and modernization
in order to strengthen its capacity to keep up with
international changes and actively contribute to
building a world of peace and security and to make
international relations more balanced and based on
solidarity.
Based on its desire to achieve a higher level of
integration at the regional and international levels,
Tunisia is working to expand its participation in
regional and international organizations and to develop
political relations with friendly countries. It also
endeavouring to expand and diversify its scope of
cooperation with them so as to establish an effective
partnership based on mutual respect and common
interests. In that regard, Tunisia firmly believes that the
Arab Maghreb Union is a strategic and crucial choice
for all peoples of the region. In cooperation and
coordination with the other friendly Maghreb
countries, we are sparing no effort to speed up the
establishment of the Union.
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Tunisia is also eager to promote joint Arab action
and to enhance its ability to interact with regional and
international bodies in order to address the changes
taking place in the region and to contribute to the
promotion of the reform and modernization process in
the Arab world, in conformity with the decisions of the
2004 Arab summit held in Tunis.
With regard to Africa, Tunisia is contributing to
the achievement of peace and security in the continent
by participating in United Nations peacekeeping
operations and by developing economic relations with
friendly African countries. Based on our belief in the
importance of joint African action and the fact that the
African Union is the ideal framework to address the
continent’s problems and achieve the integration to
which our peoples aspire, Tunisia reaffirms its strong
determination to pursue the process decided within the
framework of the African Union to establish and
operationalize its institutions, enhance its role in the
resolution of conflicts and promote the development
process in Africa.
With regard to Europe, Tunisia attaches strategic
importance to its relations with the European Union
(EU) and is continuing to work to develop those
relations on the basis of a solidarity-based partnership
with EU countries on the basis of dialogue, cooperation
and mutual respect. The building of a Euro-
Mediterranean cooperation framework is one of
Tunisia’s priorities and a tenet of its foreign policy.
Tunisia has therefore supported every initiative and
mechanism that contributes to the promotion of peace,
solidarity and development in the Mediterranean
region — including the Barcelona process, the 5+5
Dialogue, and the Mediterranean Forum.
Tunisia was among the first countries to welcome
the French initiative on the establishment of the Union
for the Mediterranean. We are convinced that the future
of that initiative depends upon an effective partnership
that guarantees the active participation of the countries
of the southern Mediterranean in establishing the
foundations of the Union and in the taking of decisions
of concern to the region.
Meeting the challenges posed by the new
international situation and the profound changes taking
place on the world scene requires us all to step up
efforts to further entrench the noble universal
principles and humanist values on which the United
Nations was founded. It also requires perseverance in
enhancing the process of United Nations reform to
make its work more efficient and to ensure its active
contribution to providing optimum international
conditions that can help us find collective solutions to
common challenges and current international issues,
respond to our peoples’ aspirations for stability, and
provide the appropriate conditions for prosperity and
well-being in an environment of cooperation and
solidarity-based development.