May I, at the outset, convey my heartfelt
congratulations to you, Sir, on your election as
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third
session and assure you of the commitment of the
Kingdom of Bahrain and its delegation to working
closely with you towards achieving our shared
objectives. I have no doubt that your experience and
abilities will play a crucial role in ensuring the success
of this session. I also want to take this opportunity to
thank your predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for his
leadership of the General Assembly at its previous
session and to express our continued and deep
appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his
ongoing, unflinching dedication and initiative in
addressing the many challenges facing the United
Nations and the world.
These General Assembly meetings provide a
valuable opportunity for all of us in the international
community to reflect on the challenges, problems and
issues facing us all in order to form a more
comprehensive view of the issues, to understand their
causes, be it through success or failure, and to work
together to develop a shared vision of the future and
the tools necessary to achieve our aims and realize our
vision.
Today, the international community faces many
challenges in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), notably those related to energy, the
environment, natural disasters, food shortages,
education and the financial crisis that has recently
shaken the world. These challenges make achieving the
MDGs difficult for many States, to a degree that affects
their economic development and increases the rate of
poverty in them. We therefore need an urgent and
effective response from the international community to
deal with those pressing issues in order to achieve the
MDGs. Yet, as we review our progress to date, the
global effort to achieve the Goals has been uneven, at
best, to the point that we are today on the verge of a
development emergency.
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08-53122 26
The Kingdom of Bahrain welcomes the
opportunities provided by the high-level event on the
MDGs, held on 25 September, and the high-level meeting
on Africa’s development needs, held on 22 September, to
renew the commitments of all States.
In addressing these important issues, we must not
lose sight of the impact of disasters, both natural and
man-made, in holding back progress towards achieving
the MDGs. It is thus imperative that States integrate
disaster risk reduction into their development plans.
We simply cannot afford to ignore or delay these
development issues. Nor can we dismiss them as soft
issues, for if action is not taken soon, they will become
real threats to global security and prosperity. The
Kingdom of Bahrain therefore fully supports the
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
and plans to host the launch of the report in May 2009.
As we all know, the issue of climate change is of
utmost importance. As the world prepares to meet to
negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the end
of 2009, global demand for energy is rising fast, as
populations increase and some developing countries
undergo dramatic economic growth. The International
Energy Agency predicts that the world’s energy needs
could increase by 50 per cent by 2030. We therefore
look forward to the meeting to be held in Poland later
this year in advance of the United Nations Climate
Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in 2009.
We are hopeful that all sides will realize the
importance of the climate change issue and will
commit themselves to addressing the overriding
interests of the future of our planet and of future
generations. Our hope is that a comprehensive and
effective agreement can be concluded and
implemented.
The peaceful use of nuclear energy has become a
preferred option for many countries, and here the
Kingdom of Bahrain therefore shares the concerns of
the international community. Therefore, future
agreements on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes must be made within a strengthened
non-proliferation regime, with improved safeguards
and an expanded verification mechanism, in order to
ensure that our peoples are not put at risk. Indeed, a
highlight of the twenty-eighth Supreme Council of the
Gulf Cooperation Council, held last December in
Doha, was the acknowledgment of the right of
countries of the region to seek nuclear expertise and to
possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in close
cooperation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
Given its universal impact and implications,
energy and its various sources are in need of a holistic,
global approach, yet they are dealt with in a
fragmented, piecemeal manner. That unsatisfactory
situation leads us to suggest the establishment of a
truly comprehensive energy organization. Such an
organization would bring a joint international
perspective to determining the role and usage of
hydrocarbons, nuclear power, new and renewable
energy sources, and would introduce innovative
solutions to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions. Such a body could provide accurate
assessments of global energy demand and supply and
bring energy data under one roof. It would also provide
any objective advice that might be required on an
optimal energy mix that is both safe and
environmentally sound.
Having spoken of energy and climate change
issues, I must now turn to the food security crisis,
which is a result of high food prices and which in 2007
increased the number of hungry people in the world by
about 50 million. We believe that the solution to that
crisis lies in working together to implement solutions,
such as reducing biofuel production, changing
consumption habits and investing in sustainable
agricultural methods.
The shock that has recently affected the
international financial system has almost resulted in a
global economic catastrophe. That shock has revealed
the weaknesses and fragility of the current financial
system and its propensity for rapid and widespread
dislocation. We bear the historic responsibility to
establish transparent new regulations based on the
interests of all States Members of the United Nations
and to prepare a framework that can contain any future
financial crisis.
The fact is that multilateral cooperation is
fundamental to addressing these challenges, as no
country alone can resolve such issues and crises or
isolate itself from their consequences. As the
Secretary-General said in his opening statement,
(spoke in English)
“Nations can no longer protect their interests or
advance the well-being of their peoples without
A/63/PV.13
27 08-53122
the partnership of other nations.” (A/63/PV.5,
p. 1).
(spoke in Arabic)
The Kingdom of Bahrain therefore supports
efforts to reform, renew and reinvigorate the
international Organization and its organs to be more
responsive to the needs of a new world. We agree with
the view of the Secretary-General, set out in his annual
report (A/63/1), that we need a stronger, more effective
and more modern Organization. We look forward to the
structural reform of this international Organization to
enable it respond more effectively to the challenges
faced by the international community and to increase
its capacity to deal with such issues.
We must make every effort to address such
shortcomings as threats to the international security
system emanating from a wide range of external sources,
including extremists, terrorists, drug traffickers, money
launderers and intellectual property pirates. We need to
develop collective security arrangements that bring
together our security efforts while ensuring respect for
existing borders between States and avoiding
encroachment on their sovereignty.
On the issue of terrorism, we consider terrorism
to have many faces — whether in the form of the
heinous crime perpetrated in Islamabad a few days ago
that led to the deaths of scores of innocent people, or
agitation and incitement from afar or a variety of other
manifestations. We should be clear and decisive in
confronting terrorism in a comprehensive manner so as
to defeat it both in the field and ideologically. We
believe that the struggle against terrorism is a battle
that we should wage, united, if we are to get rid of its
evil.
The Middle East faces many acute issues in
desperate need of settlement, the most pressing of
which is the need for a just, comprehensive, lasting and
peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question based
on ensuring security for all the peoples of the Middle
East region, including Israel. Such a settlement must
take place within the framework of international
legitimacy and the relevant terms of reference, where
the choice will be just peace, as called for in the Arab
Peace Initiative.
In that regard, there is also an urgent need for a
peaceful settlement on the Syrian track, including
withdrawal from the occupied Arab Syrian Golan and
the remaining Lebanese territories. It also requires a
halt to Israeli incursions into Lebanon, whose stability
must be supported. It is also important to have a
resolution of the issue of the occupied islands of the
United Arab Emirates, either through direct
negotiations or by referring the issue to the
International Court of Justice. That would be a
significant step towards strengthening trust between
the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran.
The Gulf region, which is an integral part of the
world economy, has experienced destructive wars
during the past three decades. It will not be able to
endure a new war, due to the severe consequences on
the world economy. The Kingdom of Bahrain therefore
reiterates its call for a peaceful solution to the Iranian
nuclear issue, in order to avoid the scourge of war in
the region and to enhance world peace and stability.
Moreover, there is an urgent need to rid the
Middle East and the Gulf region of weapons of mass
destruction, including nuclear weapons, while
safeguarding the rights of all countries to the peaceful
uses of nuclear energy in accordance with the
comprehensive safeguards regime of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
In order for the Middle East to enjoy stable and
lasting peace, it is incumbent upon us to re-evaluate
our outlook on the region and to consider the
possibility of developing new regional frameworks to
address and overcome long-standing challenges. Now
is the time, for example, to consider the establishment
of an organization that would include all States of the
Middle East, without exception, to discuss long-
standing issues openly and frankly, in the hope of
reaching a stable and durable understanding between
all parties. As Arabs, we accept peace as a strategic
option. We are committed to international legitimacy,
ending old conflicts and hostilities and beginning a
new chapter for a historic rapprochement between the
peoples of the region that will lead towards a better
future characterized by understanding, stability and
prosperity.
Developments in the Kingdom of Bahrain in
recent years have been characterized by dialogue and
understanding, a process inaugurated by our leader, His
Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, as part of his
extensive reform programme that aims at strengthening
democracy, political reform and the promotion and
protection of human rights. At a time when we will
A/63/PV.13
08-53122 28
soon join the United Nations and the international
community in commemorating the sixtieth anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
laid down the principles and values of freedom and
human justice for modern times, Bahrain’s election to
the Human Rights Council and the adoption at Geneva
in June of the report on our first universal periodic
review serve to clearly illustrate the international
community’s recognition of Bahrain’s efforts in the
area of human rights.
The Kingdom of Bahrain will continue to move
forward in that and other fields, for example, by
establishing Bahrain’s national human rights institution
and continuing to make progress in the political,
economic and regulatory spheres. The Kingdom of
Bahrain will not hesitate to play its role in helping
brotherly and friendly States and in sharing its success
stories, which have helped provide a better life for our
people. In that regard, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin
Salman Al-Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of
Bahrain, in cooperation with the United Nations
Human Settlements Programme, has sponsored an
award called the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa
Habitat Award, which honours distinguished research
that contributes to alleviating poverty and safeguarding
the environment and recognizes the efforts of States to
achieve desired economic development. His Highness
is expected to present the award this year during the
fourth session of the World Urban Forum, which is to
be held in Nanjing, in the People’s Republic of China.
A key pillar of Bahrain’s approach to the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continues to
be its investment in modern education that is practical,
relevant and of high quality and that instils critical
thinking and creativity and encourages innovation and
acceptance of the other. In that respect, I want to note
that Bahrain has been able to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals in the area of education
significantly before the 2015 deadline. We have done
so by providing children with free high-quality
education and by making basic education for all a
fundamental human right.
In conclusion, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the “land
of immortality” and proud host of many civilizations,
is a country where the concepts of tolerance and
coexistence among all segments of society are central.
Mosques stand alongside churches and temples of
various denominations, and people enjoy freedom and
religious tolerance irrespective of their religion or
ethnicity. Fraternal values, moderation and the
rejection of violence and terrorism are embedded in our
culture, auguring a promising new era in the history of
humankind.
That is the Kingdom of Bahrain that is committed
to participating fully, along with the rest of the
international community, in achieving global peace,
stability and prosperity and to confronting current and
future challenges, for the benefit of our peoples and
future generations. That is a task the international
community must undertake in a spirit of cooperation
and good faith, for when future generations evaluate
our actions and hold us to account, they will not
forgive our mistakes and miscalculations.