Allow
me to begin by warmly congratulating His Excellency
Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann upon his election to
the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
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third session. His election honours his long-lasting
personal commitment to the preservation of peace and
security and, particularly, his constant efforts to
encourage reconciliation in Central America. I also
wish to thank Mr. Srgjan Kerim for his excellent
service as President of the General Assembly at its
previous session.
I would also like to thank the Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon, for his generous and ongoing efforts to
help reform our Organization, in particular those
aiming to improve its working methods and its
interaction with its Member States.
Twenty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall
marked the end of a cold war era that had been
characterized by ideological divisions, arms races and
a weak multilateral system with inefficient
mechanisms. With the end of that era came great hope
and aspirations from the world’s peoples, leading some
to believe in the beginning of a new world order — a
world order that would not only be more fair and
equitable, but also distinguished by a culture of
forgiveness among its nations. That new order was also
meant to spread the values of democracy and human
rights, giving priority to development and the better
and more efficient utilization of technological
advancements. At the same time, some people
predicted that that new world order would restore
prestige to the United Nations, allowing it to achieve
more consensus on international issues.
Rather than fulfilling the expectations of a better
world after the cold war, today’s reality has seen an
increase in regional and internal conflicts, especially
on the African continent. This situation is exacerbated
by a race for energy resources and a frenzied
exploitation of precious minerals.
At the economic and trade levels, the launch of
the World Trade Organization in 1994 in Marrakesh led
to a substantial acceleration of world trade exchanges,
but it did not create a fair trade system that would
respond to the expectations of developing countries.
Indeed, in spite of the efforts deployed in
numerous United Nations conferences, official
development assistance (ODA) has significantly
decreased over recent years. In fact, the assistance
provided by donor countries does not meet the
expectations of developing countries despite the
former’s commitment to increase their global annual
assistance to developing countries to $50 billion by
2010.
Therefore, notwithstanding the progress achieved
over previous years, Morocco, in addition to other
countries, expresses its concern regarding the delay in
the launching of development processes in many
African countries. That delay is partly due to the
complexity of the current international situation
particularly marked by economic and financial crises,
which have had an impact on food security and the
energy needs of these countries. Those circumstances
undermine years of ongoing efforts towards the
development of African countries. In order to improve
that situation, the Kingdom of Morocco urges the
United Nations and relevant financial institutions to
undertake all the arrangements necessary to stabilize
the food market, to maintain social stability in
developing countries and to open the market to
agricultural products, taking into consideration the
circumstances of the least developed countries.
The weak role of the United Nations in
maintaining peace and security throughout the world
during the cold war period was followed by a new
phase, during which the multilateral system was
characterized by the convening of several meetings and
conferences focused on various global issues, as well
as by the deployment of numerous peacekeeping
operations, especially in Africa. As a troop-
contributing country, Morocco has spared no efforts to
increase its involvement in United Nations
peacekeeping forces. The Kingdom is also actively
promoting the enhancement of South-South
cooperation by giving priority to African countries.
To parallel the changes taking place in the
international arena, United Nations Member States
launched major reforms centred on improving the
Organization’s actions, reinforcing its role and
enhancing its mechanisms. Nevertheless, some
weaknesses remain in coordination among the various
United Nations bodies and between the Organization
itself and regional organizations. That is particularly
evident in the efforts to contain and prevent regional
conflicts with potential spillover effects.
At this point, it is important to strengthen
multilateralism in order to meet new challenges and to
put in place a new order based on justice and equality.
The pursuit of such an approach is not merely an
option but is necessary, given the serious challenges
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facing international peace and security and sustainable
economic and social development.
The Middle East peace process, initiated at the
Madrid Conference in 1991, was unfortunately
unsuccessful in ending the conflict, which continues to
see heavy daily casualties and causes millions of
Palestinians to live in inhumane and tragic conditions.
In this context Morocco closely follows the latest
developments regarding the situation in the Middle
East and encourages all initiatives aiming to bring
peace to that region, with respect to international
legality and to the agreements previously reached,
namely the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.
This last initiative undoubtedly represents a
realistic solution, reflecting the true commitment of
Arab countries to reach a just, comprehensive and
lasting solution that would allow the Palestinian people
to establish an independent State with Al-Quds as its
capital and force Israel to withdraw from all occupied
Arab land, a solution that would enable the people and
the countries of the Middle East to live in peace,
stability and security.
The Kingdom of Morocco equally expresses the
necessity to respect the particular situation of
Jerusalem by avoiding degrading and humiliating
practices and curtailing any attempts to undermine the
specificities of the Holy City in regard to culture,
religion and civilization. In this regard, His Majesty
King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds
Committee, spares no effort in encouraging world
leaders to help put an end to the projects taking place
around the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in other parts of
Jerusalem.
As far as Iraq is concerned, we closely follow
progress on the ground and encourage dialogue and
national reconciliation between the different ethnic,
political and cultural factions in order to end the cycle
of violence, to reach peace and stability, to preserve the
territorial integrity of that brotherly country and to
allow it to rebuild its economy.
Morocco also launched a regional initiative in
June 2006 by convening an international ministerial
conference on migration, development, environment
and climate change. Morocco considers the celebration
of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights the right occasion to appoint a United
Nations special rapporteur on human rights issues. It
would aim to appropriately equip the United Nations to
play a leading role in ensuring that all citizens’ rights
are protected and that the laws and political and
economic mechanisms regarding respect for human
rights are harmonized in order to promote those rights.
The United Nations is based on the principles of
cooperation and neighbourly relations, with regional
integration and cooperation representing the best
means to ensure stability, economic development and
an improved collective future. Since its independence,
the Kingdom of Morocco has placed the project of an
Arab Maghreb Union at the top of its priorities and
considered it a strategic option. Morocco is firmly
committed to making the Arab Maghreb Union the
herald of an era of peace and the fulfilment of the
common destiny of the populations of this region.
The Kingdom of Morocco is strongly convinced
about and deeply committed to overcoming all
obstacles and to moving forward with regional
integration into the Arab Maghreb Union. The
Moroccan autonomy initiative regarding the Western
Sahara, which was described by the Security Council
as serious and credible, is the result of in-depth
national consultations and widespread international
consultations. As a result, the Security Council
successfully and unanimously adopted three
resolutions — 1754 (2007), 1783 (2007) and 1813
(2008) — that call upon parties to enter into true
negotiations, taking into consideration the latest
developments and particularly the Moroccan initiative,
which launched a new dynamic in favour of a lasting
solution to this conflict.
Morocco remains strongly committed to
continuing those negotiations with sincerity and
goodwill in order to find a final solution to that
regional conflict, one that would respect the national
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of
Morocco and give the benefits of autonomy to the
Sahara and its population. It would be a lasting,
comprehensive and realistic solution to that regional
conflict.
A strong, open, integrated and stable Arab
Maghreb can play a key role in maintaining regional
peace and security. Along the shores of the
Mediterranean, it can also contribute to enhancing
African integration and play an active role as an
efficient and credible partner to achieve the noble goals
for which the United Nations was created.