It is my distinct pleasure to express to you and to your friendly country, the Kingdom of Sweden, my most sincere congratulations on your election to the presidency at this sixtieth session of the General Assembly and to wish you every success in your mission. I also express to your predecessor Mr. Jean Ping, my deep appreciation for his excellent management of the proceedings of the previous session. Allow me to take this opportunity to convey my thanks and appreciation to the Secretary-General, commending his diligent efforts in assisting the Organization to play its role and achieve its noble objectives of maintaining peace and security and furthering development in the world. Tunisia, which celebrates, along with other members of the international community the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, reiterates its constant commitment to the noble principles of the Charter and reaffirms its determination to continue to contribute, so that the Organization may be as effective as possible. Our world today is witnessing rapid and successive developments, often marked by an increase of tensions and the widening of the development gap between the North and the South. This requires that we intensify our consultations and coordination on the question of reforming the United Nations and developing its institutions, in accordance with a comprehensive vision based on enhancing solidarity, mutual assistance and partnership among peoples so that our Organization will be able to deal with current international issues efficiently. Many of those issues still constitute a source of concern for the international community, because of their impact on security and stability, and foremost among them is the Middle East problem. In keeping with its commitment, and that of its President, His Excellency President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to peace as a strategic choice, Tunisia has contributed to all efforts and initiatives aimed at reaching a just, comprehensive and durable settlement to the Palestinian question. We reiterate our call to all parties, more particularly to the Quartet, to take advantage of recent positive developments in the region in order to resume peace negotiations, thus allowing the Palestinian people to recover their legitimate national rights and establish their own 20 independent State on their land as well as bringing security, stability and prosperity to all peoples of the region. We feel that achieving just, comprehensive and durable peace in the Middle East requires the recovery by sisterly Syria and Lebanon of all their occupied territories. We also express the hope that sisterly Iraq will complete its political process and strengthen its constitutional institutions in accordance with the aspirations of the Iraqi people, within a context of security, stability and national unity. Tunisia welcomes the important steps taken by the Sudanese Government towards national reconciliation, in keeping with the aspirations of the Sudanese people to the consolidation of security and stability in that country. Tunisia is sparing no effort, along with the other sisterly Arab countries, in laying the foundations for a new phase of joint Arab action, promoting cooperation in all the political, economic and cultural fields, and reinforcing the process of development and modernization, in line with the proposals made and decisions taken by the Arab Summit in May 2004, which Tunisia had the honour to host. We are also keen on consolidating the bonds of fraternity and cooperation with all fellow Arab Maghreb countries and completing the process of building the Arab Maghreb Union, thus meeting the aspirations of the peoples of the Maghreb to development and complementarity. Although it has witnessed a number of positive developments, the African continent continues to suffer from the persistence of tensions and conflicts in many of its regions. Additional efforts are required in order to take further steps towards their settlement. Bringing to completion the establishment of the basic structures of the African Union would enable African countries to move ahead in promoting cooperation and reinforcing the foundations of security and stability in the continent. This, in turn, will encourage development in African countries and facilitate their integration into the world economy. At the Euro-Mediterranean level, Tunisia is entering a new phase in its relations with the European Union, a phase marked by a determination to further promote, develop and enlarge the scope of partnership with that Union on the basis of cooperation, solidarity, complementarity and mutual respect, in line with the purposes and principles adopted at the Barcelona Conference as we prepare to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its Declaration. Tunisia is also endeavouring to strengthen ties of friendship and enlarge the scope of cooperation with the countries of the American and Asian continents in order to establish a solidarity-based partnership that will lay the foundations for a new stage in these relations. That would serve the interests of all parties, bring their peoples closer to one another and contribute to consolidating the foundations of stability, peace and prosperity in the world. The intensification of violence and terrorism, despite the joint efforts undertaken for many years to confront that grave scourge, deepens our conviction that the most effective way to deal with terrorism is by unifying our methods for tackling it, thereby strengthening the capacity of the international community to confront terrorism and eradicate its root causes. In that regard, His Excellency President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali proposed the convening of an international conference under United Nations auspices aimed at establishing a binding international code of conduct on combating terrorism. Proceeding from its steadfast adherence to the principles of solidarity and dialogue among peoples and its continuing endeavours to strengthen stability and development in the world, Tunisia will take an active role in achieving the objectives spelled out in the Millennium Declaration and in finding appropriate solutions to the international issues we face today. In that regard, we would mention the General Assembly’s adoption of the Tunisian proposal for the establishment of a World Solidarity Fund. The international community must now provide the necessary financial resources so that the Fund can launch its activities and achieve its noble objectives of reducing poverty and famine, particularly in some regions of Africa. Tunisia calls for the strengthening of world solidarity, the benefits of which were most recently manifested in the international efforts to alleviate the enormous damage caused by both the tsunami disaster and hurricane Katrina. 21 As we prepare to host the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society — held in response to a Tunisian proposal dating back to 1998 — Tunisia is looking forward to the high-level international participation of Governments, the private sector and civil society in that important global event in order to give it the best possible chance of success. A successful outcome will help to establish a solidarity-based digital culture that allows developing countries to benefit from the vast prospects offered by information and communication technologies and to make the best use of them in their development plans. Furthermore, Tunisia wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to all Member States and to the international and regional organizations that have contributed to the success of its international initiative to proclaim 2005 the International Year of Sport and Physical Education in the service of peace, security and development in the world. Tunisia will continue to make an effective contribution to strengthening the culture of dialogue and the values of tolerance and cultural communication among civilizations and among all the world’s countries and peoples, and to work against fanaticism and isolationism. We once again underline the importance of those values in spreading security, peace and stability throughout the world, thus freeing humanity to direct its efforts towards comprehensive and sustainable development in a spirit of optimism and confidence in a better future.