Bhutan

I have the honour to convey to the General Assembly the warm greetings of His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan, as well as his best wishes for the success of the sixty- first session of the General Assembly. I would also like to congratulate you, Madam President, on your unanimous election as the President of the Assembly. Your election is a reflection of the General Assembly’s confidence in your personal abilities and the high esteem that the Kingdom of Bahrain enjoys. My country has fond memories of 21 September 1971, when our two Kingdoms became proud members of the United Nations. My delegation also wishes to pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for the exemplary manner in which he directed the work of the sixtieth session. Under his stewardship, a number of important decisions of the 2005 World Summit were implemented. We are confident that, under your dynamic leadership, Madam President, the sixty-first will be able to successfully complete all its tasks. Bhutan is honoured to serve as one of the Vice- Presidents. We assure you of our full cooperation and support. We fully support the theme for the general debate, “Implementing a global partnership for development”. In this era of globalization and technological advances that have brought unprecedented prosperity to a minority of the world’s population, the international community must unite forces to extricate the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants from the vicious circle of poverty and destitution. The global partnership must engender greater political will to address the problems of trade, market access, technology transfer and a host of other issues that impede growth and development in developing countries. It is also imperative that the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits, especially those relating to development, are fully implemented by all. The Midterm Comprehensive Global Review of the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least 06-53317 16 Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, which was undertaken earlier this week, has revealed much less progress than desired. It is my delegation’s hope that, as provided in the declaration that was adopted by the review meeting, all stakeholders will genuinely commit themselves to the special needs of the least developed countries and work towards the full implementation of the Programme of Action, which constitutes a fundamental framework for strong global partnership to accelerate sustained economic growth, sustainable development and poverty eradication in the least developed countries (LDCs). Owing to the limited prospects for raising domestic resources, attracting foreign investment and securing funds on commercial terms, official development assistance (ODA) is a critical resource for LDCs in achieving the goals and targets of the Brussels Programme of Action. In fact, for many LDCs, such as mine, ODA constitutes the primary resource for development. My delegation therefore appeals to all developed countries to abide by their aid commitment to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to ODA, with 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent of that earmarked for least developed countries. A summit meeting of landlocked developing countries was held on 14 September in Havana, Cuba. That was the first-ever summit meeting of landlocked developing countries and it highlighted the serious constraints faced by landlocked developing countries. It is our hope that the international community will duly consider the problems of landlocked developing countries and support the road map for global partnership set out by the Almaty Programme of Action. The task of reforming the United Nations remains incomplete, in view of the slow progress in areas such as the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council and the reform of the Security Council. It is not enough to say that the reform of those bodies is required, while we allow ourselves to be constrained by other considerations. We need to strengthen the Economic and Social Council to enable it to deal effectively with the social, economic and development issues that are of primary concern for the vast majority of Member States. The Security Council needs to be reformed to reflect today’s realities and challenges. My delegation strongly believes that the status quo is no longer an option. The Security Council has to be urgently reformed in all its aspects, including its composition and working methods. It is regrettable that the proposal submitted by the Group of Four at the sixtieth session was not acted upon. It is my delegation’s hope that the sixty-first session will be able to bring about real reform of the Security Council. We welcome the adoption by the sixtieth session of the resolution on the revitalization of the General Assembly. We must continue with our efforts to further enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency of this body, which is the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Terrorism continues to threaten peace, security and development in many parts of the world. The recent train bombings in Mumbai, India, and the plot to blow up transatlantic aircraft uncovered in London last August remind us of the need to take strong measures against international terrorism. In that regard, my delegation welcomes the General Assembly’s adoption at its sixtieth session of the United Nations Global Counter-terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288). The next important steps are to implement the Strategy and to renew efforts to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism. Recent developments in the Middle East once again highlight the urgency of finding a solution to the problem there. My delegation calls upon all concerned parties and others in a position to help to strive for a just and comprehensive solution. I would like to take this opportunity to express my country’s deep appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan for his dedicated service to the United Nations as its Secretary-General. We are confident that the next Secretary-General, who should be from Asia, will lead the United Nations to greater heights in the service of humankind. Allow me to take a few moments to apprise the international community of the progress that Bhutan is making. As a small, least developed country with a population of just over half a million people, the hurdles we face are enormous. Yet, under the far- sighted leadership of His Majesty the King, the country has been making significant progress in all fields. 17 06-53317 On the political front, most notable is the culmination of the reforms that will usher in parliamentary democracy in 2008. Those changes are taking place in an environment of peace, progress and stability. We are hopeful that the transition will be smooth and the final outcome enduring. Bhutan’s development is guided by the conviction that human well-being and contentment must be promoted through the pursuit of material progress, on the one hand, and the fulfilment of spiritual and emotional needs, on the other. That development philosophy, as I have stated before in the Assembly, is defined as the pursuit of gross national happiness, rather than just gross national product. We will be happy to share our experience on that development philosophy, as we did at the international conference on the theme “Rethinking development: local pathways to global well-being”, which was held in Nova Scotia, Canada, in June 2005. We believe that the happy planet index that was recently published in the United Kingdom by the New Economics Foundation bears close a relation to the development paradigm pursued by Bhutan. I wish the General Assembly every success.