I am pleased to
convey to Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, on behalf
of the State of Kuwait, its Government and people, our
most sincere congratulations to her personally and to
her brotherly country, the Kingdom of Bahrain, on her
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-first session. We assure her of our readiness to
cooperate with her seriously and constructively as she
assumes her heavy responsibilities.
I cannot fail to mention here, with great
appreciation and admiration, the prominent role of the
Secretary-General in his ongoing efforts at the helm of
this Organization to enhance and energize the work of
its various bodies and to make them more democratic,
transparent and capable of meeting the challenges of
this century, and more effective in carrying out the
duties assigned to them in the fields of peace, security
and development.
In that context, Kuwait welcomes the Republic of
Montenegro as a new Member of the United Nations.
In the Outcome Document of the 2005 World
Summit, our leaders expressed their firm belief and
conviction in the important role of this Organization as
an umbrella for multilateral work. They drew a road
map for us to follow as we seek solutions to the major
international threats and challenges that threaten
international peace and security, such as terrorism, the
deterioration of the environment, human rights
violations, poverty, hunger and the spread of such
dangerous and infectious diseases as AIDS and
malaria.
Of great concern is the emergence of new
challenges to international peace and security that are
no less dangerous than those aforementioned, such as
the incitement of hatred, xenophobia, insults to
religions, including Islamophobia, together with all
kinds of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
A year after the adoption of the Outcome
Document, and despite the extensive efforts made to
follow-up the implementation of the Summit’s
resolutions, there is still an urgent need to redouble the
efforts to achieve our objectives in the fields of
disarmament, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,
counter-terrorism, setting a balance between developed
and developing countries in international trade, and
reform of the Security Council to enhance its authority
and efficiency and give greater transparency and
fairness to its decisions by according due consideration
to the representation of the small States that make up
more than half the membership of the United Nations.
The State of Kuwait hopes that efforts will be
enhanced to promote dialogue and advance
international coordination and cooperation to overcome
the problems that impede the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals in various regions of
the world. Kuwait will maintain its course in adhering
to the provisions, principles and purposes of
international agreements and conventions.
While we take pride in the social, economic and
political development that has been achieved in
Kuwait, as reflected in the annual international reports
issued by the specialized agencies of the United
Nations, we will not be distracted from pursuing our
efforts to further improve the social and economic
conditions that favour the Kuwaiti citizen’s standard of
living and prosperity. In that context, Kuwait will
continue to support, within its means, the efforts of
many developing countries to achieve their
development goals. It will continue to do so through
the Kuwaiti Fund for Economic Development, which
finances infrastructure projects by granting soft loans,
which to date amount to $12 billion and have benefited
more than 100 countries around the world.
Kuwait also contributes to the funding of
development projects in developing countries through
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United Nations programmes and specialized agencies,
and regional organizations and associations. Within the
framework of supporting international efforts to
eradicate poverty, Kuwait announced last month that it
will provide $300 million to the Islamic Development
Bank to combat poverty in Africa.
Kuwait follows with grave concern the difficult
security conditions in brotherly Iraq resulting from
ongoing terrorist acts that target the Iraqi people, State
institutions and economic and social facilities. Despite
progress in the political process that has led to the
formation of a constitutionally elected Government, the
difficult security conditions impede similar progress in
rebuilding what the previous regime destroyed as a
result of its hostile policies towards its own people and
its neighbours.
Kuwait reiterates its commitment to all relevant
Security Council resolutions and vows to continue
supporting the efforts of the Iraqi Government to
promote democracy and respect for human rights, to
rebuild, confront security problems and achieve
national harmony between the various segments of the
Iraqi people. We hope that the international community
will also redouble its efforts in support of the efforts of
the Iraqi Government and the League of Arab States to
achieve security and stability in Iraq, which in turn will
contribute to consolidating peace and security in the
region. There is no doubt that a democratic, secure,
stable and economically prosperous Iraq that respects
human rights, is a master over its own decisions,
without any interference in its internal affairs, and lives
in peace with its neighbours will be in the interest of
all the States of the region without exception. That is
what Kuwait hopes for and seeks to achieve.
At the regional level, with regard to the issue of
the three disputed Emirati islands, Kuwait supports the
position of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council and
hopes that negotiations will resume and intensify at all
levels between the brotherly United Arab Emirates and
the friendly Islamic Republic of Iran to find a solution
to that conflict in conformity with the principles and
rules of international law and good-neighbourly
relations, which would enhance the security and
stability of the region.
Concerning the Iranian nuclear issue, Kuwait
calls on all the concerned parties to spare the region
any crisis that could undermine the security and
stability of that vital region, which for the past two
decades has been the theatre of conflicts and wars that
have squandered the fortunes and resources of its
countries and delayed their development. We therefore
hope that action will be taken to resolve the crisis by
diplomatic means. We urge the Islamic Republic of
Iran to continue its cooperation with the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the international
community in order to dispel any fears or doubts
surrounding the nature and aims of its nuclear
programme.
In that context, we affirm our position on the
need to make the Middle East, including the Gulf
region, an area free from all weapons of mass
destruction. That zone must include Israel, which must
accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons and subject all its nuclear facilities to
the safeguards regime of the IAEA.
In recent weeks, the brotherly Republic of
Lebanon was subject to a vicious Israeli aggression
that killed hundreds of innocent civilians, injured
thousands of others, and made more than 1 million
people refugees. Kuwait immediately and very strongly
condemned those shameful and inhumane crimes
against the brotherly people of Lebanon. Proceeding
from its sense of duty and responsibility, and driven by
close brotherly relations, the Government and people
of Kuwait organized emergency relief operations to
alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people through
the Kuwaiti Red Crescent society, other associations
and the private sector. Kuwait also announced the
donation of $324 million to the efforts to rebuild
Lebanon.
While Kuwait welcomes the measures taken by
the international community to implement Security
Council resolution 1701 (2006), it calls on Israel to
cease its repeated aggressions against Lebanon and to
respect its sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity. Kuwait also calls on the international
community to assist the Lebanese Government to
extend its control over all Lebanese territory and to
support its endeavours to recover all of its rights,
including compensation for its losses as a result of the
Israeli aggression.
The core of the Middle East crisis is the
Palestinian question. That issue, regrettably, remains
stalled. International endeavours and efforts to move it
forward are met with Israel’s intransigence and refusal
to implement international resolutions, as well as its
43 06-52885
disregard for international conventions and the
agreements it has signed with the concerned parties
within the framework of the peace process.
The continued Israeli occupation of Arab
territories will always be a source of tension and
instability in the Middle East. Israel’s repeated military
incursions in the occupied territories, oppressive
practices against the Palestinian people, and
undermining of the Palestinian Authority will not
benefit the Israeli Government, nor will its continued
aggression and deliberate destruction of Palestinian
infrastructure and national Palestinian institutions
secure its so-called security. The solution lies in
resolving the root causes of the problem and by
restoring usurped rights so that all the peoples of the
region can enjoy peace and stability.
In that context, we renew our full support for the
struggle of the Palestinian people to recover its lawful
political rights and establish its own independent State
over its own land with Jerusalem as its capital. We
demand that the Israeli Government withdraw from all
the Arab lands it occupies, including the Syrian Golan
Heights, in implementation of relevant Security
Council resolutions and the principle of land for peace.
In that respect, we reiterate the importance of the Arab
peace initiative adopted in Beirut in 2002 as the only
strategic option for achieving a permanent, just and
comprehensive peace in the region.
Since its founding, the United Nations has
registered numerous accomplishments and
demonstrated its efficacy in establishing peace and
security in various parts of the world. It has helped
prevent many problems from deteriorating and it has
thereby become an indispensable tool of the
international community in confronting global issues
and challenges. It is our hope that the United Nations
record of accomplishment in achieving peace and
security will soon include Iraq, the Middle East, the
Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and other countries that
are still experiencing conflicts and wars that have
killed countless numbers of their citizens, depleted
their resources, destroyed their capacities and delayed
their march towards development and progress.