General Assembly Session 57 meeting 75

The President

Before proceeding to the items on our agenda for today, I would like to inform Members that action on draft resolution A/57/L.67, under agenda item 42, entitled "Follow-up to the outcome of the twenty-sixth special session: implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS", which had been announced in the Journal of last Friday, 13 December 2002, is postponed to a later date in order to allow for the review of the programme budget implications.

The President

Members will recall that the General Assembly held its debate on this agenda item at the 22nd to 26th plenary meetings on 4, 7 and 8 October 2002.

It is my honour to present to your attention draft resolution A/57/L.61, entitled "Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit".

In the draft resolution in front of you, I have reflected views of Member States expressed during the general debate on agenda item 44 and also in the course of the negotiation process on this draft resolution.

Operative paragraph 2 of this draft resolution recognizes the uneven progress achieved in the implementation of objectives and goals of the Millennium Declaration, as stated in the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (document A/57/270 and Corr.1) and expressed by many of you during our deliberations. Since Member States are in the driver's seat in implementing the Millennium Declaration, this operative paragraph, therefore, urges the Member States to undertake with determination appropriate measures towards its implementation.

Operative paragraph 3 invites the entities of the United Nations system and other interested parties to continue to pursue vigorously the achievement of the objectives and goals of the Millennium Declaration.

Operative paragraph 4 invites the entities of the United Nations system, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization to engage in the review of its implementation.

Operative paragraphs 6 and 7 outline the way in which the implementation of the outcomes of the Millennium Summit will be reviewed in the years to come.

In this draft resolution, Member States will decide that the convening of a high-level plenary meeting during the sixtieth session of the General Assembly for a comprehensive review of the Millennium Declaration as a whole will be considered during the next session. The review of the implementation of the development goals contained in the Millennium Declaration should be considered within the framework of the integrated and coordinated follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields.

I do hope that this draft resolution has the support of Member States and can be adopted.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Russian Federation, who will introduce draft resolution A/57/L.6/Rev.1.

Mr. Lavrov (Russia)

On behalf of the delegations of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Georgia, India, Republic of Moldova, South Africa, Ukraine and my own country, the Russian Federation, I have the honour to introduce draft resolution A/57/L.6/Rev.1, entitled "Responding to global threats and challenges", for the consideration of the General Assembly.

Contemporary civilization is being faced nearly every minute with threats and challenges of the most varied kind, a whole range of which have become global in character, threatening people's lives and well-being and whole communities throughout the world. A graphic example of this is the worrying increase in the scale and brutality of international terrorism -- as well as drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, environmental degradation, the spread of poverty, illiteracy, disease, the continuing acuteness of sustainable development as a whole and continuing bloody conflicts in various regions.

A successful response to such serious threats and challenges is possible only through combining the efforts of the entire international community. In an era of globalization and unprecedented increase in the interdependence of States, no one is in a position to shut themselves off from the increasing problems in the world.

In order to develop a collective response to these challenges, there are real prerequisites -- a recognition by people of the dangers common to all, increased political action and interaction through legal instruments.

But the main thing is that the world community already has an experienced effective mechanism -- the United Nations -- which is capable of fulfilling the functions of a worldwide coordinating centre, since it possesses a unique legitimacy, universality, experience and potential. These characteristics are the main areas and methods for responding to new threats and challenges.

In essence, we are already agreed on the Millennium Declaration, endorsed by Heads of State or Government of United Nations Member States, and on the implementation of its goals. We need to take into account the constantly changing situation in world affairs, and we need to respond promptly to new problems arising along the way.

What is particularly important is that we always need to keep in focus all of the goals, without exception, of the Millennium Declaration, and to mobilize efforts in all components of the United Nations system and its Member States, regional organizations, civil society and the private sector by working persistently and collectively to find effective responses to new challenges and threats in the inter-connection, without reducing the amount of attention paid to any of these problems.

That is the main thrust of the draft resolution introduced by the sponsors. It supports the steps already taken by the Secretary-General to achieve the aforementioned goals through the coordinated actions of the entire international community and encourages further efforts to ensure a genuinely comprehensive, integrated and complex response to new threats and challenges on the basis of the United Nations Charter.

I wish to draw particular attention to paragraph 2 of the draft resolution, by which the Secretary-General, in consultation with the heads of the agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, and taking into account the views of Member States and cooperating with various international organizations, would study possible ways to formulate, in the context of implementation of the Millennium Declaration, a multifaceted approach to the problem of the global threats and challenges of the twenty-first century. The Secretary-General would also be requested to include his observations on the corresponding issues in his report on the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit to be submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session.

The draft resolution was the subject of negotiations with all interested delegations and groups of States. We are grateful for the concrete proposals made to improve the text, which the sponsors took into account in the draft resolution before the Assembly. We count on its being adopted by consensus.

The President

The Assembly will now take decisions on draft resolutions A/57/L.6/Rev.1 and A/57/L.61.

We turn first to draft resolution A/57/L.61, entitled "Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit".

May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/57/L.61.

The President

We now turn to draft resolution A/57/L.6/Rev.1, entitled "Responding to global threats and challenges".

I should like to announce that, since the publication of the draft resolution, Kyrgyzstan has become a co-sponsor of A/57/L.6/Rev.1.

May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/57/L.6/Rev.1.

The President

Before giving the floor to speakers in explanation of vote, may I remind delegations that explanations of vote are limited to ten minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.