General Assembly Session 60 meeting 7

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

Before giving the floor to the first speaker, I should like to draw the attention of members to a draft resolution, which has been issued as document A/60/L.1, entitled "2005 World Summit Outcome". Members also have the correct version of paragraph 60 (a) in English only; the correct version will appear in the other official languages in the final document. With regard to document A/60/L.1, I should also like to draw the attention of members to a statement submitted by the Secretary-General in accordance with rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, issued as document A/60/355. Those two documents have been circulated to delegations this morning and have been distributed in the Hall.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

I should like to draw the attention of members to the fact that the meetings of the General Assembly for the past two days have extended far beyond the scheduled time. As members are aware, for this morning's meeting we have 40 speakers inscribed on the list and for the afternoon meeting we have 44 speakers. Also, during the afternoon meeting, the Chairpersons of the four round-table sessions will present orally the summaries of their respective round-table sessions. Thereafter, the General Assembly will take action on draft resolution A/60/L.1.

In order for us to conclude our work at a reasonable hour, I do not see any other alternative than to ask members to honour the agreed-upon time limit of five minutes per statement. Yesterday, several speakers presented abbreviated versions of their sometimes-long written statements. That is certainly a method of work that we would encourage. In order to help speakers facilitate our work, we shall remind them after five minutes have elapsed that they have exceeded the time limit. We hope that the statements will then be concluded promptly. I thank members for their cooperation, which is in the interests in concluding this meeting at a reasonable hour. Such cooperation is highly essential for the success of this High-level Plenary Meeting.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of the Republic of Paraguay.

President Duarte Frutos (Paraguay)

At the outset, I congratulate the Co-Chairpersons on their well-deserved election. Their outstanding records guarantee the excellent guidance of this summit, which Paraguay hopes will produce results that enable us to make significant progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Today, more than ever before, we need effective action that will reduce the inequalities of development and lead to greater investment by more developed nations. Our peoples, with emerging economies, do not need charity, but solidarity. Our peoples do not need gracious concessions, but equitable distribution of the wealth that everyone in the world produces.

A central policy of my Government is to focus on the social sectors where there is poverty and need. If we are to move forward and overcome the precarious situation of much of our population, we must have the capacity to act, political leaders who are able to fight corruption and judges who have the courage to apply the law and impose justice. Likewise, we know that our development also depends on businesspeople who are prepared to leave the informal sector in order to increase competitiveness and generate jobs to reduce poverty. But we also need to say in this forum that the protectionism of rich countries is like a vice that, tragically, is strangling our peoples.

It will be difficult to reduce world poverty while the wicked concentration of wealth continues. There must be a new world order that gives everyone a chance to participate and thus contributes to the universalization of human dignity. The unilateral flow of profits to the developed countries, to the detriment of less fortunate countries, is not only unjust but a real threat to world peace. The multidirectional allocation of resources to all nations is the real way to fund democracy.

That is why, the Paraguayan Government is striving to fight poverty. When the Government came to power in 2003, the extreme poverty rate was 20.1 per cent. In 2004, we were able to bring it down to 17.1 per cent. In 2002, the total poverty rate in my country was 46.4 per cent because of decades of neglect. Today, according to the most recent data, we have managed to reduce the total poverty rate from 46.4 per cent in 2002 to 39.2 per cent. From 2003 -- when our Government came to power -- to 2004, our growth rate was 7.8 per cent according to the updated information of the Central Bank of Paraguay.

We hope that the United Nations will regain its coordinating role and put an end to the grave inequalities and injustices that afflict the planet. It is painful to see that priority continues to be given to the interests of those who have more, that the promises made to the Organization by the richest nations are not being kept and that the United Nations is becoming a bureaucracy incapable of creating standards which everyone conforms to, so that the abuses of globalization do not end up causing a new world war.

While fundamentalist terrorism causes anxiety and pain in those regions and in other regions with close historical ties to us, the true threats to fragile democracies, freedom and peace in Latin America are the refusal to give our products access to the major markets of the so-called first world, our exclusion from the bodies where major decisions are taken and the destruction of the ability of nation States to take action. It is precisely in order to improve the distribution of income that we are promoting the implementation of a national strategy to combat poverty and inequality.

In the field of education, Paraguay has significantly reduced illiteracy and increased school enrolment, and will continue to reduce the deficit in and improve the quality of basic and primary education. That Millennium Development Goal can be fulfilled by 2015. Today, illiteracy in Paraguay stands at 6.4 per cent, and my Government's objective is to obtain the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's certification of zero illiteracy in Paraguay by 2008. There has been an exponential growth in secondary, higher and university education. Gender parity in access to and duration of education has also been achieved at all levels.

Similarly, in recent years we have seen the growing participation of women in the development process and the strengthening of the legal system that protects their rights. We are fighting violence against women and human trafficking, and raising awareness of those problems. Women's participation in the three branches of Government has increased via the nomination of women ministers, the election of women parliamentarians and the appointment of women judges and of women in other Government bodies.

The reform of the health system stagnated in recent years, but has now been reactivated by my Government through the strengthening of public policies to improve basic health indicators, as reflected in the latest United Nations Human Development Report. We have done a great deal to reduce the levels of infant and maternal mortality, malnutrition and endemic diseases, and have been deeply involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We are working generally to ensure the accuracy of registries and statistics and the application of greater human and technical resources in the health field. The Government will continue to implement all its programmes in order to further progress towards the goals that we have set ourselves.

The Government of Paraguay has incorporated the principles of sustainable development into national and sectoral policies, programmes and projects, which have reversed the deterioration of the environment. With the creation of an environmental secretariat and the cooperation of local Governments and civil society, we have successfully implemented environmental programmes, although we have a great deal more to do in that sector. This year, we approved a national environmental policy focused on the conservation and appropriate usage of our natural and cultural heritage so as to guarantee the sustainability of development, the fair distribution of profits, environmental justice and the quality of life of present and future generations.

We still face the task of bridging the gaps in the provision of housing, water and basic sanitation, which have a negative impact on our people through overcrowding and the contamination of soil, food and water. Pursuant to the goals it has established, the Government is upgrading city neighbourhoods and settlements.

We believe that, if we are to meet the development partnership Goal, a fair and equitable trade regime is of the highest importance to the development of our countries in Latin America. To that end, we reject any attempt to perpetuate the protectionist measures of the developed world, in particular subsidies for the production and export of agricultural products, as well as the use of technical regulations as barriers to manufactured products.

Technological progress should be at the service of humankind, but it is hindered by the digital divide, wherein 80 per cent of Internet users are concentrated in the developed countries while half the people on the planet have not yet had the experience of making a telephone call. That pathetic contrast will inevitably lead to even greater inequality, because it will widen the existing disparities. In light of such circumstances, we need a new approach to managing research and promoting technology and innovation so as to set the stage for a new development model with a human face, based on intelligence, knowledge and the historic conscience of our citizens.

Paraguay calls for national and international players to combine their efforts to create fair social development within a model of democratic coexistence. We will continue to struggle to that end, and hope soon to submit a report that will reflect even greater progress towards the well-being and prosperity of our people, because freedom and justice can be consolidated only in an environment of development for all.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Kurmanbek Bakiev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

President Bakiev (Kyrgyzstan)

The present summit is taking place during the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations, a milestone not only for the further destiny of the Organization, but also for the entire world community and the entire system of international relations. This forum gives us a rare opportunity to find collective answers and to develop joint approaches to such contemporary global issues and threats as poverty, hunger, disease, international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

While giving due credit to the foresight of the Organization's founders, we should note that the activities of the United Nations can and should be further advanced in light of modern realities and the prospects for world development.

Today, the peoples of our countries justifiably expect from all of us the adoption of measures for the further transformation of the United Nations into an effective tool for addressing the problems of the new millennium. In that regard, Kyrgyzstan supports the need to reform the General Assembly and to strengthen the coordinating functions of the Economic and Social Council. We also support the expansion of the Security Council and its geographical representativity, and the enhancement of its efficiency.

The Kyrgyz Republic confirms its full and comprehensive adherence to the universal goals and objectives reflected in the Millennium Declaration. The national mid-term programme of action now drafted in Kyrgyzstan will be closely connected to the Millennium Development Goals.

We intend to ensure through the programme the strengthening of democratic government and economic growth in our country. We believe that it will help to resolve our outstanding social and economic problems, including overcoming poverty and corruption, improving the standard of living and creating conditions for comprehensive human development.

That being said, a high level of external debt is one of the barriers impeding efforts towards sustainable development in our Republic, where 94 per cent of the territory is mountainous. The enormous external debt -- the repayment of which requires a huge outlay -- is preventing us from providing our regions with due support for development. Kyrgyzstan supports the view that an acceptable debt level needs to be defined and that measures are urgently required to lighten the debt burden for developing countries. The positive decisions of the Paris Club to reduce the external debt of the country will be an important factor in the further social and economic development of Kyrgyzstan, and in the long term will help our country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. In our opinion, the world community should consider the question of additional support to mountainous developing countries for the realization of sustainable development goals.

This year -- 2005 -- is exceptionally important for Kyrgyzstan and will forever have a place in its centuries-old history. On 24 March, our people resolutely pronounced their commitment to a democratic path to development and the noble ideals of freedom. The new leadership of the Kyrgyz Republic intends to make every possible effort to bridge the gap between the people and the State. The future certainly belongs to them. We want the world to see the positive effects of the changes in Kyrgyzstan and call on the international community to give active support and to help our people so that they can resolve the problems of sustainable development.

Since the early 1990s, our country has travelled a tortuous path. For some of the people of Kyrgyzstan many of the difficulties and trials are already behind them. Despite all the complexities of the transition period, our people have learned a great deal, gaining a sense of freedom and democracy and laying the foundations for a market economy, applying advanced economic formulas and drawing on international experience.

Protecting the fundamental principles of freedom and democracy in the Kyrgyz Republic, we have laid down a broad basis for the development of a civil society. I firmly believe that the country cannot be renewed without the participation of the people. We are deeply convinced that civil society should be the partner of Government and that human rights are a fundamental value of society.

Since the March revolution, civil society has clearly called on the Government to ensure transparency and dismantle corruption. In our uncompromising struggle against corruption we are committed to using the internationally accepted mechanisms. We have already taken the first steps. In June this year the Kyrgyz Parliament ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption. A State strategy to combat corruption is being developed in the form of a plan of action, and active steps are being taken to set up a nationwide anti-corruption body. We are firmly committed to the eradication of corruption in each and every cell of the body of society, from its outlying villages to its highest State institutions.

Protection of human rights, the observance of democratic principles in practice and not just in words, is one of the priorities for our new Kyrgyzstan. We consider that the sustained and effective protection of human rights is an important precondition for the maintenance of world stability and prosperity, in each country individually, as well as at the global level.

For the Kyrgyz Republic it is a great honour to be part of the community of free nations that recently established the United Nations Democracy Fund in New York. We entirely support the creation of the Fund and we trust that it will serve to give a powerful impetus to the promotion of democracy in many countries of the world.

The Kyrgyz Republic's firm adherence to its international obligations regarding fundamental human rights, freedom of speech, assembly and the press, the rule of law and democracy, including the rights of refugees, has already been demonstrated through its concrete actions.

In that connection, the people of Kyrgyzstan have the right to hope that they will not be left to deal unaided with their own problems, but that the United Nations, other international organizations and donor countries will give due support to Kyrgyzstan to help it realize its noble aspirations to freedom, democracy and to development.

In conclusion, I should like to express the hope that this forum will be an important step towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Kyrgyz Republic, for its part, is ready to do its utmost to contribute to the prompt implementation of the lofty principles of peace, stability and development enshrined in the Millennium Declaration.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia.

President Yudhoyono (Indonesia)

I come here to speak for 220 million Indonesians as their first directly elected President. I also carry the message of 4.6 billion people of Asia and Africa represented in the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership formed in Jakarta last April. I wish to convey to you the commitment of the Asia-Pacific region, embodied in the Jakarta Declaration, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. For them, I intend to speak of security, development, human rights and United Nations reform.

When I say development, I mean the challenge of poverty. Poverty is a killer. Eight million human beings -- most of them in Asia and Africa -- die every year because they are too poor to live. To stop this killer we must attain the Millennium Development Goals. We must form a global partnership for development. We must faithfully respond to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences on development. There must be a flow of financing for development. Exports from developing countries must have access to markets in a rules-based international trading system.

The developing countries must achieve good governance, fight corruption, make efficient use of their limited resources, and plan and carry out appropriate development strategies. For their part, developed countries must fulfil their commitment to a genuine and mutually beneficial global partnership for development.

As to global security, we need a reformed Security Council with a membership that reflects global realities. The Asia-Pacific region, home to more than half of the human race and cradle of ancient civilizations and religions, should have more seats on the Council. New permanent members should be chosen on the basis of a set of appropriate criteria. We must also do away with the right of veto, which often paralyses the Council.

We need a disarmament and non-proliferation regime that leads to the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. But we must encourage the peaceful use of nuclear energy for development.

We need a Peacebuilding Commission that works in coordination with both the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council and under the mandate of the General Assembly.

We need consensus on the responsibility to protect people from genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. To this end, force should be used only when all other means have failed.

In the fight against terrorism, we must develop effective international cooperation to deal with this threat. No human right may be sacrificed. We must find and deal with the root causes of terrorism.

We in Indonesia believe that interfaith dialogue and empowering the moderates can reduce violent radicalism.

We need to empower the Economic and Social Council so that it can effectively review and coordinate international cooperation in development.

The projected Human Rights Council should be a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. It must be free of politicization and double standards.

No effort at United Nations reform is complete unless it affirms and brings into reality the central role of the General Assembly as the main body of the United Nations.

Indonesia will continue to support any efforts to strengthen and revitalize the effectiveness of the United Nations in facing new challenges. In this regard, Indonesia urges that the United Nations reform should be made in a comprehensive, step-by-step and sustainable manner. Basically, reforming the United Nations is no different from reforming a nation. It is all about working for democracy so that democracy will work for us. In the process, change must be as democratic as possible. We are experiencing this in Indonesia. We face many challenges, but we are grateful that reforms and democratization are working. We are reconstructing our economy. We are creating jobs to reduce the number of our poor. Committed to good governance, we are winning the fight against terrorism. We are building the peace in Aceh.

If we succeed in reforming ourselves and in attaining democracy and good governance as individual nations and as an international Organization, the world will change; but, in order to achieve a world of peace, justice and equitable prosperity and a reformed United Nations, we must have the will and the spirit, the necessary consensus and the commitment to work together.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The General Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Voronin, President of the Republic of Moldova.

President Voronin (Moldova)

The report of the Secretary-General entitled "In larger freedom" (A/59/2005), and the report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (A/59/565) not only describe with accuracy the threats and challenges that exist today in the area of peace, security, development and human rights, but also show the right direction and measures that need to be undertaken in order to address them. These actions are meant to confer a new dynamism to the process of implementing the Millennium Declaration, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a process that has been adversely affected by the complexity of the international climate following 11 September 2001.

Along with other Member States, the Republic of Moldova believes that these new circumstances require that we revitalize the consensus on major challenges and priorities and convert this new consensus into collective action that could lead, inter alia, to the renewal and strengthening of the United Nations system.

In this regard, I deem it very important to declare at this Summit my country's continuing commitment to the United Nations and to pledge our firm support to the Organization and to the draft outcome document that we shall be adopting. The Republic of Moldova supports the adoption of the necessary decisions by the Member States, including those to be adopted within the framework of this meeting, that will lead to the revitalization of the General Assembly, the reform and expansion of the Security Council, an increase in the effectiveness of the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Secretariat and the creation of a Human Rights Council and a Peacebuilding Commission. We also favour the elimination of certain obsolete references in the United Nations Charter regarding the Trusteeship Council and "enemy States".

As a country facing the difficulties of transition and still affected by the consequences of an unsettled internal conflict, which has been inspired and supported from abroad, the Republic of Moldova is deeply interested in promoting, at the national level, the values that form the foundation of the aforementioned documents. I wish to emphasize, in this context, that unless the factors of external pressure, including the foreign military presence are removed, unless Transnistria is democratized and demilitarized and unless the State borders on the perimeter of this area are controlled, it will be impossible to settle the conflict, to stop the illegal trafficking of arms, drugs and human beings and to provide stability and security for this part of the European continent.

We will also continue to work vigorously to further develop the rule of law and democracy and to ensure a maximum level of protection of human rights throughout the territory of the Republic of Moldova, so that our citizens in the area controlled by the totalitarian separatist regime from Tiraspol can also enjoy them.

Likewise, we pledge to make all efforts to ensure sustained economic development, to increase the welfare of our citizens and to improve socio-economic indicators, including the achievement of the MDGs. These specific priorities are complementary to those related to European integration, which has become an irreversible strategic objective of our internal and external policies.

From this perspective, we hope that our efforts will be supported more actively by the international community in the spirit of the global partnership that we are trying to reaffirm at this summit.

In conclusion, I wish to join previous speakers who have appealed for the renewal of commitments and for concrete actions. This is the only way to move on towards a world of liberty, prosperity, justice and peace. It is precisely this collective vision that is enshrined in the United Nations Charter and in support of which the Republic of Moldova continues to remain a faithful and committed member of the world Organization.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The General Assembly will now hear an address by His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein (Jordan)

Five years ago, the world's leaders met here to declare a new vision for a new age. The Millennium Summit was a response to a global moral consensus; our world can no longer deny the basics of life and peace to billions of people.

Five years later, it is clear that we acted not a moment too soon. Humanity has seen the dangers of a global system that excludes people, especially youth, from opportunity and hope. Now, the people of the world are looking to us to bring our nations together, to act with urgency and to achieve results.

I am honoured to report that Jordan is on track to achieve the majority of its Millennium development targets. The challenges are real, and there is much to be done. But gains are being made in poverty reduction, health, education, gender equality, the environment and more. This effort is only part of Jordan's much larger national strategy -- a comprehensive, inclusive approach to reform and development.

Yet, we do not act in a vacuum. Our country, our region and the world are all affected by the prospects for peace. One critical step is to ensure zero tolerance towards those who promote extremism. Jordan has worked with the international Muslim community to oppose extremist interpretations of Islam. Jordan wants true, moderate, traditional Islam to replace fundamentalist, radical and militant Islam everywhere in the world for every single Muslim.

In November 2004, we issued the Amman Message, which sought to clarify the true nature of Islam: what it is and what it is not. Then last July, over 180 scholars met in Amman. They represented 45 countries and were supported by fatwas from 17 of the world's greatest Islamic scholars. Together, they achieved for the first time in history a unanimous consensus on a number of critical issues.

First, the declaration they issued recognized the legitimacy and common principles of all eight of the traditional schools of Islamic religious law.

Secondly, it defined the necessary qualifications and conditions for issuing fatwas. This exposes the illegitimacy of the extremist fatwas justifying terrorism, which contravene the traditional schools of Islamic religious law and are in clear violation of Islam's core principles.

Thirdly, the declaration condemned the practice known as takfir (calling others apostates) -- a practice that is used by extremists to justify violence against those who do not agree with them.

Even as we work for peace, development must go forward. Important in this effort is Millennium Goal 8: international partnership.

When developed nations commit to active, increased development support, they advance global progress for all. The world knows what is needed: fair trade, increased direct assistance and debt relief. The recent G8 agreement on debt relief for the poorest nations was a positive step. The European Union has put forward a calendar on increased assistance. We need to continue and expand such efforts.

This is particularly important with regard to the key group of lower-middle-income and middle-income countries. Our countries have a major role in regional and global stability. Many of us have been forging ahead with reforms at full steam and are on the verge of reaching higher levels of income. That success can translate into real development gains, only if it is nourished and sustained. A group of determined leaders, mostly from middle-income countries, are discussing shared concerns: free and fair trade, targeted aid and more. We have agreed to continue our discussions on ways to reach accord with the developed nations.

This world summit recognizes that our globe is one of shared dependence and shared opportunity. We have a strategic and also a moral mission. It is now in our hands to prove to the world's people, especially our youth, that our international institutions work and that global justice is real.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The General Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Martín Torrijos, President of Panama.

President Torrijos (Panama)

Panama has a clear, unequivocal and compelling commitment to fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals. Ours is not a statement of rhetoric or mere protocol. We have adopted the goals, targets and indicators as a reference framework for drawing up our public policies. We have made them mandatory, and we are determined to fulfil them as vigorously as we would an international treaty.

We are making a great effort to eradicate poverty and hunger, focusing on less fortunate populations, creating redistributive polices through comprehensive tax reform and transferring direct and indirect resources to populations that have been marginalized from development for decade after decade.

Poverty does not affect just poor people. Poverty holds back the development of a whole country. Poverty prevents us from moving forward as an integrated society that shares the same aspirations and enjoys the same opportunities for achieving them.

We are close to achieving universal primary education. Our aim is to provide high-quality education for all, with relevant content, and to expand pre-school education.

We have made progress, although still insufficient, in reducing infant mortality and are fully confident that we shall be able to reduce maternal mortality since, for the first time in the history of Panama, we have established universal and free coverage for all prenatal care and hospital deliveries.

We have a real challenge fighting HIV/AIDS, and we recognize the need to be innovative and more creative in promoting effective prevention and in raising the awareness of populations at risk, particularly women and young people.

Panama, for its part, has heavily stressed building a society without exclusion, where those with disabilities can feel that they are participating in their own development instead of feeling discriminated against and can fully enjoy the fundamental human rights.

Panama welcomes the fact that the United Nations has set measurable and quantifiable goals in order to evaluate country-by-country progress towards achieving the Millennium Goals within a broader concept of freedom.

We fully share, and this is a key part of the Government's programme, the conviction that without security there can be no development and that security and development can only be maintained when human rights are fully in effect.

Panama has supported the High-level Meeting's draft outcome document (A/60/L.1), not because it is in full agreement with it but because it understands that the document is the beginning of a process of reform. In particular, I consider its approach on legal and illegal trafficking of small arms and light weapons instruments, which are the instruments of crime, to be very timid, and it shows very little progress on the issue of development.

We regret that the document that we are about to adopt is not more clear and forceful on the issue of human rights, in particular with regard to creating a human rights council as a principal organ of the Organization, with a clear and precise mandate in order to avoid the politicization and the discrimination that can be seen on this issue in the Organization today.

The fact that we have devoted such great effort to the reform of the Organization and to the High-level Meeting's draft outcome document is tacit recognition of that reform's shortcomings and weaknesses and of the need to bring it up to date with our times. Nevertheless, we express our pride and satisfaction that the United Nations has been vital to the world over the past 60 years. We must ensure that it continues to be vital in the imperative task of eradicating poverty.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Aleksander Kwaniewski, President of the Republic of Poland.

President Kwaniewski (Poland)

The United Nations today is facing the unprecedented challenge of providing humanity with new hope to build the civilization of the twenty-first century on a solid foundation of universal values: freedom, security, democracy and solidarity.

Polish dedication to those values draws strength from our past experiences. This year in Poland we commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Solidarity movement, which inspired profound changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Above all, it mobilized nations and societies around fundamental values and noble principles. In that spirit, the anniversary celebrations attended by numerous heads of State and Government concluded with the appeal to make 31 August the World Day of Freedom and Solidarity. Today, I wish to repeat that appeal and call for a world united in freedom and solidarity.

Solidarity should be considered a key principle of international relations. It combines respect for diversity and a readiness to provide assistance. As His Holiness Pope John Paul II underlined, it is based on the cooperation of one person with another -- not one person against another -- and on unity prevailing over divisions. The solidarity of nations should always prevail over national egoism. The European Union has proved that it is possible to build structures and mechanisms of cooperation in a spirit of true solidarity.

The principle of solidarity remains inextricably linked to that of freedom. For many, freedom remains an unfulfilled dream. On several continents, people are deprived of their basic rights. However, freedom cannot be imposed from the outside. It must grow from within and from below. Democratic changes do not occur because they are masterminded somewhere else, but because people want them. We must learn how to advance freedom without imposing anything and how to foster freedom without relieving States of their primary responsibility towards their citizens. The United Nations should make us feel confident that the international community will provide people with the necessary protection and assistance when the State is unable to deliver.

I hope that the recently established United Nations Democracy Fund, which Poland supports and to which it is ready to contribute, will offer genuine assistance for those that aspire to and uphold freedom and solidarity.

We must also show greater determination in our response to problems such as violence, poverty, social exclusion, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We must stand up to those who ignore the unity of our world and see it as a battlefield of fighting religions, nations and races. Therefore, the United Nations must pursue a far-reaching and comprehensive vision of change and play a more decisive and effective role in shaping a broad development policy that contributes to improving life in all parts of the world.

As our contribution to that change, the Republic of Poland has reaffirmed on numerous occasions the need to elaborate a new political act of the United Nations for the twenty-first century. In fact, the Polish vision of United Nations reform reflects our strong commitment to fundamental values and principles, as well as to effective multilateralism, which should serve as a guiding principle of United Nations activities.

The High-level Meeting's draft outcome document reflects many of the ideas proposed by the Polish Government. At the same time, it reflects, in many ways, a lower than expected consensus and should be taken as the basis for further reform efforts. There is no need to say how much we regret that neither arms control nor non-proliferation issues are covered in the document. Despite our great determination, we were not able to achieve unity in confronting all the problems facing the United Nations.

On the other hand, we should not expect that each and every summit meeting will bring revolutionary changes. The real breakthrough usually comes in the wake of a lengthy and gradual process of change and adaptation. Indeed, the draft outcome document, the preparatory process and the discussions that took place at the meeting all provide many substantial insights and ideas and very useful recommendations that further merit our serious consideration. How to implement them, how to translate them into concrete action and how to build practical consensus around them remain a serious challenge for the sixtieth session of the General Assembly.

Poland will continue to strive for a genuine and comprehensive reform that helps strengthen the effectiveness of the United Nations. We cannot build a secure and just world without a strong commitment to act together through the United Nations. Freedom, security, democracy and solidarity must serve as the key guides to lead the Organization in the twenty-first century.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, President of the Togolese Republic.

President Gnassingbé (Togo)

Allow me at the outset to extend once again to the Government and the people of the United States the deepest condolences and sympathy of the Government and the people of the Togolese Republic in connection with Hurricane Katrina, which caused great damage to that country.

Assembled in this Hall five years ago, heads of State or Government of the whole world undertook to set the new guidelines that could help us meet the numerous challenges and threats confronting the dawning twenty-first century, while reaffirming their faith in the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. Since then, considerable ground has been covered, as human communities have advanced towards greater justice and solidarity and as they have sought for concerted solutions to world problems. The resolve made at the historic Summit to free people from "the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty" (resolution 55/2, para. III.11), continues to underpin our common determination to assume our responsibilities as leaders and promoters of a vast movement in the world towards shared, improved well-being and to the preservation of peace and security. The improved design and functioning of international institutions have led to a new dynamic based on respect for the rule of law and for procedures defined at the successive sessions of the General Assembly.

We have thus seen emerge, step by step, the right of peoples to self-determination, the protection of sovereignty and development mechanisms that reflect a more effective sense of solidarity. Thus, in spite of persistent conflicts and hot spots, the world has moved resolutely ahead along the exhilarating path of positive change, thereby giving people a better chance of controlling their fate.

The impact of the Millennium Summit, through the recommendations and guidelines it produced, has shown the will of the States Member of our Organization to pool their efforts and energy to resolve the problems of our planet and to seek together the progress and security of their peoples. It could not be otherwise in a world which is more and more interdependent, where threats, whatever their nature, spare no State. For example, the lightning spread of certain pandemics and the violence of natural disasters, which for several months have been wreaking havoc wherever they have struck, remind us that no country can face up to such situations alone.

By the same token, the fight against poverty, hunger, illiteracy and inequality, indeed all efforts to reduce poverty and promote socio-economic development, call for an active partnership.

In spite of delays in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and as in the implementation of the results of world forums on financing for development, Togo, my country, strongly hopes that the fresh impetus given by the current summit will lead our partners of the North to honour their commitments.

In this context, we should welcome all the recent initiatives for development, including the decisions of the last G-8 Summit at Glen Eagles and the proposals concerning the search for new sources of financing for development or the eradication of obstacles to international trade.

Efforts to achieve the MDGs need to go hand in hand with a bold reform of the United Nations and an improvement in the functioning of its bodies, if we wish to strengthen the overall system and make it more effective and more credible. Thus it would make sense, especially in the case of the Security Council, to ensure that the reform effort does not aim at merely satisfying the ambitions, legitimate though they are, of certain major countries, but to ensure that all the regions of the world, and particularly Africa, are equitably represented in it.

Togo reaffirms its readiness to participate actively in this debate and its commitment to make its own modest contribution to action to "promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom", as the Organization's Charter urges us to do.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Eduardo Rodriguez Veltzé, President of the Republic of Bolivia.

President Veltzé (Bolivia)

In this brief statement to the 2005 summit, I wish to convey the commitment of my country to participate actively in the collective effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We are convinced that these are ambitious but absolutely legitimate goals. Nevertheless, we would point out that there are essential preconditions here, such as coordinated and harmonious international cooperation, and that isolated efforts will not meet the expectations of nations still suffering from the effects of an unjust international order and seeking within themselves new paths to equity and social inclusion, as being part and parcel of the concept of freedom.

The people of Bolivia share the need to establish the basic conditions to guarantee freedom from poverty. This is because poverty also includes factors that need to be dealt with in universal terms, since it has to do not only with aspects such as debt relief, but also with the liberalization of trade.

National security and the well-being of the international community are sorely affected by the difficulty of combating the drug trade. Cooperation to that end cannot be simply a question of money. It requires the establishment of joint policies to give those in the affected areas renewed opportunities and fresh hopes. At the Summit of the Americas in 2002 in Quebec, the presidents of the countries of our region undertook to open up markets for products that would be alternatives to the crops used for the manufacture of drugs. This policy, if implemented and extended to other regions as well, would play an important part in enabling people to live with less hardship and greater dignity. If democracy means the rule of law, ensuring that the majority and minorities live together in harmony and respect, it should also be the guarantee of the right to live without fear.

My country will participate in all efforts made collectively within the United Nations, as well as bilaterally, to fight terrorism, which is an expression of intolerance.

Bolivia considers that the United Nations has in its 60 years of existence fulfilled the goals of its founders. They were six decades fraught with tensions and threats, but that also saw the expansion of our area of dialogue and cooperation. We must accept that the world Organization is not now representative of current realities. In its structure, global confrontation continues to smolder. This is why we need to renew its structures and procedures without losing its core, which is an expression of efforts for peace and, of course, mutual cooperation. We support the reform that will help to give us a fresh start. Bolivia will join the initiatives to expand the Security Council and to strengthen the Economic and Social Council, which should play a crucial role in ensuring that the MDGs are achieved, and in mobilizing efforts to facilitate dialogue and mutual consultation, to alleviate hunger, a scourge for many nations, and to promote cooperation directed towards improved levels of well-being. As we are well aware, this will also make a vital contribution to peace.

However, my Government is extremely interested in seeing the international community come together in the establishment of an institution that is fundamental to civic freedom: the human rights council. We also believe that the creation of the peacebuilding commission is of great significance and will lead to international cooperation and harmony.

My country is resolved to strengthen its own institutions. The Bolivian people has gone through difficult times recently and is selflessly and maturely reinvigorating its democratic process as an essential element of life in our Republic. In that complex situation, Bolivia reiterates its determination to continue striving for significant progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Enunciating goals is only one part of the story. Our diverse countries suffer a wide spectrum of problems and obstacles. It would be simply pointless to try to assess a country's efforts and successes without taking its particular circumstances into account. We need instead, constructively and jointly, to follow up the Goals and offer more cooperation to those that need it most and have the greatest difficulties. We must obsess not over deadlines, but over our work, which should be shared fairly and equally.

The Co-Chairperson (Gabon)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Stjepan Mesi, President of the Republic of Croatia.

President Mesi (Croatia)

Today, 60 years after our predecessors established this unique Organization, whose programme is suggested by its very name, the United Nations, we can face one another as their successors and say contentedly: We have succeeded.

At the same time, however, six decades after the establishment of the United Nations, we must face one another with a sense of bitter reality and say: We have failed. Both are true.

Both statements speak not only about the world in the recent past, but most of all about ourselves, because, as has often been said, with good reason, the United Nations is as good as its Member States. Of course, those States determine by their behaviour the world in which we live. It is an indisputable fact that the world that founded the United Nations was much more united than the present world. It was a world united by a common goal -- opposition to the ideology and practice of fascism and Nazism -- and determined to prevent any repetition of the horrors of aggressive wars and of the Holocaust, the full truth of which had just begun to reach the public.

Our Organization was founded at the end of the greatest conflict in the history of humankind to date. It was founded with the noble intention, as stated in its Charter, of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war. That is precisely the first element that provides the basis for my initial statements. Yes, we have preserved peace on the global scale, there has been no new world war, and to that extent we have been successful. But we have not been able to save the world and humankind from a protracted series of cruel and bloody wars, and in that context we have undeniably failed.

The principles of freedom -- national and individual freedom -- and of equality in international relations were among the priorities of the new world that was being built. The issue of development and the closing of the ever larger gap between the developed and the underdeveloped have long been on the agenda of the General Assembly. We have also discussed terrorism -- to be sure, mainly that subsumed under the rubric of State terrorism. Lacking the strength to prevent them, we have endeavoured to heal the consequences of wars and armed conflicts. The results of all those efforts have been incomplete and partial; we have achieved progress, but no issue has been dealt with conclusively.

Our current tasks were formulated very well at the millennial meeting five years ago. On behalf of the Republic of Croatia, I welcome the declaration on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Although it does not fully conform to its original intent, the declaration testifies to the prevailing mood in favour of supporting the Goals and tasks that have been identified as key and imperative issues.

The fact remains, however, that we have partly succeeded but also partly failed with respect to the basic principles governing relations in the international arena, the development of the underdeveloped, and armed conflicts and terrorism. Thus, if today, 60 years later, we must answer the question "Can we be satisfied?", the only honest answer is: Only partly.

What, in that case, are we to do? First of all, our Organization -- imperfect but irreplaceable, underefficient but imperative, sometimes deliberately marginalized but, luckily, never fully relegated to the background -- must become the reflection and the expression of our world, an Organization capable of tackling its problems vigorously and efficiently. The United Nations must be reformed.

There is no alternative to that, and that should be clear to everyone who wants this Organization to play the role envisioned by its founders. The Republic of Croatia is the successor to one of the founding countries of the United Nations, and my country cherishes the sublime ideals governing the founders of the Organization.

The key agencies of the United Nations in general, and their structure in particular, reflect the world as it was at the end of the Second World War -- a world that no longer exists. That calls for a change. The United Nations I have in mind must reflect the world in which we live today and even anticipate the world of tomorrow. Can we be unanimous on that -- let me stress this point again -- imperative reform? I do not think so. Should that deter us from reform? On no account.

Let me be completely clear. The concept of reform must proceed from current reality; it must consider the foreseeable trends of future development; and, most importantly, it must be acceptable to a convincing majority of the Members of our global Organization. This is our Organization and we are the ones it should serve.

The majority in this Organization is against war and in favour of peace; against force and the use of force and in favour of negotiation and the peaceful settlement of issues; against poverty, falling behind and underdevelopment and in favour of global development and prosperity; against all forms of terrorism and in favour of the security of States and citizens; against discrimination and intolerance of any kind and in favour of equality and recognition of diversity; and against the sacrificing of our environment to fast profit and in favour of the preservation of the plant and animal worlds, the bases of life on our planet.

The United Nations must become qualified to achieve those goals. The Organization must draw its strength from our firm commitment to building a world that will not only be better than the world of 60 years ago, but even better than our current world. It must never become a mere ornament on the international scene. Even more importantly, it must never become a screen providing legitimacy to any policy clearly opposed to the mood of the majority -- our mood, the mood of the nations and States united in the effort to build a better future world.

Nevertheless, in spite of that only partial success, we have achieved a lot. There are great goals and difficult tasks ahead of us. We are now faced with a question that calls for an answer by deeds rather than words: Can we be united in order to survive, in order to literally save our world for future generations?

I hope and believe that we will have the strength and the wisdom to answer that question in the affirmative. We owe it not only to the founders of the United Nations but also to our children and to their children. We must not betray them.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan, President of the Republic of Suriname.

President Venetiaan (Suriname)

My delegation is pleased to see the delegations of Gabon and Sweden presiding over this very important meeting.

Suriname joins the rest of the international community in expressing its profound sorrow at the tremendous loss of life and property caused by Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast of the United States of America.

This significant gathering should be testimony to the resolve of the international community to collectively arrive at adequate responses to the many challenges it is facing. It should also represent the genuine beginning of an era of concerted actions aimed at implementing the commitments made at major United Nations conferences. This requires a reformed United Nations that can effectively deal with such challenges.

The outcome document we are about to adopt outlines concrete measures to ensure effective follow-up to a number of commitments we have solemnly made over the past 60 years. As concerns some of the major issues, we still need to adopt measures in order to reach the lofty goals we have set ourselves.

Suriname recently submitted a baseline report on the national implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. I am pleased to report that we are making progress in some areas, especially in the areas of education and of the environment. However, like the rest of the world, we are still encountering difficulties in other areas. My Government remains committed to working with national stakeholders, as well as with regional and international partners, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and we have taken the necessary steps to set up a network of State and non-State actors to monitor the national implementation of our international commitments.

My Government is aware of its own responsibility in the development process. However, like most other developing countries, we have encountered some serious obstacles, such as unfair trade and high debts, which have a negative influence on this process.

A particularly important and longstanding undertaking which has yet to be realized relates to the issue of official development assistance (ODA). With a few exceptions, the developed countries have not yet met the targets to which they committed themselves. On the contrary, ODA has declined.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a region of small and vulnerable economies, has experienced this significant decrease in ODA. It is to be hoped that the appeal contained in the Secretary-General's report will be heeded. The report calls on those developed countries that have not yet established a timetable to achieve the 0.7 per cent of GDP goal for ODA to do so, starting with significant increases no later than 2006, reaching 0.5 per cent by 2009, and 0.7 per cent no later than 2015.

Suriname agrees that there can be no development without security, and no security without development. Neither can there be sustainable development if human rights are not respected.

Reform of the human rights machinery, as is the case for many United Nations reforms, is now long overdue. The Government of Suriname can generally accept the creation of a Human Rights Council. We support the view that the open-ended working group which will be set up should embark on an elaborate discussion on the modalities, mandate, review process and composition of such a Council.

The international community has witnessed noticeable setbacks with regard to disarmament and non-proliferation. It is regrettable, therefore, that this important issue is not mentioned in the outcome document we are about to adopt.

In closing, I would like to stress the fact that the situation in the world can improve only if we all live up to our commitments. Our people depend on us to lead them on the path towards a decent life for each human being, in a peaceful world, free of famine and free of poverty.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio, President of the Portuguese Republic.

President Sampaio (Portugal)

I am addressing the General Assembly for the last time as President of the Portuguese Republic this year -- a year in which we are celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations. I feel, on this historic date, that the generation to which I belong is charged with a responsibility that cannot be put off: the responsibility of responding to global challenges -- which increasingly demand integrated, collective answers -- and of fulfilling the just aspirations of millions of individuals for whom day-to-day life is no more than an ongoing, inglorious struggle for survival. It is the duty of the United Nations to articulate such responses and to point the way forward to meeting those expectations.

The United Nations has always occupied a central position on the international stage; it has been a constant focal point for the hopes of humankind. Peace, development and the protection of human rights on a global scale were the fundamental aspirations of its founders. But early on the latter were confronted with the harsh realities of power and conflicting interests. Not everything was a success. But their idealism and hope, because they corresponded to the most basic of human aspirations -- dignity, freedom and economic development -- have continued to prevail and have preserved their vitality, even in adversity.

During these six decades, much progress has been made in the areas of life expectancy, health, education and quality of life. Unfortunately, however, we also know that there are still many millions of human beings who still live and die in the most extreme poverty.

At this summit, the international community renews its commitment to the founding ideals of the Organization. The Millennium Development Goals make it possible for those ideas to be translated into concrete achievements that will meet the needs of the poorer and more vulnerable segments of society in particular. Achieving the Goals is a moral and political imperative to ensure a more secure future for all humankind. Portugal reiterates its support to these lofty objectives and its commitment to an effective multilateral system, which is essential for their achievement.

The Millennium Summit was a turning point for global partnership. Since then, considerable awareness has been created among Governments and public opinion alike of the absolute priority of reducing poverty. How can we be at peace with our conscience while, in this era of abundance unprecedented in our history, millions of human beings die of poverty?

Achievement of the Goals that we set is within our grasp. If politics is the art of the possible, then we, as political leaders, are charged with making things possible. As a member of the European Union, Portugal is committed to ensuring that European aid rises to 0.56 per cent in 2010 and to 0.7 per cent in 2015. As to national aid, we intend to increase our volume of official development assistance to 0.51 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010.

Portugal has directed a large part of its effort to countries in which the scourge of poverty is felt most keenly. We attach particular importance to the least developed countries, particularly those in Africa, to which we devote 0.2 per cent of our GDP, fully meeting our stated objectives. The relationship that Portugal has maintained with that continent over centuries fully warrants that, as do the situation of extreme poverty and the manifest delay in meeting the established goals.

We support the movement towards debt forgiveness, and we also believe in the creative identification of alternative sources of financing aid for development. We are focusing attention on pandemics in particular, as they are affecting those countries so severely, and we recently increased to $5 million our contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In Africa in particular, those diseases constitute the greatest threat to human security. What will future generations think if, with the resources and information available to us, we show that we are incapable of dealing with such threats?

On the issue of cooperation for development, aid donors and recipients have a shared responsibility, since aid will never be sufficient if it is not properly applied. We therefore attach particular importance not only to good governance, but especially to the primacy of law and the consolidation of democracy, and also to the restoration of the State's capabilities in performing its basic functions.

Without security there can be no sustainable development. Only a coherent, integrated strategy can allow for effective action in preventing conflicts or -- should that prove impossible -- in providing the necessary support for reconstruction and the restoration of the capabilities of States and institutions during the post-conflict period. That is the twofold task of the Peacebuilding Commission, which was initially proposed by Portugal in 2003. The establishment of that body will surely constitute one of the landmarks of this summit.

We believe that the United Nations has an important part to play in the fight against international terrorism, ensuring an effective, multilateral response to that terrible new threat. The negotiation and conclusion of a global convention on terrorism should continue to be a priority.

There is also an urgent need to relaunch discussions on disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction within the framework of this Organization.

We attach particular importance to the issue of human rights. We believe that the new Human Rights Council should reflect, with courage and ambition, the growing demands of the international community in that regard.

The document that is to be adopted during this Meeting will be a step in the right direction. It demonstrates the ability of the international community to unite around the great principles upon which the United Nations was founded and it renews and reiterates the commitment to the development goals of the Millennium Declaration. It will begin the process of the reform of the Organization so as to render it better able to respond to the challenges of this century. The course has been charted. It is now for the Assembly to assume the great responsibility of bringing to completion the process that we have begun.

For its part, Portugal reiterates its firm commitment to multilateralism, to the United Nations and to an international order in which the collective interest is not systematically sacrificed to expediency and self-centred interests. Now, as at the time of its foundation, the United Nations must constitute the essential anchor of a system of international relations based on law and justice. Strengthening the authority, the legitimacy and the relevance of the United Nations is an essential task if the twenty-first century is to be one of peace, progress and respect for the dignity of all human beings.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Leonel Fernández Reyna, President of the Dominican Republic.

President Fernández Reyna (Dominican Republic)

It is a great honour for me to address the Assembly on behalf of the Government and the people of the Dominican Republic at this global summit, the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, which has been convened to review progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This summit will provide us with an opportunity to reaffirm commitments and redefine strategies so that we can continue to make progress in this complex but promising process on which the global community embarked five years ago with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As for the Dominican Republic, I reaffirm our political will to foster a national consensus, promote public policies and ensure the technical and institutional capacity, as well as the financial resources, to make possible the gradual achievement of those Goals.

I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my profound conviction that the true purpose of government, which exercises power from the privileged position bestowed upon it by the citizens through democratic elections, is to create economic and educational opportunities for all; to fight poverty, inequality, social exclusion and insecurity; and to improve the general living conditions and health of all our people.

The Millennium Development Goals enable us to better understand what needs to be done, while confronting us with the challenge of designing a strategy and obtaining sufficient resources to make their achievement possible.

The Dominican Republic has created a Presidential Commission on the Millennium Development Goals to continuously monitor progress in the achievement of those objectives and to provide support to various ministries and Government departments with a view to keeping the focus on the implementation of the commitments entered into at the Millennium Summit.

The Presidential Commission also aims to maintain a dialogue and ensure an exchange of information with civil society entities, since we believe that only by redoubling our efforts, encouraging synergies and harnessing the goodwill of the public and private sectors, will we be able to achieve the Goals.

One of the first tasks we undertook upon taking up the reins of Government in August 2004 was to analyse the financial costs of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, established by this world Organization. After several inter-ministerial and inter-agency consultations, we came to the conclusion that the Dominican Republic needs between 29 to 30 billion dollars over the course of the next 10 years in order to achieve the MDGs at our national level. For a country with a gross domestic product of 21 billion dollars, those are truly impressive figures.

We ask ourselves the following. How are we going to obtain those resources? How are we going to finance our social development in a national context marked by major fiscal constraints? How will that be possible, following the domestic reforms stipulated in our agreement with the International Monetary Fund? Finally, how will we succeed, after having to keep at bay an economic crisis bequeathed to us, which several independent analysts consider to be one of the most severe and profound in Dominican history?

It is obvious that, domestically, we do not have anything like such resources. Consequently, we must turn to multilateral financial institutions, seek foreign capital investments and the cooperation of developed countries' governmental agencies.

Although we accept the principle established in the Monterrey Consensus that each country is responsible for its own development, that principle ceases to be valid if countries do not possess the resources needed to implement the MDGs. Effective action in that regard must mean greater reliance on the imagination, a bolder approach and more cooperation.

The call by some nations whose economies, like that of the Dominican Republic, can be considered as emerging, for a debt swap programme to help achieve the MDGs makes sense in such a context. The programme would follow guidelines recently set out by the Government of Spain, aimed at contributing to the human development of Ibero-American member countries by carrying out educational and cultural programmes to replace the debt owed by those countries to Spain.

A fundamental responsibility of Governments is to have public policies that promote macroeconomic stability, stimulate investment and create a reliable, predictable legal and institutional environment.

We are satisfied with what we have achieved in this regard, given that, in slightly more than one year, the Dominican Republic has begun to be well on the way to recovery.

In conclusion, I should like to say is that, after so many efforts to stabilize our national economy, and after the various actions undertaken to fulfil our commitment in respect of the MDGs, we have been affected by a particularly dramatic misfortune, namely, the rise in oil prices on the international market. Nothing could be more harmful today to the effective performance of the world economy than the steady increase in the price of fuel. We know that as the cost of this commodity rise, so the growth rate of the global economy decreases. And what could ultimately arise from this worrying situation is a global recession. A world recession would have disastrous consequences for the economies of developing countries. Their international trade could become paralysed. Inflation would unleash its fury upon the most vulnerable sectors. Many jobs would be lost. Social tension would prevail, and our main population centres would fall prey to uncertainty.

Therefore, in order to guarantee political stability, good governance and international peace and security, in accordance with the principles enshrined in the San Francisco Charter, which established this great Organization, we call upon the world community to place the current energy crisis as a top priority on the international agenda.

We are firmly convinced that a meeting of this magnitude and nature can allay the anxieties of humanity, holding out the hope that the most powerful and influential forces on the planet will find the formula that will make it possible to ensure that we all can follow the path to peace, calm and progress.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

I would remind delegates in the Hall to keep their voices down and avoid loud conversations in the corridors out of respect for the speakers. I should also like to remind members of the five-minute rule; it will be necessary to follow this rule today if we are to finish the deliberations in time.

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. BounNhang Vorachit, Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Mr. Vorachit (Laos)

Since the Millennium Summit, five years ago, when the Millennium Declaration was adopted, the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which set out concrete measures and actions, including time-bound targets, has been far from satisfactory. In Africa, most countries have sunk deeper into poverty. In Asia and the Pacific, the region is still home to two thirds of the world's poor.

Over the last decade, the Lao People's Democratic Republic has recorded a number of significant achievements in its socio-economic development. Following sustained progress, the country was ranked 135th in the Human Development Index out of 177 countries in 2004, compared to 141st out of 173 countries in 1993. One of the lessons learned is that the gains are due to the Government's consistent policy of promoting all economic sectors through a market-based mechanism, coupled with the broadening of external cooperation so as to exploit untapped national potential.

Despite the aforementioned progress and achievements, the Lao People's Democratic Republic is still facing various challenges. These include the poor socio-economic infrastructure and isolation from world markets owing to its being a landlocked least developed country. The spread of infectious diseases, such as malaria, avian flu and HIV/AIDS, although prevalence is low, continues to pose a serious threat to the nation because of its land links to countries in the Greater Mekong subregion.

The provision of permanent employment for people practising shifting cultivation and opium-growing remains a daunting task that needs to be addressed through integrated rural development projects aimed at ensuring sustained livelihood and better alternatives for the people. Furthermore, the insufficient general knowledge and unskilled labour of the people limit our capacity to respond to the country's development needs with the introduction of modern and innovative technology.

For the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the support and assistance of the international community in addressing the aforementioned challenges are of the utmost importance if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We highly value the assistance of the donor community, including grant aid, soft loans and foreign investment, such as the assistance of the World Bank in the construction of the Nam Theun 2 hydropower dam.

In terms of official development assistance, the Lao People's Democratic Republic would like to see greater coherence among donors, in keeping with the socio-economic development plan of the recipient countries. In addition, grant aid in the social sector is preferable to loans, as the latter would drive the nation into heavy debt. Similarly, loans for economic development should be extended at a concessionary interest rate with a long-term payback schedule. Moreover, maximum benefits for recipient countries should be ensured in the utilization of grant aid in various forms while avoiding high spending on international consultancy.

We welcome the policy recently enunciated by the developed countries, particularly the European Union and the G-8, in the area of official development assistance and debt relief in favour of the poorest countries. Moreover, we are encouraged by a number of initiatives on innovative sources of financing for development that were raised at the separate meeting on financing for development. Likewise, the United Nations system plays an equally vital role in assisting the vulnerable countries in meeting their objectives and goals. However, the focus of that support should be placed on development projects corresponding to national development needs and priorities.

Our High-level Plenary Meeting is indeed of the utmost importance. I hope that the international community will further intensify its cooperation and make every effort to attain the Millennium Development Goals. However, developing a nation and eradicating poverty requires an environment of lasting peace and dynamic international cooperation. In that spirit, the Lao People's Democratic Republic reaffirms its commitment to further cooperating with the international community in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and in the promotion of development cooperation.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic.

Mr. Karamanlis (Greece)

I wish to thank both Co-Chairpersons of the High-level Plenary Meeting, El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, and Mr. Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden, for presiding over this meeting.

I also wish to extend our deepest appreciation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his tireless efforts for the realization of this historic high-level event.

Five years ago, through the Millennium Declaration, the leaders of the world set ambitious but attainable objectives, encompassing the aspirations of the international community in the new century for a world united by common values and striving with renewed determination to achieve peace and decent standards of living for every man, woman and child.

Much has happened since then. Considerable progress has been achieved in the eradication of poverty and hunger. The Millennium Development Goals were established and the Monterrey Consensus was adopted. In that global effort, Greece has significantly increased its development assistance. Together with the rest of our European Union partners, we set the ambitious goal of increasing it to 0.56 per cent of our gross national income by the year 2010, with particular attention to and emphasis on Africa.

Despite the progress achieved, a lot remains to be done. Significant differences persist between developed and developing countries. Extreme poverty and hunger are the disgrace of our century. Today, we have the means to eradicate them. We must persevere in that goal, as indeed in all of the Millennium Development Goals, in order to achieve them by 2015.

Five years ago, we proclaimed our collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. We have established a comprehensive normative framework with core human rights treaties, historic declarations and decades of jurisprudence from treaty bodies and international tribunals. Nevertheless, there is still a dangerous lack of enforcement and implementation at the global level. We must take concrete steps to reduce selective application, arbitrary enforcement and breach without consequence. Those steps will give new life to the commitments made in the Millennium Declaration. In the document we have just adopted, those commitments have been considerably reinforced.

Significant events since the Millennium Declaration have had far-reaching consequences and changed dramatically the way we perceive peace and security. The terrorist attacks in New York and elsewhere have brought new global threats and challenges to light.

In these constantly evolving times, the declaration we are adopting today is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to certain basic principles, such as the obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the United Nations Charter; the peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and international law; the authority of the Security Council to take action to maintain and restore international peace and security; and the full implementation of Security Council resolutions. Only through such commitment can we hope to successfully face terrorism, global pandemics, extreme poverty, natural disasters, weapons of mass destruction, transnational organized crime, massive human rights violations and other scourges of our world.

This year, we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of our Organization, which, built for a different era, has to adapt in order to be effective in the new international environment. The United Nations, the only truly global institution of humanity, endowed with a unique legitimacy, must respond to the new realities and challenges.

The draft outcome document (A/60/L.1) we are adopting today constitutes, in our view, a good beginning on the long path of necessary reforms. It is a strong political call encompassing most of the suggested ideas in development, peacebuilding, human rights, peacekeeping and United Nations institutions.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency The Honourable John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia.

Mr. Howard (Australia)

As one of the 51 original countries to sign the Charter, Australia has had a long and active involvement in the United Nations. In this, the sixtieth anniversary year of the United Nations, Australia can look back on a strong record of involvement in a multitude of United Nations-sponsored processes and active membership in the Organization. We have supplied personnel for peacekeeping operations around the world since 1947 and have been at the forefront of efforts to reform the operations of the Organization.

We should not think that the United Nations can solve all of the world's problems or that it should even attempt to do so. The type of multilateralism embodied in organizations such as the United Nations can only be one element of a comprehensive foreign policy.

The nation-State remains the focus of legitimate action for order and justice in our world. As nation-States, our collective challenge and responsibility is to identify those things that the United Nations can do and to ensure it is equipped to do them.

It is a grim but inescapable fact that our world lives under the shadow of global terrorism. I have this week signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism on behalf of Australia. We support the counter-terrorism outcomes of this High-level Plenary Meeting, including the momentum to conclude an international convention on the suppression of terrorism. More, however, could have been achieved. And there has been understandable disappointment and criticism at the lack of language on disarmament and non-proliferation, particularly given the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

This meeting has seen much discussion about aid levels, and I was pleased to announce earlier this week my Government's goal to double its overseas aid allocation from 2004 levels to about $4 thousand million by 2010.

But we should not merely be focusing on the amount of such aid, important though it is. What is just as important, if not more so, is the effectiveness of aid.

Genuine and sustained poverty alleviation will only occur in an environment of good governance, private sector growth and respect for private-property ownership. With aid comes a reciprocal responsibility on the part of recipient Governments to tackle corruption, strengthen governance and promote institutional reform.

Those will remain key objectives of Australia's aid programme, not least as it rises to meet the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, and the re-emerging threat of avian influenza, which will require global political leadership in which Australia will play its part.

There has been strong emphasis in recent days on the fact that trade barriers in the developed world cost poor countries more than twice the amount of the official aid they receive. There could, in truth, be no greater gift to the developing world than lower trade barriers and an end to subsidies. I warmly welcome President Bush's pledge and challenge to us all on Wednesday that the United States of America is ready to eliminate all tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to the free flow of goods and services if other nations are willing to do the same.

We must also recognize the high cost of ignoring fragile States. Responding to their challenges requires a new way of acting that recognizes the links between security and economic development. Australia's leadership of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands speaks for our experience in this area, which we look forward to sharing. In this context, Australia welcomes the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, and I am pleased to announce a contribution of $3 million over three years to its new Standing Fund.

On human rights and the rule of law, endorsement by leaders of the concept of a "responsibility to protect" is a significant step forward. But we are concerned at the limited outcome with respect to the Human Rights Council. Australia supports a strong Council that is capable of responding to serious human rights abuses effectively and with credibility. Member States must work assiduously during this session to inject substance into the agreed negotiations on the Council's modalities.

We welcome the resolve to strengthen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and will make our own additional contribution to its operations.

I was also pleased to announce here this week a contribution of $10 million to the Democracy Fund. History has shown that the most stable and prosperous nations over time have responsive political institutions as their common link.

We could have hoped for more progress on management reforms for the Organization, particularly in light of the findings of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme (the Volcker inquiry), and we support the ongoing need for reform. We remain hopeful that a formula for Security Council expansion that will better reflect today's geopolitical realities, including through the permanent membership of Japan, can be worked out.

In summary, we welcome the outcome document as a reasonable balance of issues overall. The challenge for the United Nations now is to redefine its authority and responsibility in the global environment in which we find ourselves. Australia, as always, will be an active player in these deliberations.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway.

Mr. Bondevik (Norway)

Five years ago, we agreed on the Millennium Development Goals. We should keep our promises. I, therefore, welcome our commitment to increase our official development assistance.

The world is expecting us to make poverty history, to turn poverty into something our great grandchildren will read about, but not really understand. We can do it, and we must do it: by increasing our support to the efforts by the developing countries, by involving women fully in our noble undertaking based on gender equality, by reducing barriers to trade, by promoting investment and social development and by mobilizing business and civil society in both rich and poor countries in the war on poverty. And, like a good farmer, we must manage the earth and its resources so that they will benefit not only present but also future generations.

Development also requires good governance. It calls for determined efforts to fight corruption. It entails responsible and transparent government, by and for the people.

Ultimately, good governance is about democracy and human rights. Freedom of expression, freedom to seek information, freedom from discrimination -- rights like these enable people not only to use and develop their God-given talents, but also to make greater contributions to their societies. Human rights must be fully integrated into all United Nations activities. I thus welcome the strengthening of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

When a fellow human being needs our protection, we have a duty to help. One of the achievements of this summit is our readiness to take collective action -- through the Security Council -- to protect. We will do so if peaceful means are found to be inadequate and if national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Maintaining peace and security was, and still is, the aim of the Organization. Preventing and ending armed conflicts, stabilizing and rebuilding failed or failing States -- these are huge and complex tasks. I believe that the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund will make the United Nations better able to take on such challenges. I am happy to announce that Norway will contribute $15 million to the Peacebuilding Fund and the same amount to the humanitarian fund.

But the United Nations cannot do much on its own. We need the commitment of the Member States -- all of us here today -- and we need a new partnership between the United Nations and regional organizations. We, the Member States, must take collective and effective measures to maintain peace and security and to prevent or remove threats to humanity.

One of our most urgent priorities is the area of disarmament and non-proliferation. We see a growing risk of proliferation, of catastrophic terrorism. All States must work for disarmament and non-proliferation. Yet our world summit could not generate any consensus on how to address those truly global threats. We regret this deeply. Norway will continue to seek a new consensus and to achieve results.

By their evil actions, terrorists are attacking the values held by all the great religions and by the United Nations. We must do whatever we can within the framework of international law to stop them. The war against terrorism cannot be won by military means alone; we need a broad approach. I believe that the best strategy is to address the root causes of terrorism, such as armed conflict and occupation, intolerance and repression, humiliation and hopelessness.

These were the very tasks we entrusted to the United Nations in 1945. They are just as relevant today. And we, the peoples of the United Nations, need, more than ever before, a strong United Nations to accomplish them. So let us together live up to our commitments and make the United Nations the strong and flexible Organization we so desperately need. Let us agree to act now.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency The Right Honourable Keith Claudius Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada.

Mr. Mitchell (Grenada)

At the outset, let me express, on behalf of the Government and the people of Grenada, profound sympathy to the people of the United States of America for the massive destruction and loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina, particularly in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. We can certainly empathize with their pain and loss.

I wish to express, on behalf of the delegation of Grenada, warm congratulations to the Co-Chairpersons on their election and on steering these deliberations so efficiently. I also salute the Secretary-General, who has been guiding the Organization through a very difficult period and whose vision for the future we will adopt at the conclusion of this summit.

I am deeply honoured to address this High-level Plenary Meeting on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of this body and to associate myself with the statements made by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and by the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, on behalf of the Caribbean Community, at the special meeting on financing for development.

Five years ago, we came together to share our vision of the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century and adopted the Millennium Declaration. Since then, the United Nations has been confronted with several world problems: conflicts of varying kinds related to humanitarian disasters, natural disasters and, of course, terrorism. Those national and global challenges, unforeseen 60 years ago, are forcing us to the conclusion that new and innovative ways to uphold the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter are required.

We are gathered here to take decisive action on the very important issues of development, peace and security, and human rights, which will affect us for a long time to come. We share the expressed view that development, human rights, and peace and security are dependent on one another, and we applaud initiatives taken in those areas.

Grenada fully supports the proposal to effect positive change within the Secretariat and within all organs of this body. We agree that change must come, but also that it must come with increased effectiveness.

We welcome the decisions taken in the area of development, and we commend those developed countries that have committed themselves to the 0.7 per cent target for official development assistance aimed at reducing poverty and improving health and education, as well as to trade liberalization and debt relief to countries in need. We urge other countries to follow suit.

We find it difficult, however, to understand the decisions taken by the European Union concerning reform of the sugar and banana markets, which will virtually destroy the Caribbean banana and sugar industries and will wreak havoc on vulnerable farming communities and dependent groups. Those policies run counter to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, for small economies, particularly in the Caribbean region.

Despite being faced with the major task of rebuilding our country and its economy, Grenada continues to remain committed and dedicated to its obligations in support of the work of this Organization.

On Tuesday, 7 September 2004, our country, Grenada, was devastated by Hurricane Ivan. Sustained wind speeds of 150 miles per hour laid waste the country's social and economic infrastructure and left the population severely displaced, homeless and in a ravaged state of psychological trauma. With the assistance of many friendly countries and multinational agencies, we have been able to commence the recovery. But 10 months later, on July 14 2005, another hurricane, Emily, hit Grenada. Although, less severe, Hurricane Emily wiped out the post-Ivan gains that we were able to make in agriculture and food production, and further severely undermined the agricultural and housing stocks.

Prior to 7 September 2004, the economy had been on a path of positive economic growth driven by advances in the tourism, agricultural, transportation and communications sectors. The setback in economic and social progress points to the vulnerability of small States to natural disasters and the way in which several decades of progress can be wiped out in a matter of hours.

We applaud the efforts to improve the Central Emergency Revolving Fund to strengthen the effectiveness of the United Nations humanitarian responses, as well as the mechanisms for the use of emergency stand-by capacity for a timely response to humanitarian emergencies. We expect that this support for small island developing States will strengthen their ability to respond more efficiently and effectively to natural disasters and to mitigate their impacts.

The passage of those two hurricanes reversed all the gains we had made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In fact, it is now unlikely that Grenada will achieve the Goals by the year 2015. However, with further and more aggressive assistance from the international community, Grenada will continue to pursue its efforts to meet the Goals as soon as possible.

May I therefore take this opportunity, on behalf of the Government and people of our country, to thank all members of this body for the kind and generous assistance granted to Grenada in the aftermath of both hurricanes. That is where we experienced the privilege of belonging to such a diverse family of nations.

The economic and fiscal situation remains a major challenge to our country and we therefore applaud the efforts of the International Monetary Fund in calling on the international community and donor agencies to provide more grant financing and technical assistance to support the country's reconstruction and rebuilding efforts.

As we embark on a new era in the history of the United Nations, let us, as leaders, challenge ourselves, whatever our national capacity, to work assiduously towards the elimination of poverty, hunger, discrimination, war and other ills, and to make this Organization function efficiently to meet the objectives of universal peace and progress.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand.

Mr. Shinawatra (Thailand)

At the outset, on behalf of the people of Thailand, let me convey our deepest sympathy and condolences to all the people who suffered from Hurricane Katrina. As we experienced a similar trauma because of the tsunami, our wishes are with them all the way for speedy recoveries.

Allow me also to congratulate Ambassador Eliasson on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixtieth session. Our profound appreciation also goes to the outgoing President for the successful preparation of this summit.

For many people, 60 is the age to retire, but far from that, the United Nations at 60 must be further rejuvenated, further strengthened or even reinvented in order to be a more effective, more efficient, more transparent and more accountable global body to serve the international community.

Our modern world of globalization demands a United Nations that is dynamic in outlook, flexible in structure, and firm in its commitment to the enduring ideals for which it was created. After the cold war, the world today is a significantly changed place, characterized by the pre-eminence of a single political and economic system of democracy and capitalism, which are two sides of the same coin.

It is generally recognized that capitalism, whose hallmark is free competition, provides the best opportunity for our peoples to pursue their dreams. However, free competition must also be fair. Unfortunately, not everyone is equally fit to race in the same free competition. I equate this situation with a patient who has just been released from the intensive care unit of a hospital being forced to run a race under the same rules with a supremely fit athlete. It is a free competition, but is it also fair?

In Asia, in Latin America and in Africa, poverty alleviation must remain at the top of our agenda to promote human dignity, human rights and human security, to reduce injustice and conflicts, to mitigate resentment and radicalism, and to combat violence and terrorism. However, as I have done in Thailand in the last few years, the progress of poverty alleviation results from the combination of opening up international market access and self-help.

The ability to take part in fair trade is the opportunity for a nation to help itself. To encourage self-help, international efforts must ensure that free competition goes together with fair competition. The Millennium Development Goals will not be achievable simply through the internationally committed official development assistance percentage alone. It will depend just as much on the ability of the international community to deliver a fairer system of world trade. That must be an agenda that the United Nations reform cannot ignore.

As enshrined in our Charter, it is "We the peoples" whom the United Nations is representing. It is therefore imperative that the United Nations be kept a global citizen-centred Organization in its perceptions, its outlooks, its tasks, its actions and its responsibilities.

On the other hand, as we the peoples pledge our efforts to unite for a more united Organization, we must remember to be aware that the United Nations cannot truly be united as long as its Members are divided on the basis of domestic interests and political gains.

Today, therefore, is the test of our leadership. And leadership starts from a realization that we must be prepared to trade disunity for unity, narrow interests for shared responsibility, and a bitter past in favour of a better future. Our leadership must accept change. Our leadership must accept that the world of globalization and the new landscape mean that there is a need to think beyond our national boundaries for the common good and to bring peace and prosperity to the globe. Our leadership must also show the ability to respond promptly, with compassion and generosity, to those in immediate need, those suffering from severe starvation and those hit by famine, such as in Niger.

The revitalization of the General Assembly, the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council to play a more assertive role in development and the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Human Rights Council and the Democracy Fund may be key reform proposals, but reform of this magnitude must be accompanied by a major overhaul of the management system. Thailand, under my administration, has gone through major economic and political reforms, which were successful only because I launched a management reform of unprecedented scale at the same time.

As the problems of the world become more complex and intertwined, so do the tasks and responsibilities of the United Nations and its agencies. For the United Nations to be a global, citizen-centred Organization that fulfils such tasks and for it to remain relevant to citizens from all walks of life, improved coordination between agencies and with countries and people on the ground must be part of the reform.

But all of this requires total commitment, both from the United Nations and from all of us, the 191 Members. So, to be fair, let us ask not if the United Nations can do more, but rather what more we can do for the United Nations.

Reform is a process. Today, as the draft outcome document is endorsed, that process will begin. Its success depends on the continued support of all players and the management ability of the Organization's leadership to see it through.

Today "We, the peoples" begin the process of millennium reform. Tomorrow, through our support, we shall ensure that the process is implemented by a management that is itself well-reformed and by a leadership well-prepared to deliver us a more global, citizen-centred United Nations.

Every word in the document bears the fingerprint of each and every Member State. All of us have a shared responsibility to make the United Nations work. We shall have to answer to ourselves and to future generations if we fail.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by Mr. Otmar Hasler, Prime Minister of the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Mr. Hasler (Liechtenstein)

The sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations coincides with the fifteenth anniversary of our membership in the Organization. Joining the United Nations on 18 September 1990 was a historic step for Liechtenstein. To this day we consider our membership a cornerstone of our national sovereignty.

Effective multilateralism, as envisioned by the Charter of the United Nations, is more important than ever. The challenges and threats of today are manifold, and most of them require collective action based on a functioning international framework and the rule of law. Environmental and health threats, terrorism, natural disasters and humanitarian crises are but a few examples that amply illustrate this fact. The United Nations is the only organization that can provide the framework for such global collective action. At the same time, today's world and the challenges it poses differ greatly from those for which the Organization was originally designed. The United Nations clearly needs new tools to address new threats, and this is the reason why we have all gathered here in New York at the Summit level.

We welcome the fact that the original purpose of the Summit -- the review of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals -- has found a central place in the draft outcome document. We also subscribe fully to the underlying philosophy of the draft outcome document that development, security and human rights are mutually reinforcing and interdependent.

We had hoped that far-reaching and bold decisions would be ready for our common agreement at this Summit, in particular in the area of institutional change. No less was required from us in order to make the United Nations fit for the challenges ahead and to prevent the repetition of past mistakes, such as those that occurred in the management of the oil-for-food programme. Success on the many reform issues before us is uneven. The next months must bring more progress.

Efforts to strengthen the various arms of the United Nations system are needed to tackle institutional imbalances. The strengthening of the General Assembly, the only universal organ of the Organization, is one essential element in that respect. We must therefore restore to the Assembly a central place in our multilateral system. We are encouraged by the efforts to make the work of the Security Council more representative, accountable and transparent vis-à- vis today's membership.

The establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission to help countries emerging from conflicts will close an institutional gap. That body has the potential to improve dramatically the performance of the United Nations in the area of conflict prevention by assisting countries to make the transition to long-term recovery and by preventing the relapse into conflict.

We support the early conclusion of the work to design a Human Rights Council that reflects the central position of human rights among the core activities of the Organization. The agreed doubling of the resources for the Office of the High Commissioner will help give human rights activities their rightful place within the United Nations system.

On the conceptual side, we are particularly pleased that the Summit recognizes the responsibility of the international community to protect civilian populations when Governments fail to do so. There should have been greater advances in the areas of terrorism and the use of force, and we deplore that the Summit has failed to reach any agreement in the areas of disarmament and impunity, including on the role of the International Criminal Court.

We have taken important decisions but fallen short of what is necessary in some areas. We must turn a corner and create a new basis for an organization that has been experiencing difficulty in keeping up with the speed of global change. Work on the many issues before us should continue with great intensity and must lead to greater real change.

The Co-Chairperson (Sweden)

The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency, the Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Planning, Economic Development, Labour, Information and Legal Affairs of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Mr. Gonsalves (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)

The world is paying special attention to the United Nations at this critical juncture in its 60-year history. We cannot afford to fail the 6 billion inhabitants of planet Earth. It cannot be business as usual. Tired diplomatic postures and ritual incantations are not what these challenging times demand. Neither an arrogant triumphalism nor a learned helplessness will do. Let us be truly focused on the strategic issues at hand and work together to uplift our human civilization, materially, in spirit, and in peaceful solidarity. Let not the humbug of vanity, lodged in personal, institutional or national spaces, encumber us in our collective quest for a better world.

As my country sees it, this High-level Plenary Meeting is required to work urgently and diligently on a threefold agenda: first, to advance the development agenda in practical terms focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and beyond them to work to achieve a sustainable condition based on the principles of solidarity, complementarity, equity, and humanity's ennoblement; secondly, to strengthen the role of the United Nations in the management of fundamental global economic, security, social and political issues touching and concerning mankind; and, thirdly, to redress appropriately the systemic problems in inte