Bahrain, 2008

May I, at the outset, convey my heartfelt

congratulations to you, Sir, on your election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third

session and assure you of the commitment of the

Kingdom of Bahrain and its delegation to working

closely with you towards achieving our shared

objectives. I have no doubt that your experience and

abilities will play a crucial role in ensuring the success

of this session. I also want to take this opportunity to

thank your predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for his

leadership of the General Assembly at its previous

session and to express our continued and deep

appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his

ongoing, unflinching dedication and initiative in

addressing the many challenges facing the United

Nations and the world.

These General Assembly meetings provide a

valuable opportunity for all of us in the international

community to reflect on the challenges, problems and

issues facing us all in order to form a more

comprehensive view of the issues, to understand their

causes, be it through success or failure, and to work

together to develop a shared vision of the future and

the tools necessary to achieve our aims and realize our

vision.

Today, the international community faces many

challenges in achieving the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), notably those related to energy, the

environment, natural disasters, food shortages,

education and the financial crisis that has recently

shaken the world. These challenges make achieving the

MDGs difficult for many States, to a degree that affects

their economic development and increases the rate of

poverty in them. We therefore need an urgent and

effective response from the international community to

deal with those pressing issues in order to achieve the

MDGs. Yet, as we review our progress to date, the

global effort to achieve the Goals has been uneven, at

best, to the point that we are today on the verge of a

development emergency.

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08-53122 26

The Kingdom of Bahrain welcomes the

opportunities provided by the high-level event on the

MDGs, held on 25 September, and the high-level meeting

on Africa’s development needs, held on 22 September, to

renew the commitments of all States.

In addressing these important issues, we must not

lose sight of the impact of disasters, both natural and

man-made, in holding back progress towards achieving

the MDGs. It is thus imperative that States integrate

disaster risk reduction into their development plans.

We simply cannot afford to ignore or delay these

development issues. Nor can we dismiss them as soft

issues, for if action is not taken soon, they will become

real threats to global security and prosperity. The

Kingdom of Bahrain therefore fully supports the

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction

and plans to host the launch of the report in May 2009.

As we all know, the issue of climate change is of

utmost importance. As the world prepares to meet to

negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the end

of 2009, global demand for energy is rising fast, as

populations increase and some developing countries

undergo dramatic economic growth. The International

Energy Agency predicts that the world’s energy needs

could increase by 50 per cent by 2030. We therefore

look forward to the meeting to be held in Poland later

this year in advance of the United Nations Climate

Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in 2009.

We are hopeful that all sides will realize the

importance of the climate change issue and will

commit themselves to addressing the overriding

interests of the future of our planet and of future

generations. Our hope is that a comprehensive and

effective agreement can be concluded and

implemented.

The peaceful use of nuclear energy has become a

preferred option for many countries, and here the

Kingdom of Bahrain therefore shares the concerns of

the international community. Therefore, future

agreements on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful

purposes must be made within a strengthened

non-proliferation regime, with improved safeguards

and an expanded verification mechanism, in order to

ensure that our peoples are not put at risk. Indeed, a

highlight of the twenty-eighth Supreme Council of the

Gulf Cooperation Council, held last December in

Doha, was the acknowledgment of the right of

countries of the region to seek nuclear expertise and to

possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in close

cooperation with the International Atomic Energy

Agency.

Given its universal impact and implications,

energy and its various sources are in need of a holistic,

global approach, yet they are dealt with in a

fragmented, piecemeal manner. That unsatisfactory

situation leads us to suggest the establishment of a

truly comprehensive energy organization. Such an

organization would bring a joint international

perspective to determining the role and usage of

hydrocarbons, nuclear power, new and renewable

energy sources, and would introduce innovative

solutions to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas

emissions. Such a body could provide accurate

assessments of global energy demand and supply and

bring energy data under one roof. It would also provide

any objective advice that might be required on an

optimal energy mix that is both safe and

environmentally sound.

Having spoken of energy and climate change

issues, I must now turn to the food security crisis,

which is a result of high food prices and which in 2007

increased the number of hungry people in the world by

about 50 million. We believe that the solution to that

crisis lies in working together to implement solutions,

such as reducing biofuel production, changing

consumption habits and investing in sustainable

agricultural methods.

The shock that has recently affected the

international financial system has almost resulted in a

global economic catastrophe. That shock has revealed

the weaknesses and fragility of the current financial

system and its propensity for rapid and widespread

dislocation. We bear the historic responsibility to

establish transparent new regulations based on the

interests of all States Members of the United Nations

and to prepare a framework that can contain any future

financial crisis.

The fact is that multilateral cooperation is

fundamental to addressing these challenges, as no

country alone can resolve such issues and crises or

isolate itself from their consequences. As the

Secretary-General said in his opening statement,

(spoke in English)

“Nations can no longer protect their interests or

advance the well-being of their peoples without

A/63/PV.13

27 08-53122

the partnership of other nations.” (A/63/PV.5,

p. 1).

(spoke in Arabic)

The Kingdom of Bahrain therefore supports

efforts to reform, renew and reinvigorate the

international Organization and its organs to be more

responsive to the needs of a new world. We agree with

the view of the Secretary-General, set out in his annual

report (A/63/1), that we need a stronger, more effective

and more modern Organization. We look forward to the

structural reform of this international Organization to

enable it respond more effectively to the challenges

faced by the international community and to increase

its capacity to deal with such issues.

We must make every effort to address such

shortcomings as threats to the international security

system emanating from a wide range of external sources,

including extremists, terrorists, drug traffickers, money

launderers and intellectual property pirates. We need to

develop collective security arrangements that bring

together our security efforts while ensuring respect for

existing borders between States and avoiding

encroachment on their sovereignty.

On the issue of terrorism, we consider terrorism

to have many faces — whether in the form of the

heinous crime perpetrated in Islamabad a few days ago

that led to the deaths of scores of innocent people, or

agitation and incitement from afar or a variety of other

manifestations. We should be clear and decisive in

confronting terrorism in a comprehensive manner so as

to defeat it both in the field and ideologically. We

believe that the struggle against terrorism is a battle

that we should wage, united, if we are to get rid of its

evil.

The Middle East faces many acute issues in

desperate need of settlement, the most pressing of

which is the need for a just, comprehensive, lasting and

peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question based

on ensuring security for all the peoples of the Middle

East region, including Israel. Such a settlement must

take place within the framework of international

legitimacy and the relevant terms of reference, where

the choice will be just peace, as called for in the Arab

Peace Initiative.

In that regard, there is also an urgent need for a

peaceful settlement on the Syrian track, including

withdrawal from the occupied Arab Syrian Golan and

the remaining Lebanese territories. It also requires a

halt to Israeli incursions into Lebanon, whose stability

must be supported. It is also important to have a

resolution of the issue of the occupied islands of the

United Arab Emirates, either through direct

negotiations or by referring the issue to the

International Court of Justice. That would be a

significant step towards strengthening trust between

the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran.

The Gulf region, which is an integral part of the

world economy, has experienced destructive wars

during the past three decades. It will not be able to

endure a new war, due to the severe consequences on

the world economy. The Kingdom of Bahrain therefore

reiterates its call for a peaceful solution to the Iranian

nuclear issue, in order to avoid the scourge of war in

the region and to enhance world peace and stability.

Moreover, there is an urgent need to rid the

Middle East and the Gulf region of weapons of mass

destruction, including nuclear weapons, while

safeguarding the rights of all countries to the peaceful

uses of nuclear energy in accordance with the

comprehensive safeguards regime of the International

Atomic Energy Agency.

In order for the Middle East to enjoy stable and

lasting peace, it is incumbent upon us to re-evaluate

our outlook on the region and to consider the

possibility of developing new regional frameworks to

address and overcome long-standing challenges. Now

is the time, for example, to consider the establishment

of an organization that would include all States of the

Middle East, without exception, to discuss long-

standing issues openly and frankly, in the hope of

reaching a stable and durable understanding between

all parties. As Arabs, we accept peace as a strategic

option. We are committed to international legitimacy,

ending old conflicts and hostilities and beginning a

new chapter for a historic rapprochement between the

peoples of the region that will lead towards a better

future characterized by understanding, stability and

prosperity.

Developments in the Kingdom of Bahrain in

recent years have been characterized by dialogue and

understanding, a process inaugurated by our leader, His

Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, as part of his

extensive reform programme that aims at strengthening

democracy, political reform and the promotion and

protection of human rights. At a time when we will

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08-53122 28

soon join the United Nations and the international

community in commemorating the sixtieth anniversary

of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which

laid down the principles and values of freedom and

human justice for modern times, Bahrain’s election to

the Human Rights Council and the adoption at Geneva

in June of the report on our first universal periodic

review serve to clearly illustrate the international

community’s recognition of Bahrain’s efforts in the

area of human rights.

The Kingdom of Bahrain will continue to move

forward in that and other fields, for example, by

establishing Bahrain’s national human rights institution

and continuing to make progress in the political,

economic and regulatory spheres. The Kingdom of

Bahrain will not hesitate to play its role in helping

brotherly and friendly States and in sharing its success

stories, which have helped provide a better life for our

people. In that regard, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin

Salman Al-Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of

Bahrain, in cooperation with the United Nations

Human Settlements Programme, has sponsored an

award called the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa

Habitat Award, which honours distinguished research

that contributes to alleviating poverty and safeguarding

the environment and recognizes the efforts of States to

achieve desired economic development. His Highness

is expected to present the award this year during the

fourth session of the World Urban Forum, which is to

be held in Nanjing, in the People’s Republic of China.

A key pillar of Bahrain’s approach to the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continues to

be its investment in modern education that is practical,

relevant and of high quality and that instils critical

thinking and creativity and encourages innovation and

acceptance of the other. In that respect, I want to note

that Bahrain has been able to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals in the area of education

significantly before the 2015 deadline. We have done

so by providing children with free high-quality

education and by making basic education for all a

fundamental human right.

In conclusion, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the “land

of immortality” and proud host of many civilizations,

is a country where the concepts of tolerance and

coexistence among all segments of society are central.

Mosques stand alongside churches and temples of

various denominations, and people enjoy freedom and

religious tolerance irrespective of their religion or

ethnicity. Fraternal values, moderation and the

rejection of violence and terrorism are embedded in our

culture, auguring a promising new era in the history of

humankind.

That is the Kingdom of Bahrain that is committed

to participating fully, along with the rest of the

international community, in achieving global peace,

stability and prosperity and to confronting current and

future challenges, for the benefit of our peoples and

future generations. That is a task the international

community must undertake in a spirit of cooperation

and good faith, for when future generations evaluate

our actions and hold us to account, they will not

forgive our mistakes and miscalculations.