Brunei, 2007

May I offer

my congratulations to you, Mr. President, your

Government and people on your election. I would also

like to offer my thanks to your predecessor, Her

Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her

leadership of the General Assembly over the past year.

I also offer my congratulations to the Secretary-

General on the progress he has made during the past

nine months. His first report (A/62/1) is very

encouraging, and we welcome his response to the new

challenges we are all facing. I also wish to thank our

United Nations representatives, workers and volunteers

throughout the world who are undertaking very hard

tasks which are often extremely dangerous. We thank

them for their professional dedication. This is

especially so in many parts of the Middle East. Here I

offer once more our continued strong support for all

the efforts being made by the United Nations to find a

solution to the suffering of the Palestinian people. In

doing so we reaffirm our solidarity with the people of

Palestine in their efforts to find a just and lasting

solution to problems that have been going on for

almost 60 years.

My last word of thanks, Mr. President, is to you

personally. We were most encouraged by your

acceptance speech and your plan for the future. We

were pleased to hear you express strong support for

multilateral solutions to world problems. We certainly

agree on the need for the United Nations to strengthen

its central position in the multilateral system. Most of

all, we are very happy with the idea of a lasting

consensus among Member States, the private sector,

non-governmental organizations and civil society. We

are especially pleased that civil societies were

included. That means giving ordinary people a place in

the consensus. That is why we found the statement so

encouraging. Nevertheless, it has set a very serious

challenge to the United Nations. It is most important

that our people gain the understanding that comes from

knowledge, experience and expertise. Our theme of

climate change at this session shows this very clearly.

The many discussions we have had this week

have taught us that all modern problems are extremely

complicated. It has also shown us how important it is

to gain a full understanding of these difficulties. If our

people are to gain such understanding, it will come

from having universal good education, good health and

strong social services. This will come only when all

countries have reached the United Nations Millennium

Goals. So it is more urgent than ever that these Goals

be reached on time. They cover all aspects of modern

life political, social, cultural, and, perhaps above all

today, economic and commercial. As such they provide

a way for people to understand modern problems well,

take a full part in the consensus and help to find a

solution.

I say this because we are now at the critical

halfway point that we set seven years ago in planning

the Millennium Development Goals. The discussion we

have had all week on climate change shows how vital

the next seven years will be. In my own country we

have only just started to realize how difficult the

subject is. It is like security and sustainable

development and energy. These are all new,

twenty-first century problems, and they all mean that

our people need to learn more and more and to learn

very quickly.

We need to include the subject I have mentioned

in all aspects of national development planning, and we

need to share knowledge and expertise. We believe that

this is more important than ever. This is because by

exchanging views and information on climate change

this week we have also learned another new lesson,

which teaches us that when it comes to modern twenty-

first century problems we are all in them together. That

is what your consensus, Mr. President, means. It

recognizes that we all have an important contribution

to make if we work together. That is why we very

much value the partnership you have proposed. We

hope it will result in our people becoming far more

than just receivers of solutions. We hope it will start to

make them one of the most important agents in finding

solutions.

We feel you have begun your term of office,

Mr. President, by inviting us all to share a modern

platform on which we can all work well. We are very

pleased to join you and your consensus for the sixty-

second session of the General Assembly, and we wish

you much success in broadening and strengthening it

during the coming year.