Bhutan, 2006

I have the honour to

convey to the General Assembly the warm greetings of

His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan,

as well as his best wishes for the success of the sixty-

first session of the General Assembly. I would also like

to congratulate you, Madam President, on your

unanimous election as the President of the Assembly.

Your election is a reflection of the General Assembly’s

confidence in your personal abilities and the high

esteem that the Kingdom of Bahrain enjoys. My

country has fond memories of 21 September 1971,

when our two Kingdoms became proud members of the

United Nations. My delegation also wishes to pay

tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for the

exemplary manner in which he directed the work of the

sixtieth session. Under his stewardship, a number of

important decisions of the 2005 World Summit were

implemented. We are confident that, under your

dynamic leadership, Madam President, the sixty-first

will be able to successfully complete all its tasks.

Bhutan is honoured to serve as one of the Vice-

Presidents. We assure you of our full cooperation and

support.

We fully support the theme for the general

debate, “Implementing a global partnership for

development”. In this era of globalization and

technological advances that have brought

unprecedented prosperity to a minority of the world’s

population, the international community must unite

forces to extricate the vast majority of the world’s

inhabitants from the vicious circle of poverty and

destitution. The global partnership must engender

greater political will to address the problems of trade,

market access, technology transfer and a host of other

issues that impede growth and development in

developing countries. It is also imperative that the

outcomes of major United Nations conferences and

summits, especially those relating to development, are

fully implemented by all.

The Midterm Comprehensive Global Review of

the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least

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Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, which

was undertaken earlier this week, has revealed much

less progress than desired. It is my delegation’s hope

that, as provided in the declaration that was adopted by

the review meeting, all stakeholders will genuinely

commit themselves to the special needs of the least

developed countries and work towards the full

implementation of the Programme of Action, which

constitutes a fundamental framework for strong global

partnership to accelerate sustained economic growth,

sustainable development and poverty eradication in the

least developed countries (LDCs).

Owing to the limited prospects for raising

domestic resources, attracting foreign investment and

securing funds on commercial terms, official

development assistance (ODA) is a critical resource for

LDCs in achieving the goals and targets of the Brussels

Programme of Action. In fact, for many LDCs, such as

mine, ODA constitutes the primary resource for

development. My delegation therefore appeals to all

developed countries to abide by their aid commitment

to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national product

to ODA, with 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent of that

earmarked for least developed countries.

A summit meeting of landlocked developing

countries was held on 14 September in Havana, Cuba.

That was the first-ever summit meeting of landlocked

developing countries and it highlighted the serious

constraints faced by landlocked developing countries.

It is our hope that the international community will

duly consider the problems of landlocked developing

countries and support the road map for global

partnership set out by the Almaty Programme of

Action.

The task of reforming the United Nations remains

incomplete, in view of the slow progress in areas such

as the strengthening of the Economic and Social

Council and the reform of the Security Council. It is

not enough to say that the reform of those bodies is

required, while we allow ourselves to be constrained

by other considerations. We need to strengthen the

Economic and Social Council to enable it to deal

effectively with the social, economic and development

issues that are of primary concern for the vast majority

of Member States.

The Security Council needs to be reformed to

reflect today’s realities and challenges. My delegation

strongly believes that the status quo is no longer an

option. The Security Council has to be urgently

reformed in all its aspects, including its composition

and working methods. It is regrettable that the proposal

submitted by the Group of Four at the sixtieth session

was not acted upon. It is my delegation’s hope that the

sixty-first session will be able to bring about real

reform of the Security Council.

We welcome the adoption by the sixtieth session

of the resolution on the revitalization of the General

Assembly. We must continue with our efforts to further

enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency

of this body, which is the chief deliberative,

policymaking and representative organ of the United

Nations.

Terrorism continues to threaten peace, security

and development in many parts of the world.

The recent train bombings in Mumbai, India, and

the plot to blow up transatlantic aircraft uncovered in

London last August remind us of the need to take

strong measures against international terrorism. In that

regard, my delegation welcomes the General

Assembly’s adoption at its sixtieth session of the

United Nations Global Counter-terrorism Strategy

(resolution 60/288). The next important steps are to

implement the Strategy and to renew efforts to

conclude a comprehensive convention on international

terrorism.

Recent developments in the Middle East once

again highlight the urgency of finding a solution to the

problem there. My delegation calls upon all concerned

parties and others in a position to help to strive for a

just and comprehensive solution.

I would like to take this opportunity to express

my country’s deep appreciation to His Excellency

Mr. Kofi Annan for his dedicated service to the United

Nations as its Secretary-General. We are confident that

the next Secretary-General, who should be from Asia,

will lead the United Nations to greater heights in the

service of humankind.

Allow me to take a few moments to apprise the

international community of the progress that Bhutan is

making. As a small, least developed country with a

population of just over half a million people, the

hurdles we face are enormous. Yet, under the far-

sighted leadership of His Majesty the King, the country

has been making significant progress in all fields.

17 06-53317

On the political front, most notable is the

culmination of the reforms that will usher in

parliamentary democracy in 2008. Those changes are

taking place in an environment of peace, progress and

stability. We are hopeful that the transition will be

smooth and the final outcome enduring.

Bhutan’s development is guided by the conviction

that human well-being and contentment must be

promoted through the pursuit of material progress, on

the one hand, and the fulfilment of spiritual and

emotional needs, on the other. That development

philosophy, as I have stated before in the Assembly, is

defined as the pursuit of gross national happiness,

rather than just gross national product. We will be

happy to share our experience on that development

philosophy, as we did at the international conference

on the theme “Rethinking development: local pathways

to global well-being”, which was held in Nova Scotia,

Canada, in June 2005. We believe that the happy planet

index that was recently published in the United

Kingdom by the New Economics Foundation bears

close a relation to the development paradigm pursued

by Bhutan.

I wish the General Assembly every success.