Bhutan, 2014

I wish to begin by conveying

the warm greetings of His Majesty the King of Bhutan.

It is an honour for me to be present in this grand

assembly of nations. Great men and women of our time

have graced this rostrum. Yet the magnitude of the

challenges we are called on to address today remains

formidable — greater than any person or any country

we represent.

The United Nations was founded to unlock the

potential of our collective endeavour to promote the

peace, prosperity and progress of succeeding generations

of humankind. As we approach the seventieth

anniversary of the founding of our Organization,

the considerable gains we have made on the social,

economic and political fronts give us many reasons to

be hopeful. However, we continue to be confronted by

grave challenges. They include the festering wounds of

age-old conflicts that threaten to spin out of control;

new tensions and the resurgence of violent extremism;

the irrefutable evidence of the menace posed by climate

change to life on our planet; and the unconscionable

inequities and injustices that contribute to the fact that

millions are deprived of such basic needs as food and

shelter. All of these are compelling issues that remind

us that we have yet to heed the tragic lessons of the past,

and that we are far from realizing the world envisaged

in the Charter of the United Nations.

We commend the President for his choice of

the theme for this session, “Delivering on and

implementing a transformative post-2015 development

agenda”. This is an opportune moment to redefine a

new era in international development and cooperation,

one that can build on the successes and shortcomings

of more than three decades of internationally agreed

development goals, and the Millennium Development

Goals in particular. The process must activate real and

meaningful change for all countries if it is indeed to

be transformative. For this to happen, the agenda must

be anchored to the need for breakthroughs to address

the hard realities on the ground in individual countries,

especially with regard to capacity and financing for

development.

Accordingly, a collaborative approach, based

on an appreciation of the unique circumstances and

experience of each country and driven by the desire for

true working partnerships among and within countries,

will be vital. Such an approach would require changes

in our development paradigm, in our beliefs regarding

the sustainability of the world’s current trajectory,

and in our behaviour as individuals, which shape our

national character and our destiny as an international

community of nations.

A small, least developed, landlocked country like

mine, with many less-than-ideal indicators, has to get

its development priorities right. Given our small size

and unique circumstances, the lessons Bhutan has

learned are not universal, but certain principles may

have relevance. It is in a spirit of humility and modesty

that we share our experience and aspirations.

First and foremost, we believe that development

must be guided by a clear, home-grown vision. Ours,

championed by successive monarchs, identifies people’s

welfare and happiness as its central objective. Secondly,

it takes good governance to unlock the full potential

of a country and its people in the pursuit of effective

development and peace. Thirdly, within the broader

development objective, the eradication of poverty must

remain an overarching aim. Eliminating the scourge of

poverty must therefore form the central purpose of the

post-2015 development agenda.

Fourthly, strong partnerships are the key to

delivering on the post-2015 development agenda. In

our experience, nurturing and maintaining strong

partnerships with our donors, based on trust and mutual

respect, has been critical to our progress. Last but not

least, there is the conservation of the environment,

which is related to the issue of sustainability. A

decent standard of living, with adequate education,

health care and employment, is essential for people

to live with self-respect, dignity and hope. But if the

most basic necessities of life, air, water and food are

polluted and contaminated, a decent standard of living

is unsustainable. The wanton exploitation of natural

resources, without any care for the health of our planet,

clearly cannot go on.

In a world riven by challenges of epic proportions,

the centrality of the United Nations as the only truly

global organization cannot be overemphasized. Yet

efforts to reform its highest organ, the Security Council,

remain deadlocked. While a consensus-based decision

is the most desirable way forward in multilateralism,

we cannot allow its absence to obstruct progress

indefinitely, especially in the crucial area of peace and

security.

We are heading into a momentous year during

which the international community will craft a new

development agenda that will lay the framework for

transformational change and shared prosperity. In the

final analysis, no matter what brilliant concepts we

introduce and breakthroughs we achieve on paper,

nothing of lasting value can be achieved without a

transformation of mindsets and hearts. It is there,

perhaps, in our hearts and minds that we really need a

paradigm shift.

In the words of His Majesty the King of Bhutan:

“This is a world that is shared, not between

Governments and nations but among the peoples.

No nation today can stand alone in achievement.

There can be no lasting national progress if it does

not fit into a future of global peace, harmony and

prosperity. The world must progress together or fail

together.”