Egypt, 2010

The

beginning of the sixty-fifth session of the General

Assembly coincides with the preparations of the

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), chaired by my

country, to celebrate 50 years of achievements. During

those years, the Movement has greatly helped to

reinforce international and multilateral action under

changing regional and international circumstances. The

Movement’s work over those years has demonstrated

the ability of developing countries to contribute

effectively to the maintenance of international peace

and security, make progress in development, and

promote human rights, basic freedoms and the

furtherance of good governance at the international

level.

37 10-55103

This week’s NAM ministerial meeting represents

the point of departure for a major celebration, to be

hosted by Indonesia in April or May 2011. The meeting

will chart a clear and integrated future course, drawing

on past achievements as an impetus for future

endeavours. It will define the elements of the

Movement’s future commitment to greater openness

towards and interaction with the international

community, in the context of fairness and mutual

interest, to ensure that the aspirations and hopes of our

countries and peoples are met.

Egypt appreciates the main theme that the

President proposed for discussion at this session.

Global governance touches on many political,

economic and social issues. Egypt believes that the

elected organs of the United Nations should handle the

principal tasks in that area. We must all ensure that the

United Nations discharges such roles effectively and

wisely.

In the political field, for example, it is no longer

acceptable for permanent membership of the Security

Council, the main organ entrusted with maintaining

international peace and security, to continue to operate

under obsolete rules of an era long past. Similarly, it is

unacceptable for the work of the Council or its

mechanisms to continue to be characterized by a lack

of transparency or balance.

A serious approach to current historic challenges

requires more balanced, conscious and responsible

management of this core issue. The Security Council

has made numerous grave mistakes, resulting in the

loss of innocent lives. Many resolutions that have been

blocked by the Council would have corrected the

disparities, returned rights to victims and restored the

confidence of world public opinion in the Council’s

performance and impartiality.

Turning to the economic sphere, we note that the

United Nations, and even the key Bretton Woods

international financial institutions, no longer lead in

managing the top international economic issues. Other

international bodies are now beginning to assume that

role.

At its summit last year, the Group of 20 declared

itself the forum to coordinate global economic policy.

Such a development prompts us to be cautious of its

repercussions, since that forum or any other assuming

such a responsibility should have the geographical

representation necessary to ensure the fair airing of all

trends and approaches prevailing in the international

community. It must also ensure fair participation in

formulating policy and in providing a balanced

approach to current challenges. Marginalization is no

longer acceptable. Countries of the South have rights

and must have a voice and participate in any forum that

deals with the international situation.

Egypt will continue its tireless work to achieve

the wider and more balanced participation of the

developing world in international economic decision-

making. Our world has experienced successive years of

poor economic performance and stubborn crises. That

has aggravated the current inequities and heightened

the challenges faced by all countries, developing

countries in particular. It requires us all to support

coordinated and joint action to address the

shortcomings and inequities and to achieve sustainable

and balanced global growth.

In that context, we welcome the outcome of the

recent High-level Plenary Meeting of the General

Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, at

which the delegation of Egypt expressed its view on

the Goals and the extent to which we will be able to

achieve them. We hope that the conclusions of the

summit will provide us with the necessary momentum

to speed up the achievement of the Goals ahead of the

final review in 2015.

The fact that Egypt is part of the Islamic world is

common knowledge. We feel the pain of Muslims

wherever they are. We share their joys and

celebrations; we grieve with them and we feel their

pain. There is no doubt that regrettable and appalling

incidents against Muslims and Islam are increasingly

frequent, and systematic in certain cases. They have

ranged from attacks on the symbols and sanctities of

the faith to the harassment of Muslims. In general, we

find the West being drawn into a clash with the Muslim

world. Such a clash would serve no one except

extremists and those who hold perverse ideas on both

sides. It would not be in the interest of security and

stability in the world. It would not be in the interests of

moderates. In such a clash, the winner is a loser and

the victor is defeated.

Need I remind this gathering of the need for

coordinated action among the influential advocates of

religious, civilizational and cultural moderation in

order to eliminate the threat before it becomes more

ominous and destroys much of everything? We can no

10-55103 38

longer accept pretexts to condone practices against

Islam and its followers — such as the right to freedom

of expression — which are surprisingly naïve,

excessive in essence and offensive in nature.

Egypt will continue to do its utmost at the

political, cultural and religious levels to address such

threats. We call on all countries, in particular

Governments, to play their part in highlighting the

potential horror of a terrible clash of faiths and

civilizations. We call on them to spread a culture of

enlightenment based on tolerance, respect for

differences and the renunciation of fanaticism, hatred

and zealotry. Laws must be enacted to protect

minorities and their beliefs from the aggression of

extremists and promoters of strife.

With regard to matters of international peace and

security, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are

priorities on Egypt’s agenda. Only a few months ago,

the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons successfully

concluded its work. It adopted an important document

on the Middle East that included an action plan and

measures to implement the 1995 resolution on the

Middle East. Egypt will closely follow all steps taken

to implement that plan, including the serious

preparations for the 2012 conference.

Once again, let me reiterate Egypt’s position that

adopting double standards on the question of

non-proliferation will result in a continued threat to

world stability. In the Middle East particularly, we note

increasing efforts to add to the commitments of

non-nuclear-weapon States that are signatories to the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

while the need for the Treaty to become universal in

our region and for all nuclear installations in the

Middle East to be subjected to the comprehensive

safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy

Agency is disregarded. This uncomfortable situation is

a source of concern to us. We will work with all like-

minded parties to address and redress this situation in

relevant international forums.

Year after year, we return to the United Nations

to debate the question of Palestine and the ongoing

Arab-Israeli conflict. Every year, our words swing

between the hope for a complete but unrealized

breakthrough, and the fear of a deterioration and an

explosion that would compound the pain and suffering

of the Palestinian people and aggravate the dangers of

overreaching extremism, militancy and violence faced

by our region.

This year is no different. It is true that there is

hope in the wake of the start of direct negotiations

between the Palestinian and Israeli sides; however,

chances for success remain slim. Despite the agony of

the road to negotiations, Egypt believes that their

relaunch may represent an important opportunity that

should not be squandered.

It is important for the Israeli side to realize that

negotiations are not an end in themselves. They are

neither a game nor a waste of time. A serious approach

must be the basis and distinguishing mark of the

negotiating process. Without the required seriousness

and credibility, the process will soon lose the little

support it enjoys from the public on both sides. Egypt

believes that these negotiations should seek to end the

Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the

implementation of the two-State solution through the

establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with

East Jerusalem as its capital and its borders based on

the lines of 1967, as has been confirmed by the United

States, the sponsor of the negotiations, and the

international Quartet on all occasions and mentioned

by President Obama a few days ago.

During the first round of negotiations in

Washington, D.C., and later in Sharm el-Sheikh, we

heard Israel’s assurances of its commitment to the

required seriousness. Therefore, we call on the Israeli

side to take the difficult and necessary decisions, as

President Mubarak said two days ago, to achieve a just

political settlement that would allow the peoples and

countries of the region to transcend decades of conflict,

victimization and wasted resources.

There is no doubt that a freeze in Israeli

settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian

territories has become a major factor in determining

the intentions of the Israeli side and its level of

commitment to the success of the negotiations. Should

Israel fail in its commitment to prolong the moratorium

on its settlement activities, it would expose the

negotiation process to collapse and bear full

responsibility before regional and world public

opinion, as well as the sponsor, for wasting a valuable

opportunity afforded by a major United States effort.

Israel would also bear responsibility for any negative

consequences. Were Israel to pass this test, we would

look forward to a quick resolution by both parties of

39 10-55103

the question of borders between them. The solutions in

this respect are known to all. Settling the matter of

borders would enable us to take important steps

towards settling the conflict as a whole.

Egypt also supports any serious effort to resume

direct negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks

in a way that would allow both countries to regain their

occupied territories and consequently reach a

comprehensive peace, implement the Arab Peace

Initiative and end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for

all.

Brotherly Sudan is currently facing the most

difficult juncture since its independence. In addition to

developments in Darfur, the referendum on self-

determination for Southern Sudan is drawing near.

Egypt follows this situation with the greatest interest,

given our common border with that country. Our

interest is based not only on the close brotherly

relations between our two peoples, but also on our

anticipation of any possible consequences of the

referendum. Egypt will pursue its efforts to preserve

the unity of the Sudan as long as that is the choice of

the majority in that country. But if the wish of the

Southern Sudanese, who are also our brothers, were

any different, Egypt would respect the outcome and

work with all parties in the interests of development

and stability.

The security of the Arab Gulf is one of Egypt’s

major concerns and foreign policy priorities. Apart

from our age-old relations, Egypt understands that it is

of strategic importance for its Arab brethren in the

Gulf. Egypt will therefore continue to work with the

Gulf Cooperation Council countries for the

maintenance of Arab national security in the region and

to ensure that any security arrangements reached are in

consonance with the requirements and concerns of

Arab countries.

Egypt affirms the urgent need to reach a political

settlement on the Iranian nuclear issue, especially since

its dangerous escalation would threaten an eruption of

the situation that could endanger peace and stability in

that vital region of the world. While it is true that

threats against a State member of the Organization of

the Islamic Conference are not acceptable, we

nevertheless ask Iran to refrain from any measure that

could exacerbate the situation in the region, and

specifically in the Gulf area, and lead to a

confrontation with different forces in the international

community. All parties must adhere to negotiations as a

way to a peaceful, political settlement of this issue.

Such a settlement would guarantee Iran’s legitimate

right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and enable

the international community to verify that Iran is in

compliance with its obligations under the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. No evidence

has yet been seen to suggest otherwise.

The southern strait of the Red Sea is an area of

strategic importance for Egypt. It leads to the Suez

Canal, a vital waterway at the centre of the world.

Securing this critically important area is at the heart of

Egyptian interests. On that basis, Egypt has

participated extensively in all international efforts to

combat piracy off the Somali coast and in the Arabian

Sea and the Indian Ocean. Egypt has also provided

support to some countries of the region in areas such as

the development of coast guard capacity, raising

awareness about the prevention of piracy, and the

implementation of a media and communications

strategy to combat piracy. In the same vein, continued

fratricidal fighting in Somalia has consequences for

stability in the Horn of Africa and, as such, remains a

source of concern to us.

Egypt is pursuing its efforts, including in

outreach, to further raise international interest in

Somalia with a view to achieving a ceasefire and

proceeding to a comprehensive and peaceful political

settlement. Such a settlement will be conditional on the

existence of the political will of the Somali parties to

achieve peace and on the commitment of external

parties to refrain from interfering in Somali affairs

while seriously participating in efforts to achieve a

political settlement.

In conclusion, Egypt is a country of many

civilizations, features and characteristic, from its Arab

nationalist to its deep-rooted Islamic and Coptic

identities, and from the genuine African to the

historical Mediterranean. All have intermingled over

the years and left their mark on Egypt’s foreign policy.

All these influences define our overlapping interests

and guide our thinking and action in addressing

problems and crises.

Egypt will continue to work for the achievement

of peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.

It will do its utmost for the well-being of its people,

nation and region. We will continue the struggle for

balanced and sustainable development. We will also

10-55103 40

pursue our serious work for the benefit of the countries

of the South.

Our delegation looks forward to working with

Members in a spirit of openness to ensure the

successful outcome of this session. We extend our hand

to all countries, with an open mind and a sincere desire

to achieve the international agenda before us.