India, 2005

Your election, Sir, as

President of the General Assembly at its sixtieth

session comes at a significant moment in the history of

the United Nations. The outcome document adopted by

our heads of State or Government shortly after the

beginning of the session represents the culmination of

a long process. It started with the report of the High-

level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. It

continued with the Secretary-General’s “In larger

freedom” report, and the efforts of your distinguished

predecessor to synthesize those ideas for the

consideration of Member States. We thank all of those

involved for their dedicated efforts.

We are united in our commitment to

multilateralism; that is a good foundation for our

further efforts. All countries, especially those from the

developing world, played a significant role in the

negotiations on the outcome document. Much was

achieved; much has been left out. There are

foundations on which we have to build, but there are

also shortcomings which we need to correct in the

process of implementation. A notable omission is the

theme of disarmament. Our struggle for multilaterally

negotiated, universal and verifiable nuclear

disarmament, in a time-bound manner, must continue

with vigour. The outcome document must serve as a

road map, with its main elements acting as signposts in

our discussions over the coming months under your

stewardship, Mr. President.

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You, Sir, have suggested a very appropriate theme

for the general debate: “For a stronger and more

effective United Nations: follow-up to and

implementation of the High-Level Meeting in

September 2005”. We believe that that captures the

spirit and essence of all that we, co-partners in the

United Nations, wish to achieve.

India is the world’s largest democracy. There is

no historical precedent for a democracy of over 1

billion people. It is a tremendous undertaking. It is also

an exciting and inspiring one. We are breaking new

ground. The fact that Indian democracy works is a

political miracle. The credit goes to the Indian voters.

They ensure that India remains secular, democratic and

pluralistic.

We also believe that we need to do much more to

inculcate respect for and acceptance of pluralism. I am

reminded of what Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our

nation, said:

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all

sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the

cultures of all the lands to be blown about my

house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be

blown off my feet by any.”

Humankind is now learning, to some extent, to

cope with the menace of terrorism. We all know that

that evil is increasingly directed at innocent civilians.

It invites the strongest condemnation. We all agree that

there can be no justification for terrorism in any form.

Whether we are considering terrorism or non-

proliferation, unless there is a non-selective, uniform

and sustained approach, the objectives of the

international community cannot be achieved. The

outcome document reflects the joint resolve of the

international community to fight terrorism. In our

judgement, there is no institutional setting that is more

capable than the United Nations of providing cohesion

and vigour to those efforts.

As a victim of terrorism over the past two

decades, India understands, and is fully supportive of,

the need for United Nations action on counter-

terrorism. A key aspect of the implementation of the

outcome document will be the development and

adoption by the General Assembly of a strong counter-

terrorism agenda to supplement the existing General

Assembly and Security Council resolutions on that

issue. As an initiator of the draft comprehensive

convention on international terrorism, India welcomes,

and is fully committed to, the decision taken by heads

of State or Government to conclude negotiations on the

convention during this session of the General

Assembly.

The main purpose of the summit last week was to

review the implementation of the Millennium

Declaration. Unfortunately, most developing countries

will not be able to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals, given current growth rates and

levels of international support. We must strengthen

efforts at both the national and the international levels

to take us closer to the development targets set out in

the Millennium document.

The Millennium Development Goals embody a

quantifiable vision of human dignity and solidarity, as

well as of important economic and social rights. Yet,

important objectives, such as employment, critical for

developing countries, are excluded. India’s use of

innovative financial instruments for rural

infrastructural investment, as well as our Rural

Employment Guarantee Bill — recently passed in

Parliament — I believe may be of interest to other

developing countries.

Most of us had much higher expectations of the

summit in the area of development, particularly in

agreeing on a definite timetable for the achievement of

the 0.7 per cent target for official development

assistance. Unfortunately, that has not been achieved,

and we have gone down to 0.5 per cent. That is equally

true of innovative sources of financing because

developing countries cannot break out of the cycle of

poverty without enhanced resource flows and the

application of science and technology to meet their

developmental challenges.

As India’s own economy develops — at about 8

per cent per year — and its technological advancement

comes of age, we are expanding our economic and

technical cooperation with the developing countries,

reinforcing our political solidarity. We have extensive

programmes in Africa and elsewhere in the developing

world. We are also happy to have contributed to the

South Fund for Development and Humanitarian

Assistance. The India-Brazil-South Africa Facility for

Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger is a good example

of South-South cooperation.

India has written off the debts of all the highly

indebted poor countries. Given India’s long-term

association with and commitment to Africa, we

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welcome the recognition given by the High-level

Plenary Meeting to the need to urgently address the

special needs of our African brothers and sisters. On its

part, India has undertaken several initiatives in

partnership with Africa. The Techno-Economic

Approach for Africa-India Movement initiative is

designed to promote technology transfer to West

Africa. The pivotal role of scientific knowledge and

technology for economic development cannot be

overstated. India stands ready to share its experience

with the developing countries of Africa and elsewhere.

To bridge the digital divide within a country

itself, which sometimes becomes as problematic as it is

at the international level, wireless local loop

technology developed in India, which eliminates

expensive equipment and copper lines, has already

been used in several countries in Africa. India has put

together a connectivity mission in Africa, using fiber

optics and dedicated satellite. It will support tele-

education, telemedicine, e-commerce and e-

governance, infotainment, resource mapping and

meteorological services. India is also earmarking $1.5

billion for lines of credit to assist developing countries,

in particular those in Africa, in fighting HIV/AIDS and

other pandemics.

The international community needs to address

intellectual property regimes that seek to deny

technologies rather than facilitating their transfer to the

developing countries, including in the areas of

environment and public health.

Although both the Millennium Declaration and

the outcome document have spoken of exploiting the

beneficial aspects of globalization, we are yet to agree

on and implement the modalities for such a process.

Making the process of globalization fairer and more

equitable remains one of the main challenges of our

time. At present, the accumulation of wealth is

accompanied by the accumulation of poverty. Ruskin,

the nineteenth century British author, in his book Unto

this Last — a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi —

described such wealth as “the gilded index of a far-

reaching ruin, a wrecker’s pile of coin gleaned from a

beach to which he has beguiled an argosy.” Poverty is

sometimes attributed to lack of entrepreneurship. The

poor of the world prove their entrepreneurship every

day by ensuring their families’ physical survival.

Regrettably, the summit has not given a clear and

comprehensive direction to the World Trade

Organization (WTO) Doha Round of trade

negotiations. Formulas are not an end in themselves;

the end has to be a decrease in poverty and an increase

in employment. Therefore, equal treatment cannot be

forced on unequal partners. Special and differential

treatment remains an integral component of all trade

negotiations, including agriculture and non-agricultural

market access. India, as a member of the G-20, will

continue to promote in the WTO and elsewhere the

interests of all developing countries, including the

small island developing States, the least developed, the

landlocked and the highly indebted poor countries.

An achievement of the developing countries in

the Group of 77 is their hard-fought and reasonably

successful struggle for progress on systemic issues

critical to good international economic governance. We

have to build on that to ensure the reform of Bretton

Woods institutions and the restoration of the central

role of the United Nations in setting the international

economic agenda.

A change in the composition of the Security

Council is an imperative. The G-4 framework

resolution has made United Nations reform a central

issue that can no longer be ignored or disregarded.

There is a democracy deficit, as the Secretary-General

also said in July, in the governance of the United

Nations. There is not much point in speaking of

inclusiveness, transparency and democracy and leaving

the Security Council as a glaring exception to those

principles. Measures taken so far to revitalize the

General Assembly are simply not enough. Only by

electing permanent members committed to rendering

unto the General Assembly what is the General

Assembly’s can that be done. That is essential for a

world order in which decisions are optimal and

therefore acceptable, and the use of force minimal.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister,

aptly stated: “Above all, we have to participate in the

growing structure of a world order. We cannot rely on

others to do it on our behalf.” One cannot argue in

favour of democracy in the rest of the world and leave

the Security Council undemocratic. Effectiveness is a

function of right decisions with broad support.

Negotiations on the outcome document and many

subsequent statements have demonstrated that, if more

could not be achieved on the development aspects of

trade in the document, it is because the Security

Council has not been made representative. If

institutional reform has been faltering and many are

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doubtful of securing a just solution, it is because the

Security Council does not reflect the world of today. It

reflects the world of 1945.

The unsatisfactory progress on other issues shows

that critics of Security Council expansion in both the

categories were profoundly mistaken. Security Council

reform, far from hindering progress, was actually

helping it. In its absence, fears of intervention have

prevented agreement on a human rights council and

other issues. Therefore, Security Council reform

remains more necessary than ever and should

preferably, as the Secretary-General has said, be

completed by the end of the year. That should be our

main priority; I doubt if it is. Security Council reform

is not about any country’s prestige or power, but about

transforming the balance of power in the world. Our

experience in India from the freedom movement to

present times shows that diversity is a source of

strength and effectiveness. The same would be true of a

reformed Security Council. We would continue also to

engage actively in the strengthening of the Economic

and Social Council, the restructuring of the Secretariat

and the setting-up of peacebuilding commission.

As we observe the sixtieth anniversary of the

United Nations, I am reminded once again of the words

of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who

said at this very forum 45 years ago:

“During these past fifteen years the United

Nations has often been criticized for its structure

and for some of its activities. These criticisms

have had some justification behind them, but

looking at the broad picture I think that we can

definitely say that the United Nations has amply

justified its existence and repeatedly prevented

our recurrent crises from developing into war. It

has played a great role, and it is a little difficult

now to think of this troubled world without the

United Nations.” (A/PV.882, para. 110)

In the life of individuals as well as of institutions,

the completion of 60 years is a significant moment for

stocktaking — certainly in my part of the world. Even

as we reflect upon the functioning of this institution

since its inception in 1945, all of us gathered here look

forward to the realization of new hopes, aspirations

and, indeed, to a rejuvenated United Nations which is

fully geared to meet the myriad challenges of our times

and effectively contribute to the well-being and

development of humanity at large and to manage

change.

The vision which we have for a better world is

best described in the words of a great son of India, the

great poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first

Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. I

shall end my statement by quoting a very famous text

of his:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is

held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into

fragments by narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards

perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its

way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my

country awake.”