Cambodia, 2003

First of all, I

wish to extend my warmest congratulations to you,

Mr. President, on your election as President of the

fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly. I am

confident that, under your wise leadership, the work of

this great Assembly will further strengthen

international cooperation and will thus contribute to the

maintenance of peace, stability and security in this

globalized world. The international environment today

remains, no doubt, uncertain, as the world continues to

confront constant change and turbulence.

On the global stage, at least three key challenges

continue to occupy the attention and remain a priority

of the international community.

The first challenge is the global situation. First,

the current situation in Iraq is a serious predicament.

While the war is over, the situation in the country

remains critical. Peace, security and stability have not

returned to Iraq. Although the number of international

contingents deployed in Iraq has been increased, the

overall environment in the country is very fragile and

highly unstable. I think that United Nations should

assume a greater and more responsible role in returning

normalcy to the country during the transitional period.

The road to normalcy means that Iraq should be

allowed to govern itself as early as possible, which can

be done in several ways, including the holding of free

and fair elections.

Cambodia strongly condemns the criminal attack

against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on

19 August, and it wishes to pay a tribute to all the

victims, especially to Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special

Representative of the Secretary-General. Let us pay our

respect to the memory of that great servant of peace.

We in Cambodia always remembers his noble actions

in Cambodia in the early 1990s in the framework of the

United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia.

Secondly, regarding the Middle East quagmire, it

is important that all parties to the conflict, particularly

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Palestine and Israel, as well as the international

community, continue to pursue a peaceful solution to

the Middle East conflict on the basis of the agreed road

map of the Quartet. At the same time, I believe that it

is vital for the leaders of both sides of this conflict to

renounce the cycle of violence and overcome feelings

of animosity and myopic interest. Instead, they should

consider the broader collective interests of peaceful

coexistence, a peaceful life for their peoples and

stability in the region. There is a need for all sides to

have a sense of political realism and shared

determination to make peace possible.

I believe that today peace in the Middle East will

come only when both Palestine and Israel reasonably

recognize in every way that they must coexist side by

side, living in peace and harmony with each other and

looking after the interests of one another. Peace,

tolerance and harmony are the only way forward for

the people of Palestine and Israel. In that regard, the

international community must remain fully committed

to continuing to support the Middle East process to its

end.

Thirdly, terrorism is still a very serious threat to

humanity as a whole. Since the attacks of 11 September

and the international reaction to fight terrorism,

terrorists have been strengthening their worldwide

networks. They also continue to kill innocent people

everywhere in the world. In Asia and in South-East

Asia, Jemaah Islamiah, which is linked to al Qaeda, has

been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in the

region. The Association of South-East Asian Nations

(ASEAN) has been actively responding to terrorism by

strengthening cooperation at all levels, issuing various

statements and taking concrete measures. Nevertheless,

Jemaah Islamiah remains a significant threat to the

region today, despite the progress in anti-terrorism

action thus far.

Fourthly, regarding global poverty, we recall the

Millennium Summit held in New York and the World

Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,

the International Conference on Financing for

Development in Monterrey and the recent G-8 Summit

in Evian, France, where the overriding theme was the

fight against poverty, which calls for concerted efforts

for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

However, poverty remains a severe problem for the

world, particularly the developing countries, with 1.2

billion people still surviving on less than one dollar a

day. Despite clear messages from all those summits,

especially from the developing countries, on the need

to reduce poverty, the actions so far have not been

decisive enough.

I believe that, without concrete measures and the

provision of adequate resources, it will be impossible

for the least developed countries to overcome the

current challenges of poverty, aggravated by the speed

of globalization, which has contributed to the widening

gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Fighting poverty is not the responsibility of the

least developed countries alone. It is the shared

responsibility of the international community, in which

the developed world has an important role to play.

Poverty prevails today in many forms and dimensions.

For the developed countries to share resources with the

developing countries is not only an act of generosity, it

is also a requirement for living together in a world of

peace, security and harmony. In that regard, I am

convinced that the international community must act

collectively and in a spirit of responsibility and

solidarity to end this alarming situation of poverty by

taking concrete steps to reduce it gradually.

The second major challenge involves regional

developments. Regarding the regional situation, there

have been many developments. Some have been

positive; others negative. I wish to note several

important developments since last year. First, the

eighth ASEAN Summit and other related summits in

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, have successfully advanced

ASEAN integration by moving the region ahead in

terms of establishing the ASEAN Economic

Community (AEC), deepening cooperation between

ASEAN and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea,

and strengthening cooperation with India. With those

four countries, ASEAN has enhanced close and

proactive cooperation among a combined population of

more than three billion people that has enormous

economic potential and opportunities for development

and growth. In addition, during that ASEAN Summit,

its leaders also held, for the first time, a summit

dialogue with Africa through President Thabo Mbeki

of South Africa, the current Chairman of the New

Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD.

Secondly, the situation in the Korean peninsula

continues to evolve and give rise to concerns for

countries that are directly involved. Cambodia fully

supports the peace talks in Beijing and believes that

only dialogue and compromise can provide the way out

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of the present quandary. Although a number of

outstanding issues need to be mutually resolved, I think

it is important for all the parties concerned to reduce

tension by avoiding hostile actions that would escalate

the situation. I believe that one way of enabling the

situation on the Korean Peninsula to move ahead

positively is to negotiate a road map for a nuclear-free

and secure Korean Peninsula. I believe that, if such a

plan could go ahead, steps towards the normalization of

the situation on the Korean Peninsula could be taken.

Thirdly, I would like to refer to recent

developments in Cambodia. The situation in Cambodia

is continuing to improve significantly. The recent

elections were held in a free, fair and democratic

environment, as many international election observers

noted in their statements. This year’s election marks

another important milestone in Cambodia’s

democratization, which has been strengthened at the

grass-roots level through the successful local elections

to communal councils last year. At the same time,

Cambodia’s gross domestic product growth continues

to show positive signs, with an approximate growth

rate of 6.7 per cent per annum over the past five years,

despite natural calamities and the impact of other

regional and global developments, such as terrorism

and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

In addition, the Government’s strategy gives top

priority to poverty reduction. In March this year, the

Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Hun Sen,

officially launched the campaign for poverty

alleviation aimed at reducing the poverty rate by 1.2

per cent every year. By 2015, the poverty level would

be reduced to 19 per cent. In order to achieve that end,

a budget of $1.5 billion has been projected.

The third challenge is the reform of the United

Nations. Every year, representatives of every

delegation advocate to the Assembly the necessity of

reforming the Organization, in particular the Security

Council. I, too, believe that without sufficient reform in

this world body, the United Nations cannot be an

effective and efficient global Organization that is able

to respond collectively to the complex global

challenges affecting humanity in the twenty-first

century. The world has witnessed a wave of democracy

since the end of the cold war more than a decade ago. I

believe, however, that democratization needs to start

right here at the United Nations, which should respect

the will of the community of nations. Any further

inaction on the part of the United Nations with regard

to the call for reform will mean a continuing decline in

its credibility, as well as increasing loss of confidence

in this universal institution.

I believe that one of the key issues of United

Nations reform is the need for the expansion of the

Security Council. Cambodia calls once again for the

expansion of the membership of the Security Council

to include Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany and

India as new permanent members, given the crucial

role of these three countries in international political

and economic affairs today.

Moreover, the General Assembly, as the highest

body of the United Nations, should play a more

important role, in accordance with the Charter, for the

maintenance of international peace and security.

Furthermore, in the context of United Nations reform, I

think that we should look beyond the conventional

agenda of international peace and security, given that

the glaring poverty in the world today is, without

doubt, a peace and security issue. I believe that the

United Nations should play a more meaningful role,

within the broad framework of human security, in the

world’s collective efforts to fight poverty.

As the world marches on, I believe that we must

perhaps devise new ways to deal with a myriad of

challenges that menace the whole of humanity. We will

have to close the gap between the poor and the rich and

between the developed and developing countries. We

must fight poverty and HIV/AIDS, which are affecting

millions of people in the developing countries. We

need to tackle together the growing impact of

transnational crime. At the same time, we must pay

greater attention to hotbeds of tension around the world

in order to ensure a peaceful and secure world for all.

Finally, we must continue to ensure that the

United Nations is truly a democratic global institution

that reflects the reality of the world today. We need to

advance together in peace, security, stability,

development and prosperity in building a better place

for all peoples on the Earth.

In conclusion, I believe the way forward for the

world will depend largely on international cooperation

and the need to share global resources more equitably.

Growing interdependence and increasing globalization

mean that every nation must work collectively in

addressing the current challenges in the most effective

way.

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