Cambodia, 2008

At the outset, I wish to

warmly congratulate His Excellency Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann of the Republic of Nicaragua on

his election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-third session. I can assure him of our fullest

cooperation throughout his tenure. I have no doubt that,

under his able leadership, we will be successful during this

session. I also wish to extend my high appreciation to

Mr. Srgjan Kerim of the former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia, President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-second session, for his relentless efforts in

guiding us to the many outstanding achievements

during the past year.

At present, we have a number of global issues

and challenges that we need to address, both

collectively and individually, in order to ensure a better

world for all of us. Undoubtedly, peace and security

remain at the centre of our preoccupation that obliges

us to take responsibility first and foremost. Terrorism

is a stumbling block to the advancement and prosperity

of our societies and the world at large. We need to

recommit ourselves and strengthen our practical

measures, including putting in place a good strategy to

combat terrorism at the national, regional and

international levels. We must enhance at all levels the

relevant existing instruments on counter-terrorism, in

particular the United Nations Global Counter-

Terrorism Strategy, which was adopted by the General

Assembly in December 2006.

As for Cambodia, the Royal Government has

devoted its time, energy, efforts and resources to join

the international community in combating terrorism in

accordance with the United Nations conventions,

protocols and agreements on security cooperation with

the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member

States, including its partners in the region. To live up to

our strong commitment, the Law on Counter-terrorism

was promulgated by His Majesty the King of

Cambodia in July 2007, and our national mechanism in

that area has been constantly strengthened.

Furthermore, our world is still marred by the

spread of small arms and light weapons, which

continue to have implications for our comprehensive

security and livelihoods. We need to address that issue

with seriousness and prompt actions. As a country that

was ravaged by war and conflict for more than two

decades, Cambodia experienced suffering from the use

of small arms and light weapons and other weapons of

war. In that regard, we attach great importance to the

agreed international instruments, especially the

implementation of the 2001 United Nations Programme

of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit

Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its

Aspects. Over the years, Cambodia has taken practical

measures to strictly control the use and circulation of

arms and ammunitions, as well as to eliminate the

illegal procurement and sale of arms.

On the issue of landmines and unexploded

ammunition, we are of the view that landmines are not

only a security problem, but also a humanitarian one,

as their innocent victims become permanently

traumatized and physically handicapped, while their

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families suffer untold misery of spiritual and material

deprivation.

The problems of landmines and unexploded ordnance

have been integrated into our national agenda — such as

the Cambodia millennium development goals, the National

Strategic Development Plan and the Rectangular

Strategy of the Royal Government of Cambodia — in

order to cope with that challenging issue. Cambodia

highly appreciates the valuable contributions of

development partners and donors in terms of financial

and material support over the years.

With our demining experience and as part of our

contribution to international peace, security and

development, Cambodia has dispatched its third group

of 135 deminers of the Royal Cambodian Armed

Forces to the Sudan for mine clearance activities under

the umbrella of the United Nations peacekeeping

operations.

We are now confronted more than ever with

increasing natural disasters, from floods to droughts,

from tsunamis to storms and global warming, to name

just a few that are caused mostly by climate change.

Nowadays, industrialized countries consume 75 per

cent of the world’s energy and produce 80 per cent of

greenhouse gas emissions, while developing countries,

which produce little of such gas and have essentially

agricultural economies, are the main victims of

increasing global warming and continuing climate

change.

According to a report of the United Nations

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if the

temperature increases by two degrees Celsius, up to

30 per cent of plant and animal species worldwide

would be at risk of extinction. However, according to a

separate study of the Climate Change Policy Unit of

the World Wildlife Fund, it would take only 0.1 per

cent of global gross domestic product to save the

world’s climate, and thus our own human survival.

Fully aware of the danger and consequences of

climate change and global warming on the well-being,

livelihood, and development of people around the world,

Cambodia has led a vast campaign of reforestation

throughout our country, where 14,300 hectares were

planted between 2003 and 2006. The rationalization

and ban of wood-cutting have been implemented. As a

party to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, Cambodia has

made its utmost effort to implement the Convention

and the Protocol, promote clean development

mechanism projects, and to prepare a national

adaptation programme of action on climate change.

Cambodia also strongly supports the Bali Action Plan

aimed at greenhouse gas reduction as well as the

Japanese initiative Cool Earth 50.

We are also of the view that, to help reverse

climate change, we will need to preserve nature’s

biodiversity as much as possible and to put an end to

the ongoing deforestation in the world, especially in

the least developed countries, by assisting people in

finding sources of income other than deforestation.

It is also important for us to actively promote

world public participation in the issue by mobilizing

public awareness of the absolute necessity to work

together to struggle against global warming and

climate change. We should forge a shared awareness of

climate change caused by industrialization, which is

the other side of the coin of development. We need to

mobilize the support of all countries, especially the

industrialized developed nations, to respect and

implement the Framework Convention and its Kyoto

Protocol.

I would like to take this opportunity to call on the

United Nations to organize a world summit on climate

change so that the issue will remain at the top of world

leaders’ agendas and to ensure that concrete and timely

measures and action will be undertaken to help reverse

the current trend of global warming and climate

change.

Concerning the Korean peninsula, we are

confident that the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea and the United States, as well as other parties

involved, will maintain the momentum in fulfilling, in

good faith, the implementation of the 2005 Joint

Statement for the sake of peace, stability and security

in the region and the world at large.

Regarding the Middle East, the peace process has

been on our agenda for long enough and we are

hopeful that all parties to the conflict will have the will

and the wisdom to end the conflict as soon as possible

in the interests of all countries concerned. In that

regard, Cambodia welcomes the 24 June 2008 Quartet

statement and the ongoing negotiations between Israel

and Palestine to bring about peace. Israel and Palestine

must seize this opportunity to use every potential for

achieving an agreement acceptable to both sides.

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With regard to the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), eight years have gone by since their

adoption. We all know that the pace of achieving

progress towards the MDGs is very slow and that we

risk the possibility of missing the 2015 target date. The

outcomes of the high-level meeting on the Millennium

Development Goals have clearly underlined the

importance for the need to continue implementing the

MDGs with greater effectiveness by enhancing closer

cooperation between developed and developing

countries.

In that regard, there is a need to ensure greater

flows of financing for development through foreign

direct investment, official development assistance and

more trade. At the same time, developed countries

should make greater efforts to transfer innovative and

relevant technology to developing countries.

For its part, Cambodia is firmly dedicated to

achieving the MDGs. Various strategies for sustainable

development and poverty alleviation are in the early

stages of elaboration. The eight United Nations Goals

have been incorporated into the framework of our

National Strategic Development Plan, the Cambodian

millennium development goals and the Rectangular

Strategy. Over the years, with those development

blueprints Cambodia experienced a double-digit

economic growth of 11.1 per cent on average from

2004 through 2007 and the poverty rate dropped from

35 per cent to 31 per cent.

In addition, Cambodia is fully committed to

implementing the principle of good governance and

maintaining macroeconomic stability and fiscal

discipline. The policy of the Royal Government of

Cambodia is to conserve its domestic resources in

order to finance the needs of national development.

However, domestic resources are not enough to

finance investment needs for maintaining the economic

growth rate at an acceptable level and as a response to

key socio-economic targets, including the MDGs.

Therefore, Cambodia continues to need financial

cooperation from its development partners in order to

support ongoing national development and poverty

reduction.

For years, we have all agreed that the United

Nations needs reform. Despite our concerted efforts

and some progress, differences remain on how to make

the United Nations more effective and more relevant in

dealing with the numerous challenges we face today

throughout the world. Cambodia is of the view that

United Nations reform must be comprehensive and

realistic. In order to move forward, we should continue

to build greater consensus and uphold the common

interests of all, without discrimination.

For almost 15 years now, Member States have

intensely deliberated Security Council reform.

Cambodia has consistently reiterated its position in

support of the expansion of the permanent and

non-permanent membership of the Security Council.

However, we have not yet achieved any

acceptable modality and clear framework for the

reform. Therefore, Security Council reform has

remained deadlocked. Although we have agreed that

the status quo is not acceptable, we must not lose the

momentum. In addition, we need to redouble our

collective efforts to ensure a breakthrough in the

current impasse of Security Council reform.