Cambodia, 2009

First, I echo

previous speakers in warmly congratulating Mr. Ali

Abdussalam Treki, of the Socialist People’s Libyan

Arab Jamahiriya, on his election to preside over the

General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. I am

confident that under the able stewardship of Mr. Treki,

a veteran of the United Nations, the Assembly will

make significant progress on many critical issues of

common concern.

Our tribute also goes to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto

Brockmann, of Nicaragua, who successfully presided

over the General Assembly at its sixty-third session.

Everyone is concerned today about the

considerable challenges that our world confronts,

challenges such as the current global economic and

financial crisis, climate change, food and energy

insecurity, and the threats of terrorism and the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I hope

that in its deliberations the Assembly will come up

with new ideas to cope with those global challenges.

There is no doubt that the present global

economic and financial crisis will go down in history

as a landmark case of world economic meltdown. This

global crisis has clearly undermined the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). While the developed

countries have more possibilities and resources to cope

with the slowdown, the developing countries have

suffered the most, with huge losses of national income,

as their economic growth is expected to fall sharply

due to a drastic reduction in exports, which they have

largely depended on, falling investments, rising

unemployment and so forth.

In order to help mitigate the impact of this

economic and financial disaster on developing

countries, we should do everything possible to get the

Doha Round negotiations back on track for a

successful conclusion in order to break down barriers

to trade, improve market access, particularly in

agricultural goods, and reduce agricultural subsidies.

In this regard, Cambodia greatly appreciates the

commitment that the Group of 20 (G-20) made in

Pittsburgh, just two days ago, to “bringing the Doha

Round to a successful conclusion in 2010”. At the same

time, the Monterrey Consensus should be invigorated

in order to help developing countries to alleviate

poverty and meet the MDGs.

Under these terrible circumstances, we warmly

welcome the G-20’s commitment, made in London in

April 2009, to address the impact of the global

financial crisis with the injection of $50 billion to

support social protection, boost trade and sustain

development in low-income countries, and with an

additional $6 billion concessional and flexible

financing over the next two or three years for social

protection, including through investing in long-term

food security in the poorest countries.

Today, everyone in the world is increasingly

concerned about climate change, which is another very

serious threat to humanity. Global warming has

triggered more and more frequent cyclones, typhoons,

extreme floods and droughts. Our planet is now

confronted, more than ever, with increasing natural

disasters. The worsening impact of climate change has

now reached an alarming level everywhere around the

planet. The shrinking of the Arctic summer sea ice

should be an alarm signal for everyone that global

warming is inexorably advancing, and with perilous

speed.

South-East Asia, according to the Asian

Development Bank (ADB), will be the most affected

region. Its vulnerability to climate change is largely a

result of its geography, with low-lying nations and long

coastlines. The negative impact of climate change on

farming in South-East Asia would seriously jeopardize

the production of rice and other agricultural products,

and consequently would have ripple effects on food

security, as South-East Asia is one of the world’s most

important rice crop regions.

Based on the estimate by the ADB, the total cost

of loss in agricultural production and other negative

aspects of climate change would be equivalent to as

much as 6.7 per cent of the region’s gross domestic

product compared with the 2.6 per cent loss estimated

for the world as a whole.

Cambodia is essentially an agrarian country, with

the livelihood of more than 80 per cent of its

population depending on farming. Therefore, it is very

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vulnerable to weather-related disasters. Fully aware of

that danger and the serious consequences of climate

change and global warming for the well-being,

livelihoods and development of peoples around the

world, Cambodia has been assuming its share of

responsibility in the matter of global warming since

2003.

We have made the utmost effort to implement the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change and the Kyoto Protocol by promoting Clean

Development Mechanism projects and implementing

our National Adaptation Programme of Action on

climate change.

We have also launched a major campaign of

reforestation all over the country; more than 49,000

hectares of trees have been planted. We have also

banned timber exports.

In this context, Cambodia warmly welcomes the

recent United States initiative to engage with the lower

Mekong basin countries by sharing with the Mekong

countries its best practices and experience on climate

change and flood and water resource management. At

the same time, the Mekong countries and Japan are

now looking into an approach for the future to achieve

sustainable development of the Mekong basin

potential, with better respect for the environment of the

mighty Mekong River.

Furthermore, Cambodia commends the recent

promise of the Group of Eight (G-8) at its summit in

July to work towards an 80 per cent reduction in

heat-trapping pollution by 2050. Nonetheless, since

climate change is evolving steadily with time, we may

question whether the pledged reduction can match the

speed of global warming. I believe that the

industrialized countries, which produce 80 per cent of

the greenhouse gases, should share greater

responsibility and take more drastic and urgent

measures to reduce emissions of those deadly gases.

Governments around the world have just over

three months to craft a new treaty to deal with global

warming. It will be a historic treaty for generations to

come. The United Nations Climate Change Conference

to be held in Denmark in December could secure a

milestone plan to really slow down climate change for

the safety of all humankind. Therefore, Cambodia

believes that all countries and all actors should join

hands to reach an agreement in Copenhagen in

December. The international community has an

obligation to roll back global temperatures before it is

too late. The future generations of our children and

grandchildren are at stake.

I turn to the subject of food and energy security.

The sharp increase in oil prices last year prompted a

number of countries to turn to the production of

bioenergy crops as an alternative source of energy, thus

reducing the available cultivated land, while the

world’s population continued to grow day by day,

increasing demand for food. The combination of those

realities underlines the importance of a comprehensive

approach to tackle the planet’s food crisis.

The challenge we now confront is, on the one

hand, how to produce enough food to feed the growing

world population, and, on the other hand, how to

respond to the increased need for clean energy to save

the global environment and stop the advancing climate

change. The solution to this twin problem is to find a

balanced approach between food crop and bioenergy

culture, and to develop alternative energy sources to

meet the growing demand. We should avoid any short-

term solution to the energy problem that would have

harmful consequences for food security worldwide in

the long term.

Finally, Cambodia welcomes the outcome of the

G-8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, with the commitment to

mobilize $20 billion over the next three years to

support agricultural production in poor countries. We

hope that the commitment will be translated into

concrete and timely action.

In parallel to all the serious global challenges that

I have mentioned, there remain political and security

problems causing great concern. Terrorism is a threat

everywhere and has caused the death of innocent

people. To fight terrorism more effectively, we need

stronger and closer cooperation between the many

authorities concerned in order to face up to such

criminal acts against humanity. Moreover, some

countries with the capacity to produce nuclear weapons

have not yet signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Treaty (NPT).

The dissemination of weapons of mass

destruction constitutes another massive, deadly menace

to humanity. In this context, Cambodia highly values

the call by United States President Obama on

23 September to “stop the spread of nuclear weapons

and seek the goal of a world without them”

(). Cambodia also warmly welcomes the

17 09-52592

Security Council’s resolve, expressed at its summit

(see S/PV.6191) on 24 September, “to seek a safer

world for all” (Security Council resolution 1887

(2009), first preambular paragraph).

Within the framework of the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we have the Treaty

on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone,

which is an important instrument to keep South-East

Asia free of nuclear weapons in order to ensure peace

and security in that part of the world. It is also a good

confidence-building mechanism, which needs to be

adhered to by all, especially the nuclear-weapon States.

In recent years ASEAN has actively encouraged the

nuclear-weapon States to accede to the Treaty, but

there has been no concrete result or effect yet. Here

also we appeal to all nuclear-weapon States to engage

more constructively with the Treaty.

I come now to the Korean Peninsula issue. We are

all concerned about the rising tension in that part of the

world, which can affect peace and security in the

region. Cambodia urges all parties concerned to

exercise the utmost restraint and re-engage in peaceful

negotiations in the six-party talks aimed at the early

denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We should

call upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

to keep in mind that the six-party talks remain an

appropriate forum to contribute to the settlement of the

overall problem in the Korean Peninsula.

While talking about threats to international peace

and security, we should also keep an eye on the Middle

East situation. The never-ending cycle of violence of

the Israel-Palestine conflict must be broken. One of the

most pressing issues is to achieve a just,

comprehensive and sustainable solution to the problem

of Palestine in accordance with the legitimate rights of

the Palestinian people and the relevant Security

Council resolutions. Cambodia strongly urges all

parties involved to cease using military force and

violence, in order to foster a peaceful and lasting

settlement through the establishment of a State of

Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel in a

spirit of peaceful coexistence and close cooperation

between the two peoples.

Before concluding, I should like to say a few

words about United Nations reform. For many years

now, almost all delegations to the General Assembly

have voiced their demand for reform of the United

Nations. But when it was time to act a conflict of

interest arose. In my view, the reform of the United

Nations should be in the interest of peace, security and

development for the whole international community,

and not just the particular interests of a country. The

reform should also go beyond the restructuring of the

United Nations organs, in order to enable this world

body to engage itself more actively in revitalizing the

primary role of the United Nations in world affairs.