Morocco, 2003

I would like first of all to congratulate you,

Sir, on being unanimously elected to chair the fifty-

eighth session of the United Nations General

Assembly. On behalf of the Kingdom of Morocco and

of the Group of 77 and China, I wish to assure you of

our full support for making a success of this important

session.

Realizing what a delicate phase our Organization

is going through, many heads of State and Government

have accepted the invitation extended to them by

Mr. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General.

I should like to take this opportunity to express my

appreciation to him, once again, for the relentless

efforts he is making to shore up the efficiency of the

Organization.

This is an emotionally charged moment for me, as

I stand on this prestigious rostrum and recall the appeal

and initiatives launched by my late grandfather and

father, Their Majesties King Mohammed V and King

Hassan II, urging concerted action by the international

community to speed up decolonization, especially in

the Arab Maghreb and on the African continent, and to

uphold the principles of peace, coexistence, openness

and tolerance.

What we have done, at the international level, has

always been guided by the same ideals that inspired the

founders of our Organization. It seeks to contribute to

the significant cultural accomplishments made by

mankind thanks to this institution, to preserve human

dignity, and to ensure equality in rights and

obligations, not only between men and women, but also

among nations, large and small, in full respect of

international legality, and in a spirit of freedom and

solidarity.

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We certainly value the positive and concrete

achievements of the Organization. However, in keeping

with our firm commitment to its noble mission, we ask

ourselves: to what extent has the Organization

managed to make peace prevail and to contribute

significantly to sustainable development and to the

settlement of conflicts arising, more often than not,

from colonization, which tore apart entire peoples and

nations, especially across our African continent?

Moreover, I should like to assure our brothers and

sisters from African States of Morocco's constant and

unwavering solidarity as well as of its determination to

further expand cooperation with them on political,

economic, social and security matters and to support

constructive African initiatives. In that context, the

international community is called upon to provide

tangible support to the African strategy, the New

Partnership for Africa's Development, which targets

the sustainable development of the African continent,

mostly through interaction on the part of its

subregional entities.

The Millennium Declaration marked a turning

point in carrying out the mission unanimously

entrusted to the United Nations in the area of

sustainable development. Indeed, for the first time,

heads of State and Government agreed on specific

objectives and targets in the social, economic and

educational fields up to the year 2015. As early as

January this year, I made a point of assigning to the

Chair of the Group of 77 and China the priority task of

ensuring follow-up to those commitments and

monitoring their integrated implementation. On our

Group's initiative, the General Assembly unanimously

adopted a resolution to that effect last June, pending a

global assessment in 2005.

Although the Group of 77 and China has sought

to keep development issues high on the Organization's

agenda, one must admit that the main thrust of our

efforts has focused on the serious threats posed to

world peace in the Middle East region. Despite the

efforts undertaken for the settlement of the Palestinian

question whether by the United Nations or by the

international Quartet, through the road map the

logic of violence and intransigence continues to

hamper the restoration of peace. The sufferings,

deprivations and injustices endured daily by the

brotherly Palestinian people call for stronger

commitment on the part of the international community

to achieving irreversible implementation of the road

map.

As Chairman of the al-Quds Committee, I wish to

say that I am fully prepared to help to find a just and

final solution leading to the establishment of a viable

Palestinian State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,

living side by side with the State of Israel, in a just,

comprehensive and lasting peace. With the settlement

of that issue which is contingent upon the

withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab

territories the region will regain its original status as

a land of religious and cultural coexistence.

Similarly, Morocco calls for concerted

international action that would enable the brotherly

Iraqi people to live in security, stability and freedom

and to rebuild their country, while ensuring that their

choices are fully respected and that their State's

sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity are

preserved.

The Mediterranean region is particularly affected

by the crises I have just mentioned. We therefore

believe that the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue is an

element that is key for the region's stability, security

and development. In that context, the Kingdom of

Morocco has made the strategic choice of opting for

the construction of the Arab Maghreb as a region

where peace and development may be fostered for the

benefit of its members, where there must be no

tendency towards balkanization and where the

fundamental national attributes of each Member State

are fully respected.

The Kingdom of Morocco, guided by that

Maghreban ideal and committed to safeguarding its

good-neighbourly relations, has agreed to ease the

tension fomented on its borders and is endeavouring in

all good faith to find an international consensus on the

issue of the Moroccan Sahara. The attempts that have

been made thus far to reach a solution show that the

only way to resolve the issue once and for all is to

come up with a realistic and final political solution in

keeping with democratic principles, while fully

respecting the Kingdom of Morocco's sovereignty and

territorial integrity, as the United Nations itself

recommended in June 2001. In that connection, I

should like once more to officially proclaim Morocco's

pledge to cooperate with the United Nations to bring

about such a political solution.

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Ever since the tragic events of 11 September, the

international community has been involved in a

resolute fight against international terrorism, which

poses a threat to mankind's most sacred values. Last

May, the Moroccan nation was itself the target of the

odious plague of terrorism in a desperate attempt to

challenge the democratic model that Morocco has

chosen and to undermine its strong commitment to the

values of freedom, tolerance and openness. We should

therefore like to insist on the need for intensified

international cooperation to eradicate this scourge.

Here, I should like to strongly denounce the

confusion deliberately created by those who

persistently associate terrorism with Islam, thus

choosing to ignore the fact that Islam advocates peace

and respect for human life and flatly rejects injustice

and aggression.

The United Nations system is now confronted

with a deeply troubled international environment and

faces new and major challenges. If the United Nations

is to play its role as the sole regulator of relations

between and among States, it is imperative that we

restore to the concept of universalism its original

meaning: the obligation shared by all to comply with

the same ethics and rules of law and with effective

solidarity among all peoples and nations. To attain that

objective, mankind must find new reasons to rekindle

hope. We must also have faith and confidence in the

United Nations to help it recover its standing and its

effectiveness. Let us therefore make a common pledge

to build up its resources and to strengthen its action.

The Assembly may count on the help and support of

the King of Morocco so that, together, we may build a

safer, more equitable and more humane world.