Norway, 2010

Last week we reaffirmed

our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). We agreed to accelerate our efforts.

Developing countries themselves have the main

responsibility for achieving the MDGs, and the

international community has the responsibility to assist

by means of development and debt relief where

appropriate. Norway is and will continue to be a solid

and reliable partner in development. We will keep our

development aid at its present substantial level,

including our significant support to United Nations

funds and programmes.

This year in particular, we are heartened to see

strong support for improving maternal health and

reducing child mortality, the Goals on which we are

lagging behind the most. Norway will work with the

Secretary-General to ensure that his Global Strategy

for Women’s and Children’s Health is transformed into

action on the ground.

The many successful and inspiring meetings last

week also illustrate that the challenges facing the

world, which are increasingly global in character,

require inclusive global forums to address them. That

means engaging in dialogue with others, often with

those who have different views. The United Nations is

not designed to comfort different leaders in their own

convictions; it is the place to confront and surpass

differences. It is therefore highly inappropriate when

this rostrum is abused to promote extreme views or

unfounded claims. The challenges before us are too

great to allow us to be derailed by attempts to incite

conflict. We must never forget that we are a global

community by virtue of the shared risks that stand

before us, the shared threats that challenge us and the

shared values that bind us together.

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Climate change threatens all our social and

economic aspirations. Let me point to two important

and dynamic processes that are among the most

promising as we look for potential results in Cancún:

limiting emissions from deforestation, and financing.

The Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory

Group on Climate Change Financing, which the Prime

Minister of Norway chairs together with the Prime

Minister of Ethiopia, is working hard to identify

sources that can enable us to raise the funds we

committed to in Copenhagen. We need to define

workable and acceptable sources, both private and

public, and help pave the way for a new international

climate agreement. We urge all Members to study the

report we will receive this fall with an open mind and

to build on this important work taking place at the

initiative of the Secretary-General, as we prepare for

Cancún and the period beyond.

Norway is leading support schemes for reducing

emissions from deforestation. In Bali in 2007, Norway

pledged to provide up to $500 million on an annual

basis to halt deforestation. We are working with key

partners such as Brazil, Indonesia and Guyana to

develop concrete methods to do this in practice. Such

measures are effective as a means of mitigation and

provide strong leverage for new and additional

financing for developing countries. They take effect

immediately. I call on other countries to join in this

great endeavour.

Ten years ago, we reaffirmed the connection

between the three pillars of the United Nations:

development, security and human rights. Human rights

are an integral part of the United Nations vision and

Charter, and should be mainstreamed in the work of the

United Nations in all areas, as previously called for by

this Assembly. Norway will continue to be active in the

Human Rights Council and promote a human rights-

based approach in United Nations development work.

We will continue to work with partner countries from

the North and South to this end, as we successfully did

last week at the Trygve Lie Symposium on

Fundamental Freedoms, focused on business and

human rights.

This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of

another major United Nations building block —

Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and

peace and security. Women’s empowerment is a crucial

factor not only in sustainable development, but also in

sustainable peace. It is time to make good on the

commitments made and follow through on promises

that will enable women to take an active role in

situations that are a matter of life and death, not only

for them, but for their families, communities and even

nations. When we do take stock in October, we should

focus on action taken, and above all on action that

needs to be taken.

Norway would like to echo the vision and hope

voiced by President Obama in this Assembly that we

may in the near future have an agreement that will lead

to the entry of a new Member into the United

Nations — an independent, sovereign State of

Palestine.

The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which is chaired

by Norway, has called for assistance to the Palestinian

Authority in implementing the Programme for the

Thirteenth Government for completing the task of

building a Palestinian State, with regard to institution-

building and the development of a sustainable

Palestinian economy. The donors have been

encouraged by recent reports that the implementation

of the reform agenda accelerated significantly in the

first half of 2010. The World Bank stated that if the

Palestinian Authority were to maintain its current

performance, it is well positioned for the establishment

of a State at any point in the future.

It is crucial that this progress be mirrored by

progress in the peace negotiations. Norway welcomes

the relaunching earlier this month of direct bilateral

negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We

regret that Israel’s settlement moratorium was not

extended. Norway reaffirms its strong commitment to

the two-State solution and to supporting the

negotiations by ensuring full compliance with Road

Map obligations and maintaining their assistance to the

Palestinian State-building effort.

Allow me to underline another process with

enormous importance for regional peace, security and

development. Supporting the parties in the full and

timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace

Agreement for the Sudan must be on our agenda. We

cannot afford to end up in a situation where we all

regret that we let peace slip in the Sudan.

For over 60 years, the United Nations system,

including the Bretton Woods institutions, has been the

global intergovernmental framework for cooperation

on joint challenges. Current trends in global

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cooperation may point towards a looser, more

fragmented structure of global governance. There is a

fine line between such strategic alliances as

complementary to traditional multilateralism, and as

alternatives for global multilateralism with the direct or

indirect representation of all States. This is why

Norway attaches great importance to the ongoing

discussion on how to best facilitate constructive

cooperation between the Group of 20 and the United

Nations.

United Nations reform has been a topic of many

statements during this debate. In order to remain

relevant, the United Nations must continuously reform

and adapt to a changing environment and new

challenges. As Member States, we have the

responsibility to ensure that the Organization is

equipped to respond to the task it is given. Therefore

we must continue to push for United Nations reform,

but with a view to improving and strengthening the

United Nations. We must build on what is already in

progress and seems to be yielding results. Delivering as

one is showing progress at the country level. It now

needs to be followed up at Headquarters. The

establishment of UN Women is a system-wide

coherence success story. We congratulate Ms. Bachelet

and pledge to support her in delivering on the promises

made to UN Women. Beyond new panels and

processes, we now need to finalize work on proposals

that are already on the table.

For Norway, commitment to the United Nations

also means commitment to reform — to strive for a

United Nations that is efficient and able to live up to

the expectations that we, the Member States, place on

it. We owe it to each other and to future generations to

maintain and strengthen the United Nations as a

unique, inclusive and global meeting place where we,

the peoples of this world, come together to solve the

global challenges of our time. This is our common

responsibility.