El Salvador, 2007

On behalf of the people and Government of El Salvador, I

would like to extend the most sincere congratulations

to Mr. Kerim on his being unanimously elected to

preside over this session and to wish him every success

in fulfilling his mandate. At the same time, I would like

to express our appreciation of the dynamic work done

by the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-

General and call on them to continue to make every

effort to strengthen the United Nations.

Allow me to express once more our gratitude for

the important role played by the Organization, in

particular its contribution to conflict resolution and to

economic and social development, as so successfully

exemplified in the peace process in Central America,

based on the 1987 Esquipulas II Agreement. Recently,

Central American countries celebrated the twentieth

anniversary of the signing of that Agreement which set

in motion the process of establishing a firm and lasting

peace in Central America with a view to achieving,

through dialogue, a peaceful solution to the Central

American crisis and promoting peacebuilding and

democratization in the region.

Following a long process of transition from war

to peace, from peace to democracy and to freedom, we

are now focusing our efforts on the implementation of

an economic and social development model that is just

and equitable. In particular, we are promoting an

integration process that will allow us to strengthen our

capabilities and combine resources to more efficiently

tackle and thus benefit from the process of opening up

to world trade.

In this context, I would like to mention, in

particular, a regional issue that has attracted the

attention of the international community and that was

referred to yesterday in the media, namely, the Gulf of

Fonseca. As President of El Salvador, I wish to inform

you that I have submitted a formal initiative to the

brother States of Honduras and Nicaragua in order to

develop a frank and sincere dialogue with a view to

ushering in a new era of cooperation in this area in

order to truly establish a joint ownership regime and

thereby facilitate the overall and sustainable

development of the Gulf Zone for all its inhabitants.

That proposal, made yesterday, was well received by

the leaders of Honduras and Nicaragua. The three

States should begin a new era of collaboration and

cooperation in order to tackle and fully resolve issues

related to the Gulf. We should not leave any problem in

the Gulf of Fonseca unresolved, whether it be by a

three-nation or a two-nation approach.

A topic of special interest for my country is

international migration, in view of its positive impact

on countries of origin and destination alike, and, in

particular, because of the significant contributions

immigrants make to the economy. Our Government is

making efforts for Salvadorians who have emigrated,

supporting them through our Embassies and

Consulates. In this respect, we greatly appreciate the

agreements and recommendations emanating from the

United Nations High-level Dialogue on International

Migration and Development, which reiterated the

necessity of fully respecting the human rights of

migrants and their families, who must be a central

concern of internal and external immigration policy of

States, including transit States.

I am pleased to confirm that the efforts I have

made in favour of Salvadorian immigrants, especially

in the United States, have yielded positive results such

as the extension of the Temporary Protected States

(TPS) programme, which guarantees work permits and

the opportunity to reside in that country with no risk of

being deported. Those efforts demonstrate my firm will

to continue spearheading initiatives and efforts in order

to stabilize migration for all of our fellow citizens.

In the Central American region, we have made

significant progress in different areas, but

unfortunately, long-standing and emerging threats

could still affect the security of our citizens and the

stability of our countries. It is therefore essential to

unite our efforts to frame suitable national, regional

and international policies.

Currently, in most of our countries, as well as in

the United States and Mexico, citizens are noting that

one of the greatest threats to democracy and economic

and social development springs from the activities of

gangs, generating a wave of violence and crime in an

open challenge to the established order. Those anti-

social groups do not conform to the patterns of

traditional or ordinary crime, but gradually evolve into

more sophisticated forms of organized crime whose

manifestations can also be seen in countries outside the

continent. Many countries represented here are not as

yet faced with this threat. However, the criminal

activities of such groups are expanding, both

substantively and quantitatively, as is actually apparent

and thus the treatment of this issue requires action and

cooperation of all States, especially in Latin America.

As for El Salvador, we are making efforts that have led

to the reduction of crime and homicide perpetuated by

such groups through joint actions involving our public

security authorities, the judicial system and the

legislative authority. At the same time, we are

coordinating efforts and adopting measures within the

framework of security policies for Central America.

We have to strengthen global cooperation in the

fight against terrorism, which is one of the greatest

threats to peace and international security. The recent

thwarted terrorist attacks in European countries and the

repeated threats by extremist groups to continue with

their terrorist actions in different parts of the world are

a grave threat and danger looming over our society.

Consequently, we welcome the efforts of Member

States of the United Nations to adopt a global counter-

terrorism strategy, giving particular importance to

preventing and combating terrorism on a unified,

coherent and coordinated basis.

The Middle East is a region in which nations

have developed different missions and supported

initiatives for a just and lasting solution to the problem,

while the United Nations itself has made undoubted

efforts to that end, which, unfortunately, have not been

successful.

We support any initiative or effort to redirect the

peace process. In particular, we welcome the initiative

to convene an international peace conference for the

Middle East in November. That initiative is a source of

renewed hope for achieving the long-awaited peace

that will allow all peoples of the region to live free

from fear, violence and destruction. It would also

establish an environment conducive to political

cooperation and to shared economic and social

development. We recognize the Palestinian people’s

right to self-determination, as well as Israel’s right to

live within secure and internationally recognized

borders, so that both peoples can live in peace.

Taiwan is a unique political reality in the

international community. It has systematically

developed, in particular in recent years, under the

leadership of President Chen Shui-bian. He has made

his country a modern, peaceful entity that is resolutely

determined to promote peace and international

cooperation. Given that reality, we acknowledge the

legitimate right of more than 23 million Taiwanese to

determine their own future, just as other peoples have

done. That is why we support the initiative to have the

General Assembly review the case of Taiwan in the

light of current global realities, acknowledging the

right of the Taiwanese to hold a referendum on joining

this international Organization.

El Salvador will continue to play an active role in

the reform process of the United Nations, which, we

reiterate, should be comprehensive. In that regard,

since States are responsible for complying with the

objectives of the Charter, we must strive not only to

achieve consensus and move towards Security Council

reform, but also to revitalize the General Assembly and

thoroughly revise the mandate of the Economic and

Social Council.

The current economic situation has improved for

some developing countries that have achieved

acceptable rates of growth. However, international

instability in prices, commodities and raw materials

in particular the high prices for petroleum is having

a negative impact on our development efforts. Indeed,

global economic short- and mid-term imbalances must

be anticipated and prevented, and require the

coordination of international macroeconomic policy

involving developed and underdeveloped countries.

In an effort to review the criteria and conditions

for the extension of international cooperation, the first

Intergovernmental Conference on Middle-Income

Countries took place in Madrid on 1 and 2 March. At

the Conference, we identified several areas for

strategic action that could guide the efforts of

international donors to contribute to the development

of that group of countries. We thank the Government of

Spain for its readiness to host the event and for the

meeting’s success. We also express our gratitude to

King Abdullah II of Jordan and his Government for

convening the summit of the Group of Eleven in May,

and in particular for the recommendation that resulted

from that forum.

Next October, my country, El Salvador, will host

the second International Conference on Development

Cooperation with Middle-Income Countries in order to

further study international measures allowing us to

meet the Millennium Development Goals. We believe

that donor countries and international financial

organizations should reassess their development

cooperation policies with the principal aim of

encouraging those countries which are responsibly

implementing transparent growth strategies that are

adequately endowed in terms of finance management

and of the quality and impact of projects. To the

middle-income countries and the entire cooperating

community, including international financial

organizations, I reiterate here our cordial invitation to

join us in the important event to take place in San

Salvador in October.

With respect to development, I would stress that,

in the past 10 years, my country has reduced the level

of overall poverty from 65 per cent to 30 per cent. One

of my Government’s priorities is and will continue to

be fighting extreme poverty, towards which we are

implementing a series of substantive social

programmes. One of the most important of those is the

Solidarity Network, through which we directly support

families living in extreme poverty, mainly in the rural

areas, by granting health and education subsidies and

by providing infrastructure, basic services and

opportunities to enter the labour market through, inter

alia, the provision of microcredit. We have also

established a special health fund through which we

have increased basic health care for the most

vulnerable sectors of the population, seeking to benefit

more than 4 million people through comprehensive

programmes to include prevention and the promotion

of health education campaigns.

While we acknowledge that progress has been

achieved and efforts made to improve the living

standards of the most vulnerable sectors of the country,

we must continue to enjoy international bilateral and

multilateral cooperation if we are to achieve higher

levels of well-being. Our Government is convinced that

the social sphere is not complementary to anything

else, but the basis of everything.

One of the most disturbing challenges to the

present and future of the international community is

global warming. In particular, as we learn in the

impressive report prepared by the United Nations

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the

harmful effects of climate change on all peoples have

grown alarming in their human, material, economic and

environmental impacts, which are increasingly being

felt in countries and regions throughout the world. All

States must speedily and fully adopt corrective

measures in order substantially to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions so as to halt the trend towards

irreversible and massive environmental degradation. To

that end, we urge developed countries to join in the

efforts to curb that trend with responsibility and in a

common but differentiated manner.

Alongside international efforts for environmental

protection, the countries of Latin America, including

those of Central America, Mexico and Colombia,

members of the Puebla-Panama Plan, are undertaking

measures and coordinating regional and subregional

activities in the field of renewable and sustainable

energy as alternatives to fossil fuels. Concerned by the

instability of international hydrocarbon fuel prices, at

the previous session of the General Assembly we

proposed that the topic be included on the agenda

because of its impact on economic development, in

particular in developing countries. In the current

situation of ever-spiralling high prices, we reiterate

that proposal. We have been increasingly diverting

precious economic resources that could, in other

circumstances, be directed towards other programmes

essential to our countries’ human development.

That is why, at this global forum, we appeal to

the oil-producing countries to seek, on the basis of

international cooperation and solidarity, to implement

flexible mechanisms to prevent hydrocarbon fuel prices

from drastically impacting developing countries. We in

the United Nations cannot ignore that issue, because

countries that depend on oil could be bankrupted in the

coming years.

I must mention that, faced with high oil prices,

we are promoting several initiatives in El Salvador in

the area of alternative and renewable energy, such as

biofuels. One of those initiatives has led to the

formulation of a bill on incentives for investing in

renewable energy. We also analysed the economic and

technical feasibility of introducing a plan to produce

ethanol on a national scale. That is in addition to

stepping up thermal energy, which in El Salvador

already represents 23 per cent of energy consumption

with the entry into operation of the new plant in the

eastern part of El Salvador. Similarly, we are beginning

technical and financial feasibility studies to promote

the production of biodiesel through the establishment

of a pilot plant and the use of different crops, which

will make it possible to promote reforestation and to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions, relying for this on

the direct support of the United States, Brazil and

Colombia.

We believe that Latin American and other

developing countries could contribute substantively to

global environmental conservation efforts. But efforts

will be limited if industrialized countries do not fully

assume their responsibilities when it comes to the

environment.

Lastly, I would like to recall that we are all

representatives of our respective countries and they are

the ones that we must serve and protect from the

threats that we face. We are convinced that the future

of humanity will depend on the decisions and actions

that we will adopt here and that we will implement in

areas of common global interest. We have the

responsibility and obligation to act, and this we must

do in order to avert a problem of uncontrollable

proportions.

We must understand that the future of humanity

will depend on the decisions and actions that we adopt

today, but I would like to strongly emphasize that

people reach development as a result of perseverance,

order, work, discipline and long-term vision. The

transformation process and the progress that has been

achieved in economic and social policy in the

democratic institutions of my country are the result of

the exercise of freedoms. Progress is built and gains

momentum when people work hard, persevere and

have full freedom, which makes it possible to move

towards the implementation of the greatest dream that

people have: to enjoy progress and social peace.

I invite the Assembly to combine their efforts to

consolidate freedoms in those countries that already

enjoy them and to return freedoms to countries that do

not have them or have lost them. Let us remember that

the dearest freedom is the one that we do not have, that

liberty is not missed until we lose it. Without freedom,

there is no economic and social progress. We must

work every day for freedoms that are threatened by

extreme radicalism or populist demagoguery, the seeds

that destroy freedom. God bless the world.