Slovakia, 2011

It is a distinct

honour and pleasure for me to address the General

Assembly at the outset of its sixty-sixth session. This

forum provides us with an unparalleled opportunity to

strengthen, through dialogue, our concerted efforts in

the quest for solutions to the mounting challenges that

the international community faces today. We, the

leaders of the United Nations, are expected to offer

guidance and find solutions.

I am convinced that, given the extensive

diplomatic experience of the President of the

Assembly, and under his able leadership, we will be

able to make this session a successful one. I wish him

every success in his demanding duties and assure him

of my delegation’s full support and assistance. I also

wish to express my delegation’s appreciation and

gratitude for the exquisite work of his predecessor,

Mr. Joseph Deiss, who so skilfully guided our

proceedings during the sixty-fifth session.

Let me also join others in paying tribute to the

remarkable work of the newly reappointed Secretary-

General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon. We deeply

value his eminent personal and diplomatic qualities and

look forward to working with him during his next

tenure.

Slovakia warmly welcomes the Republic of South

Sudan as a new member of the United Nations family.

We wish South Sudan every success and, above all,

peace, security and prosperity for its people.

Her Excellency Ms. Dilma Rousseff, President of

the Federative Republic of Brazil, opened her speech

with these words:

“For the very first time in the history of the

United Nations, a female voice is opening the

general debate. It is the voice of democracy and

equality.” ()

President Rousseff expressed in two words the main

challenge for the coming years: courage and sincerity.

This challenge is accurate at a time of economic and

debt crisis. We have to say openly that we still do not

have adequate solutions. We are facing common risks

in economy, governance and politics.

Citizens all over the world expect leadership and

a mutual synergy of economy and politics. The

majority of the world’s population expects economic

growth, prosperity and a better quality of life. Those

living in poverty — the millions of people without

jobs, without water and without food — expect real

answers, quick action and results from political

leaders.

What can such a small country as Slovakia do to

address these challenges? First, it has to do its own

homework in stabilizing the economy. That means

ensuring our pension system’s sustainability through

deep reforms, and enacting a fiscal responsibility law

that will ensure that fiscal policy is responsible to

future generations and counter-cyclical. It means

labour market reforms that support the creation of the

new jobs the country badly needs, especially for some

of its vulnerable groups. It means lowering the

administrative burden and decreasing barriers to

entrepreneurship, improving the predictability of the

legal environment, and ensuring a wider use of

e-Government services. Of course, it means measures

to tackle corruption and to increase transparency, for

example through a legal act ensuring that any contract

concerning the use of public funds is valid only if

published on the internet.

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The Slovak Republic is a small country, but it is a

part of the eurozone, which is in deep economic

trouble. Courage and sincerity are most needed most

these days in Europe. The financial crisis and its

negative influence upon the entire European banking

sector have clearly shown that the eurozone was not

prepared for a crisis. The chaos in addressing these

issues only deepened the general distrust and worsened

the subsequent economic recession. The majority of

European Union countries did not use the good

economic times to consolidate their budgets. Therefore,

in many cases, the consequences of the recession

shifted public debt into dangerous territory.

We need courage in the eurozone to return to the

old principles that established the European Union,

which are necessary for successful international

cooperation and integration. We need stricter European

and national fiscal rules. We need to institute default

controls, and we need new rules for the careful

management of the financial sector.

We need sincerity. We have to be honest with our

citizens, because we have to be very careful that the

response to forcing technical solutions to the debt

crisis is not the escalation of nationalism and populism.

There is a chance that we will save the eurozone

economically, but at the same time we must minimize

the risk of losing the project of European integration

politically and devaluing it in the eyes of our voters.

It is not just Europe; every region in the world is

struggling today with serious economic difficulties. We

live in a global, interdependent reality in which we

cannot afford to ignore anybody’s problems. In this

regard, we believe that, as a member of the Economic

and Social Council, that body has the capacity to

contribute more significantly to our joint efforts. If it is

to do that, we feel that it is urgent to adjust its mandate

and enhance its ability to react more swiftly to the

economic and social needs of the world.

In times of dire financial restrictions in our own

national budgets, we, as the United Nations, also need

to learn to do more with fewer resources. We welcome

every effort that the Secretary-General is making to

utilize the available resources with maximum

effectiveness and efficiency.

Peace and security are ever harder to maintain in

these harsh crisis times. One of Slovakia’s priorities in

the fight against international terrorism remains the

endeavour to move forward the negotiations on the

comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

With regard to the United Nations Global Counter-

Terrorism Strategy, Slovakia will continue its

implementation through concrete projects, as we have

by co-organizing a special event on implementing the

United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in

Central Asia, held in Bratislava in December 2010.

Respect for international law, human rights and the rule

of law should be an integral part of the fight against

international terrorism.

Peacekeeping missions are among the most

visible and successful activities of the United Nations

and the true expression of the commitment to

maintaining peace and security around the globe. The

Slovak Republic has been an active contributor to the

United Nations forces in Cyprus since 2001, and is

involved in the Middle East. In recent decades, we

have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of

United Nations peacekeeping missions. They have

become increasingly in-demand, their mandates are

widening and their management is becoming more

complex. Slovakia therefore supports every measure

aimed at increasing their effectiveness and efficiency

given our truly constrained budgets.

Peace is not merely the absence of war. Peace

means safety in all areas of people’s lives, economic

prosperity, social stability, respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms, access to health care and

education, protection of the environment, and access to

water and food. There is no chance of lasting peace

without sustainable development. That is an area in

which we must still do a great deal of work and make

concerted efforts. Aid from Slovakia — a small

country — has since 2003 been aimed at the most

troubled regions of the world. Recently, Slovakia has

been providing development and humanitarian aid in

the context of 41 projects to help starving children in

Kenya, deliver food and water in Ethiopia; provide

humanitarian help in South Sudan; assist Pakistan

following the terrible floods there; help refugees, from

Libya to Tunisia; and also to provide technical

assistance for countries in the western Balkans and in

the Middle East. Slovakia is also helping to secure the

democratization process in Afghanistan through 13

new projects.

We need to focus on eliminating the primary

causes of conflicts, not just deal hastily with their

grave consequences, which, sadly, often occur only

after too many lives have been destroyed. No effort

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should be spared in exploring all political and

diplomatic options to stop conflicts at their roots.

Mediation has proved to yield tangible results. I want

to stress the important role of women in these

processes, as it is often underestimated.

Slovakia is a firm supporter of effective

multilateralism, with the United Nations playing a

central role. Concentrated efforts help create just and

lasting solutions.

This will be yet another challenging session for

all of us. It calls for a renewed, shared commitment to

the fundamental principles and purposes of the United

Nations Charter. We cannot afford to lose the ability to

understand one another’s needs because of our own

domestic problems. In these hard times, I wish all of us

enough strength to find necessary, mutually

advantageous solutions.