Tunisia, 2004

It is

my honour to read out the statement of Mr. Zine El

Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia

and Chairman of the sixteenth session of the Arab

League Council, who had wanted to attend this meeting

but was detained by urgent commitments. The

statement reads as follows:

“It is my distinct pleasure to convey to you,

Sir, and to your sisterly country, the Republic of

Gabon, my sincere congratulations on your

election as President of the General Assembly at

this session. We wish you every success.

“I also wish to express to your predecessor,

Mr. Julian Hunte, my great appreciation for his

excellent management of the proceedings of the

previous session.

“I also take this opportunity to convey my

thanks and appreciation to Secretary-General

Kofi Annan for his commendable efforts to

promote the role of the Organization and to fulfil

its objectives of establishing security and peace

throughout the world.

“Tunisia reiterates its commitment to the

principles and purposes of the United Nations

Charter and reaffirms its steady resolve to

continue to contribute to all efforts to reform the

Organization and to develop its structures, the

General Assembly and the Security Council in

particular, so that it can remain the guarantor of

the application of international law and the

consolidation of justice, stability and

development throughout the world.

“Faced with rising tensions in many regions

of the world, the widening development gap

between countries and the serious challenges

confronting humankind, the international

community is called upon to reorganize

international relations in accordance with a new

vision based on cooperation, solidarity and

coexistence among all peoples. That is the

approach which we sought to develop at the

Summit Conference of the Arab League Council

hosted by my country on 22 and 23 May, the

current session of which we have the honour of

chairing.

“In addition to the outcome of the Arab

Summit, which represents a qualitative leap in the

system of joint Arab action, the Arab States sent

a clear message to the international community.

In it, they reaffirmed their commitment to a just,

comprehensive and lasting peace as a strategic

option in settling the Arab-Israeli conflict, based

on the Arab peace initiative, international

legality, the relevant resolutions of the Security

Council and the implementation of the road map.

The community of Arab States is determined to

intensify its international activities to reactivate

the Arab peace initiative and to rally international

support for it.

“The serious escalation of the situation in

the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel’s

stubborn imposition of a policy of fait accompli

and unilateral measures require the international

community to act promptly to end the violence

against and provide international protection for

the brotherly Palestinian people, to lift the siege

imposed on its legitimate leadership, to cease the

building of settlements and to recognize the

advisory opinion of the International Court of

Justice declaring the construction of the

separation wall illegal and calling for its

demolition. We believe that this would help to

create conditions conducive to the establishment

of a new era of confidence and understanding

among all parties in the region in which the peace

process can be resumed, the brotherly Palestinian

people can recover its legitimate rights and

establish its independent State, and Syria and

Lebanon can recover all of their occupied

territories.

“While renewing its commitment to

supporting Iraq’s national unity and respect for its

sovereignty and independence, the community of

Arab States stresses the need for the United

Nations to assume its vital role in that sisterly

country. In the framework of the League of Arab

States, we will continue to support international

efforts to demonstrate the solidarity of the Arab

world with the Iraqi people as our contribution to

establishing security and stability in that country

and creating conditions conducive to its

reconstruction.

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“The Arab countries also support the efforts

made at the United Nations and regional levels,

and in particular by the African Union, to achieve

unity, peace and development in the brotherly

Sudan. They also welcome the steps taken by the

Sudanese Government to honour its commitments

under the agreement to re-establish security and

stability in Darfur, signed on 3 July 2004 with the

Secretary-General of the United Nations.

“The Arab Summit was an historic occasion

at which the Arab States reaffirmed the fact that

finding just solutions to the fundamental

problems of the region that have adversely

affected world peace and security would reinforce

the instincts of its peoples for security and peace,

enhance the development process, update and

consolidate the principles of human rights and

democracy, and promote the role and status of

women in society, in conformity with each

country’s cultural specificities, conditions and

abilities, and based on its own free will and

commitment to shared humanitarian values.

“Given the Arab States’ conviction of the

importance of the economic and social

dimensions in strengthening the process of

building the pan-Arab system, our Arab Summit

has decided to establish a common strategy for

economic and social action and a plan to fight

poverty and reinforce development efforts. In so

doing, it has demonstrated its resolve to

contribute to implementing the decisions of the

Millennium Summit. The Arab States’ call for the

articulation of a new concept of cooperation- and

solidarity-based partnership with all countries of

the world consecrates the path of dialogue among

cultures and anchors the values of tolerance,

understanding and complementarity among them.

“Our States and peoples hope that the

international community and the influential

parties will step up their endeavours to settle the

pending issues in the region, support the efforts

of countries to upgrade their economies, and

promote their development and social

programmes in the framework of cooperation and

coordination between the United Nations and the

League of Arab States.

“Tunisia is eager to contribute to the

promotion of joint Arab action and seeks to give

new impetus to regional cooperation. In that

context, we and our brother leaders of the

Maghreb States are seeking to reactivate the

Maghreb Union, which is an irreversible strategic

choice and a legitimate aspiration, shared by all

the peoples of the region, to greater

complementarity and solidarity. Our country is

also eager to continue contributing to building the

structures of the African Union, strengthening the

foundations of security and stability in Africa,

and establishing economic and social cooperation

among African countries. That will effectively

help our countries to achieve integration in the

march towards prosperity and progress and to

create genuine partnerships with regional

groupings throughout the world.

“At the Mediterranean level, the ‘five plus

five’ summit involving the Maghreb countries

and European countries of the southern

Mediterranean, held in Tunis in December 2003,

has made a fresh start for cooperation and

solidarity-based partnership among them in the

context of establishing security and stability and

of achieving economic complementarity, cultural

and social communication, and constructive

political dialogue. Serving as coordinator of the

community of Arab States within the Euro-

Mediterranean process, Tunisia strives to inject

more efficiency and vitality into the process so as

to consolidate the foundations of security,

stability and development within the Euro-

Mediterranean area.

“The World Solidarity Fund for poverty

eradication, created on the basis of a Tunisian

proposal of 1999 and adopted by the General

Assembly on 20 December 2002, reflects

Tunisia’s ongoing commitment to anchoring the

principles of justice, solidarity and sustainable

development in the world, based on our

successful pioneering national experience in that

field over many years. We believe that the Fund,

which has become a United Nations mechanism,

requires all members of the international

community, including Governments, civil society

and private sectors, to pool their efforts and

swiftly mobilize the financial resources necessary

to activate it.

“In that context, we suggest the

proclamation of 20 December of each year as the

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world day for the fight against poverty, in

commemoration of the date of the General

Assembly’s adoption of the resolution

establishing the Fund and in order to enshrine the

concept of solidarity as a permanent universal

value in international relations. We also welcome

any initiative in support of the activation of the

Fund. In that regard, we take special note of the

initiative of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

of the Federal Republic of Brazil.

“Tunisia’s sustained efforts to provide

optimum conditions for the hosting of the second

phase of the World Summit on the Information

Society on 16 to 18 November 2005 are also

being undertaken in that context. We called for

the convening of such a summit in 1998, based on

our conviction that, today more than ever before,

our world needs to establish a solidarity-based

digital partnership, allowing all countries to be

integrated into the international information

society. In that way, we hope to achieve a more

just and balanced approach as a strong

development and cultural bridge between the

countries of the world, in fulfilment of the goals

and principles of the Millennium Summit.

“I should like to take this opportunity to

reiterate my earlier invitation to heads of State

and Government, to representatives of civil

society and the private sector and to other

international organizations, extended at the first

phase of the World Summit on the Information

Society held in Geneva in December 2003, to

participate actively in the Tunis Summit in order

to ensure its success and to achieve the prosperity

and well-being of all humankind.

“The General Assembly’s adoption of the

Tunisian proposal to proclaim 2005 the

International Year of Sport and Physical

Education was a recognition of the importance of

those two activities in strengthening the bonds of

friendship, cooperation and rapprochement

among peoples and in further disseminating peace

and development throughout the world. We are

convinced that all countries recognize the noble

dimensions of the proclamation and will spare no

effort to formalize it within their national

programmers next year.

“The increasing danger of the phenomenon

of terrorism in our times requires greater

international coordination in resisting that

scourge and averting its threats by treating its

root causes, finding just solutions to several

outstanding international problems, and curbing

poverty, exclusion and marginalization in the

world. Tunisia is convinced that international

relations can prosper and develop only in a

climate of dialogue, entente and solidarity,

eschewing fanaticism, extremism and the dangers

of discord and warfare and in a context of justice,

mutual respect and equitable cooperation among

individuals, groups and peoples. Thus, security,

peace and stability may prevail throughout the

world and humankind may look to the future with

the utmost confidence, optimism and ambition.”