Tunisia, 2005

It is

my distinct pleasure to express to you and to your

friendly country, the Kingdom of Sweden, my most

sincere congratulations on your election to the

presidency at this sixtieth session of the General

Assembly and to wish you every success in your

mission.

I also express to your predecessor Mr. Jean Ping,

my deep appreciation for his excellent management of

the proceedings of the previous session.

Allow me to take this opportunity to convey my

thanks and appreciation to the Secretary-General,

commending his diligent efforts in assisting the

Organization to play its role and achieve its noble

objectives of maintaining peace and security and

furthering development in the world.

Tunisia, which celebrates, along with other

members of the international community the sixtieth

anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations,

reiterates its constant commitment to the noble

principles of the Charter and reaffirms its

determination to continue to contribute, so that the

Organization may be as effective as possible.

Our world today is witnessing rapid and

successive developments, often marked by an increase

of tensions and the widening of the development gap

between the North and the South. This requires that we

intensify our consultations and coordination on the

question of reforming the United Nations and

developing its institutions, in accordance with a

comprehensive vision based on enhancing solidarity,

mutual assistance and partnership among peoples so

that our Organization will be able to deal with current

international issues efficiently.

Many of those issues still constitute a source of

concern for the international community, because of

their impact on security and stability, and foremost

among them is the Middle East problem.

In keeping with its commitment, and that of its

President, His Excellency President Zine El Abidine

Ben Ali, to peace as a strategic choice, Tunisia has

contributed to all efforts and initiatives aimed at

reaching a just, comprehensive and durable settlement

to the Palestinian question. We reiterate our call to all

parties, more particularly to the Quartet, to take

advantage of recent positive developments in the

region in order to resume peace negotiations, thus

allowing the Palestinian people to recover their

legitimate national rights and establish their own

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independent State on their land as well as bringing

security, stability and prosperity to all peoples of the

region.

We feel that achieving just, comprehensive and

durable peace in the Middle East requires the recovery

by sisterly Syria and Lebanon of all their occupied

territories.

We also express the hope that sisterly Iraq will

complete its political process and strengthen its

constitutional institutions in accordance with the

aspirations of the Iraqi people, within a context of

security, stability and national unity.

Tunisia welcomes the important steps taken by the

Sudanese Government towards national reconciliation,

in keeping with the aspirations of the Sudanese people

to the consolidation of security and stability in that

country.

Tunisia is sparing no effort, along with the other

sisterly Arab countries, in laying the foundations for a

new phase of joint Arab action, promoting cooperation

in all the political, economic and cultural fields, and

reinforcing the process of development and

modernization, in line with the proposals made and

decisions taken by the Arab Summit in May 2004,

which Tunisia had the honour to host.

We are also keen on consolidating the bonds of

fraternity and cooperation with all fellow Arab

Maghreb countries and completing the process of

building the Arab Maghreb Union, thus meeting the

aspirations of the peoples of the Maghreb to

development and complementarity.

Although it has witnessed a number of positive

developments, the African continent continues to suffer

from the persistence of tensions and conflicts in many

of its regions. Additional efforts are required in order

to take further steps towards their settlement. Bringing

to completion the establishment of the basic structures

of the African Union would enable African countries to

move ahead in promoting cooperation and reinforcing

the foundations of security and stability in the

continent. This, in turn, will encourage development in

African countries and facilitate their integration into

the world economy.

At the Euro-Mediterranean level, Tunisia is

entering a new phase in its relations with the European

Union, a phase marked by a determination to further

promote, develop and enlarge the scope of partnership

with that Union on the basis of cooperation, solidarity,

complementarity and mutual respect, in line with the

purposes and principles adopted at the Barcelona

Conference as we prepare to celebrate the tenth

anniversary of its Declaration.

Tunisia is also endeavouring to strengthen ties of

friendship and enlarge the scope of cooperation with

the countries of the American and Asian continents in

order to establish a solidarity-based partnership that

will lay the foundations for a new stage in these

relations. That would serve the interests of all parties,

bring their peoples closer to one another and contribute

to consolidating the foundations of stability, peace and

prosperity in the world.

The intensification of violence and terrorism,

despite the joint efforts undertaken for many years to

confront that grave scourge, deepens our conviction

that the most effective way to deal with terrorism is by

unifying our methods for tackling it, thereby

strengthening the capacity of the international

community to confront terrorism and eradicate its root

causes.

In that regard, His Excellency President Zine El

Abidine Ben Ali proposed the convening of an

international conference under United Nations auspices

aimed at establishing a binding international code of

conduct on combating terrorism.

Proceeding from its steadfast adherence to the

principles of solidarity and dialogue among peoples

and its continuing endeavours to strengthen stability

and development in the world, Tunisia will take an

active role in achieving the objectives spelled out in

the Millennium Declaration and in finding appropriate

solutions to the international issues we face today.

In that regard, we would mention the General

Assembly’s adoption of the Tunisian proposal for the

establishment of a World Solidarity Fund. The

international community must now provide the

necessary financial resources so that the Fund can

launch its activities and achieve its noble objectives of

reducing poverty and famine, particularly in some

regions of Africa.

Tunisia calls for the strengthening of world

solidarity, the benefits of which were most recently

manifested in the international efforts to alleviate the

enormous damage caused by both the tsunami disaster

and hurricane Katrina.

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As we prepare to host the second phase of the

World Summit on the Information Society — held in

response to a Tunisian proposal dating back to 1998 —

Tunisia is looking forward to the high-level

international participation of Governments, the private

sector and civil society in that important global event

in order to give it the best possible chance of success.

A successful outcome will help to establish a

solidarity-based digital culture that allows developing

countries to benefit from the vast prospects offered by

information and communication technologies and to

make the best use of them in their development plans.

Furthermore, Tunisia wishes to express its thanks

and appreciation to all Member States and to the

international and regional organizations that have

contributed to the success of its international initiative

to proclaim 2005 the International Year of Sport and

Physical Education in the service of peace, security and

development in the world.

Tunisia will continue to make an effective

contribution to strengthening the culture of dialogue

and the values of tolerance and cultural communication

among civilizations and among all the world’s

countries and peoples, and to work against fanaticism

and isolationism. We once again underline the

importance of those values in spreading security, peace

and stability throughout the world, thus freeing

humanity to direct its efforts towards comprehensive

and sustainable development in a spirit of optimism

and confidence in a better future.