Zambia, 2007

Allow me at the outset

to convey my warm congratulations to Mr. Srgjan

Kerim on his election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-second session. My delegation is

confident that with his immense wealth of experience,

he will steer the session very successfully. Zambia

assures him of its total support during his tenure of

office.

Let me, at this point, pay tribute to Mr. Kurt

Waldheim, the fourth Secretary-General of the United

Nations, and later President of Austria, who died on

14 June 2007. To us, he was a great diplomat who

made Africa one of his priorities, especially at the

height of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.

May I take this opportunity to thank Her

Excellency Sheikha Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain for

having presided over the affairs of the sixty-first

session in an exemplary manner. Among her

accomplishments was the carrying forward of the

United Nations reforms called for at the 2005 World

Summit. It was gratifying to have a lady preside over

the highest office of the General Assembly after almost

three decades of male dominance. I hope that this

organ will not again take that long to have an excellent

woman as President.

Let me now congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the

Republic of Korea on his election as the eighth

Secretary-General of the United Nations. I am

confident that he will build upon the strong foundation

that was laid by his predecessor, Kofi Annan of Ghana,

to whom I wish to pay tribute for the manner in which

he steered the Organization during his tenure in office.

He made Africa proud, and I wish him success in his

current and future endeavours.

Our world today presents many challenges. These

include abject poverty for the majority of the world’s

inhabitants, underdevelopment, conflict, human

trafficking, climate change, terrorism, violations of

human rights, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and gender

inequality. While some of these challenges have only

recently emerged, others have been with us from time

immemorial. These challenges cannot be entirely

resolved within national boundaries or at the regional

level. They can be resolved only at the multilateral

level, with all the players carrying out their roles

diligently. For that reason, Zambia supports a strong

and coherent United Nations. We agree with the

recommendation of the High-level Panel on United

Nations System-wide Coherence that the United

Nations urgently needs more coherence and synergy.

That will enable it to perform as one and to use its

unique universality, neutrality and capacity to operate

efficiently.

Furthermore, Zambia supports the ongoing

reforms of the United Nations. In particular, we

welcome the mandate given to the Economic and

Social Council to make it more effective in executing

its duties, which include formulating policy

recommendations on international and social issues, as

well as coordinating activities of specialized agencies

in the economic, social and related fields. In that

regard, collaboration of the United Nations with the

international financial institutions and the World Trade

Organization should be further enhanced; we welcome

the work going on in this area.

This brings me to another issue: reform of the

Security Council. This matter has remained unresolved

for more than a decade. United Nations reform cannot

be complete without meaningful reform of the Security

Council. Any new proposals to reform that vital organ

should seriously consider Africa’s call to have two

permanent seats with full veto power. Africa is aware

that the veto is an undemocratic instrument and would

prefer to do away with it altogether. However, as long

as others insist on keeping the veto, Africa should have

it as well. The status quo is unacceptable. It is my hope

that during Mr. Kerim’s tenure of office, this aspect of

the reform process will be concluded successfully.

The issue of climate change is very important to

the current and future inhabitants of our planet. It is

therefore fitting that one theme of this session is

responding to climate change. I commend the

Secretary-General for organizing the 24 September

2007 high-level event on this matter. Indeed, the

effects of climate change are being felt mostly by the

developing countries. For instance, Southern Africa is

experiencing critical food shortages due to torrential

rains in some areas and severe drought in other parts of

the region.

The problem of climate change is a global issue

requiring global action within the multilateral context

of the United Nations. As a signatory to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

and the Kyoto Protocol, Zambia has already taken

several measures to implement those international

instruments. In that regard, we submitted our first

national communication report in 2004. We have also

taken deliberate steps to create public awareness about

the problem of climate change so that our people can

devise appropriate local interventions.

Regarding measures aimed at adapting to climate

change, Zambia has just finished formulating its

National Adaptation Programme of Action. The

programme will help us identify the most vulnerable

sectors of our economy, as well as adaptation activities

required to alleviate the adverse effects of climate

change. For this reason, we call upon the international

community to ensure that the Adaptation Fund under

the Climate Change Convention, which has taken

rather long to establish, is made operational.

While placing emphasis on adaptation, we also

pledge to reduce emissions from industrial and other

sources. We call upon industrialized countries, which

have a history of producing these emissions, to take

serious steps to reduce them. We believe that the

situation is now serious and that narrow national

interests in this matter must be discarded forthwith.

As a developing country, Zambia needs assistance

to enhance its capacity in key adaptive areas, such as

scientific research, early warning and rapid response,

to address the adverse effects of climate change.

Accordingly, Zambia calls for the speedy development

and transfer of appropriate technologies to help us cope

with the negative impacts of climate change, as well as

to put us on a low-carbon path to economic growth. We

also call for a more comprehensive institutional

framework for international environmental governance.

In 2000, the developing world embraced the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a

comprehensive strategy to move our countries out of

economic and social decline and better integrate us into

the global economy. Halfway through the

implementation period, many countries are far from

attaining most of the Goals. That is so in spite of the

improved economic performance recorded by some

developing countries following recent debt relief

initiatives, coupled with sustained prudent economic

management.

To illustrate the point, in Zambia the economy

grew by 6.2 per cent last year, and inflation declined to

a single digit level for the first time in 30 years. Those

economic gains, however, have not translated into a

significant decline in the incidence of poverty, which

stands at 68 per cent. Zambia’s development efforts are

further compromised by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and,

now, the adverse effects of climate change.

With regard to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, my

Government has declared it to be a national crisis,

requiring sustained mitigation and preventive

measures. I would like to take this opportunity to thank

all our cooperating partners for their support to Zambia

in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and

malaria.

Despite these challenges, Zambia, for its part, has

made steady progress and is likely to meet most of the

MDGs by 2015. The Goals most likely not to be

attained by 2015 are: reducing by three quarters the

maternal mortality ratio, integrating the principles of

sustainable development into the country’s policies and

programmes and reversing the loss of environmental

resources. Our goal now is to translate the economic

achievements into tangible improvements in the quality

of life of the Zambian people. That goal is enshrined in

Zambia’s Vision 2030, which is aimed at raising the

country to middle-income status, significantly reducing

hunger and poverty and fostering a competitive and

outward-oriented economy.

But that goal will remain elusive if our

cooperating partners do not fulfil their commitments.

Indeed, it is saddening to note that total official

development assistance declined in real terms by 5.1

per cent between 2005 and 2006, and only five donor

countries have met or exceeded the 0.7 per cent target.

I urge the cooperating partners to fulfil their

commitments. Furthermore, while Zambia welcomes

the discussions and progress made on aid effectiveness

following the Paris Declaration, we call for official

development assistance to be delivered in a more

efficient manner, in accordance with the Declaration.

Aid cannot be effective unless corruption is

uprooted. My Government has, therefore, declared war

against that social vice. Accordingly, I take this

opportunity to urge the international community to

desist from providing safe havens for leaders who

plunder national resources. Such ill-gotten wealth

should be returned to the countries from where it was

misappropriated so that it can be used to fight poverty.

Zambia condemns international terrorism in all

its forms and manifestations. For this reason, we call

upon members of the international community to

refrain from harbouring terrorists. Zambia, for its part,

supports the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear

Terrorism.

Through regional bodies, such as the Southern

African Development Community (SADC), developing

countries enhance their ability to cooperate and also

jointly negotiate for better access to developed

countries’ markets. Consequently, during Zambia’s

current chairmanship of SADC, we shall continue to

consolidate the formation of the SADC free trade area

by 2008 as a prerequisite to the Regional Customs

Union. In addition, Zambia will, on behalf of SADC,

seek funding to develop an adequate regional

transboundary infrastructure in support of

much-needed connectivity in areas such as water,

transport, energy, communications and information

technology.

Many regions, including Africa, have been

dogged by conflict. This has adversely affected the

countries’ potential to participate in the global

economic arena. In the quest for peace in our

subregion, SADC has launched a stand-by brigade,

which will have the capacity for peace support

operations. It is our hope that the international

community will render necessary support to the

brigade to enable it to fulfil its mandate.

Better still, SADC and Zambia value the tenets of

democracy, political stability and integrated economic

development as the ultimate sound basis for peace and

stability. SADC will, therefore, continue to promote

the conducting of free and fair elections in the region.

Mr. Berdymukhammedov (Turkmenistan), Vice-

President, took the Chair

In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm, with regard to

the theme of this session, Zambia’s commitment to

cooperate with the international community in

addressing the problem of climate change. It is my

sincere hope that all of us will play our full part,

according to our abilities to deal with this serious

global challenge. To that end, we should not remain

indecisive and indifferent to this serious issue. Neither

should we miss the opportunity to do what we can to

make the world a better place to live in.