Cambodia, 2010

At the outset, allow me to

join the previous speakers in expressing my sincere

congratulations to His Excellency Joseph Deiss of

Switzerland on his election as President of the sixty-

fifth session of our General Assembly. I am confident

that under his able leadership our Assembly will be

crowned with significant progress on many global

issues of international concern. Likewise, I would like

to take this opportunity to pay tribute to His

Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki for the

professionalism and dedication with which he

conducted the previous session of our General

Assembly.

This sixty-fifth session is particularly significant,

combining in a timely manner two important high-level

meetings, namely, the high-level meeting on the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the High-

level Review of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further

Implementation of the Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States. Those important meetings remind us that there

is no better entity than the United Nations to address

global challenges and that multilateralism is relevant in

addressing the world’s interconnected and proliferating

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challenges, including the global economic and

financial crisis, climate change, food security,

international peace and security, regional conflicts and

others.

The global economic and financial storm seems

to be over, but the task of restoring confidence and

promoting economic recovery is far from complete and

remains a daunting task, especially for the developing

countries. However, achievement of the MDGs is

uncertain owing to the fragile economic recovery of

those countries. Failure to meet the MDGs by 2015

will leave millions of people locked in the cycle of

poverty. Therefore, as the economic recovery

continues, a joint effort towards concrete action is

needed to further boost confidence and maintain the

momentum of global economic growth.

In Cambodia we adopted our own MDGs in 2003,

known as Cambodian MDGs and have thus achieved

the MDG targets on reducing child mortality and

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. According to a

recent study issued by the Overseas Development

Institute and the United Nations Millennium

Campaign, Cambodia ranks among 20 countries that

have made the most absolute progress on the MDGs.

Our world today is facing most serious global

challenges. Climate change presents a major threat for

every country, although it is more severe for poor

countries. Daily, we see an increase in headline news

and reports on chaotic weather occurring worldwide,

with record heat and cold waves, unusual torrential

rains leading to apocalyptic floods and landslides and

mudslides that kill hundreds and displace millions of

people. Intense forest fires resulting from to extreme

heat indicate that Mother Nature is raging.

The confluence of those natural calamities also

means that the agricultural sector, which depends

largely on weather, has been hit most often, resulting in

adverse impacts on food security. All those events have

aggravated poverty and led to increased illegal

immigration, which has already become a serious

human security problem.

Although the much awaited summit of the

fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties in

Copenhagen last year failed to achieve a binding

agreement, it established a good foundation at the least

to enhance international cooperation on a number of

key issues, such as deforestation, renewable energy and

financial support for the world’s poorest countries to

mitigate and adapt to climate change. We regret,

however, that the pledges have not been actualized.

It is still uncertain whether a binding agreement

will be secured in Cancún this year. In particular, the

principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

for developed and developing nations should serve as

the foundation for negotiations. Such a principle is key

to rebuilding mutual trust among nations, which is the

most urgent task needed to achieve a meaningful result

at the Cancún Conference. The spirit of compromise is

absolutely necessary for the sake of humanity. Climate

change has already reached a point of no return.

Cambodia urges developed countries to honour

their commitments to provide financial and

technological aid to developing nations for the fight

against climate change and to take the lead and cut

their respective carbon dioxide emissions, so that the

Conference in Cancún can produce tangible results.

Fruitful outcomes in Cancún will depend on efforts by

all to save humankind from much more serious

catastrophes. Climate change is not a vital problem of

only one country or one region, but of the world as a

whole.

Cambodia is pleased to join the group of

countries for implementation of the Copenhagen

Accord. We have launched our own initiative called the

Cambodian Climate Change Alliance, which focuses

on capacity-building and strengthening national

institutions. Cambodia has also steadily implemented

projects aimed at reducing emissions from

deforestation and forest degradation and will continue

to assume its share of responsibility in curbing carbon

dioxide emissions and bringing about adaptation and

mitigation measures.

Cambodia believes that the problem of food

security also deserves great attention. At the World

Summit on Food Security in November 2009 it was

disclosed that the number of hungry people had already

reached 1 billion. That number will certainly increase

day by day with the augmentation of the world

population, thus further aggravating food security in

the world, particularly in the poorest countries.

The lack of financial resources devoted to

agriculture, the lack of access to agrotechnologies and

the irrational use of water resources are among the

catalysts of the food crisis. At the same time, as a result

of recent high fuel oil prices, agricultural land has been

diverted to grow bioenergy crops to meet increasing

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demand for fuel, while the world population needs

more and more food. Furthermore, official

development assistance (ODA) has not been

sufficiently focused on agricultural production.

Therefore, Cambodia hopes that the international

community will turn its attention to redirecting and

increasing ODA to emphasize food security. At the

same time, adequate and timely measures must be

taken to address the various obstacles to food security,

in order to avoid recurrence of food crises in the future.

In this context, the pledge of $20 billion over

three years made at the 2009 Group of Eight Summit in

L’Aquila to support agricultural production in poor

countries was extremely opportune and offered much

hope, not only with regard to narrowing the food

shortage but also for progress towards the MDGs and

poverty reduction in general. Still, respecting that

commitment through timely disbursement and efficient

utilization of that funding are absolutely essential.

Within Cambodia, food production is the top priority of

our Government policy, and agriculture and irrigation

are being aggressively promoted as a springboard for

broader economic development, with the ambition of

turning Cambodia into a more important rice-exporting

country.

Peace and security remain issues of grave

concern in many parts of the world. Terrorism remains

a very serious threat to the world, killing innocent

people every day in many parts of the world. The

regional security landscape in Asia and the Middle East

constitutes a concern for the international community,

compelling us to be ever vigilant.

The situation in the Korean peninsula still

presents a threat to peace and security in that region.

Cambodia earnestly calls on the parties to refrain from

any act that could escalate tensions, with a view to

promoting conditions that could enable the Six-Party

Talks to resume as soon as possible. Peace will prevail

only as a result of negotiations aimed at re-establishing

the confidence necessary to a peaceful Korean

peninsula.

The Israeli-Palestinian issue remains one of the

longest and most explosive running conflicts in the

Middle East. Year after year the Palestinian people are

denied their right to establish a Palestine State living

side by side in peace with the people of Israel. Year

after year this Assembly urges the parties concerned to

comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions,

while the whole world waits impatiently for a peace

agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Cambodia urges both parties to act with utmost

restraint and to avoid any act of provocation, in order

to pave the way for a peaceful solution.

Cambodia warmly welcomes the recent direct

peace talks between the Israeli Prime Minister and the

Palestinian President in Washington and in Egypt, as a

step in the right direction for bolstering an atmosphere

of trust between the two sides. Cambodia shares the

view of the international community that new

settlements in the West Bank present the main obstacle

to efforts towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Cambodia hopes that both sides can finally look for a

compromise on this crucial issue in order to achieve a

breakthrough for the sake of a lasting peace in the

Middle East.

With regard to the embargo imposed by the

United States of America against Cuba, Cambodia

firmly supports the resolutions of our Assembly on the

necessity of ending that embargo and calls upon all

Members of the United Nations to implement those

resolutions in order to end the prolonged suffering of

the innocent people of Cuba.

Given the very serious emerging global

challenges, the United Nations must be ready to fulfil

its growing responsibilities to tackle those complex

worldwide issues. The functioning of every organ of

the United Nations should be readjusted and

reinvigorated so as to effectively manage the

complexity of the world today to overcome all the

challenges in order to build a suitable world for all.

Regarding the reform of the United Nations Security

Council, Cambodia is of the view that priority should

be given to increasing the representation of developing

countries, which comprise a vast majority of the United

Nations membership. For many years, many have

raised the matter of reform, but unfortunately particular

interests have prevailed over the world’s concerns and

prevented the reform from taking place.