Eswatini, 2009

It is a pleasure for me to

address the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth

session. Our coming here as leaders gives us the

opportunity to debate global challenges as per our

objectives and goals as enshrined in the United Nations

Charter.

The United Nations is a forum where we all come

together to share ideas, review progress and come up

with strategies to deal with world issues that need our

attention and input. The founders of this Organization

had a noble idea of addressing world issues amicably

with a view to avoiding confrontation. Therefore, we

are supposed to meet as equal partners to debate issues

that affect us as the world community, in a forum

where we are guided by the principles of trust, respect

and natural justice. The aim of the United Nations is to

bring joy and peace to the nations of the world. Let us

make sure that people develop confidence in the United

Nations so that they can approach the Organization

when they have problems.

We note that Africa has multiple problems that

seriously hinder its progress in the areas of health, the

economy, poverty and social welfare, which all come

under the Millennium Development Goals. It is our aim

as the African continent to evolve from being third

world countries to a first world status. That calls on

us — Africa in general and Swaziland in particular —

to work harder and smarter in order to realize that goal

and generate a strong economy for the betterment of

the lives of all our peoples.

However, we realize that we cannot effectively

deal with the challenges confronting us alone, mainly

because our resources are limited. It is through the

United Nations that we continue to forge partnerships

with different countries so that we work together to

grow our economies. We appeal to the developed

nations to recognize our hard work and to increase our

access to soft loans and grants to support development

programmes and poverty-reduction strategies. We call

on the United Nations to continue supporting national

initiatives aimed at eventually transforming our

economies to first world economies.

However, the global financial and economic crisis

has made the situation difficult, especially for

developing countries. It restrains us from achieving the

Millennium Development Goals.

The secondary effects of the crisis are now hitting

hard on developing economies, like that of the

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Kingdom of Swaziland, whose export trade is largely

dependent on performance in developed global

markets. In our case, several Government interventions

have been undertaken to rescue sectors such as the pulp

and textile industries. Added to this is the need to

mobilize resources and promote financial inclusion in

order to stimulate economic growth at the grassroots

level. In that regard, financial inclusion remains an

important stimulus for poverty alleviation programmes

in developing countries like the Kingdom of

Swaziland.

We are encouraged by signs of recovery from the

crisis, and we are confident that the United Nations

will continue to play its leading role in the efforts to

find a speedy resolution to the situation so that we may

all focus on development issues for the benefit of all

our peoples.

It is most unfortunate that while we do our level

best to improve our economies, we continue to be

confronted by disturbances and conflicts that include

wars and coups. We condemn those acts, as they lead to

untold suffering for millions of our peoples. As nations

of the world, let us come together and make sure that

such acts are not supported or encouraged. We call

upon all nations of the world to isolate and discourage

the sympathizers and sponsors. Where there are

problems, the peoples of the world must know that they

can address the challenges that they encounter through

peaceful engagement and dialogue.

If we want to achieve peace in the world, it is

important that we reduce and eventually eradicate

nuclear arms, which pose a threat to our planet. We

need to encourage nations that are at the stage of

developing, and those that already possess, nuclear

capability to utilize it for power generation that

supports and stimulates economic growth. Therefore,

we encourage the International Atomic Energy Agency

to continue to monitor countries that are developing

nuclear arms so that they may be stopped. It must also

ensure that countries that already have nuclear

capability reduce and eventually eradicate their nuclear

arms so that they become a thing of the past. In order

to accelerate the eradication of nuclear arms, the

United Nations must set targets and timelines for

compliance.

Another issue of concern is the continuing delay

of the reform of the Security Council. Many nations

have come to the conclusion that the Council

membership needs to be expanded so that it is more

representative, so that its decisions may be owned by

all Member States.

Africa has adopted firm and clear resolutions on

the Council composition they would like to see. Those

decisions were further affirmed at the recent summit of

the Non-Aligned Movement. Regrettably, we still have

not seen meaningful progress on that matter. We

therefore would like to call on all members of the

Security Council to address that issue with the urgency

that it deserves.

We are encouraged by the call made by fellow

leaders for us to open a new page in the work of the

United Nations by approaching global matters

collectively. It is imperative that the United Nations

take the lead in all issues that affect mankind. The

reform of the Security Council is one such area that

could clearly demonstrate the new approach to issues.

The Kingdom of Swaziland reiterates its support

for the efforts deployed by the international community

under the auspices of the United Nations towards a

political solution to the issue of Western Sahara. We

reaffirm that the initiative by the Kingdom of Morocco

for considerable autonomy for Western Sahara is the

beginning of a realistic and credible move. The

Kingdom of Swaziland calls upon all parties to join the

process in order to implement Security Council

resolutions 1813 (2008) and 1871 (2009).

The Kingdom of Swaziland continues to support

efforts to bring lasting peace to the situation in the

Darfur region, Somalia, Madagascar and other parts of

our continent.

I take this opportunity to express my appreciation

for the support and assistance being extended to the

Inclusive Government and the people of the Republic

of Zimbabwe by the nations of the world and by

international organizations. I also wish to echo the call

and appeal of the Southern African Development

Community for the immediate removal of all sanctions

against Zimbabwe, in order to ensure the speedy

recovery of the economy of that country for the benefit

of its long-suffering people.

As we gather here, we also wait with anticipation

for the outcome of the Israeli and Palestinian peace

efforts. We have seen the two parties enter into

promising peace agreements in the past that,

regrettably, faltered along the way. We call upon the

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two parties to continue to pursue peace to avoid loss of

life and to live in harmony.

We are happy to acknowledge the improvements

in the relations between the Republic of China on

Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China. That new

development has resulted in the international

community responding positively to the request of

Taiwan to be involved in United Nations agencies, as

evidenced by the granting of observer status in the

World Health Assembly. We look forward to seeing

Taiwan being allowed to fully contribute to humanity

by being given adequate participation in other United

Nations specialized agencies.

It is encouraging that this year’s General

Assembly was preceded by the Summit on Climate

Change, where issues of environmental protection were

given priority, as they are critical to all our

development strategies. The Summit noted that some

developed countries pollute the environment, mainly

through gas emissions, despite all the protocols in

place to protect it.

I am confident that the Summit was able to

mobilize adequate political support to guide the

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held

in Copenhagen in December, where developed

countries will be able to share their experiences and the

challenges that they faced. This will inform the agenda

that will lead to the transfer of skills and technology so

that, as developing countries pursue their growth, they

can avoid the mistakes of the past.

We cannot overemphasize the need to protect the

environment, as it is a precious gift from God to

humanity and must be preserved for generations to

come. We support the call for the establishment of a

major fund to cater to all projects related to climate

change. We are hopeful that Copenhagen will come up

with solutions for funding climate-change projects that

will be predictable, accessible and incremental. The

Kingdom of Swaziland is determined to work harder to

meet the targets set by the United Nations.

In conclusion let me say that the Kingdom of

Swaziland appreciates the good work of the United

Nations and its related agencies, which remain the only

hope for overcoming the many complex challenges

facing the world today. We therefore take pride in

reaffirming our commitment to the principles and

ideals contained in the United Nations Charter.