Indonesia, 2007

Let me begin by stating

how much I welcome and support the theme of this

year’s sixty-second session of the General Assembly,

which is “Responding to climate change”.

I stand here representing the good people of

Indonesia, who are very eager to welcome

representatives to the Bali conference in December this

year. When they come to our country, they will see a

great nation whose multi-ethnic and multi-religious

people live in harmony with one another and in

harmony with mother Earth, the way they have for

thousands of years.

Indonesia is a country that has felt and suffered

the effects of climate change. In recent years, we have

been hit by a series of natural disasters in the form of

floods, drought, forest fires, El Niño, tsunamis and

earthquakes. The issue of climate change has made us

see interdependence in a completely new light. When it

comes to global warming, we are much more

interdependent than we thought in terms of the causes,

symptoms and solutions.

We must uphold the principle of common and

differentiated responsibilities and respective

capabilities, but there is always room for every

country, every community and every individual to be

more flexible, more innovative and more inclusive.

A persistent theme in our discussions on climate

change yesterday was the need for urgency, which

means the need for action and the need to think outside

the box. I count myself as an optimist who sees today a

larger window of opportunity to strike a global

consensus to tackle global warming.

We will have that chance in Bali. The Bali

conference must yield a new road map on climate

change, and that new road map must spell out what

must be done by both the developed and the developing

worlds to save humankind and its planet from the

looming tragedy of climate change. It must link the

solution to the problem of climate change with

sustainable development the conquest of poverty. It

must produce an outcome and timeline that will be

more comprehensive and more ambitious in achieving

its practical objective of reducing greenhouse gas

emissions.

We developing countries must protect our natural

resources while using them wisely for development.

Among the most valuable of our natural resources are

our forests. From them, we extract economic wealth;

through them, we store an immense volume of carbon

that would otherwise pollute the atmosphere.

On that basis, yesterday Indonesia took the

initiative of launching a special leaders’ meeting of

tropical rainforest countries. At that meeting, we

leaders of the countries having custody of a great

portion of the world’s rainforests decided to intensify

our cooperation in forest conservation and

reforestation.

We also believe that countries that seek to

enhance their carbon sinks through forestation,

afforestation and avoided deforestation should be

given incentives and rewarded fairly for doing so.

Throughout our deliberations on climate change,

let us always keep an eye on the requirements of

development. That means we must not lose sight of the

imperative to conquer poverty as a basic problem of

the human condition.

In Indonesia we have a national dream, which is

reflected in our 1945 Constitution. We dream that we

and our future generations can enjoy the blessings of

peace, freedom, justice and prosperity. And we dream

of seeing to it that the same blessings are enjoyed by

the rest of humankind. Poverty can kill that dream.

That is why the new Indonesia of today is fully

dedicated to the fight against poverty. For that purpose,

our national economic policy is focused on the

development of rural areas, where the vast majority of

our people live and where they wage a daily struggle

against the ravages of poverty. That is why we are so

intent on making the national business climate friendly

and attractive to foreign direct investment, so that jobs

will be created for our millions of unemployed people.

That is why we are so intent on eradicating the taint of

corruption from our society. And that is why our

foreign policy addresses the need for a truly

functioning global partnership for development,

because only such a partnership can ultimately conquer

the basic problem of poverty.

Peace in the Middle East is crucial to long-term

global stability. But there can be no peace in the

Middle East unless there is justice, especially justice

for the Palestinian people. A divided Palestinian nation

cannot secure justice. Hamas and Fatah must therefore

engage in dialogue and reconcile their agendas. The

Arab initiative must catalyse political change in the

region.

Indonesia has a long history of participating in

United Nations peacekeeping operations that dates

back to the Suez conflict, in 1956. We are taking part

in the operation in Lebanon today. We are determined

to maintain that proud tradition of involvement in

global concerns. That, I believe, is what humankind

needs most today, namely, the involvement of

everyone. There must be a global partnership at work.

Developed and developing countries must work

together with a greater sense of partnership and of

urgency.

Therefore, to solve the problem of climate change

the Bali Conference must set the stage for a genuine

partnership between developed and developing

countries and all other stakeholders. Developed

countries must extend support while developing

countries strive to protect and enhance their

environment and its biodiversity. They must lighten the

burden of developing countries in carrying out that

immense task through incentives and the transfer of

environmentally sound technology.

While developing countries are in hot pursuit of

their Millennium Development Goals, the developed

world can greatly help ensure the success of the Doha

Development Round. Developed countries must ensure

sufficient flows of financing for development through

foreign direct investment and official development

assistance. They must facilitate the transfer of

technology for development.

We in the developing world, on the other hand,

must prudently manage our natural and human

resources. We must practise good governance. We must

fight corruption at all levels so that our resources will

not be wasted. We must see to it that the human rights

of our citizens are promoted and protected.

No partnership works without teamwork, and no

teamwork is possible without constant effective

communication. That means dialogue. After all,

dialogue is the best way to exercise soft power.

Dialogue and soft power can greatly advance the cause

of disarmament and non-proliferation. Dialogue and

soft power have helped resolve various intra-State

conflicts including in Aceh, where two years ago we

reached a peaceful political settlement that

permanently ended the conflict. Dialogue and soft

power can also be a major instrument in addressing the

root causes of terrorism.

That is why I am a firm advocate of dialogue

among faiths, cultures and civilizations. I urge that the

dialogue in the Alliance of Civilizations be fully

integrated into the work of the United Nations. Sincere

dialogue can lead to the formation of an effective

global partnership on climate change, which is also a

partnership for sustainable development. I look

forward to such a dialogue taking place at the Bali

Conference this coming December. That will be a

vitally important dialogue, for it can set off a chain of

events that will lead to the fulfilment of the dream of

billions for a safer, better life. It will certainly add

sheen to the national dream of Indonesia our

common dream for a better world of peace, social

justice and equitably shared prosperity.