Italy, 2006

I wish to offer you my

congratulations, Madam President, on your election to

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

first session. Your experience in international affairs is

the best guarantee of the success of your term. At the

same time I express to your predecessor, Mr. Jan

Eliasson, our sincere thanks for his effective and

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balanced leadership of the sixtieth session. My special

appreciation goes also to Kofi Annan for having

dedicated his life to the Organization, particularly in

the past 10 years as Secretary-General, leading it

through difficult challenges and laying the groundwork

for its reform. Thank you, Kofi.

It was in this city on 11 September five years ago

that the dramatic realization was forced upon us of just

how dangerous the world has become. On that day we

knew that the new millennium would hold

unpredictable and complex threats extending beyond

national borders; global threats against which notions

of protection inside national borders are illusory;

asymmetrical threats that are difficult to counter

effectively with the instruments previously used to

settle conflicts.

Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction have

changed traditional society and its values. They have

rendered obsolete systems of collective defence and

security based on deterrence. The old solutions to the

world’s problems — the logic of balance and

hegemony — are no longer enough to guarantee

stability and security. These new threats add a new

element to a list that includes regional conflicts in the

Middle East, Asia and Africa; pandemics; problems of

development and the gap between North and South;

human rights abuses; mass migrations; and issues

concerning energy and the environment. These are

phenomena that it is also impossible to resolve without

a collective assumption of responsibility.

If we wish to govern these phenomena we need to

be equal to their dimensions. No country, however

strong and powerful, can take on such complex

challenges single-handedly. Global threats demand a

global response. In the final analysis, this means

collective partnership. To have chosen as the theme of

the sixty-first session “Implementing a global

partnership for development” was thus particularly

appropriate. Without collective action by the countries

in the northern and southern hemispheres, international

organizations and institutions, the public and private

sector and civil society, it will be impossible to achieve

the goals we have set.

First and foremost we need to reinvigorate

multilateralism, by which I mean above all restoring

the central, fundamental role of the United Nations.

The recent experience in Lebanon and the

strengthening of the United Nations Interim Force in

Lebanon (UNIFIL) is one example of how the United

Nations can regain its crucial importance in the

resolution of international controversies. Above all, it

demonstrates — and this is the key point — that if the

stakeholders are willing to confer upon the United

Nations a strong, central role, the Organization is well

able to fulfil it.

In Lebanon we are still at square one, and much

remains to be done. To underestimate the risk of this

mission would be a serious mistake. We must,

however, be pleased with how the United Nations, its

Member States and — allow me to add — the

European Union have addressed a situation that only

two months ago risked getting out of hand, but which

today presents a series of opportunities for the Middle

East as a whole. We should be pleased to have set up a

mission that represents the entire international

community, a tangible expression of the very global

partnership that we are discussing today. For, while it

is true that Europe provides the backbone of UNIFIL,

it cannot carry out its mission effectively without the

contributions of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,

Russia, Turkey and the many other non-European

countries participating.

The question we must ask at this point is this:

what do we need to do in order to continue the work

just begun in Lebanon? More generally, in view of the

crises and emergencies that surround us, what does the

United Nations need in order to fulfil the principles of

the Charter? It needs two things: first, quick

completion of the reforms, and, secondly, the strong

and unconditional support of its Members.

On the issue of reform, last year, after an intense

series of negotiations, a moment of summary allowed

us to lay the groundwork for giving the United Nations

a more incisive role, to the benefit of the international

community. The Peacebuilding Commission is the first

major result, because it highlights the indestructible

bond between development, security and human rights.

A priority commitment to human rights and their

safeguarding should be the goal of any country that

wishes to lend greater ethical authority to its foreign

policy. The results achieved by the reform on this

point, through the establishment of the new Human

Rights Council, are still being examined. The other

significant outcome is the affirmation of the principle

of the responsibility to protect, so that the international

community will no longer be indifferent to acts of

genocide.

17 06-52879

But it is on the General Assembly and the

Security Council that we must focus our attention, by

restoring the central role of the General Assembly as

the main decision-making, representative and policy-

making body of the United Nations; and by renewing

efforts to reform the Security Council, in terms both of

its working methods and its composition. In the current

situation Member States thus need to send a strong

political signal that will help us to begin a new chapter

and open the way to an innovative approach.

In other words, we need to enter a period of

negotiation which has thus far eluded us, a period in

which, rather than seeking to impose positions and

models, we can undertake a true comparison of

positions for the purpose of achieving solutions that are

not divisive but, rather, enable the widest possible

consensus. But a word of caution: everything is

negotiable except for the ownership of the

Organization by the Member States, by all of us, an

ownership that represents the true pillar on which

United Nations multilateralism must rest.

Another way for the United Nations to regain the

forcefulness and credibility it needs to fulfil its mission

is by strengthening the role of its great regional

stakeholders. I am thinking first of the European

Union, because if Europe is stronger the United

Nations will be stronger. The world and the United

Nations do not need a Europe that hesitates. Rather,

they need a Europe that is able to play its part in

meeting the challenges that await us. Europe, in turn,

must become more aware that only by contributing to

the resolution of global tensions can it give greater

security and prosperity to its citizens.

The conditions for performing this role are there.

The numbers alone make the European Union a global

actor — 25 countries with a total population of more

than 450 million, representing one fourth of the world’s

gross domestic product and every month allocating

€500 million to third countries. Yet these numbers do

not correspond to a comparable ability for the

European Union to make a difference outside its own

borders.

In the work of the Assembly and its various

committees, the European Union is becoming a key

actor. At every debate and on every resolution its

position represents a point of reference in shaping the

attitudes of the other regional groups. Our goal should

be to acquire a similar ability within the Security

Council. It may be a slow process, which will have to

take into account points of resistance and stubborn

legacies, but it should be pursued with determination.

Only if Europe wields a more incisive influence on the

issues of peace and security can it be considered a true

global actor. The Balkan tragedies in the early 1990s

were the result of an absent Europe. But when it is

present, and when it is united, Europe can make the

difference. That is what we are seeing in the Lebanese

crisis. During the sixty-first session of the General

Assembly, and in the course of its biennium in the

Security Council, Italy will make a special effort to

increase the commitment and role of the European

Union at the United Nations.

Our aim is to make the Organization more

effective in the areas and on the issues in which, by

history and vocation, it can provide the most added

value. The proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, has to be

seen today in the context, above all, of the negotiation

under way with Iran. But it is our duty to look further

ahead and to strive, all together, to consolidate the

general non-proliferation system. That principle will

inspire the action of Italy when it enters the Security

Council.

With regard to the Iranian nuclear file, we are

ready to make our contribution to a negotiated solution

that promotes regional security and stability.

In the Middle East, as I mentioned earlier, we

need to seize our opportunities and openings , aware

that there will be no peace until the Palestinian

question has been resolved, with an independent,

sovereign, vital and contiguous Palestinian state next to

the state of Israel, and both within secure and

internationally recognized borders.

That grave regional crisis should not lead us to

forget Africa — long suffering, prey to ongoing crises,

and even poorer than it was two decades ago. The

situation in Darfur is critical. We cannot stand by and

watch, for the simple reason that time has run out. We

need to act quickly and strive for a gradual assumption

of responsibility by the United Nations, in compliance

with the decisions of the Security Council. The

situation in the Horn of Africa is also a source of

concern. Here a strong commitment is required from

the Security Council, where, starting on 1 January

2007, Italy will make its contribution also, on the basis

of its experience in the region. When I speak of Africa,

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I mean primarily the gap between the northern and

southern hemispheres, the phenomenon at the root of

almost all the ills afflicting our era. It is that gap,

above all, that causes the massive migratory flows that

we cannot ignore and that we must address with

realism, responsibility, equanimity, and especially

solidarity.

In the Mediterranean we are working with our

partners to address immigration on the basis of those

principles, and seeking to facilitate legal flows and to

counter both the illegal flows and the parties that profit

from them, seeking to facilitate the integration into our

countries of those who have immigrated legally, filled

with hope and the desire to work.

But there is another dangerous gap that risks

leaving an even deeper gash in the world. I am

referring to what until a few years ago was called a

clash of civilizations and religions between the

Christian and Islamic worlds. I refuse to believe that

such a clash exists. Extremists and fanatics do exist,

but civilizations and religions were made for the sake

of dialogue, exchange and mutual enrichment. We can

promote, and we want to promote, this relationship by

building new policies to bring us closer to the countries

on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, with the

goal of making that sea a basin of peace and

harmonious coexistence among diverse civilizations

and religions.

Let me return to the central issue of this session,

the global partnership for development, in order to

clarify one point. There is a risk that the reinvigoration

of multilateralism, United Nations reform, and a

collective commitment to the various theatres of crisis

will produce no lasting effect unless development

issues are treated as priorities. It is up to the United

Nations as the driving force, the glue of solidarity

among peoples, and the fullest expression of

multilateralism, to keep development at the top of the

international agenda. For it is in the connection

between security, solidarity and development that the

added value of the United Nations lies, in the full

awareness that there can be no peace without

development and no development without peace.

It is not enough to enunciate at this rostrum, as

speakers have been doing for six years now, the words

“Millennium Development Goals”. We must get to

work and carry them out, starting with the adoption of

the financial, trade, technological and environmental

steps required and aiming for a very specific, ambitious

goal that responds above all to a moral duty: to

guarantee a dignified life for every human being.

I wish to conclude with a few considerations on

the fundamental principles and values that inspire our

action when we deal with multilateralism, the search

for peace, security and development, and north-south

relations. All these issues coalesce in a defence of life

and struggle against all forms of hatred, violence,

discrimination and marginalization, undeniable values

that, together with democratic principles, are the

foundations of coexistence among peoples and should

inspire the action of the world’s nations. Today, sadly,

these values are still denied and trampled upon, as if

we had learned nothing from the horrors of the past.

We cannot sit by watching indifferently in the face of

barbarous acts. We are for peace and solidarity. We are

against the death penalty, injustice and human

suffering. That is something we must always

remember, especially on the eve of major decisions.

That is what is expected of us from those who

sacrificed their lives for peace, for a righteous cause,

for an ideal, to defend freedom, the same freedom that

we enjoy every day in a democracy.