Lithuania, 2007

It is always inspiring to

come to this forum and, time and again, observe that

there are many more things that unite rather than divide

nations around the globe. Indeed, we are united in our

vision of a world free of violence, where every

individual has freedom of choice and where human

dignity is respected. We are united in our aspirations to

meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, because

we know that in a globalized world a threat to one

nation is a threat to all nations.

Nowhere is this new reality more evident than in

the much-needed work of the United Nations. Poverty,

imbalances in development, armaments, the spread of

ideologies of hatred, cybercrime: those are some of the

threats that we face today. The new, daunting

challenges are different in kind. Therefore, both

individual States and the international community have

to find ways to deal with this new reality and how to

respond better to new challenges.

Seven years ago, at this United Nations conclave,

all nations made a historic step, pledging to eradicate

poverty, illiteracy and environmental degradation, and

to improve health and promote gender equality. That

was our response to the challenges of the time. This

year, we are halfway to the 2015 deadline for achieving

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Over the

past few years, an estimated 135 million people

managed to get out of extreme poverty. Significant

positive changes are taking place in the fields of

primary education for poor children, child vaccination

and better access to retroviral treatment for persons

with HIV/AIDS, to name but a few.

Yet overall progress in achieving the Millennium

Development Goals remains uneven and too slow. If

we want to live up to our commitments, we must

increase our efforts considerably and urgently.

The twenty-first century has also confronted us

with such challenges as a deteriorating environment.

Global warming affects all aspects of our lives from

social and economic growth to changing habitats and

migration patterns. Time is clearly not on our side. We

are taking measures to adapt our policies to counter

climate change, but our actions are obviously too slow

and sometimes too reluctant. Therefore, Lithuania

welcomes the Secretary-General’s focus on climate

change as a global challenge that requires global

concerted efforts. We believe that the United Nations

climate change process is the appropriate forum for

negotiating future global action in this effort.

But that already may not be enough. I am

convinced that the world needs a more coherent and

inclusive system of international environmental

governance. This system needs to be strengthened by

establishing a United Nations Environment

Organization, based on the United Nations

Environment Programme (UNEP) with a revised

mandate. With December’s Bali climate change

conference in mind, I call on all countries to come to

the negotiating table later this year with the ambition

of concluding by 2009 a global and comprehensive

post-2012 agreement. Before such an agreement is

reached, Lithuania is doing its best to fulfil the

commitment of the European Union to achieve at least

a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by

2020 compared to 1990 levels.

We have started to focus on a wider use of

indigenous and renewable energy resources. The share

of these resources in the primary energy balance in

Lithuania will increase up to 12 per cent by the year

2010. Last year alone, we planted 21,000 hectares of

trees, an area that corresponds to 32,000 soccer fields.

For a country the size of Lithuania, that is no small

measure. These are but a few of the concrete steps by

which my country shows political will sufficient to

fight new global challenges.

The necessity to fit in and effectively integrate

into the international system has been the cornerstone

of our policies since we regained our independence in

1990. Membership in the European Union and NATO

is the best example of success in that effort. Now we

are taking on increasing responsibility in the fields of

security, stability and sustainability in our region and

beyond. We are active at the front of the war against

terrorism, including our contribution to restoring

stability and security in Iraq. We are leading a

Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan’s Ghor

province. Over the past two years, Lithuania has

doubled its development aid budget and has committed

to increasing it to 0.33 per cent of its gross national

income by 2015. Our contribution to global security

and the vision of inclusiveness and of building a

“Europe whole and free” motivated Lithuania to offer

its candidacy for the chairmanship of the Organization

for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010.

If Lithuania and the Baltic region in general are a

success story in terms of establishing themselves in a

new global environment, some countries in our region

are not. We may only guess why those countries

perceive the integration of democracies on their

borders as a national threat. We feel sorry for a society

at large when its Government chooses to spend the

country’s natural riches on guns and not on democratic

reforms. Clearly, we should not tolerate attempts to

falsify historical facts about the Soviet occupation of

the Baltic States or the denial of the deliberately

caused Holodomor in Ukraine, which killed millions.

Fitting in is never easy. Therefore, we consider

that the United Nations could help Member States to

efficiently integrate into the international system, as

the European Union is already doing by engaging its

neighbours in this process through various

neighbourhood instruments and cooperation formats.

However, our readiness to stand up and speak

openly to States if they cross the line is also an

indispensable element of that effort. We should ask

ourselves: where did we fail, that the killings of

hundreds of thousands of innocent people were

permitted to take place in Darfur?

Today conflicts occur on every continent, with

particularly grave consequences in Africa and the

Middle East. Some conflicts in the world, however, are

less visible. But that does not make them less

dangerous. Frozen conflicts in Eastern Europe and the

South Caucasus may become very hot one day unless

we act immediately. We consider it morally

unacceptable for the international community to remain

indifferent to the frozen conflicts in the GUAM area.

Let us not forget that it is not only the conflicts that are

frozen; the lives and dreams of the people living in

those areas of artificial conflict are also frozen. That is

where the United Nations should be more visible and

more outspoken. That also applies to Kosovo, where

attempts to create another frozen conflict must be

excluded.

It is not only States, but also the United Nations

itself that must adapt to new, changing realities. We

encourage the Secretary-General to continue the reform

of the United Nations, in particular making the

Organization’s operational system more consolidated,

coherent and effective, with the highest standards of

conduct and ethics. We must proceed with real actions

in carrying through the reform of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General has my full support in this

context. He should be applauded for his bold and

forward-thinking vision of the reform in United

Nations peacekeeping. We welcome all efforts by the

United Nations to streamline and reform the

peacekeeping procurement system.

I encourage the United Nations to further

strengthen, develop and use its capabilities in the area

of good offices and conflict prevention, as envisioned

in the 2005 World Summit Outcome (resolution 60/1).

That would enable us to address many issues in a more

efficient manner and, hopefully, to avoid costly

peacekeeping operations.

The prevention of nuclear proliferation and the

pursuit of nuclear disarmament in accordance with the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

are crucial for global peace and security. We need to

strengthen the authority of the Treaty. Lithuania will

support the process leading to the elaboration of a

binding international arms trade treaty. Lithuania will

also continue to increase practical assistance and

funding to international mine action projects and the

implementation of the Programme of Action on Small

Arms and Light Weapons.

Two years have passed since the adoption of the

World Summit Outcome, which elaborated on the

concept of the responsibility to protect, and yet we

have been too slow in responding to massive violations

of human rights and mass atrocities. The principle of

the responsibility to protect can no longer be confined

to paper. We therefore encourage the Secretary-General

to follow up on the World Summit document and take

measures to operationalize that principle.

Only a reformed and proactive United Nations

will be truly instrumental and effective. Only such a

United Nations will have the required support and

financing. Only such a United Nations will be trusted

by the people.

The ability to adapt is the quality of the strong.

Fitting in is the least we can do for future generations.

It is the responsibility of every nation and the

international community as such.