Malawi, 2006

I take this opportunity,

Madam President, to warmly congratulate you on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at

its sixty-first session. My delegation welcomes your

leadership and assures you of our unwavering support

as you carry out your duties. We are confident that

under your able leadership the reform programmes of

the United Nations will be advanced.

I also take this opportunity to thank your

predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for the leadership he

provided in steering the affairs of the sixtieth session.

My delegation noted with satisfaction the service he

rendered, and also noted that under his presidency

positive advances were made towards the reform of the

United Nations.

Malawi welcomes the admission of the Republic

of Montenegro as the 192nd Member of the United

Nations. Malawi wishes President Filip Vujanovic and

the people of the Republic of Montenegro continued

peace and prosperity as they chart the way forward and

take their place in the United Nations.

At the end of this year we bid farewell to

Mr. Kofi Annan, who has served as Secretary-General

for two consecutive terms. I am happy to join previous

speakers in paying tribute to Mr. Annan for the

dynamic leadership he has provided to the United

Nations during his tenure of office.

Mr. Annan had many achievements, but perhaps

one of the greatest was his ability to remain calm and

well focused under great pressure. During his tenure of

office the United Nations faced daunting challenges,

including the fight against famine, hunger and natural

disasters in many parts of the world; civil wars in

Africa and conflicts in the Middle East and the Gulf

region; international terrorism; and the fight against

HIV/AIDS. It is therefore with great pleasure that, on

behalf of the people of Malawi, and on my own behalf,

I honour and pay tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan for his

sterling service to the United Nations. I trust that he

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will continue to be of service to humanity in other

capacities.

The theme of this year’s session, “Implementing

a global partnership for development,” is very

pertinent, because during the 2005 session we renewed

the mandate of the United Nations to meet the

challenges of the millennium, such as eradicating

global poverty and injustice, and the promotion of

democracy, human rights, peace, security and stability

in Member nations. We asserted that these are essential

ingredients for sustainable economic and social

development and that they are interlinked and mutually

reinforcing in the quest for the betterment and well-

being of humanity as a whole.

I believe that in the search for global partnership

for development the greatest challenge that the United

Nations faces is to eradicate the poverty that engulfs

the majority of humanity.

I believe that global peace, security and stability

cannot be assured if the greater section of humanity

lives in abject poverty. It is our hope that those who

have will learn to share with those who do not have.

In order to present to the Assembly the need for a

global partnership framework as a way to achieve a

faster and sustainable rate of economic growth, let me

use my own country as an example. In Malawi we have

determined priorities to fast track socio-economic

growth for the people. We are cognizant that in a poor

nation like ours everything becomes a priority, but we

have agreed on a set of “priorities within priorities”

that we want to implement in the next five years. These

are agriculture and food security, irrigation and water

development, transport and communications

infrastructure, energy, integrated rural development

and the prevention and management of HIV/AIDS. We

believe that, when fully implemented, these sectors

will, together, pull our people out of poverty.

We have given the highest priority to agriculture

and food security because this sector is a mainstay of

our economy and we intend to make Malawi a hunger-

free nation. We are assisting smallholder and peasant

farmers to increase their productivity in food and cash

crops by providing cheap fertilizers and high-quality

farm inputs. This will provide food security as well as

expand agro-processing industries, and it will mean

adding value to our products. We seek international

support in this area.

Secondly, we need international partnership in

irrigation and water development. This would reduce

our country’s dependence on rain-fed agriculture. We

aim at having small-, medium- and large-scale

irrigation schemes and the construction of multi-

purpose dams throughout the country. This will enable

Malawi to produce enough food even when rains fail.

Thirdly, we consider transport and

communications infrastructure to be essential for

growth and development and, indeed, a good candidate

for international partnership. We are convinced that

through well developed road networks we will not only

improve movement of goods and services from rural

areas to the urban centres, but also enhance domestic

and international trade.

More importantly, Malawi seeks global

partnership in opening up access to the Indian Ocean

through the existing Shire-Zambezi waterway, which is

navigable all the way from an inland port in Malawi to

the port of Chinde, in Mozambique, on the Indian

Ocean, only 238 kilometres away. This waterway

would benefit Malawi and other southern African

countries, especially Mozambique, Zambia, Rwanda,

Burundi and Zimbabwe.

Fourthly, Malawi has selected energy as another

area of international partnership. We believe that it is

imperative for our country to develop adequate and

reliable energy for agriculture, irrigation, transport,

industry and all other areas of economic

transformation.

Fifthly, Malawi would welcome international

partnership in promoting integrated rural development

aimed at eradicating poverty among the rural

communities. We have recognized that the economic

stratification of our country is such that the greater

percentage of the people live in rural areas in squalid

conditions. We seek donor support to boldly take

development to rural areas through promoting rural

growth centres.

Lastly, Malawi seeks international partnership in

HIV/AIDS prevention and management. We recognize

that our country on its own, without the full support of

the international community, cannot successfully wage

the battle against HIV/AIDS. I am happy to say that

during the past two years Malawi has made tremendous

progress in AIDS awareness campaigns, the supply of

anti-retroviral drugs and voluntary testing.

3 06-52988

This is Malawi’s agenda for implementing a

global partnership for development. I am submitting

this agenda to the United Nations for support.

Before I end my statement, I need to mention two

important issues.

First, through a global partnership, Malawi has

reached the completion point of the Heavily Indebted

Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. I and the people of

Malawi are truly grateful that our multilateral debts

have been cancelled by the International Monetary

Fund and the World Bank. We thank the [G-8 countries

for spearheading the Initiative and for their

commitment to it. We believe that this is a true

example of global partnership in development.

The second issue that is germane to global

partnership is for me to reiterate my plea for the

readmission of the Republic of China – Taiwan — as a

Member of the United Nations. Many of those present

will agree that since the end of the cold war, and with

the advent of globalization, Taiwan has quietly

contributed to the work of the United Nations and its

specialized agencies in various areas, including

technology, medicine, research, industry and

international trade. That contribution becomes

increasingly important, especially within the principle

of universality, equity and justice.

Let me conclude by drawing attention to the

report entitled “In larger freedom: towards

development, security and human rights for all”, by

Mr. Kofi Annan, who stated:

“The right to choose how they are ruled, and who

rules them, must be the birthright of all people,

and its universal achievement must be a central

objective of an Organization devoted to the cause

of larger freedom.” (A/59/2005, para. 148)

To me, such larger freedom means the freedom of

every nation to belong to the United Nations, the

freedom from oppression of one nation by another, and

freedom for every nation to contribute to the global

partnership for development. These are the freedoms of

the United Nations that should be cherished and

upheld.

I therefore appeal to the Security Council to

reconsider the fact that Taiwan should be granted

observer status in the United Nations and its

specialized agencies, pending a full review of its

membership. I am convinced that continued denial of

Taiwan’s participation in the community of nations

poses a moral and legal challenge to the United

Nations.