Morocco, 2008

Allow

me to begin by warmly congratulating His Excellency

Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann upon his election to

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

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third session. His election honours his long-lasting

personal commitment to the preservation of peace and

security and, particularly, his constant efforts to

encourage reconciliation in Central America. I also

wish to thank Mr. Srgjan Kerim for his excellent

service as President of the General Assembly at its

previous session.

I would also like to thank the Secretary-General,

Ban Ki-moon, for his generous and ongoing efforts to

help reform our Organization, in particular those

aiming to improve its working methods and its

interaction with its Member States.

Twenty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall

marked the end of a cold war era that had been

characterized by ideological divisions, arms races and

a weak multilateral system with inefficient

mechanisms. With the end of that era came great hope

and aspirations from the world’s peoples, leading some

to believe in the beginning of a new world order — a

world order that would not only be more fair and

equitable, but also distinguished by a culture of

forgiveness among its nations. That new order was also

meant to spread the values of democracy and human

rights, giving priority to development and the better

and more efficient utilization of technological

advancements. At the same time, some people

predicted that that new world order would restore

prestige to the United Nations, allowing it to achieve

more consensus on international issues.

Rather than fulfilling the expectations of a better

world after the cold war, today’s reality has seen an

increase in regional and internal conflicts, especially

on the African continent. This situation is exacerbated

by a race for energy resources and a frenzied

exploitation of precious minerals.

At the economic and trade levels, the launch of

the World Trade Organization in 1994 in Marrakesh led

to a substantial acceleration of world trade exchanges,

but it did not create a fair trade system that would

respond to the expectations of developing countries.

Indeed, in spite of the efforts deployed in

numerous United Nations conferences, official

development assistance (ODA) has significantly

decreased over recent years. In fact, the assistance

provided by donor countries does not meet the

expectations of developing countries despite the

former’s commitment to increase their global annual

assistance to developing countries to $50 billion by

2010.

Therefore, notwithstanding the progress achieved

over previous years, Morocco, in addition to other

countries, expresses its concern regarding the delay in

the launching of development processes in many

African countries. That delay is partly due to the

complexity of the current international situation

particularly marked by economic and financial crises,

which have had an impact on food security and the

energy needs of these countries. Those circumstances

undermine years of ongoing efforts towards the

development of African countries. In order to improve

that situation, the Kingdom of Morocco urges the

United Nations and relevant financial institutions to

undertake all the arrangements necessary to stabilize

the food market, to maintain social stability in

developing countries and to open the market to

agricultural products, taking into consideration the

circumstances of the least developed countries.

The weak role of the United Nations in

maintaining peace and security throughout the world

during the cold war period was followed by a new

phase, during which the multilateral system was

characterized by the convening of several meetings and

conferences focused on various global issues, as well

as by the deployment of numerous peacekeeping

operations, especially in Africa. As a troop-

contributing country, Morocco has spared no efforts to

increase its involvement in United Nations

peacekeeping forces. The Kingdom is also actively

promoting the enhancement of South-South

cooperation by giving priority to African countries.

To parallel the changes taking place in the

international arena, United Nations Member States

launched major reforms centred on improving the

Organization’s actions, reinforcing its role and

enhancing its mechanisms. Nevertheless, some

weaknesses remain in coordination among the various

United Nations bodies and between the Organization

itself and regional organizations. That is particularly

evident in the efforts to contain and prevent regional

conflicts with potential spillover effects.

At this point, it is important to strengthen

multilateralism in order to meet new challenges and to

put in place a new order based on justice and equality.

The pursuit of such an approach is not merely an

option but is necessary, given the serious challenges

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facing international peace and security and sustainable

economic and social development.

The Middle East peace process, initiated at the

Madrid Conference in 1991, was unfortunately

unsuccessful in ending the conflict, which continues to

see heavy daily casualties and causes millions of

Palestinians to live in inhumane and tragic conditions.

In this context Morocco closely follows the latest

developments regarding the situation in the Middle

East and encourages all initiatives aiming to bring

peace to that region, with respect to international

legality and to the agreements previously reached,

namely the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.

This last initiative undoubtedly represents a

realistic solution, reflecting the true commitment of

Arab countries to reach a just, comprehensive and

lasting solution that would allow the Palestinian people

to establish an independent State with Al-Quds as its

capital and force Israel to withdraw from all occupied

Arab land, a solution that would enable the people and

the countries of the Middle East to live in peace,

stability and security.

The Kingdom of Morocco equally expresses the

necessity to respect the particular situation of

Jerusalem by avoiding degrading and humiliating

practices and curtailing any attempts to undermine the

specificities of the Holy City in regard to culture,

religion and civilization. In this regard, His Majesty

King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds

Committee, spares no effort in encouraging world

leaders to help put an end to the projects taking place

around the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in other parts of

Jerusalem.

As far as Iraq is concerned, we closely follow

progress on the ground and encourage dialogue and

national reconciliation between the different ethnic,

political and cultural factions in order to end the cycle

of violence, to reach peace and stability, to preserve the

territorial integrity of that brotherly country and to

allow it to rebuild its economy.

Morocco also launched a regional initiative in

June 2006 by convening an international ministerial

conference on migration, development, environment

and climate change. Morocco considers the celebration

of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights the right occasion to appoint a United

Nations special rapporteur on human rights issues. It

would aim to appropriately equip the United Nations to

play a leading role in ensuring that all citizens’ rights

are protected and that the laws and political and

economic mechanisms regarding respect for human

rights are harmonized in order to promote those rights.

The United Nations is based on the principles of

cooperation and neighbourly relations, with regional

integration and cooperation representing the best

means to ensure stability, economic development and

an improved collective future. Since its independence,

the Kingdom of Morocco has placed the project of an

Arab Maghreb Union at the top of its priorities and

considered it a strategic option. Morocco is firmly

committed to making the Arab Maghreb Union the

herald of an era of peace and the fulfilment of the

common destiny of the populations of this region.

The Kingdom of Morocco is strongly convinced

about and deeply committed to overcoming all

obstacles and to moving forward with regional

integration into the Arab Maghreb Union. The

Moroccan autonomy initiative regarding the Western

Sahara, which was described by the Security Council

as serious and credible, is the result of in-depth

national consultations and widespread international

consultations. As a result, the Security Council

successfully and unanimously adopted three

resolutions — 1754 (2007), 1783 (2007) and 1813

(2008) — that call upon parties to enter into true

negotiations, taking into consideration the latest

developments and particularly the Moroccan initiative,

which launched a new dynamic in favour of a lasting

solution to this conflict.

Morocco remains strongly committed to

continuing those negotiations with sincerity and

goodwill in order to find a final solution to that

regional conflict, one that would respect the national

sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of

Morocco and give the benefits of autonomy to the

Sahara and its population. It would be a lasting,

comprehensive and realistic solution to that regional

conflict.

A strong, open, integrated and stable Arab

Maghreb can play a key role in maintaining regional

peace and security. Along the shores of the

Mediterranean, it can also contribute to enhancing

African integration and play an active role as an

efficient and credible partner to achieve the noble goals

for which the United Nations was created.