Oman, 2004

On

behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, I

am pleased to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as

President of this session. We assure you that we will

sincerely cooperate with you in order to contribute to

the success of this session and to the realization of the

desirable objectives to which we all aspire. We all hope

to serve humankind and the cause of international

peace and security.

I also take this opportunity, Sir, to express my

heartfelt thanks to his Excellency Mr. Julian Robert

Hunte, your predecessor and President of the Assembly

at its fifty-eighth session, for all his efforts to ensure

the success of that session and of the concurrent

resumptions of the tenth emergency special session.

This session of the General Assembly has been

convened under very complex and difficult

circumstances. There has been a clear decline in the

international community’s ability to unite and to reach

consensus on solutions to the diverse problems that

have undermined international diplomacy. Those

problems have deprived preventive diplomacy of its

ability to create an environment of international

understanding conducive to agreement on issues of

common interest to all peoples.

We believe that there is an urgent need for the

international community to review both regional and

international policies and to put an end to the sense of

uncertainty, pessimism and vagueness surrounding the

work of the United Nations. States that can influence

international policy have a moral and material

responsibility to take the initiative to review those

policies and create an environment of cooperation

among international stakeholders.

The region of the Middle East is the focus of

global attention, because of its potential impact on

international stability. We share the interest shown by

many countries in the situation in the Middle East,

which is prompted by the need to find solutions to the

political and social problems facing the region.

Here, it is worth noting that the Group of Eight,

at its meeting on Sea Island in the state of Georgia in

the United States on 9 June 2004, focused their interest

on the Middle East. In principle, we welcome their

position since we believe that closer cooperation is

essential within the Group of Eight and the countries of

the Middle East to consider how to prioritize the

discussion of the political issues that remain the main

obstacle to the march of the people of the Middle East

towards progress and stability.

The problem of Palestine and Israel’s continued

occupation of Arab territories in Syria and Lebanon

cannot be put on the back burner indefinitely.

Therefore, we should seek fair and just solutions to

those problems. The road map announced on 30 April

2003 was welcomed by the Arab countries but has yet

to be implemented. We therefore call on the United

States of America, the Russian Federation, the

European Union and the United Nations — the

members of the Quartet that sponsored the road map —

to fulfil their commitment to the Middle East.

The Security Council adopted resolution 1546

(2004), by which it transferred sovereignty in Iraq from

the Coalition forces to an interim Iraqi Government. It

was a milestone in the development of the situation in

Iraq. However, the deteriorating security situation in

Iraq remains a cause of deep concern. We believe that

the interim Iraqi Government is making great efforts to

restore normalcy and stability. We support the

Government of Iraq in its endeavours to unify all Iraqis

around a common agenda. We feel that certain

successes have been achieved through the adoption of

political dialogue, and that it is essential to Iraq to

expand that dialogue.

In the Sudan, the Government has been making

commendable efforts to achieve stability in Darfur. We

look forward to ongoing cooperation between the

African Union and the Sudanese Government. The

Government’s willingness to implement certain

measures proposed by the United Nations and to

cooperate with the Security Council to implement

resolution 1564 (2004) deserves our support and

commendation.

In our view, the United Nations should provide

financial and technical support to the efforts of the

African Union and the Sudanese Government to

achieve peace in Darfur. Moreover, we believe that any

action by the Security Council against the Sudan would

be harmful and would undermine the United Nations

ability to work effectively on the ground. It would,

moreover, hamper the efforts of the Sudan and the

African Union to achieve peace.

All human beings share this Earth and should

work together to develop and preserve its resources. It

is highly important that the international community

take note of the environmental changes taking place

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everywhere, such as the destructive storms, floods and

fires that have had tremendously harmful effects on all

humanity. Those phenomena may be caused by human

transgression and destruction of environmental

diversity. That is why the international community is

called upon to study the environment and do whatever

it can to stem the phenomenon of desertification and

drought in order to preserve great global sources of

food.

Recent international policies have resulted in the

emergence of serious types of terrorist acts. One of the

most horrific of such acts was the hostage-taking in a

school in Beslan in North Ossetia in the Russian

Federation. We strongly condemn that terrorist act and

express our solidarity with the Russian Government in

fighting such attacks. We believe that the international

community should show solidarity in the face of

terrorism everywhere and engage in in-depth

consideration of the phenomenon. The convening of an

international conference to consider terrorism is a good

idea, since the outcome of such a conference could be

an important tool that would help defeat the

phenomenon.

The Sultanate of Oman believes that States’

accession and commitment to disarmament treaties and

conventions would enhance and maintain international

peace and security. In that context, we should seriously

consider the possibility of establishing collective

mechanisms for arms monitoring and control, based on

unified standards acceptable to all, be it in the field of

weapons of mass destruction or that of conventional

weapons. Otherwise, the role of the world order will

remain limited to theoretical studies or to drawing

attention to the dangers of the arms race to

development, the environment and international peace

and security.

The world stockpile of weapons of mass

destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, could

destroy human life on our planet many times over. That

is why the Sultanate of Oman has signed most

conventions on disarmament and arms control,

including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention

and the Biological Weapons Convention.

The emergence of globalization and the World

Trade Organization raised the hopes and aspirations of

peoples for an era of international cooperation that

would broaden sustainable development. However, the

results of the new developments have been an

amalgamation of democracy and dictatorship, of

human rights and enslavement, of great prosperity and

extreme poverty, of the provision of advanced health

care side by side with fatal contagious diseases, of free

trade and world trade monopoly, and of a rise in the

price of industrial products and a decline in the prices

of the raw materials required to maintain their

production. The amalgam has led to economic

imbalances. Is that what we sought to achieve?

The High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and

Change was established in the context of an initiative

by the Secretary-General to seek ways of reforming the

Organization, and in particular of expanding the

permanent membership of the Security Council. We

would welcome such an expansion in order to broaden

the base of participation in the Council’s decision-

making process. However, the permanent members

should work to create an international climate

conducive to an expansion that reflects the

international will. Conditions of membership should be

reviewed to include aspects that conform to

international changes so as to guarantee equitable

representation and international consensus if possible.

We believe that it is high time for permanent

members of the Security Council to review their own

attitudes and policies in the Council in order to

facilitate the required restructuring. We believe that the

excessive adoption of Security Council resolutions on

secondary international issues undermines the prestige

of the Council and reduces the ability of the United

Nations to deal with priority questions that are

important to international peace and security. We

believe that the Security Council must not interfere in

the internal affairs of Member States, so as to preserve

the international consensus in addressing issues related

to international peace and security.

The Sultanate of Oman would like to express its

support to the efforts made by the United Nations. We

would particularly like to express our support to the

Secretary-General and to the role he plays in

conducting the affairs of this Organization. Our

delegation will spare no effort to ensure the success of

this session, in order to realize the objectives to which

we all aspire.