Oman, 2008

I have

the honour to convey the regards of His Majesty Sultan

Qaboos Bin Said of Oman, and his best wishes and

appreciation for the efforts to make this session a

success.

I am quite hopeful that this session will yield a

great deal of understanding on various issues of

common interest that shall enhance global security and

stability in accordance with the aspirations of the

people of the world to achieve prosperity and realize

the Millennium Development Goals.

I would also like to seize this opportunity to

express my appreciation to Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon for his commendable efforts to improve the

performance of this Organization in the interests of the

international community.

In that connection, we would like to emphasize

the role of international institutions and the need to

support their efforts by intensifying cooperation and

coordination with them in order to uphold justice and

righteousness and to entrench security, peace and

stability throughout the world.

Annual sessions of the General Assembly are

important events through which Member States have

the opportunity to express their concerns and views.

There is no doubt that the efforts to preserve the

environment have remained a top international priority,

particularly in view of developments in recent years,

during which the effects of climate change have been

felt across the world.

The international community has made numerous

efforts in that respect, the most salient of which

includes Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development

in Brazil, and the Bali Road Map adopted at the 2007

Conference to the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change in

Indonesia. Those efforts are designed to deepen

understanding and awareness of climate change and to

improve weather forecasting in order to save lives and

property, to discourage human practices that are

detrimental to the environment and to educate people

to live in harmony with it.

More than ever before, however, we are called

upon to intensify and double our efforts and joint

cooperation in order to deal with such circumstances in

a constructive and practical way. We must support

purposeful scientific research aimed at finding creative

means, policies and plans to guarantee a stable and

sustainable environment while taking into account

physical evidence related to climatic cycles and

environmental change through the ages. We hope that

the fourteenth climate change Conference, to be held in

Copenhagen next year, will produce practical and

useful recommendations that meet our hopes and

aspirations.

Economic development and trade among nations

have helped build bridges of communication based on

mutual benefits and common interests. The current

trade system, however, is in dire need of a vision and

systems that keep pace with economic transformations

and with emerging economic entities in order to

maintain the balance of the global economy and to

cater to the needs of developing countries.

Large industrial countries need to lift trade

restrictions on the exports of developing countries and

to share with them modern technologies, effective

marketing mechanisms, and educational and scientific

frameworks that guarantee meaningful human

development everywhere. The World Trade

Organization (WTO) should play a more effective role

towards the removal of trade restrictions and the

application of appropriate policies so as to create a

freer trade environment.

While we welcome the invitation by the Director-

General of the WTO, Mr. Pascal Lamy, to hold another

round of trade negotiations in the context of the Doha

Development Agenda, we would like to emphasize that

such negotiations should rely on WTO rules that are

rooted in equity and justice.

Everyone knows that the Palestinians are

suffering the repercussions of tragic human

circumstances that have deprived them of their right to

a life of dignity. The harsh Israeli policies of closures,

the erection of checkpoints and the perpetuation of

settlement activities make the daily lives of

Palestinians very difficult. Those practices also

undermine efforts and initiatives to achieve peace and

stability. Indeed, they call into question the credibility

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21 08-53122

of Israel’s desire to seek a real solution to end the

conflict.

We urge the international community to step up

its efforts to make Israel shoulder its responsibilities, in

view of the importance and inevitability of peace as the

only option for joint and harmonious coexistence

between all peoples of the region. It has become clear

that there can be no peace without the restoration of the

legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost of

which is their right to live safely on their land and in

their independent State, side by side with Israel and

within internationally recognized boundaries.

Our commitment to peace is strategic and

fundamental. Ensuring peace is a collective

responsibility of the international community that

should be forcefully and selflessly shouldered,

regardless of the difficulties encountered. On that

basis, the Sultanate of Oman, in the context of its

friendly relations and cooperation with many countries,

is ever eager to promote long-term relations as a

fundamental pillar of joint efforts in support of peace,

security, dialogue, mutual understanding and harmony.

The progress made towards Lebanese

reconciliation is an achievement that invites optimism.

While we praise the efforts made by the State of Qatar

and all other Arab States, as well as by the League of

Arab States, we call upon all Lebanese parties to

implement the Doha Agreement in order to safeguard

the higher interests of the brotherly Lebanese people.

We also welcome the visit to Syria by Lebanese

President Michel Sleiman and its positive outcome,

including the agreement to establish diplomatic ties

between the two countries.

With regard to the situation in Iraq, we note with

satisfaction the relative improvements in the country’s

security conditions. We hope that the situation will

continue to improve until stability prevails throughout

Iraq. We also hope for continued efforts by the Iraqi

Government and all political forces to reach a

comprehensive national understanding that can unite

all sectors of Iraqi society and restore harmony and

concord to its national and social fabric.

As for the situation in the Sudanese region of

Darfur, we welcome the steps being taken by the

Sudanese Government, in cooperation with the African

Union and the League of Arab States, to establish

peace and stability in the region. We therefore call

upon the international community to support those

efforts in order to help build a national consensus

among all brotherly Sudanese citizens.

From this rostrum, we reiterate our call to all

Somali parties to cease fighting and to refrain from any

actions that could hamper sound diplomatic efforts. We

also hope that all parties will abide by the agreement

reached in Djibouti on 9 June 2008.

In addition, we call for continued consultations

between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other States

on the Iranian nuclear issue. We hope that those efforts

will result in an agreement that upholds Iran’s right to

use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, while

eliminating the concerns of a number of States

regarding the Iranian nuclear programme.

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad, hosted by the

friendly People’s Republic of China in Beijing, were

unique in terms of their organization, which definitely

made that international sports event a great success.

The Games have enriched human civilization in all of

its beautiful cultural diversity. We wish to take this

opportunity to express our best wishes for the next

Olympic Games, which will be hosted by the United

Kingdom in London in 2012, as well as our hope that

they will continue to contribute to human and cultural

coexistence among all nations.

The progress that has already been made in the

field of collaborative international endeavours

encourages us to make further collective efforts to

address the challenges facing us and to protect the

peoples of the world from their political, economic and

social repercussions. We also wish to emphasize the

importance of a joint commitment to the establishment

of justice and the rule of law. Governments must

shoulder their responsibilities in a spirit of positive

cooperation, understanding and mutual respect, which

are basic principles of international peace and security.

In closing, I wish the President of the General

Assembly the best of luck in leading the present

session to a successful conclusion. I should like to

reaffirm the support of the Sultanate of Oman for

efforts to ensure the welfare of all nations and future

generations. We hope that all of this will be achieved in

an atmosphere of cooperation, harmony and love.