Qatar, 2010

When I

stood on this platform in September last year, I

addressed the issue of the threats that beset our world.

Unfortunately, these threats are still present and have

even increased and diversified, and we are not any

closer to achieving the Millennium Development

Goals, which we set for ourselves ten years ago during

the Millennium Summit. We believe that the

malfunction that our world suffers from is due, not to a

lack of resources, but to mismanagement and lack of

justice and equity.

The global economic, financial and food crisis

and the persistence of hunger, poverty and other

challenges facing humanity today prompt us to rebuild

our institutions and formulate our strategies to better

respond to the challenges and crises facing the

international community. The time has come to

reformulate the global economic system in order for it

to achieve justice and equal opportunities for all.

Among the important international conferences and

forums that Doha hosted this year was the World

Economic Forum Global Redesign Summit, which

resulted in many proposals for improving the existing

international structures and cooperative arrangements,

in order to create an international system conducive to

meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. I

call on decision makers to discuss the proposals and

adopt those that are appropriate.

You may all know that our region is still

experiencing the highest degree of tension in the world.

The question of Palestine has been awaiting a just

solution for decades, the situation remains precarious

in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Iranian

nuclear crisis requires a solution. We have repeatedly

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stressed the importance of reaching a solution through

peaceful and diplomatic means, and, in our view, a

fruitful, direct dialogue between the United States of

America and the Islamic Republic of Iran would

contribute to the resolution of this crisis.

The strategic importance of the Arabian Gulf

region stems from its geostrategic position and the fact

that it is sitting on half of the world’s oil and natural

gas reserves and is the source of one quarter of the

world’s production of these two primary driving forces

of the global economy. Let this be yet another

consideration that prompts the international community

to recognize the importance of achieving political

stability and security in the Middle East. This is a

difficult goal that can only be achieved by renouncing

the use of force, freeing the region of weapons of mass

destruction, without exception, and settling bilateral

disputes and regional conflicts on the basis of

international law, the United Nations Charter, the

resolutions of international legitimacy and the

principles of justice and equity.

Israel’s persistence in violating international law

and humanitarian values was reflected in the acts of

piracy committed against peace activists who tried to

break the unjust and inhuman siege imposed on the

Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This prompts us

again to call upon the international community to stand

as one in demanding that Israel lift the blockade

immediately and fully.

We are now at a historic juncture in the process

of the settlement of the question of Palestine. For

everyone should realize that the Arab countries will not

accept the peace that Israel wants to impose as it

pleases and outside international legitimacy. A lasting,

acceptable and secure peace must guarantee the rights

of the Palestinian people, especially the establishment

of a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital.

For reasons some of which we can understand

and some of which we fail to understand, this first

decade of the twenty-first century has been blighted by

the blind attack that has come to be known as the war

on terrorism. Thus the fresh start of a new century has

been hamstrung by a quagmire of distortions and

damage, some, if not all, of which could have been

avoided. We recognize the existence of certain

practices that clearly fall within the scope of terrorism,

but in this regard we emphasize two premises.

First, we disagree with the attribution of this so-

called terrorism to the Islamic religion, because — in

addition to being incorrect — that ascription is

historically unjust and is refuted by evidence from

recent history. In the twentieth century, including the

second half thereof, unjustifiably violent actions

occurred in the United States of America, Europe and

Asia, but no one has characterized those acts of

terrorism as American, European or Asian. Rather,

those acts of violence are attributed to their underlying

political, economic, social and even ideological causes,

without reference to any religion, country or idea. By

contrast, what we have seen and suffered in the first

decade of this century — what is called the war on

terror — is a phenomenon unprecedented in

international politics. It has plunged us into a kind of

war with no limits, end, logic or legal or moral

conditions. Some of this is still happening and,

although we note that the current United States

Administration has discontinued the use of the term

“war on terror”, we are still looking forward to clearer

and bolder initiatives.

The other premise that we disagree with is that

we believe that even though the phenomenon of

terrorism does exist it should not be addressed by

waging wars. That approach has not achieved security,

peace or prosperity. On the contrary, it has spread

destruction everywhere, deprived millions of people of

their livelihoods, spread fear, caused the displacing and

killing of millions of people as well as economic and

financial crises that have shaken the stability of the

world, and undermined efforts aimed at dialogue

among cultures.

I do not want to take up too much of the

Assembly’s time, but we believe that the situation in

which we find ourselves after the first decade of this

intriguing century should not be allowed to continue,

and its corrosive ramifications should not go

unchecked. What we fear is that the war on terrorism

may turn into a series of financial transactions

concluded with armies of mercenaries who are given

free rein to kill outside of any international or human

legitimacy. That is a very dangerous prospect.

In this first decade, we have faced major

challenges. We should resolve that war is not the way

to deal with such challenges. Rather, we should come

to terms with ourselves, with this era and with its

concomitant progress, and determine to turn the new

decade and the decades that follow into an era in which

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major challenges are addressed with more in-depth

understanding and knowledge.

Proceeding from our belief that dialogue is the

most effective way to resolve conflicts, we have set out

to seek a resolution to several political crises in our

region by promoting dialogue between the concerned

parties, whether in Lebanon, Yemen, the Horn of Africa

or the Sudan.

At the national level in the State of Qatar, we

pursue human-centred development policies based on a

holistic approach in dealing with human development.

We have set ourselves the goals of modernization,

reform and development in order to build a modern

constitutional State of law-based institutions that

guarantee citizens their freedoms, rights and

responsibilities. We have taken concrete steps towards

enhancing our development capabilities, including our

health, educational and cultural institutions, which we

hope will reach international standards, as well as

enhancing national industrial enterprises to utilize

natural resources in our country. God has granted our country an abundance of

hydrocarbon fuel reserves. We have endeavoured to

make the best use of this wealth, employ its revenues

in the service of Qatari citizens and improve our

various human development indicators because we,

like other inhabitants of planet Earth, are anxious to

address the impact of climate change. Our interest in

clean energy, particularly natural gas, is on our list of

priorities. And to contribute to the reduction of carbon

emissions, we have developed policies that aim to

benefit from clean and renewable energy sources.

Through this approach, we hope to contribute

nationally, regionally and internationally to the

establishment of peace, stability and security, as well

as to the development that comes with them. Thus, we

hope to assume our part of the collective responsibility

for the common good.