Tajikistan, 2010

I would like to

congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election to the

prestigious post of President of the General Assembly

at its sixty-fifth session and to wish him every success.

Yesterday, the High-level Plenary Meeting of the

General Assembly finished its work. At the Meeting,

world leaders not only reaffirmed their strong

commitment to the implementation of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) laid down in the

Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2), but also

announced specific new decisions on their practical

implementation.

The leaders who demonstrated their renewed

political will availed themselves of a very important

and timely opportunity for accelerating the

enhancement of concerted efforts at ensuring

sustainable progress in the implementation of the

MDGs. Further advancement in this area depends on

concerted, coordinated and consistent actions by the

entire international community, with the United

Nations playing a central and coordinating role.

We believe that this firm commitment must be

buttressed in every possible way by specific practical

measures that will contribute to the full and timely

achievement of all MDGs without exception. Against

the backdrop of the energy and financial and economic

crisis of recent years and the ever-growing impact of

climate change, our actions should be supported with

adequate financial resources. In this regard, the appeal

to double official development assistance, an important

component of financing for development, remains

urgent. Allocation of additional external funds for

development should not aggravate the burden of debt

of developing countries whose financial situation has

been exacerbated by the world economic crisis.

Strengthening the global partnership is essential

if we are to provide an environment conducive to

sustainable economic growth and job creation. First

and foremost, it is necessary to revitalize global trade

and investment, which are the driving force behind

industrial growth. Such an approach is of vital

importance for landlocked countries, whose

participation in global trade is hampered by their

geographical location and existing barriers to

expanding trade relations, which, in turn, affect

industrial growth and the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals in these countries.

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Efforts should be focused on creating new international

transport systems and corridors as well as promoting

the efficient use of existing ones, as this will help to

end the marginalization of landlocked countries in

global trade.

Tajikistan advocates the speedy completion of the

Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which

will contribute to the achievement of the Millennium

Development Goals. Our view is that the international

trade system must remain open, equitable, predictable,

non-discriminatory and based on agreed rules,

especially in a time of crisis.

Our current stage of development is characterized

most notably by the fact that we have attained

maximum quantitative growth, which must now be

followed by new qualitative development. Such a

transformation requires an entirely new conceptual

approach to development which takes into account the

interests of both the present and future generations.

Governed by the principles of sustainable

economic development, the Government of Tajikistan

has identified three strategic goals, namely, freeing the

country from communications isolation, ensuring

energy security, and ensuring food security.

In order to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals, my country adopted and has been implementing

the National Development Strategy of the Republic of

Tajikistan for the period up to 2015 and the Poverty

Reduction Strategy. As the country’s major strategic

document, the National Development Strategy

identifies priorities and the principal lines of

Government policy aimed at achieving sustainable

economic growth, improving access of the population

to basic social services and reducing poverty.

Despite enormous difficulties associated with the

global financial and economic crisis and natural

disasters, the aforementioned strategies have in the last

five years contributed to progress in the achievement

of the MDGs.

To accelerate progress towards the

aforementioned strategic targets, the Government of

Tajikistan intends to address sustainable

macroeconomic growth issues, improve the system of

government management, develop real sectors of the

economy, and rehabilitate and diversify industries, as

well as to strengthen the country’s export capacity,

improve the investment climate, support trade renewal

activities, ensure social protection of the population,

develop the labour market and strengthen human

resources.

We need to make the transition to sustainable

development in order to address such long-term issues

as climate change, preservation of biodiversity and

prevention of desertification. Finding solutions

requires comprehensive and concerted actions. Our

efforts to address global climate change need to

examined critically, especially in light of last year’s

United Nations Climate Change Conference in

Copenhagen.

The lessons drawn from that meeting should

encourage us to take more resolute measures towards

mitigation of harmful gas emissions, adaptation to

reduce the adverse impact of climate change, and the

transfer of technologies that promote transition to a

low carbon economy. We are convinced that at the

forthcoming meeting in Cancún the parties to the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change will be able to agree upon those and other

dimensions of a new global agreement that will

become an important milestone in the post-Kyoto

period.

It is known that climate change affects freshwater

resources and increases the probability of floods,

mudflows, landslides, droughts and other water-related

natural disasters. Furthermore, climate change

aggravates an acute scarcity of freshwater in certain

regions of our planet. For example, in Tajikistan, which

is the source of about 60 per cent of the water

resources for the entire region, during the last 30 years

over a thousand glaciers disappeared, out of a total of

13,000. I will add that Tajikistan’s share of gas

emissions is very low. All the electricity in Tajikistan is

generated by hydropower stations.

The depletion of groundwater in the world

remains a serious problem. According to the available

forecast, by 2025 more than one third of the Earth’s

population will experience water shortages, and by

2050 the planet will not be able to fully meet its water

needs.

Tajikistan, as the initiator of the International

Year of Freshwater 2003 and the International Decade

for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005 to 2015, actively

promotes the water agenda in the United Nations. We

act not only as the initiator of discussions on water

issues in the international arena but also as the initiator

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in adapting specific measures on the sustainable use of

this vital resource. All these steps are aimed at an in-

depth study of water issues and the development of

relevant coordinated actions by the international

community.

In that context, the high-level international

conference on the midterm comprehensive review of

the implementation of the International Decade for

Action, held in Dushanbe and organized in cooperation

with the United Nations and in compliance with the

General Assembly resolution 64/198, has made an

important contribution. The conference confirmed once

again that further strategies for water use, irrespective

of the level at which they are developed, should be

based on the principles of sustainable management of

freshwater resources. The universal introduction of

sustainable development is important for achieving

progress in all fields of economic growth and the

strengthening of human potential. Those and other

recommendations are highlighted in the Dushanbe

Declaration on Water (A/65/88, annex), the outcome

document of the conference.

The efforts of Tajikistan in matters of water are

aimed at the sustainable and efficient use of the

country’s potential and at strengthening mutually

advantageous and equitable regional cooperation. We

believe that water cooperation should strengthen rather

than undermine interaction in other areas. It should

increasingly build confidence among all water users

and contribute to the introduction of integrated

management of water resources at the local, national

and regional levels.

With that in mind, we proposed proclaiming the

year 2012 as the International Year of Water

Diplomacy. We are convinced that the adoption of a

relevant resolution by the General Assembly will

contribute to overcoming competing interests in the

management of freshwater resources through such

diplomatic means as early warning, preventive

diplomacy and confidence-building measures, mutually

advantageous and mutually acceptable regional

cooperation, and a dialogue on these issues.

A worldwide move towards the development and

use of renewable energy, which considerably reduces

harmful gas emissions, is an important component of

efforts to address climate change. It is essential to

encourage and support in every possible way projects

aimed at increasing the proportion of renewable energy

used globally, the transfer of new and advanced

technologies and enhancing the efficiency of energy

supply and energy conservation.

Tajikistan fully supports the initiative on ensuring

universal access to advanced energy services and

considers it a prerequisite for the successful

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

For this reason, Tajikistan has been developing its

energy potential in a consistent and planned manner on

the basis of the integrated development of renewable

energy sources. Alongside the construction of small

and medium-scale hydropower stations, we are

considering the implementation of large-scale projects

of regional significance and exploring the possibility of

using solar and wind energy.

Effective regional cooperation plays a significant

role in establishing a global partnership for sustainable

development. The specific feature of our region is that

development of comprehensive cooperation depends in

many respects on the success of the process of

strengthening peace and overall stability in

Afghanistan.

Counteracting terrorism is a long-term objective

because of the multifaceted nature of this phenomenon,

which is alien to humanity, and because of its deep

roots. It is essential to intensify the concerted struggle

for uprooting terrorism by applying the entire range of

political, economic, financial and humanitarian

measures. We consider it important to speed up the

agreement on and adoption of a comprehensive

convention on combating international terrorism.

While combating terrorism, one should take into

account that terrorism cannot exist without financial

and logistical support. It is no secret that today illegal

drug trafficking has become one of the major sources

of financing for international terrorism. The urgency

and magnitude of problems related to drugs and illicit

drug trafficking are clear evidence of the global

menace that threatens international stability and

security at large.

Currently, Tajikistan finds itself between the

major world producer of opium and heroin and the

countries that consume those drugs. Given that our

border with Afghanistan, with a very complex

mountain terrain, is almost 1,500 kilometres long, we

have to act as a buffer blocking the ever-increasing

flow of this “white death”.

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We are absolutely confident that the success in

combating narcotics aggression, which yields

multimillion-dollar profits to the countries far from

Tajikistan, can be achieved only through consolidated

and collective efforts. We consider it necessary to get

Afghanistan involved in the processes of multifaceted

regional cooperation.

In that regard, I would like to underline the efforts by

the Quadripartite Group — comprising Afghanistan,

Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan — which is gaining in

strength. Within that new format of multilateral

cooperation our efforts are aimed at counteracting the

terrorist and narcotics threats, which are difficult to

uproot unless the problems of poverty, unemployment

and other urgent social issues are dealt with. All those

efforts will help to strengthen specific global measures

to reinforce the peace process. We hope that objectives

and goals recently voiced at the Kabul Conference will

be put into practice.

Intellectual and creative efforts over recent

decades have brought about new principles and norms

for sustainable development, set out in Agenda 21, the

Programme for the Further Implementation of

Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of

Implementation. Those historic documents laid down a

sound foundation for transition from existing patterns

of production and consumption to a sustainable

pattern — the paradigm of today.

The whole range of long-term objectives that we

confront today demands a clear and sound

reconsideration of the actions by the international

community in favour of sustainable development. We

are convinced that the United Nations should remain

the centre for coordination and harmonization of the

efforts in this area. At the same time the consolidating

role of the United Nations itself should be enhanced by

strengthening its capacity to respond to problems in an

efficient and appropriate way and to efficiently meet

numerous global challenges and the threats of the new

millennium. Tajikistan confirms its willingness and

commitment to contribute to this process as far as it

can.