Tunisia, 2007

At the outset, I would like to express to His Excellency

Mr. Srgjan Kerim and to his friendly country our most

sincere congratulations on his election as President of

the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. We

are confident that under his skilful and effective

leadership, our deliberations will be successful.

I wish also to extend to our sister, Her Excellency

Ms. Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, our deep thanks

and appreciation for her valuable efforts as President of

the Assembly at its previous session towards the

realization of the Millennium Development Goals and

towards enhancing dialogue among all members of the

international community and reviving the Security

Council reform process.

I wish also to express our appreciation to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his endeavours and

his determination to reform the functioning of the

Organization. We wish him every success.

Signs of new dynamism in the United Nations

reform process reflect a true desire to improve the

Organization’s work so as to bring it in line with the

requirements of the new world realities and with new

concepts arising from the profound and speedy

transformations the world has experienced in recent

decades.

In our view, giving effect to that desire requires

new working frameworks and mechanisms to reinforce

the underpinnings of international peace and security

and enable us to achieve collective solutions to the

common challenges facing the international

community. We should be inspired in that endeavour by

a new vision that lays the foundation for a

comprehensive, effective and solidarity-based global

partnership among the members of the international

community, on the basis of constructive dialogue

among peoples, cultures, civilizations and religions.

On the basis of that conviction, Tunisia has

launched international initiatives with political,

humanitarian and social dimensions. Some of these

initiatives were adopted by the United Nations, such as

the establishment of the World Solidarity Fund. We

look forward to increased efforts by the international

community to operationalize the Fund.

Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has been in the

forefront of countries drawing attention to the dangers

of terrorism and its negative impact on world security

and stability. Today, Tunisia renews its call for an

international conference, under United Nations

auspices, in order to formulate an international code of

conduct for combating terrorism, by which all parties

would abide.

Convinced of the significant role that dialogue

among civilizations plays in obviating the dangers of

extremism and intolerance, Tunisia has consistently

endeavoured to be the world capital of dialogue among

civilizations, by hosting several regional and

international conferences and seminars. It has also

taken initiatives in this field, such as the publication of

the Carthage Charter for Tolerance in 1995, the appeal

by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for a pedagogy of

tolerance, the 2001 Tunis Declaration on Dialogue

among Civilizations, and the establishment, in the

University of Tunis, of the Ben Ali Chair for Dialogue

among Civilizations and Religions.

We take note with satisfaction of the focus on the

theme of climate change during the current session’s

general debate, in view of the fact that environmental

issues are a basic pillar of sustainable development and

one of the major elements of the Millennium

Development Goals one that has an impact on

international peace and security.

Tunisia believes that climate change poses a

common threat to all States of the world without

exception. This has prompted Tunisia to host, next

November, an international ministerial workshop to

discuss climate change in Africa and the Mediterranean

region, as a contribution to increasing and deepening

awareness of the importance of this issue and to

enriching regional dialogue on it.

The international community and all its members

must devote more attention to the environment and to

finding urgent and effective collective solutions to

environmental issues in certain regions of the world

notably in Africa, which suffers most from the climate

change that is threatening the continent’s aspirations to

development and to the achievement of the Millennium

Development Goals.

The fact that several important international

political problems remain unsolved continues to be a

source of concern for us. Today, Tunisia reaffirms that

it upholds the values of peace and justice and the

principles of international legitimacy, and that it is

prepared to contribute to the dissemination and

promotion of the values of tolerance, moderation and

mutual respect among nations and peoples. In our view,

that should help consolidate a constructive dialogue

among civilizations and establish international

cooperation and a solidarity-based development

partnership that will help eliminate the causes of

tension and conflict worldwide.

On this occasion, we reaffirm our principled and

constant support for the Palestinian people in their

struggle for their just cause. We urge the international

community, in particular the influential parties and the

Quartet, to intensify their efforts aimed at reviving the

peace process, on the basis of United Nations

resolutions and the relevant Arab and international

terms of reference, inter alia, the Arab Peace Initiative,

with a view to finding a just and comprehensive

solution that would guarantee the restoration of the

Palestinians’ legitimate rights, foremost among which

is the establishment of their own independent State.

We welcome the initiative taken by President

Bush and certain international influential parties to

revive the peace process. In this context, we wish to

stress the importance of convening an international

peace conference that should yield concrete proposals

for achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in the

Middle East and lead to the restitution of all occupied

Arab territories and guarantee security and stability to

all the countries and peoples of the region.

By the same token, we call for concerted regional

and international efforts to help the brotherly Iraqi

people to restore the deteriorating security, economic

and humanitarian situation in their country, through the

achievement of a consensual political settlement

among all its segments and factions that preserves the

unity and sovereignty of Iraq. As far as the situation in

Lebanon is concerned, we urge all Lebanese parties to

favour dialogue as the sole way to prevent the scourge

of dissension among the Lebanese people and to

restore confidence and reconciliation among them.

Since 7 November 1987, Tunisia, under the

leadership of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has

succeeded in making pioneer achievements and gains

in different fields. This has been made possible thanks

to comprehensive reforms that allowed Tunisia to

consolidate the rule of law and institutions, as well as

public freedoms, and to disseminate, in theory and

practice, the culture of human rights, thus enhancing

the democratic structure of the country and paving the

way for contributions by all components of civil

society to define national orientations and choices for

the future.

The reform process implemented in Tunisia has

allowed the achievement of numerous Millennium

Development Goals, which has translated into better

living standards for Tunisians and well-being for all

segments of Tunisian society. This reflects the

correctness of development choices made by Tunisia,

which has also allowed it to hold an advanced position

among countries with the highest level of human

development.

On many occasions, Tunisia has stated its

conviction of the need for building international

cooperation and partnerships based on a

comprehensive approach aimed at achieving

development for all and laying the foundations for

constructive relations among countries of the North

and the South. In this context, President Zine

El Abidine Ben Ali called from this rostrum in 1989 for

the adoption of a charter of peace and progress

between the countries of the North and the South.

The international community is called upon to

exert more efforts to enable all the peoples of the

world, particularly the least developed countries, to

benefit from the digital revolution and to acquire

knowledge. This will require operationalizing and

implementing the recommendations and resolutions

made by international conferences in our country in

November 2005 to contribute to the building of a

global, more equitable and solidarity-based

information society.

The integration of Tunisia in its regional and

international environment is one of the priorities of its

foreign policy, which endeavours to enhance political

relations with brotherly and friendly nations as well

with regional and international organizations. Tunisia

looks forward to the broadening and diversification of

the scope of its cooperation with all its partners in

order to bring it to the level of an efficient partnership

based on mutual respect and common interest. Hence,

Tunisia is constantly striving, with its brotherly

Maghrebian countries, to complete the formation of the

Maghreb Arab Union and to consolidate its structures

and institutions in order to reinforce integration and

complementarity among the peoples of the region.

Tunisia has equally sought to enhance the

effectiveness of Arab common action. It seeks to

upgrade its interaction with the changes and challenges

confronting the region and to further the process of

reform and modernization in this field, in conformity

with the decisions and recommendations of the Tunis

Summit, the Algiers Summit and the Riyadh Summit.

On the other hand, Tunisia, being a member of

Arab committees entrusted with Palestinian, Lebanese

and other issues, is participating effectively in the work

of those committees for the benefit of Arab causes.

As far as Africa is concerned, Tunisia has

enhanced its relations with African countries and has

strengthened cooperation with them. It has made active

efforts to contribute effectively to the process of

building the structures and institutions of the African

Union and to the consolidation of the fundamentals of

peace, security and stability in the continent and

opening promising new horizons for development in

order to further enhance integration among its peoples.

In view of the strategic importance of its relations

with the European Union, Tunisia has been constantly

seeking to advance those ties and to broaden their

scope, so as to cover all fields of cooperation with the

aim of building a solidarity-based partnership with

European Union countries based on mutual respect and

common interest.

Tunisia also endeavours to strengthen the

Euro-Mediterranean cooperation process. In this

connection, Tunisia has welcomed the initiative

launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France for

establishing a Mediterranean Union. Tunisia has

further expressed its readiness to contribute to and

participate in shaping the content of such a union and

in defining its objectives.

Since the establishment of the United Nations,

Tunisia has expressed constant faith in the noble

principles and purposes of the Organization. It has

always been committed to lending its support to efforts

aimed at creating favourable conditions for appropriate

collective responses to global common challenges and

for solving the various problems that are a source of

concern to the world, as well as establishing solidarity-

based cooperation and partnership among all

components of the international community.

From this perspective, Tunisia, which will assume

chairmanship of the next session of the Conference on

Disarmament, is determined to work, in coordination

with Member States, for the achievement of tangible

progress regarding issues on the agenda of the

Conference. In so doing, Tunisia will seek to enhance

constructive and positive dialogue on those issues in

order to achieve the objectives of the Conference and

to contribute to the consolidation of peace and security

in the world and to the dissemination of a global

culture of peace, thus consecrating the noble values

and principles for which our Organization has been

created.