Tunisia, 2009

At the

outset, I would like to extend to you, Sir, and through

you to the brotherly Socialist People’s Libyan Arab

Jamahiriya our sincere congratulations upon your

election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-fourth session. We are confident that your broad

experience and many skills will help enrich our work at

this session and achieve the objectives to which we all

aspire. Our high appreciation goes also to Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann for the excellent manner in which

he conducted the work of the previous session.

I also express our warmest thanks and

appreciation to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his

tireless efforts in the service of world peace and

security to promote the role of the United Nations,

achieve our common noble objectives and find

effective solutions to various international problems.

Today our world is witnessing profound and rapid

changes that have added new dimensions to

international relations, which in turn have altered the

balances and equations that have long governed those

relations. These changes have generated major

challenges at various levels, requiring all parties to

shoulder their responsibilities with vision and wisdom

and to enhance their efforts to establish the foundations

of a safer, more stable and more developed world and

of balanced and equitable international relations based

on solidarity.

We must redouble our efforts to reform the

United Nations, which was designed decades ago, in

order to update it to current global circumstances and

enable it to carry out its essential role in maintaining

international peace, security and development, and in

serving the interests of world solidarity.

Global circumstances have changed since the

creation of the United Nations. Its present structure and

equations no longer reflect the reality of the world

situation and international relations. Given our concern

for justice and balance in international relations, we

hope that the international community will introduce

the necessary reforms to the United Nations system, in

particular in the context of expanding the Security

Council and increasing the transparency and efficiency

of its work, while bearing in mind need for the

broadest possible consensus among States on pending

issues.

In spite of its complex and interrelated nature, the

world situation can only strengthen our attachment to

the United Nations and to its founding principles.

Those principles constitute the ideal framework for

coordinating and uniting our efforts to address issues

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and challenges in the implementation of the noble

principles enshrined in the Charter, finding effective

solutions to pending issues, mitigating the impact of

the economic and social crisis, and promoting

solidarity-based frameworks of partnership and

cooperation, in keeping with a more comprehensive

approach based on the close correlation between peace,

security and development.

Further rapprochement and solidarity among the

nations of the world remain, in our view, among the

noblest aims of the United Nations and a pillar of the

new system of international relations. Therefore, today

more than ever before, we must further disseminate the

culture of tolerance, dialogue and acceptance of the

other and respect for cultural differences and religious

symbols. We must build constructive relations among

States and peoples, based on moderation and the

rejection of extremism, violence and fanaticism of any

kind.

For many years now, Tunisia has promoted

initiatives to give effect to that noble objective, the

most recent of which was “Kairouan, Capital of

Islamic Culture for the Year 2009”, organized with the

cooperation of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization and the International

Organization of la Francophonie.

Globalization, with its numerous problems and

major challenges, requires us to pay close attention to

our young people and to constantly listen to their

concerns in order to protect them from exclusion,

marginalization and the dangers of seclusion,

extremism, carelessness and estrangement, while at the

same time instilling in them a culture of tolerance,

compromise and moderation.

Based on the special status that we reserve for

our young people, whom we consider to be our true

wealth, the support of the present and foundation of the

future, we in Tunisia have insisted on entrenching the

spirit of responsibility within this group and encourage

them to participate actively in all aspects of public life

and in establishing the country’s future policies and

objectives.

Based on this vision and our experience in

dealing with our youth and its aspirations, President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali called for the proclamation of

2010 as the International Year of Youth and for the

convening, under United Nations auspices and in

cooperation with the relevant international organizations,

of a world youth conference to be attended by young

people from all over the world and to conclude with

the drafting of an international pact uniting world

youth around universal values.

We strongly hope that this initiative will

contribute to deepening awareness of the position of

young people in society so that they become active

stakeholders in the success of our development

processes. Furthermore, young people should play a

major role in promoting dialogue and in enhancing

understanding and mutual respect among peoples on

the basis of universal values and noble human

principles concerning which all cultures and

civilizations agree — values such as tolerance,

moderation and respect of the other; rejection of all

forms of violence, extremism and discrimination; the

culture of citizenship, solidarity, peace and

communication; stimulation of the spirit of initiative;

volunteerism and environmental protection.

This initiative already enjoys the support of Arab,

African and Islamic regional organizations as well as

the Non-Aligned Movement. We look forward to your

support, Mr. President, for the adoption of a resolution

by the General Assembly at this session in order to

give concrete expression to this initiative.

Terrorism remains a major threat to world peace,

security and development, in spite of numerous

national and international efforts to counter it. It

remains a challenge to the international community,

and we have on numerous occasions called for a

comprehensive approach in addressing a danger that

spares no one. We must take into consideration the root

causes of such phenomena, as well as just and

sustainable solutions to ongoing world problems. We

must work to decrease poverty, exclusion and

marginalization, and we must confront extremist

movements that favour fanaticism, seclusion and

hatred.

As one of the first countries to warn against the

dangers of this phenomenon in the early 1990s, Tunisia

renews its call for the convening of an international

conference under the auspices of the United Nations to

craft a universally binding code of conduct to fight

terrorism.

Faithful to its identity and keen to ensure its full

integration into its community, Tunisia strives

tirelessly and resolutely to enhance cooperation with

its partners in various regional affiliations. In the firm

21 09-52598

belief that the Arab Maghreb Union is an indispensable

strategic choice for the interests of the Maghreb

peoples and will enhance the regional and international

status of its members in a world where blocs and

groupings are proliferating, Tunisia has spared no

effort, together with other Maghreb countries, to

complete the process of building the Union, promote

common Maghreb action and work to overcome the

temporary difficulties that are preventing its

materialization. We seek thereby to ensure that the

Union enjoys the position it deserves on the

international scene and to increase the capacity of its

member States to meet present and future challenges.

Tunisia also continues to work to promote

common Arab action, revitalize its mechanisms,

develop cooperation and partnership relations with

sister Arab States in various fields, and bring about the

desired Arab economic integration and complementarity.

Many international problems, particularly in the

Middle East, remain unresolved and are a source of

deep concern for the international community, with

negative consequences for security and stability in the

region and the world. From this rostrum, we reaffirm

Tunisia’s constant and principled support for the just

Palestinian cause and the brotherly Palestinian people

in their struggle to recover their legitimate rights and to

establish their independent State on their own land.

We note with satisfaction the positive stance of

the United States Administration on the Middle East

issue, the elements of a just and comprehensive

settlement of the conflict, the two-State solution, and

subsequent international efforts and momentum to

revive the peace talks.

Today, we renew our appeal to the international

community, especially the sponsors of the peace

process, to intensify their efforts so as to compel Israel

to end its settlement policy, without preconditions, thus

enabling talks between the Palestinian and Israeli sides

to resume, in accordance with international resolutions,

all peace terms of reference and the Arab Peace

Initiative.

Achieving peace and ensuring security and

stability in the Middle East will require Israel to lift the

blockade, dismantle the roadblocks and abandon its

humiliating measures and other provocative steps

against the Palestinians, as well as the recovery by the

Palestinian people of its legitimate national rights, the

establishment of its independent State, and Israeli

withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan and the

Lebanese lands that remain under Israeli occupation.

We also express our solidarity with the brotherly

Iraqi people and hope that they will overcome the

difficulties they still face, achieve national

reconciliation and consolidate security and stability so

that all Iraqis can devote themselves to the

reconstruction of their country in a spirit of unity and

accord.

The hotspots of tension and conflict in many

regions of Africa, some of which persist, have

devastated the continent, sapped its energies and

potential, jeopardized its development, slowed its

growth and negatively affected its societies.

Faced with this situation and given the

necessarily comprehensive nature of any approach to

world peace and security, the international community

and the United Nations organs, first and foremost the

Security Council, must support the efforts of the

African Union and its member States and stand with

the African peoples as they seek to restore security and

stability and to overcome the effects of conflict and

war.

Given the organic relationship between peace,

security and development, and the world’s pressing

need to reinvigorate the values of cooperation and

solidarity, Tunisia proposed an initiative that was

adopted by the General Assembly in December 2002 to

create the World Solidarity Fund to fight poverty and

lay the foundations of solidarity-based development.

Today we renew our call to operationalize the Fund,

thus enabling it to assist developing countries,

particularly those in Africa.

On a different level, and taking into consideration

the rich and long-standing political, economic, social

and cultural links between Tunisia and Europe, our

country is ever keen to strengthen its relations with all

the States of that sphere. Tunisia’s relations with the

European Union have seen tangible progress, thanks to

both sides’ determination to upgrade their ties to the

level of advanced partnership, thus opening prospects

for enhanced cooperation in all fields and enabling our

country to achieve further integration with its regional

and international environment.

The Euro-Mediterranean region remains one of

the main focuses of Tunisia’s foreign policy. On the

basis of our strong belief in the importance of building

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a secure, stable and prosperous Mediterranean region

on a foundation of equal partnership and mutual

interests, we support initiatives and mechanisms to

consolidate peace and promote development. From this

perspective, Tunisia is determined to play an active

role in ensuring the success of Mediterranean

cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the region.

Tunisia is also working to strengthen its ties of

friendship and to broaden and enrich its cooperation

with American and Asian States through the

establishment of a solidarity-based partnership. We are

thus laying the groundwork for a new era in these

relations that will secure the interests of all sides, bring

them together, consolidate conditions of peace and

stability, and achieve further progress and prosperity

around the world.

The peoples of the world today urgently need a

clean environment and all States must preserve it in

order to avoid the severe consequences of which much

research and many studies have warned, as climate

change has caused huge economic losses to the

international community.

Seeking to meet the environmental, economic and

social challenges caused by climate change, in

November 2007 Tunisia hosted the International

Solidarity Conference on Climate Change Strategies

for the African and Mediterranean Regions. Our

country also hosted the African regional meeting of the

Preparatory Committee for the Conference of the

Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat

Desertification in order to develop a unified African

position and garner support for African States that are

negatively affected by desertification and land

deterioration, as well as to promote scientific research

in this field.

Tunisia has spared neither effort nor energy over

the past two decades to join the ranks of developed

countries, based on an open-minded and forward-

looking vision, the foundations of which were laid by

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This vision has

encompassed all fields — political, economic, social

and development — and been implemented via

thorough reforms to strengthen democracy and the

culture of human rights in word and deed, and through

the expansion of public freedoms and the participation

of all sectors of Tunisian society in charting the

country’s political course within the frameworks of the

rule of law and institutions.

I reiterate in conclusion that our success in

securing development and promoting relations of

cooperation among all States is closely linked to an

international environment characterized by security,

stability and justice.