United Arab Emirates, 2010

At the outset, I congratulate you, Sir,

on your assumption of the presidency of the Assembly

at its sixty-fifth session. We are confident that your

expertise in international affairs will enable you to wisely

and capably guide the work of the General Assembly, and

we wish you every success in your endeavours.

I would also like to thank your predecessor, Mr. Ali

Treki, for his successful leadership of the General

Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, and to thank Mr. Ban

Ki-moon, the Secretary-General, for his great efforts to

re-energize the role of this international Organization in

promoting world peace and security and development.

The international community continues to face

daunting challenges that demand strengthened

collective action, increased joint international efforts in

the United Nations framework and a serious move

towards reform of its organs in a responsible and

balanced manner, in order to enable the United Nations

effectively to play its primary role in addressing the

major challenges facing the international community.

My Government wishes to reiterate in this forum

its deep regret at the continued Iranian occupation of

our three islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu

Musa. It demands the return of the islands, including

their regional waters, airspace, continental shelf and

exclusive economic zone, to its full sovereignty as

integral parts of the United Arab Emirates. All

procedures and measures taken by the Iranian

authorities since their occupation of the islands are null

and void and have no legal effect, no matter how long

the occupation may last.

We look forward to seeing the Iraqi parties form a

national Government that continues to build its

security, political and economic institutions, extend its

authority over the entire territory of Iraq and achieve a

comprehensive national reconciliation, which is the

real guarantee for stabilizing the political process in

Iraq and embracing all factions of Iraqi society, with no

exception or discrimination.

While we note with satisfaction the withdrawal of

foreign troops from Iraq, we express our firm

condemnation of all acts of violence and bombings that

have targeted the Iraqi people. In this context, we

reiterate the need to respect Iraq’s territorial integrity,

sovereignty and independence, and to refrain from

interfering in its internal affairs, in order to safeguard

its Arab and Islamic identity.

The United Arab Emirates believes that peace in

the Middle East and resolution of the Arab-Israeli

conflict cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli

occupation of the occupied Palestinian and other Arab

territories. Israel’s withdrawal to the line of 4 June 1967,

including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and

the remaining occupied territories in southern Lebanon,

is also required in order to achieve a just and

comprehensive peace in accordance with the resolutions

of international legitimacy, and based on the principle

of land for peace and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The United Arab Emirates stands by the

Palestinian National Authority, and supports the

Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their

national goals and restore their inalienable legitimate

rights. We commend President Mahmoud Abbas for his

persistent efforts to realize the interests of the

Palestinian people and restore their rights.

We affirm our support for the position adopted by

the Palestinian National Authority in the direct

negotiations with the Israeli. We hope that the

independent Palestinian State, with its capital Al-Quds

Al-Sharif, will see the light of day next year.

We welcome the statement of Mr. Barack Obama,

President of the United States, to the General Assembly,

and his strong commitment to the achievement of peace

in the Middle East. We also welcome his emphasis on the

importance of leading direct negotiations into final

results within a year, and seeing Palestine take its seat

13 10-55276

in the General Assembly at the sixty-sixth session. In

this context, we rely on an effective American role, and

active regional and international support for the peace

process in the Middle East.

Our commitment to the achievement of peace as a

strategic choice means that we must condemn the

Israeli practices against the Palestinian people,

including the collective punishment policy and the

inhumane blockade imposed on the Palestinian people

in Gaza. We also condemn other flagrant Israeli

violations of international law and of the principles and

purposes of the Charter.

In that connection, we emphasize that the

continuation of the Israeli settlement activities,

confiscation and Judaization of the occupied

Palestinian and other Arab territories run counter to the

pursuit of peace. We say to Israel: Either choose to pursue

peace or insist on pressing ahead with settlements.

Combining the two is incompatible with peace.

The United Arab Emirates will continue to pursue

its international policy guided by the purposes of the

United Nations and the principles of its Charter,

especially with regard to the promotion of international

peace and security, the peaceful resolution of

international disputes, non-interference in the internal

affairs of States and compliance with the principles of

international law.

We shall continue to make our distinct

contributions to regional and international partnerships

aimed at building a more peaceful, stable and just

world, free of all forms of terrorism, violence,

extremism, crime, discrimination, human rights

violations, human trafficking, and any sort of

humiliation or degradation of human dignity. We look

forward to a world that promotes the principles of

dialogue, interaction, mutual understanding,

cooperation and interactive civilized coexistence

among all religions and cultures, without any form of

discrimination, the use of stereotypical images, hatred

or denigration of religions: a world characterized by

human peace, prosperity and development.

On that basis, we condemn terrorism in all its

forms and manifestations, wherever it exists, and stress

the need to intensify regional and international efforts

to combat and eliminate terrorism.

My country is an active member of regional and

international partnerships and efforts designed to

combat terrorism, including the Global Initiative to

Combat Nuclear Terrorism. We will continue our

efforts to strengthen cooperation in the areas of

intelligence exchange, capacity-building, combating

and drying up sources of terrorism. We expect all other

States to shoulder their responsibilities in order to get

rid of this growing scourge.

In the meantime, we welcome the positive results

of the West Point conference on combating terrorism,

and look forward to the success of the next conference,

to be held in the Republic of Korea.

As part of our efforts to strengthen international

cooperation in addressing the challenges of climate

change, and in order to assist States most at risk from

the adverse effects of that phenomenon, we have

initiated a partnership programme with the Pacific

small island developing States, and we call upon the

international community to support and expand the

partnership at the global level. It is our hope that States

parties to the Framework Convention on Climate

Change will achieve concrete results before the

forthcoming Conference in Mexico.

We are pleased to see that the accord establishing

the International Renewable Energy Agency has

entered into force after ratification by the required

number of States. In its capacity as host country, the

United Arab Emirates continues to carry out its

commitments to the Agency in order to enable it to

perform its duties effectively.

My Government is moving forward with its

peaceful nuclear energy programme. At the same time,

it wishes to emphasize its commitment to all the

requirements of nuclear non-proliferation and its

compliance with the highest standards of transparency

and nuclear safety. The United Arab Emirates has

ratified the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In this context,

we wish to express our satisfaction at the positive

outcome of the recent Review Conference of the States

Parties to the Treaty. We look forward to the

implementation of the responsible and valid

recommendations agreed in the Final Document of the

Conference.

The United Arab Emirates is working on

protecting the various aspects of human rights, and

welcomes the establishment of a new international

entity on women in the United Nations, UN Women,

and the appointment of the Under-Secretary-General

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for Women’s Affairs. We are implementing various

national programmes to empower women, enhance

their participation in the decision-making process, and

developing their status.

We attach great importance to the issue of human

trafficking. We have therefore enacted legislation and

developed national mechanisms compatible with our

obligations under relevant international conventions

and resolutions. We call upon the international

community to develop an integrated global strategy to

eliminate this scourge.

We support the activities of the Alliance of

Civilizations Forum, and welcome the fact that its

fourth session is to be held in the brotherly State of

Qatar next year. We also commend the endeavours of

Qatar to make the interfaith dialogue conference a

permanent institution. We welcome the decision of the

Emir of Qatar to establish a centre for interfaith

dialogue in Doha.

We hope that our deliberations during this session

will lead to positive results.