Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

oPt + 3 more

Address of H.E. Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt before the 64th Session of the General Assembly

Attachments

Mr. President,

Allow me at the outset to congratulate your sisterly country, Libya, and congratulate you personally, on your assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly, on behalf of the African continent, and to express our confidence that your leadership will lead to achieving the success we aspire. I would also like to reaffirm the full support of Egypt and the Non-Aligned Movement for you in fulfilling your mission.

Our session this year convenes against the backdrop of international unprecedented crises in their nature and scope. The list of global challenges we are facing, such as climate change, the food crisis, and the crisis the international peace is supplemented by, additional emerging global challenges that make it essential for us to increase our work in a coordinated and collective spirit. The global financial crisis and the spread of diseases, such as the A (H1N1) virus, threaten public health worldwide. This requires a high degree of conscious collective work, and a common awareness of the effect of such a crisis on economic and social, even political, and perhaps security stability in many of our countries.

While talking about international collective work, it is difficult to overlook the fact that the current international structures designed to manage the realities of the global economy should reflect balances of the present and future. Therefore, they have to be subject to change, so as to be more compatible with the current reality. The change I mean here is a gradual and strategic one which would make the membership of such structures accessible to a larger number of developing countries, and would grant them a stronger voice and participation in determining the course of the world economic order and its future.

A few days ago, we all took part in the Climate Change Summit, convened upon the initiative of the Secretary-General, and listened to all the pledges made and the concerns expressed. While Egypt is aware of the seriousness of the situation and the gravity of the challenges Climate Change is posing on all of us, we believe in the possibility that collective work could provide new opportunities for advancing development in developing societies, in a manner that would allow the agreed upon sustainable development principles to materialize. As put forward by President Mubarak in the L'Aquila Summit last July, we look forward to arriving at a fair and balanced deal at the upcoming Copenhagen Conference in December, that would take into consideration the aspirations and rights of developing countries, and at the same time address all crucial issues including mitigation, adaptation, financing and technology transfer. It should further ensure the fulfillment of commitments by developed countries, and enable our countries to implement its voluntary commitments within the framework of honest application of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.