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Mon, Sept 26, 2011 | UN TV

Yousef Bin Al-Alawi Bin Abdulla, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman (UN Photo/JC McIlwaine)

FM Yousef Bin Al-Alawi Bin Abdulla Addresses the General Debate of the 66th Session of the General Assembly

Address by His Excellency Mr. Yousef Bin Al-Alawi Bin Abdulla, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Oman at the General debate of the 66th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 21-24 and 26-30 September 2011).

Oman, General Debate, 66th Session

Statement By

HIS EXCELLENCY MINISTER

YOUSEF BIN ALAWI BIN ABDULLAH

MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF

THE SULTANATE OF OMAN

AND

HEAD OF OMANI DELEGATION TO THE 66TH SESSION

OF THE

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

DURING THE

66TH SESSiON OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

26 September 2011, New York

Mr. President,

It gives my country great pleasure to offer you and your friendly country, Qatar, its warmest congratulations on your election as President of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. My country is confident that your vast experience in the political work will have a great impact on the success of this session. My country also wishes to express its appreciation to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Dais for his valuable efforts in conducting the previous session. It gives my country great pleasure to express appreciation to H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations for his continuous efforts in vitalization the role of this organization and the development of its work, we also congratulate him in his re-election as Secretary-General of the United Nations for another term.

As we speak before the assembly on this podium each year, we begin with the issue of the Palestinian people. We have worked, as an international community to encourage negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the government of the occupying power, Israel. Unfortunately, things are still at standstill; therefore the world and in particular, the UN should act and fulfill its responsibilities to find a just and comprehensive solution. We believe that an establishment of Palestinian State on the borders of June 4, 1967 and the recognition of this State as a member of this organization will certainly lead to serious negotiations and will reach a just, comprehensive and lasting solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Mr. President,

With regards to Somalia, this country has become a victim of civil war for decades, as a result of the weakness of political leadership that failed to end this hateful war by political consensus, to save the Somali people from the triangle of poverty, ignorance and famine.

We believe that the time is suitable for the UN to intensify its effort in cooperation with the regional organizations such as the League of Arab States, African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and IGAD, to set a plan to bring peace in Somalia. We also stress the importance of increasing humanitarian aid to millions of refugees and displaced persons among the Somali people. We are confident that the neighboring countries of Somalia share our belief in the need for political solutions to this chronic crisis in this country. We also confirm to the Secretary-General of the U.N. that we are fully prepared to support the efforts of the UN in this regard.

Mr. President,

A series of High-Level Meetings and international conferences were held for over three decades in an effort to achieve progress in the talks on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. As we emphasize our position to support the non-proliferation, we hope to translate what has been reached at the Review Conference held in New York in May 2010 to a practical reality. My country hopes that the Conference of 2012 would declare the region of the Middle East as a region free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction and it should take into consideration the legitimate right of states to use the nuclear technology for peaceful purposes in accordance with the NPT and the auspices of the International Atornic Energy Agency (IAEA). In this context, my country calls upon Israel to respond to international demands to ratify the NPT and to allow the IAEA to inspect all its nuclear facilities and to present its reports. Concerning the Iranian nuclear file, the Sultanate of Oman urges all parties to continue negotiations and dialogue to find a peaceful way to preserve the security and the stability in this important region of the world.

Mr. President,

Our contemporary world is witnessing profound changes in the demographic composition of the people of the world, where the youth constitute the majority of the world population, and where they are the most ambitious and capable to map the future. Therefore, the international community should take this reality into consideration when setting up all forms of future plans in the field of economy, education and development.

Since our region experiences these changes like the rest of the world, we believe that the aspirations of young people for a better future prevailed by security and decent jiving, should be accepted and welcorned by all governments.

As for us, in the Sultanate of Oman and according to the instruction of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, May God protect him, all our national, economic and social plans are based on empowering young people to use their energies (capabilities) to the maximum in order to benefit from technologies and to achieve a society of prosperity and sustainable growth.

Mr. President,

The contemporary world faces many crises that make it imperative for the international community to deploy common efforts to create appropriate conditions to find solutions for them. The world may be just around the corner from a wide food crisis, or even nearer, which threatens a large number of people with shortage of food, and therefore, there must be an international effort to expand the production area through cultivation of larger areas and through using high technology to increase production and to combat desertification that threatens it.

On the other hand, the continued global financial crisis in the world which people face oblige us to rethink in a collective way to put new principles for investment and international trade in order to reach appropriate solutions to reduce negative impacts of these crisis in countries and societies, particularly in developing ones.

There is also another issue we have to face that stem from cosmos phenomenon such as hurricanes, earthquakes and high percentage of environmental pollution, which lead to major human and economic loses. We believe that all countries, particularly powerful industrialized countries, should be united to find a solution to reduce industrial and environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions through introduction of modern techniques in this area.

Mr. President,

My country condemns all forms of terrorism, committed against the objectives of the charter of the United Nations which indicate the maintenance of International peace and security. Therefore it reaffirms its support to the international efforts to eliminate and combat this phenomenon through taking appropriate measures depending on what has been confirmed by Arab, Islamic and international resolutions, treaties and conventions. In the context of the keenness of the Sultanate of Oman and its continuous cooperation with the United Nations and the international community in combating and eliminating terrorism, it has acceded to most of the conventions relevant to this matter. In this regard, a royal decree has been issued to ratify the Omani Law to fight against terrorism and a nationai committee was established to follow-up this matter.

Mr. President,

The demands to reform the Security Council began in 1993 and since that time, no concrete steps have been set to achieve this important project. Here, we would like to emphasize’ the importance of accelerating the required reforms to renew the mechanism of the work of the organization politically and legally, leading to an increase in the International Security Council membership to keep pace with the increase in the membership of the United Nations in a way to achieve the principle of justice and equality for regional groups on one hand and to make the resolutions of the General Assembly relevant to important issues on the other hand and in order to put an end to double standards.

Mr. President,

While expressing my delegation’s thanks and appreciation for the fruitful efforts made by the United Nations in addressing environmental issues and for its continuous strive towards achieving the essential goals established by international conferences and treaties to protect the environment and to conserve natural resources, the Sultanate of Oman reaffirms its interest in the environment and its conservation, especially in the light of what the world has witnessed in clirnate changes that affected various regions of the world. Therefore, all countries are required today to abide by the basic principles adopted by the international community and set out in the international environmental conventions and to intensify the cooperation with the international organizations in dealing with all environmental changes and climate conditions. We look forward to the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations framework convention on Climate Change and the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol to be held in Durban, South Africa at the end of this year (2011), could reach an understanding to preserve and protect the environment.

Mr. President,

My country has submitted in January 26, 2011 its periodic report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in the context of the mechanism of periodic review of states’ reports. We, in the Sultanate of Oman are satisfied that we have come a long way in protecting human rights at all levels, and we consider this a national and spiritual comrnitment to achieve justice and it is also a support to global culture of human rights protection.

The Government of the Sultanate of Oman confers special attention to Omani citizens who work for the effectiveness of the role of the Omani Society through conducting studies and applied researches in various social phenomenon and fields, and it has sought, through well thought-out plans to develop the social work from traditional patterns to establish private associations and institutions in order to participate with government agencies thereby achieving both social and economic development.

One of the main challenges that countries face in the modern era is to find jobs for their citizens. In this context, my country was able to employ most citizens seeking employment and they were employed in the govemmental and private sectors. My government has also taken steps to increase the wages of the employees and provide monthly grants for those who did not land a suitable job.

To build and develop the capabilities of Omani women, a symposium dedicated to understand their needs was organized and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has adopted the recommendation of the symposium and those recommendations were considered as a plan of action for a new phase that will enable women to enjoy many privileges that ensure equality with men in rights and duties. As such, three centers were established for the care and rehabilitation of disabled women, and the seventeenth of October of each year has been designated as Omani Women’s day. As a reminder, Oman has signed the International Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women of 1979, and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the two protocols of the convention on the Right of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography and the involvement of children in armed conflicts of 2000.

In the area of developing and expanding the experience of popular participation, the government of His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has adopted decisions related to granting more legislative and oversight privileges to the Council of Oman, with its two chambers, the State and the Shura Councils, and also abolished the State Security Court, as well as appointing a number of Cabinet Ministers from among members of the Shura Council elected directly by the people.

In the field of Health, Oman has witnessed during the past four decades a remarkable development in providing health services as a natural result of the commitment of the government to provide health care to all its citizens free of charge through a network of health facilities located throughout the country. As a result of the human development orientation within the framework of the successive five-year plan, there has been a significant quantity and quality improvement in the population and demographic changes in Oman, as reflected in the average age, which has risen in a remarkable way during the year of the Renaissance.

Data indicated an achievement of notable rise in the average life expectancy at birth and a decrease in the mortality rate of children, with Oman being polio-free for the past fifteen years in a row. And no cases of diphtheria were reported since 1993 and also that of Tetanus for newborns since 1995. Oman has realized great achievement in the field of eradicating Malaria, witnessing a dramatic decrease in the number of cases from 30,000 to 891 during the last twenty years. This reflects the fulfillment of Oman’s commitment towards the initiatives and the international conventions and treaties it has signed in various areas of human development.

Mr. President,

In conclusion, we extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to H.E. the SecretaryGeneral for his annual report and its contents of clarification and proposals to address many of the outstanding international issues. As we emphasize to intensify our cooperation with the United Nations, we call upon all states to give great attention to the urgent humanitarian issues such as combating communicable diseases and provision of food and the eradication of poverty, as well as to set effective solutions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

We urge all countries, through you, to seize the opportunity of the current session to take practical measures and steps to ensure consensus on all issues before this session, which will lead to confidence-building in the intemational system and to achieve the desire and aspiration of all peoples and their right to security, stability and prosperity. We wish you all success in conducting the work of this session.

And peace be upon you.