YouSaid · the spoken record

Sergei Martynov,

lines on the record: 90
first: 2003-09-24
most recent: 2011-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Martin Luther King once said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” Let us heed this reasonable advice and, as the international community, do without delay what we must do.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“In our view, efforts to strengthen this domain demand the widest support. Responding to the request of the Secretary-General, Belarus started contributing as it could by taking part in peacekeeping operations. There is also the need to enhance the mediation role of the United Nations in the settlement of disputes by peaceful means. For that it is important not only to build up the Organization’s internal capacities, but to ensure active United Nations cooperation with regional organizations, for instance the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which know best the problems in their own areas of responsibility. As the current Chair of the CSTO, Belarus stands ready to assist in this effort as much as it can.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Several years ago, Belarus was among the Member States that initiated efforts to have the General Assembly pay greater attention to the problems of middle-income countries. We are glad to see that since then there has been a growing understanding of the significance of that group of countries in world political and economic processes. At the current session Belarus, together with like-minded countries, will continue efforts to guide United Nations organs conducting operational activities towards a more robust and efficient response to the specific needs of that group of countries and its many members. The authority of the United Nations among the world’s ordinary people is high in places where it really helps in the transition from chaos and violence to order and stability through its peacekeeping activities.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Bringing the Council’s working methods into conformity with the spirit of the age must serve to enhance the authority and efficiency of its work. The world is plagued by severe economic problems, yet the substantial economic capacities of the United Nations have not been properly utilized. The activities of the Economic and Social Council should be aligned with solutions to the urgent problems of Member States to a much greater extent than they are now. Belarus is eager to contribute to this work, including as member of the Council, provided that next month Member States do Belarus the honour of electing it to that vital United Nations body. Strengthening the United Nations is impossible without striking a balance among the interests of various groups of countries.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“It is us, the Member States, who are at fault, because together we failed both to grasp what kind of world we wanted to build and to adjust the United Nations to the new realities. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the United Nations has more frequently served as a stage for individual actors rather than as a platform for common action. The need to revitalize the Organization stands out sharply as never before. We need to reform the principal organs of the United Nations and the fundamental orientation of its activities. The Security Council should not stay fixed in a form that was appropriate in era of realpolitik. In the interests of developing countries above all, we are convinced that the Council must be enlarged in both categories.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We 11-51670 12 welcome the High-level Meeting on Youth held in July this year in the context of the International Year of Youth. We hope that the event will be followed by the development of efficient global policies to protect the interests of youth. There is a natural place where a strategy for development for the future must be devised and implemented. That place is the United Nations. The question today is, to what extent is the United Nations fit to take this task upon itself? Let us be frank. We all have claims against the United Nations. Indeed, the major task of the Organization over the past years seems to have been to survive various crises rather than to solve, let alone prevent, them. Is the United Nations to blame for this state of affairs? Let us be outspoken once more and say “No”. The United Nations is us.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Interested States, international organizations and civil society, along with the private sector, are already actively participating in the process. It is gratifying that these efforts have focused on protecting the rights of victims. Throwing its full weight behind such an approach, Belarus was among the first States to make a voluntary contribution to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking. We are grateful to those countries that joined in the work of the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking. Among the prospects for establishing global partnerships, we see as highly promising the theme of supporting youth. At the Assembly’s High-level Meeting on Youth last year, Belarus came up with the initiative to create a partnership to that effect.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“As a practical step, Belarus would like to suggest setting up a global mechanism — through a General Assembly resolution on new and renewable sources of energy and under the outcome document of the Rio+20 Conference — under the aegis of the United Nations to ensure access to modern energy technologies for all countries of the world. That would be our best contribution to the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All that we are to celebrate in 2012. Over the past year, we have made important strides in forging the Global Partnership against Slavery and Trafficking in Human Beings in the Twenty-first Century, initiated by Belarus. The implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons is under way.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“At the same time, the relentless rise of oil, food and energy prices across the globe points out a new strain on development, hence the need for more proactive and unconventional approaches. Among such specific approaches, we consider it important to address the issue of the transfer of effective, cutting-edge energy technologies to developing and middle-income countries. That is also a key element for overcoming the problems of climate change. What is crucial here is that such technologies already exist and are established in many parts of the globe. Therefore, the difficulties are not technical. Ultimately, let us grasp one point: today it is impossible to have a green paradise for the affluent countries while the poor ones live in a contaminated hell. The finite nature of Earth rules out such a scenario.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“It is just such partnerships that can ensure a real pooling of efforts by interested stakeholders in today’s world in order to oppose the whole array of challenges and threats that recognize no borders. We are certain that at the international level there is no alternative to integration and inclusiveness. Globalization and interdependence have made all of us equally vulnerable to transnational problems. Thus, there cannot be well-being and stability in the world for the few while others live in poverty and suffering. The profound changes in Africa and the Middle East caused by the growing problems of poverty and inequality dictate the need to achieve a global partnership for development. Last year’s High-level Meeting at the United Nations and the Seoul Meeting of the Group of 20 made important contributions to the efforts in this field.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“The great Albert Einstein once said: “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” The growing transnational challenges and threats cannot be successfully addressed through traditional foreign policy tools such as balance of power, spheres of influence, sanctions and threats. We need new forms of cooperation that factor in the two contemporary global shifts that foreign policy analysts correctly emphasize: from the West to the rest, and from States to non-State actors. We believe that global partnerships among States, international organizations, civil society and the private sector represent the best form of cooperation for facing those and any other challenges. Global partnerships constitute an integral part of the strategy against chaos.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“11 11-51670 Belarus has also found itself the target not only of malicious attacks but also of economic sanctions for the choice that the Belarussian nation made with the election of its own President. Belarussians will never renounce their right of choice. Determining our own path of development is a sacred value to us. Neither sanctions nor blackmail and threats will alter our stance. Justice is on our side. Belarus has never tried to teach anyone how to live. We consistently advocate the need to respect the diverse development paths of the world’s nations. The Republic of Belarus stands ready to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries, even those with whom we continue to have acute differences. After all, we are simply asking that others treat us as we treat them, with respect and equality. That is our right too.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Clearly, there is more than enough reason to be concerned, since power, de facto, dominates law more often than not. This year we have witnessed far-reaching changes in the Middle East. The countries of that region have the inalienable right to determine their own way of development. All of us must respect the choice made by those States and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs. That is our international obligation as Member States of the United Nations. Unfortunately, not every country complies with its international obligations concerning the free choice of development paths. For decades the United States of America has maintained an economic, trade and financial blockade against freedom-loving Cuba. That is a clear violation of United Nations principles and decisions.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“The failures of the international community over the past twenty years suggest that for such a strategy to become a strategy for success, it would have to be built around the following three foundations: strengthening international law, establishing global partnerships and revitalizing the United Nations. The history of mankind has always been the history of the opposition of power and law. Only in the past century has that argument been resolved, and only de jure, in favour of the latter. By the way, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that a civilization is shaped by its transition from power to law. Belarus is firmly convinced that a strategy against chaos cannot succeed if we fail to preserve and strengthen the system of international law as a deterrent against lawlessness and impunity.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We missed that opportunity, first of all because egoism and gloating rather than common sense took the upper hand in the mindset of the so-called winners. The lack of common vision excluded the possibility of our taking effective concerted action. As a result, the international community today is only reacting to ever-rising global challenges, having no recourse to instruments that might prevent them. The situation is bound to persist unless we arrive together at a set of long-term, efficient measures. We need a global strategy against chaos.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Much has been said from this rostrum in recent years about global governance. Yet in fact there is a pervasive feeling that chaos is inexorably engulfing our planet. Indeed, one global crisis comes hard on the heels of another. International law is being shamelessly trampled. Inequality and poverty are on the rise, and above all, an ever increasing number of people in the world are exposed to suffering. This is the logical outcome of the world operating without a system and order. Twenty years ago, the international community had its own constitutional moment as a result of the end of an epochal confrontation, an opportunity to elaborate a comprehensive strategy for stable development of the world in the future.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Negotiations on the document could start in January 2010. Sixty-five years after the signing of the United Nations Charter, we can and should make an honourable attempt to return to the roots of the United Nations by restoring the original meaning of the word “united”, which forms part of our name. It all depends on us.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“That is the only forum that has united the heads of State and Government of the G-8, the G-20, the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth of Independent States and others. Belarus proposes considering the 2010 Summit as a summit of partnerships, the venue for putting forward and acting upon the ideas of global partnerships. We support the intention of the President of the current session of the General Assembly to start preparations for the Summit well in advance. At the Summit itself, we propose the adoption, at the level of heads of State and Government, of a mechanism, an algorithm or a plan of close cooperation on the part of Member States for the years to come on how to overcome global challenges. And in the next few months, delegations could make suggestions as to the substance of such a document.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The commitments we have taken happen to be more significant than many of our neighbours, and even than those of some European Union countries. Since we are all partners here, I will put it in a blunt and straightforward way. We do not understand why many States, including powerful groups of States, which are, by the way, leading the way in post-Kyoto advocacy, do not allow us to assume legally binding and significant Kyoto commitments. I address this call to partners and colleagues. If we want to strengthen the Kyoto paradigm, let us not undermine it. I sincerely hope that the call of Belarus for speedy ratification of our accession to Kyoto will be heeded. In a year’s time, here in New York, there will be the 2010 United Nations Summit.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“There will be increased predictability and fewer crises and catastrophes. There will be more opportunities for economic growth in the poorer countries and an increase in international assistance will be generated. In the long run, everyone will be a winner. I cannot but turn to the subject of Kyoto and post- Kyoto, which sets the tone for the current session of the General Assembly. The possible outcome of the Copenhagen meeting is, unfortunately, not quite clear. All of us, big, medium-size and small States, have to do our utmost to ensure its success. But the perfect does not have to be the enemy of the good. Belarus is the only State in the world that, for several years, has been trying to achieve what may seem, at first glance, to be a paradoxical goal. That is, to take on significant commitments to reduce harmful emissions.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“With this idea in mind 37 09-52592 last year, Belarus, together with its partners, sponsored the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution on cooperation for development with middle-income countries. This year, for the first time within these walls, a substantive discussion was held on how to make the best use of the capacity of the United Nations system to assist such countries in addressing their specific social and economic problems, which are particularly important for sustainable global development. We hope that the work of the General Assembly on that topic will not be seen simply in terms of competition for the scarce resources of the donor community and the United Nations. That is not the point. The larger the number of economically prosperous States in the world, the stronger and more predictable the world economy will be.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Experience has clearly shown that resources and capacities of a narrow circle of traditional world leaders are insufficient for overcoming the crisis. The greatest potential for growth rests with middle-income countries. To a certain extent, one could draw a parallel here with the key role played by the middle class in the stable economic and political development of States. It is no coincidence that the majority of United States and European companies are turning their eyes to the Asian and other developing world markets. Mindful of such importance, let alone the mere numerical strength of this group of countries, which includes more than 100 States, the United Nations system must take an active role.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The increasing topicality of the energy and environment agenda requires creation of a specific partnership — a global mechanism to improve the access of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to new and renewable energy sources. This issue must not be shelved. We need to lay the foundations for a qualitative breakthrough at this session of the General Assembly. Belarus will initiate a comprehensive study of this issue with the involvement of leading international experts and include in its results conclusions and recommendations for the future report of the Secretary-General. We believe that, given current conditions, the strengthening of the economic potential and political role of middle-income countries could be yet another motor of economic and social progress.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“It is absolutely obvious that the global crisis has demonstrated the need to replace the outdated financial engine. What can and should replace it? We believe there will be not just one engine for the future, but a number of elements that include a leading role for clean, green technologies. Given the increasing interdependence of energy and environment and the determining role of energy in global survival, it cannot be otherwise. This year we face an especially momentous task: elaboration of new post-Kyoto agreements to deal with global warming that include universal introduction of new and renewable energy sources. This issue was discussed in depth at the thematic dialogue of the General Assembly held in June 2009. That was a good beginning, yet we must move decisively forward.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We have also heard expressions of support from high ranking participants in this general debate. We welcome the recent decision by the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session to appoint the Permanent Representatives of Cape Verde and Portugal as facilitators of the consultations on the global plan. We call on all our partners and friends to engage actively in this work. Global economic development is always driven by certain engines, which are replaced by new and more effective ones. For example, coal and steel were engines for the European industrial revolution; the engine for the global economy after the Second World War was oil, which was replaced by information technologies in the 1990s. The economic engine of the past decade was finance.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In this regard I note, in particular, a new positive element, namely, the thematic debates in the General Assembly. Bearing in mind the experience and potential of the United Nations, Belarus has proposed the establishment of a global thematic partnership against human trafficking and slavery in the twenty-first century. An informal mechanism on the topic initially took shape at the Global Forum to Fight Human Trafficking in Vienna in February 2008. It must be institutionalized to work effectively — I stress institutionalized, not bureaucratized — through the elaboration and adoption by the General Assembly of a global plan of action to combat human trafficking. The idea for such a plan garnered wide support in May during the thematic debate in the General Assembly.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Was it not under the aegis of the United Nations that the foundation was laid for the establishment of an anti-terrorism coalition and elaboration of a counter- terrorism strategy after the tragic events of 11 September 2001? And by the way, should the United Nations not consider proclaiming 11 September as the day of the fight against terrorism? We would be interested in hearing States’ reactions to this idea. Have not the achievement of the General Assembly in establishing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development been acknowledged worldwide? The Millennium Development Goals were also formulated in the context of a global partnership for development. United Nations capacities have been strengthened by some of the progress made in reforming the Organization.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Today I address my colleagues from the European Union, the United States, Russia and other developed countries and call upon them to show leadership in dealing with the unprecedented global challenges through close partnerships and coordination with all members of the international community, including Belarus. Members of the international community, especially the world’s power centres and leading political groups, should give practical effect to their good intentions by developing global partnerships and crisis strategies. The greatest potential for responding to global threats and challenges is clearly here in the United Nations. As a founding member of the Organization, 09-52592 36 Belarus is convinced of the ability of the United Nations to play a leading role in generating partnerships to overcome the most acute global problems.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“It should be said that the Group of Twenty format — let alone the Group of Eight — is too narrow to be considered a representative partnership. In this regard, engaging economic regional groupings of States with significant potential, for example in our region — the Eurasian Economic Community — would make the format more representative. We also believe there is great potential for dialogue and partnership between the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and other major centres of power, as was discussed recently at the recent summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Egypt. After all, today the Movement represents a significant international factor. Its members make tangible contributions to international security and are important actors on the international socio-economic stage.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“After a long break it seems that the international community is starting to think along the same lines on security, partnership and development and that the world’s political leaders are beginning to speak the same language — that of common sense. An important proof of the principled readiness to walk the path of partnership is the efforts of the 20 largest world economies to combine their resources to lead the world out of the global economic crisis. We welcome in that connection recent meetings of some regional economic and political groups of States. On a less positive note, it should be noted that some aspects of the agreements reached remain to be carried out by the parties, for example, the rejection and removal of protectionist measures in international trade.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“A year ago, when opening the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted, “Nations can no longer protect their interests or advance the well-being of their peoples without the partnership of other nations.” (A/63/PV.5, p. 1) This year the United States declared its readiness to “build partnerships and solve problems that no nation can solve on its own”. The European Union has also addressed the General Assembly with the same message of cooperation and partnership. The President of Russia spoke from this rostrum about a “collective agenda for unification” () dictated by life itself.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Partnerships are a mechanism of engagement that has no reasonable alternative in the context of a pluralistic and contradictory world. One particular political factor that raises hope that that approach is a realistic instrument is an emerging meeting of minds — involving various forces on different continents — that see in partnerships a link by which one can extend the chain. By way of illustration, I will cite the example of the call of Belarus, from this rostrum two years ago, for systems based on opposition and confrontation to become new international ones based on engagement and partnership (see A/62/PV.11).”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“This General Assembly Hall is, in fact, the situation room of the entire world. It seems to me that over the years we here in this Hall have collectively understood and known what to do. The main thing now is to agree how to do it. We all need an effective tool. There is hope that we are already close to a common understanding of how and with what tool we can achieve our goals. For the international community to emerge from a series of multiple crises and to overcome multidimensional new threats, we must achieve a policy of partnership. Modern international relations are increasingly being built on the basis of horizontal networks that include all interested and constructive stakeholders in today’s world — States, international organizations, civil society and the private sector.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Today it is within our power to stop confrontation and to reject the solutions that it seeks to impose. Tomorrow belongs to positive ideas and actions and to interaction and cooperation for peace in the common interest of the entire international community.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“This is a wake-up call for the entire international community. By designating States at will as acceptable or unacceptable, as good or bad, the United States is creating an atmosphere that suppresses dissent and diversity in international relations. That not only brings ideology and politicking into international relations but is an act of confrontation with each and every one who dares to have an independent opinion or who has the courage to pursue an independent foreign policy. The majority in this hall are member States of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). They are non-aligned to confrontation. Five decades ago the creation of the Movement was a protest against confrontation and a global response to the global challenge of confrontation.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We end up dealing with simply absurd situations when economic sanctions are imposed under the pretext of promoting workers’ rights but lead ultimately to job losses. By applying increasingly unilateral coercive measures of economic pressure, including extraterritorially, the well-known world centre of power has assumed de facto the rights of the United Nations Security Council. We have all witnessed this during the current general debate in the General Assembly. We wish to draw the attention of the General Assembly to a particular aspect, the abuse by the United States of the right to be the world reserve currency manager and its deliberate creation of obstacles to the lawful economic activity of legitimate companies and banks from countries that are not deemed acceptable by the United States.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“This has involved not only economic pressure, in order to receive coerced and unilateral additional benefits from WTO expansion, but also political pressure. The United Nations must take a firm stand in favour of establishing, with the participation of all interested States, fair conditions for WTO accession that take into account the trade and financial needs of the acceding countries and their genuine development needs. Belarus rejects the use of unilateral coercive measures in international relations as an instrument of political and economic pressure on sovereign States. Such measures not only contradict the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law but breed alienation, mistrust and hostility among nations.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“However, we hope that the proposed proclamation by the United Nations of a decade of rehabilitation and sustainable development of Chernobyl-affected areas, which was endorsed by the 2006 Minsk Chernobyl International Conference, will have the support of the Assembly and that a new resolution of the General Assembly will officially announce the beginning of the decade of Chernobyl, thus ensuring the cooperation and solidarity of the international community. From this rostrum much has been said about the problems of the Doha round of negotiations on international trade. There is one more aspect of this subject, the unacceptable practice of certain countries that use the process of accession to membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a convenient instrument of pressure on candidate countries.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Thanks to great effort and at tremendous cost the most urgent problems of providing emergency assistance to the population today have been dealt with. In the years to come we will face an equally challenging task, namely, to restore the economic potential of the affected areas and to create a viable environment for people and pollution-free production. As before, we will bear the main burden ourselves.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In view of the worsening problem of climate change and incorporating the wishes of our partners, we have undertaken the most stringent commitments on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. Through joint efforts by the parties to the Kyoto Protocol, let us ensure prompt ratification of the amendment and its entry into force, thereby setting a major practical precedent by enlarging the circle of participants in the Kyoto Protocol. The fact that Belarus takes climate change and environmental protection issues so seriously is not accidental. Like our neighbours, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, for the past two decades now Belarus has had to deal with the consequences of the deadliest man-made disaster of the twentieth century, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It would probably be right to hold, during the next session of the General Assembly, informal thematic debates on technologies for alternative and renewable energy resources as the common property of humankind. The problem of global climate change a key topic for this year’s general debate is becoming increasingly acute. At present, the Kyoto Protocol is the most important international instrument for addressing this issue. In 2006, with an eye to full- fledged participation in the Kyoto Protocol, Belarus became the first and so far the only country to initiate an amendment to annex-B of the Protocol.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Such practical measures should include the methods of dealing with the obvious problem that these technologies are concentrated in the hands of a small group of States. Otherwise, the pricing for these technologies tomorrow will emulate today’s exorbitant prices for traditional energy resources. If a few decades ago the international community drew on the enlightened minds of researchers and managed to decide that a future controlled fusion technology, as a perpetual source of energy, should belong to all humanity, why can the United Nations today not take a similar decision with respect to alternative and renewable sources of energy?”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Antagonism between suppliers and consumers of energy resources and a price race will not resolve the energy problem. Such antagonism is itself a superficial phenomenon. At the end of the day, we are all energy consumers, and this, in principle, is where we have common interests. How are we to solve this problem, given the rapid pace of growth of the world economy and the consequent rush for energy sources? It is clear that the future belongs to alternative and renewable sources of energy. This means that today the United Nations must work out practical arrangements for the transfer and distribution of alternative and renewable energy technologies on a global scale. That is a fundamental prerequisite for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Having, in 2006, taken the first steps towards coordinating the efforts of the international community in this sphere (see resolution 61/180), the General Assembly should offer to its intergovernmental and non-governmental partners a practical vision of a global partnership in this fight. As an optimal form of such a partnership, Belarus would opt for a United Nations plan of action or strategy to counter human trafficking and other modern forms of slavery. Let us determine the optimal format for our cooperation through a thematic General Assembly debate and begin this without delay during the current session. We are certain that it is time for our common Organization, the United Nations, to begin looking for ways, obviously based on cooperation, to deal with what is de facto the most topical problem facing humankind: the energy problem.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Instead, we have understood the true impact of poverty, inequality, social vulnerability and illiteracy on the rise of extremism and terrorism and have taken up the fight against terrorism through joint and comprehensive efforts, and have thus started to undermine the very foundations of terrorism. The decisive role in this, in our opinion, belongs to the United Nations. The United Nations must also reassert its leading role in the fight against such growing evils as trafficking in human beings and bring about cooperation between the countries of origin and countries of destination of modern-day slaves.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“New international systems based on partnership must replace them. Those thoughts are not a digression into the abstract. Though still split by the old paradigm of North-South confrontation and the imposed myth of confrontation between developed and developing States, and the myth of a clash of civilizations, the international community should through its actions today build a practical partnership that will lay the foundations of new systems for the world order. When we succeed in working together, we will be able to tackle the most serious problems. Let us take the subject of terrorism. Force alone, even the most powerful and the most sophisticated, cannot overcome terrorism. Its use instead causes a further spiral of terror. We have all painfully come to realize this.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“All of us seated in this Hall witnessed the collapse almost two decades ago of a seemingly invincible international system based on the antagonism of two poles of power. It collapsed instantly. The system that ensued, based on the antagonism of one powerful pole to the rest of the world, is already splitting apart before our very eyes and creating strains that will inevitably lead to its collapse. Simple logic, which does not aspire to explain the laws of the universe, tells us that systems based on confrontation are short-lived. They are doomed. But this is not the end of history: this is a process of history. As the twenty-first century begins, systems based on antagonism and confrontation are becoming a thing of the past. The sands of time are inexorably flowing out of them.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“That should be the United Nations motto for a challenging twenty-first century.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“That spirit became possible as a result of the huge disaster of the Second World War, with about 60 million deaths and the inconceivable suffering of hundreds of millions. Do we also need a huge disaster to restore that spirit? I am sure we do not. I hope that we have all learned the lessons of history. After an era of romantic ideals and their tragic failure in the 1990s, mankind today is coming to a more elaborate perception of what kind of world order it needs. The Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana has demonstrated the clear aspiration of the majority of the nations of the world to move from the self-exhausted unipolar world to the multipolar world, fair and stable, based on the interdependence of diverse global and regional centres of power, to a world fit for all. The Havana Summit has shown that humanity should be humane.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I ask the Assembly to support the establishment of a systems-based approach to a global partnership against slavery and trafficking in human beings. Who else but the United Nations should care about the dozens, hundreds and perhaps millions of victims — above all, women and children — of modern slavery? Who else but the United Nations should encourage better international coordination in eradicating this phenomenon, which is an utter disgrace in our century? At the World Summit many leaders spoke about the spirit of San Francisco. The spirit of San Francisco in 1944 and 1945 came from the sense of responsibility of nations in dealing with the problems of the world, not responsibility for their own narrow interests — that is obvious and simple — but for a common cause.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)