Côte d'Ivoire's Foreign Minister tells UN Assembly peace process is advancing

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly this afternoon, the Foreign Minister of Côte d'Ivoire said his Government is taking steps to restore stability to the conflict-torn West African country.

Mamadou Bamba said there had been progress in making good on pledges made at a summit held this summer in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. At the legislative level, laws had been passed on a number of issues, including amnesty. From the military standpoint, he added, there was a tangible will for peace and the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (ONUCI) had deployed nearly all of its forces.

 

Foreign Minister Mamady Condé of Guinea said West Africa, after long and difficult years of instability, had experience positive change thanks to the political will of the leaders concerned, civil society and the international community. He cited developments in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire as examples, praising the work of the UN in restoring calm in key cases.

 

Somsavat Lengsavad, the Foreign Minister of the Laos, called attention to the scourge of illegal drug trafficking. "Due to its trans-boundary and international nature, this problem can only be dealt with effectively through international cooperation," he pointed out, pledging to intensify cooperation with other countries and to eradicate opium cultivation in the country by next year. He appealed to those present to contribute financial support for this effort.

 

Cambodia's Foreign Minister, Hor Namhong, said the international community must find meaningful solutions to the current energy situation, as skyrocketing oil prices affect the economy, especially the non-oil producing countries. "I believe that the oil producing countries should consider and take a long-term view," he said.

 

Rashid Meredov, the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, said the oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Sea "are the most important energy resources of the planet in the twenty-first century." He called for States in the area to cooperate on the issue, and noted that their success in this effort would be critical to stability in the region. 

 

Dame Billie Miller, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, voiced concern about Cuba's isolation within the Western Hemisphere. "We embrace Cuba as a bona fide sister-state in the Caribbean region and are committed to a policy of constructive engagement with its government and people," she said. "We cannot accept a 'regime change' exogenously imposed upon the people of Cuba, to be, in any way, a viable option."

 

Discussing the situation in the Middle East, Jordan's Foreign Minister, Marwan Muasher, said Israel must stop all forms of settlements building as well as all acts of extra-judicial killings. At the same time, he said, the Palestinian side should complete the security reforms required to control the security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and to bring violence to an end. He also emphasized that Israel's announcement of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza must be an integral part of the Road Map peace plan and must be carried out in coordination with all parties concerned, especially the Palestinian side, in order to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

 

The Foreign Minister of Thailand, Surakiart Sathirathai, stressed that the development of human security and state security must proceed on parallel tracks. "Today the world cannot be a secure place if its population is still suffering from poverty and deprivation," he said. "The world today cannot really be peaceful if we cannot be successful in our effort to make progress to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," he added, referring to a series of global, time-bound anti-poverty targets.

 

Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs, said his country, as one of the major contributors to UN peacekeeping operations, is "deeply concerned" with the increasing danger faced by peacekeeping personnel. "We stand for universal application of the Convention on Safety of the UN and Associated Personnel and call upon all Member States to abide strictly by its provisions," he said.

 

Kenya's Foreign Minister, Ali Mwakwere, said his country has also long been a major troop contributing country in peacekeeping operations and will continue to actively participate with other nations under the UN's aegis. "We call upon the international community to assist the African Union in order to realize the establishment of [its stand-by] force, which will be one of the key tools for ensuring peace and stability on the continent," he said.

 

Le Cong Phung, Deputy Foreign Minister of Viet Nam, decried unfair trading practices. He cited "the unfair imposition" by the United States of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp exports and blamed this for heavy economic losses. "This has not only run counter to the principles of the World Trade Organization but also undermined the poverty reduction," he said.