by
The Right Honourable
Girija Prasad Koirala
Prime Minister of Nepal
at
the Millennium Summit
Messrs. Co-
Presidents,
Distinguished
Heads of State and Government,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I bring you all warm greetings from
the government and people of Nepal and the best wishes from His Majesty King
Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.
Since its inception, the United Nations
has been working to uphold peace, to promote the rule of law and to foster
development. Yet freedom from want and freedom from fear are as distant as ever
for many countries we represent. The challenge before the world leaders today
is to bring peace, prosperity and justice to every one in an inter-dependent
and globalized world.
We in Nepal believe that the United
Nations can help achieve our goal. It is this belief that keeps our faith alive
in the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter, whose ideals of
freedom, equality, non-violence and tolerance continue to sustain the
hopes of humanity. That Nepal is active in peacekeeping as well as in other
works of the Organization is a clear testimony to that abiding faith.
Never before had the, imperatives
for peace been more compelling and prospects of peace so bright as they are
today because of the unprecedented human capacity to destroy and to create. All
too often we have failed to remove the root causes of conflict: poverty and
exclusion. Poverty and conflict often reinforce each other. The current wave of
globalization, though holds promise, has widened the disparity between rich and
poor; and facilitated the movements of terrorists, criminals, drugs, diseases
and pollutions. Refugee flows have become alarming due mainly to intra-state
conflicts.
It is within our collective capacity
to change it. States must exercise requisite political will and act together to
eliminate the threats of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction; to
control small and light weapons; to prevent conflicts and resolve disputes
peacefully; to restore
confidence
in collective security through robust peacekeeping; to tackle terrorism and
crimes and above A
to bring inclusive
progress.
Reducing poverty requires sustained
growth at home, and a favourable external climate. Growth entails investment,
which the world community should help the poor countries to finance by meeting
the agreed aid targets, broadening debt relief measures, and encouraging foreign
investment. Measures must also be put in place to evenly distribute the
benefits of globalization, to bridge the digital divide, to open markets in the
rich countries for the products and labor from the poor countries. Development
should be environment and market friendly to make it sustainable. The global
financial architecture and global trading regime must be more responsive to the
needs of the poor countries.
The least developed countries have
remained, for too long, in the shadow of world attention. The landlocked among
them, like Nepal, are the worst off, as they continue to downslide. The
development partners must help them, both with adequate resources to remove
their development constraints, and with duty-free and quota-free
access for their exports. Transit countries should provide better transit
facilities to the land-locked countries so that they can join the global
economic mainstream.
The United Nations needs
comprehensive reform for it to rise up to the challenges of the 20 century: we
must restore an optimal balance between the General Assembly and the Security
Council, and strengthen Economic and Social Council. The Organization must
bring greater coordination among its funds, programs and activities, as well as
with the Bretton Wood institutions -, and the World Trade Organization.
If the Organization is to be effective, Member States must provide it with
adequate resources. The Secretary-General's Millennium Report offers many
useful insights to address the global problems and reform the Organization.
We share the common humanity and
face the shared destiny. States committed to democracy, human rights and good
governance, willing to take bold steps, and working with each other as well as
with civil society can make a difference. People shall judge us by our
leadership to promote peace, prosperity and justice for every man, woman, and
child around the world. Nepal will do its part.
I thank you
all.