SG report on the work of UN – GA debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-third session

20th plenary meeting
Monday, 6 October 2008, 10 a.m. 
New York

President: Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann …………………………………… (Nicaragua)

The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.

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Agenda item 100 (continued)

Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/63/1)

 The President ( spoke in Spanish ): Members will recall that the Secretary-General presented his annual report (A/63/1) to the General Assembly at its 5th plenary meeting, on 23 September 2008.

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  Mr. Le Luong Minh (Viet Nam): …

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 As reported by the Secretary-General, the rise in the number and intensity of extreme weather events throughout the review period is striking, with an increasing number of poor people being affected by drought, floods and cyclones. The fragile security and deadly violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, the occupied Palestinian territories and many other conflict-ridden regions have forced millions of people into exile and internal displacement, with larger and larger numbers of civilians requiring urgent humanitarian assistance and access.

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  Mr. Liu Zhenmin (China) (spoke in Chinese ): …

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  The situation in the Middle East continues to be the biggest test for the United Nations. The only feasible way to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Middle East question is to carry out political negotiations on the basis of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the principle of land for peace, in order to settle disputes and achieve peaceful coexistence between Israel and all Arab States, including an independent Palestinian State. We sincerely hope that the leaders of Israel and Palestine will maintain the momentum in the dialogue. We support a greater role for the United Nations on the Middle East question.

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 Mr. Abdelaziz (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic ): …

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 We welcome the role of the United Nations as embodied in the international Quartet and the United Nations special envoys to the Middle East. However, we believe in the importance of strengthening its role in a more active way, in order to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially as the terms of reference for the peace process were created here in the United Nations and will remain the basis governing any final settlement.

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The meeting rose at 1.05 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.