Text of Manmohan Singh's address at UN:

[Guest guest]

Text of Manmohan Singh's address at UN:

Following is the full text of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's

address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Mr President,

Allow me congratulate you on your election as president of the 59th

session. May I assure of India's full support in ensuring its success.

As we gather here in the 60th year of the United Nations, we might

perhaps pause to reflect on the fate of ideals of the international

community that animated its creation. The post-war generation had

already become aware that the world which had emerged from the ashes

of global war could no longer be a peaceful world unless the

underlying forces of conflict were addressed by the entire community

of nations as a collectively. Nations united together to make the

world a safer and more peaceful place, in which a free people could

together pursue a destiny of shared prosperity.

Mr President,

The impulse behind the creation of global institutions nearly 60 years

ago has become an even more pressing reality today. If we look around

us, the single most defining characteristic of our contemporary world

is the global, trans-national character of the challenges we confront,

whether these are in the realm of international security or

development. Virtually every major issue that we face as nation states

has both a domestic as well as a trans-national dimension. It is

becoming increasingly apparent that unless we fashion a global

response, based on consensus, to these challenges, we would not

succeed in creating a world that manifests the ideals of the United

Nations.

Terrorism is one such challenge for which many of us have paid an

unacceptable price. We shall not forget that three years ago, it was

this city that witnessed the single most horrendous terrorist act in

human history. About three weeks ago, the world saw another brutal act

of terror in Russia, which took the lives of hundreds of innocent

civilians, including young children. Terrorism exploits the

technologies spawned by globalisation, recruits its foot soldiers on

ideologies of bigotry and hatred, and directly targets democracies.

And yet it is a sad reality that international networks of terror

appear to cooperate more effectively among themselves than the

democratic nations that they target. We speak about cooperation, but

seem hesitant to commit ourselves to a global offensive to root out

terrorism, with the pooling of resources, exchange of information,

sharing of intelligence, and the unambiguous unity of purpose

required. The must change. We do have a global coalition against

terrorism. We must now give it substance and credibility, avoiding

selective approaches and political expediency.

Let us turn to other challenges we face today, such as the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. There is an increasing

reliance on restrictive regimes and the use of punitive action to

confront this threat to international peaces and security. While India

is opposed to proliferation and has an impeccable record in this

respect, we believe that it is only a global consensus of willing

nations that would ultimately prove to be more effective in this regard.

The Chemical Weapons Convention is a good model to follow in respect

of other weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons. It is

through representative institutions rather than exclusive clubs of

privileged countries that we can address global threats posed by

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

As far back as in 1988, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had outlined a

series of specific steps in an Action Plan, whose central proposition

remains valid - that progressive steps towards the elimination of

weapons of mass destruction must be based on a balance of obligations

between those who possess such weapons and those who do not. It is

quite evident today that a global discourse is required for evolving a

more cooperative and consensual international security order. Indian

believes that this consensus must differentiate between states whose

actions strengthen non-proliferation and those that weaken its objectives.

Let me turn to the central theme for the vast majority of UN members;

the challenge of development and the eradication of poverty.

Globalisation has undoubtedly brought enhanced effectiveness and

efficiency in economies, integrated market places, higher standards of

living and a revolution in global connectivity. But there is also the

phenomenon of widening economic disparities, both within and among

countries. Connectivity also means that people are painfully aware -

in real time - of how far and how fast they are falling behind in

their relative conditions of living. Development today is no longer a

function of domestic resources and national policies alone. It is a

process that is integrally linked to the international economic

environment.

The international community must find ways to contracting the circles

of exclusion. We need to find innovative sources of financing and

access to technologies that are necessary to assist those who are on

the margins of globalisation. Just as prosperity cannot be sustained

by being walled in, poverty cannot be banished to some invisible

periphery. Development must return to the centre of global discourse.

We must evolve equitable and rule-based regimes to manage global

trade, investment flows and movement of services.

Four years ago, at our Millennium Summit, we adopted ambitious global

development goals, but have already fallen behind in their implementation.

While globalisation has generated new challenges, it has also given us

new technologies to deal with these challenges. The world faces

looming pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, but it today possesses remedies

and skills that can rid the world of this scourge. We face problems of

environmental degradation in many parts of our planet, but we also

have available safe and environment-friendly technologies. Many

countries are beset by problems of hunger and malnutrition, but we

possess modern techniques of food production and processing to make a

hunger-free world a credible and realistic goal. Although our

excessive dependence on hydrocarbons raises concerns about the

long-term availability of energy, technology has made available

environmentally sound alternatives. What we lack is a global concert

and a mobilisation of the international community to overcome these

challenges.

Mr President,

The experience of the decades since the inception of the United

Nations demonstrates the great significance of democracy as an

instrument for achieving both peace and prosperity. While it is

gratifying that the frontiers of democracy have expanded dramatically

in the last decade and a half, they still exclude significant numbers.

Only a few months ago, in our 14th general elections, India went

through the largest exercise of popular will in the world. I can

therefore assert with confidence the importance of national

articulations in global forums truly reflecting the democratically

expressed will of their people. We choose to overlook the absence of

democracy in too many cases for reasons of political expediency.

Democracy's representative nature validates the commitments we take on

as countries; it should also determine the manner in which the

architecture of international institutions evolves. For what is

required for the international community to successfully deal with

global challenges, whether they be security challenges, economic

challenges or challenges in the sphere of the environment, are the

existence of international institutions and a culture of genuine

multi-lateralism. The UN and its specialised agencies are the only

instruments available for responding effectively to the challenges we

face. But what is missing is our sustained commitment to democratise

the functioning of the United Nations.

It is common knowledge that the United Nations is often unable to

exert an effective influence on global economic and political issues

of critical importance. This is due to its 'democracy deficit', which

prevents effective multi-lateralism, a multi-lateralism that is based

on a democratically-evolved global consensus. Reform and restructuring

of the United Nations system can alone provide a crucial link in an

expanding chain of efforts to refashion international structures,

imbuing them with a greater degree of participatory decision-making,

representative of contemporary realities.

Our Millennium Declaration had recognised the urgency of the reform of

the United Nations Security Council. An overwhelming majority of the

world's population cannot be excluded from an institution that

legislates on an increasing number of issues, with an ever-widening

impact. The expansion of the Security Council, in the category of both

permanent and non-permanent members, and the inclusion of countries

like India as permanent members, would be a first step in the process

of making the United Nations a truly representative body.

Mr President,

I would like to make brief reference to two countries with which India

has had historically friendly ties and whose early return to political

normalcy is the focus of the world's attention.

The situation in Iraq causes great concern. The United Nations has a

central role to play in erasing the discord of the recent past and in

ensuring that the Iraqi people can soon exercise effective

sovereignty, preserving the country's unity and territorial integrity.

An end to the suffering of the Iraqi people and recognition of their

aspirations should be the guiding objectives. Consistent with our

long-standing ties of friendship with the Iraqi people, India will

contribute to Iraq's humanitarian and economic reconstruction.

In the past three years, the international community has assisted

Afghanistan in pulling back from the brink of chaos and chronic

instability. We sincerely hope that the forthcoming presidential

elections and the subsequent parliamentary elections will allow the

Afghan people to express their will, free from interference and

intimidation. India's assistance to Afghanistan's reconstruction will

continue.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been a matter of attention

for the international community. It is known that since January this

year, India and Pakistan have initiated a composite dialogue to

resolve all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. I reaffirm our

determination to carry forward this dialogue to a purposeful and

mutually acceptable conclusion.

In closing, Mr President, I would like to reaffirm India's commitment

to the principles that have brought us together in this organisation.

These principles retain their relevance and validity even while the

global economy and the international political order pose new and very

different challenges. All of us have to grow out of the comfort of the

predictable, discard constraining habits of thought and move forward

with confidence to meet the demands of the present and the future.

Each of us has to he prepared to take on new obligations and larger

responsibilities relevant to our times.

I deem it a privilege to say unhesitatingly that India is conscious of

the responsibilities that lie ahead. I speak of an India on the move,

on the cutting edge of economic, technological and developmental

transformations.

This is an India endowed with outstanding human resources, and we are

putting in place policies which will respond to emerging and critical

tasks. We have the capabilities and capacity to take these on, and to

participate in the structuring of a just and dynamic world order. We

are confident that in an inextricably interdependent world, our

commitment to the common good, which this organisation embodies, will

be resolute.

In this, we are inspired by the vision of internationalism bequeathed

to us by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru - of a world

order whose pillars are peace, harmony, cooperation and development.

This vision needs to re-animate the collective wisdom of the world

community for a new partnership to meet the unprecedented challenges

we face.

Thank you.

Indo-Asian News Service

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