Speeches

The Address of H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, at the United Nations General Assembly Session in New York

Today the international community is striving to meet challenges that the founders of the United Nations could not have envisioned sixty five years ago. At the same time, the founding principles of the United Nations have not changed. Provision of joint security and prosperity, safeguarding of human rights - all this remains the impetus for UN actions as it was sixty years ago. Countries who gather here, big and small, have a common responsibility as members of the United Nations to uphold and cherish the ideals embodied in the UN Charter.

The global financial and economic crisis is not the only problem today. Terrorism, proliferation of weapons, energy challenges, climate change, and many other issues are to be met in order to make UN goals a reality. Complex challenges require comprehensive responses. It is obvious we cannot afford individualistic and egoistic actions.

The UN must come of age. It must become the visible and credible expression of the globalisation of politics. The modern world insists we are dependent on each other. We work with each other or we suffer in isolation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today more than ever before the United Nations has to play the leading role in strengthening our societies, that share the values of Humanity and Tolerance. It is our responsibility to make sure that such phenomena as anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism are thrown out of our lives. There can be no excuses for not bearing this responsibility. Small and big countries have equal duties not only towards their own citizens but also towards global society. But it is usually the vulnerable and the poor who bear the brunt of economic turmoil, especially as the current crisis and the lag in donor commitment pushes back the hope of implementing the Millennium Development Goals on time.

Therefore with all due regard for the domestic concerns and needs of national tax payers, we need to adapt to the reality of global complexity, to respect our common responsibility and international commitments We need to make sure that the development goals do not become the prime victim of the current global economic and financial crisis.

What particular steps should be made? I would mention several of them.

First, recent UN peace operations show that achieving and consolidating peace has many dimensions, ranging from peace-building to nation-building. Despite the current economic limitations, my country is determined to stick to its obligations by contributing to peace-keeping missions and operations, ensuring global security and stability by continued participation in the EU missions in Kosovo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Afghanistan.

Second, the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons will never be halted outside of an international consensus to do so. The United Nations must strengthen its policy against proliferation; in particular, we need to find ways to allow nations to develop civil nuclear power but not nuclear weapons. Therefore, a forthcoming review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons next year provides with a good opportunity to seek diplomatic solutions, fully comply with international commitments and requirements.

Third, better and more responsible global, regional and local governance is crucially important for a steady and sustainable economic recovery. Protectionism and isolationism never worked and will not work.

Fourth, realising the fact that global climate change calls for global solutions, we will do our best in order to reach a deal for international community in Copenhagen. Fully aware of the global impact of climate change, we support the ambitious EU commitments to cut CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 in the framework of an international agreement.

Fifth, I think that global responsibility has to be addressed regionally as well - this is the rule for an effective implementation of the UN Charter. Regional organisations should assume a greater responsibility for taking care of their region. They have to pass on and share best practices with the neighbours, that is, other regional organisations.

Aware of being a small state, Lithuania is assuming her regional and global responsibility to promote UN values through the core principles of dialogue, respect, understanding, and tolerance in line with the Presidencies of regional and global organisations. Lithuania began its one-year Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the Presidency of the Community of Democracies on 1 July 2009 to be followed by the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2011.

Lithuanian representative will then assume the yearly Presidency of the UN General Assembly on September 2012 to complete it already during the Lithuanian European Union Presidency in the second half of 2013.

It is an immense responsibility to guide the Community of Democracies forward at this point in time. As we see it, real progress in development is linked directly to the rooting of democratic norms and principles. To us democracy is inseparable from peace, the rule of law, respect for individual and human rights, equal opportunities and overall prosperity.

Allow me to reiterate that small or less developed states cannot avoid global responsibility anymore and that all of us are responsible for our common present and future. Let us all recognise, from now on - in each of our capitals - that the global interest is our national interest and global responsibility is our national responsibility.

Thank you very much.