Oman's speech in the Millennium Summit
Oman, Politics, 9/7/2000

Following is the full text of the Sultanate's speech delivered by Sayyid Faisal bin Ali Al Said, Minister of National Heritage and Culture, Representative of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in the millennium summit as provided by ONA.

Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen,

It is a great honor for me to represent His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman in participating with you in this historical summit of the United Nations General Assembly.

His Majesty has directed me to extend his greetings and best wishes to this gathering to celebrate the beginning of the third millennium with aspirations full of hope and optimism looking forward to a better and brighter future for all the nations of the world.

Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, the United Nations shall always remain the blooming tree for the nations to rest under its shade and for their peoples to benefit from its fruits. Nations provide it with the means for viability and continuity and the people provide it with the fertile environment for abundance productivity.

We wish in this regard, to express our thanks and appreciation to His Excellency the Secretary General of the United Nations for his continuous efforts to activate the role of the Organization and its affiliated agencies, develop its performance to the best standards so as to cope with the requirements of the century and meet the needs of the nations and the aspirations of their peoples. Our thanks are also extended to the assistants of the Secretary General for their efforts in preparing the report or the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century and the reforms he is seeking. This can only be achieved through the collective willingness of the member states in reforming the structure of the United Nations Organization especially the Security Council, by increasing its members so as to ensure a fair geographical representation that can articulate the ambitions and aspirations of the peoples.

We would also greatly appreciate any collective effort to enhance peace and stability in the world and assert equal sovereignty of its countries, big and small, according to the aims and objectives of the United Nations convention and principles of the international law.

Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, the importance of this summit lies in our ability to adopt a work plan that can formulate a new concept of economy and development for all nations based upon their experiences and successes.

Standing at the doorstep of the new millennium, we should benefit form the work experience ­ of over half a century ­ of the international Organizations and the United Nations Offices and Agencies as well as similar bodies like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international and regional establishments, so that the developing countries can cope with the ongoing revolutionary advancement of Information-technology, and construct their economies in a way that would ensure dignity and security for their nations.

Bearing these factors in mind, we would like to stress the need for reforming the economies of the developing countries, which constitute the largest portion of the World Market Economy and contain immense natural resources and raw materials.

We would also suggest that the economically developed countries should take a daring and drastic decisions to achieve greater growth and a more stable and just world economy.

Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, In this context a great responsibility falls on the United Nations for creating economic and social conditions more appropriate for peace, stability and coexistence. Therefore, we emphasize again our support to the resolution issued by the General Assembly to mark next year as a Year of Dialogue between Civilizations. As already highlighted by the delegation of my country to the General Assembly in September 1999, we are looking forward to concerted efforts for adopting an effective mechanism for a positive dialogue aiming at a peaceful coexistence marked with the virtue of tolerance and forgiveness. Peace has been the rooted principle of the Sultanate ever since the advent of its current renaissance. Believing in a comprehensive peace, the Sultanate hopes that time has now come to achieve peace and harmony in the Middle East.

Consequently, we renew our appeal to the international community of nations, especially the two guardians of peace and the European union, to assist all parties and guide them in the right direction, benefiting from the progress made so far, so as to ensure a lasting peace which our coming generations can enjoy.

Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, We welcome the response of Israel to the international will and its withdrawal from South a Lebanon. This step is indeed a significant move on the right path.

We hope the Israeli government will follow similar line on the Palestinian and Syrian tracks, by fulfilling its obligations and implementing all agreements reached in Madrid, and in accordance to the principle of Land for Peace as well as the United Nations Resolutions Nos. 242 & 338, so that rights can be restored to their legitimate owners, peace and stability attained, hostilities between Israel and its neighboring Arab countries vanish for ever, and the region can thus witness a new era of cooperation and coexistence instead of hostility and war, so that the coming generations can live peacefully.

From this platform we appeal to all nations of the world without any exception, to work together for peace and stability in the world and to avoid the disasters of wars, so that love and fraternity should prevail among the peoples of the world so as to enable them to devote their efforts and abilities toward developing their nations in an environment of peace and tranquility, away from fears of war and destructive weapons. Thank You.

Previous Stories:
  Clinton's speech at millennium summit   (9/6/2000)
  Egypt calls for eliminating weapons of mass destruction in M.E.   (9/6/2000)
  Egypt renders discussion on Millennium Summit UN draft successful   (9/6/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search