Opening Statement by
H.E. Mohamed Morsy
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
President of the XV Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
Opening Session of the XVI Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran
August 30th, 2012
(English translation of the original version delivered in Arabic)
In the name of God the most Merciful and Compassionate.
Peace be upon Prophet Muhammad,
upon all the Prophets and Messengers of God,
and upon his companions Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.
His Excellency President Mahmud Ahmadi Nejad the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Excellencies Heads of States or Governments,
Ministers and Heads of Delegations,
His Excellency Dr. Nabil El-Araby Secretary General of the Arab League,
His Excellency Nassir Abdelaziz Al-Nasr, President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly,
His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations,
Ambassadors and Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
declare open the XVI Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Movement
that succeeded to turn the vision of its founding fathers from
principles and concepts to concrete actions, from a condition of
weakness to a source of strength at the international stage.
At
the outset, I would like to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran for
hosting this Summit. I would also like to express our appreciation for
the warm welcome, the kind hospitality and excellent organizational
arrangements by our Iranian hosts.
I
would also like to renew our thanks to the Republic of Cuba for its
sincere efforts to promote the objectives of the Movement during its
tenure at the NAM Troika for the past nine years. In addition, I welcome
the incoming Troika member, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the
host of the XVII Summit of the Movement in 2015.
A
special welcome is also due to Mr. Ban Ki-moon the Secretary General of
the United Nations, to Dr. Nabil El-Araby, the Secretary General of the
Arab League and to Mr. Nasser El-Nasr, the President of the General
Assembly.
We
meet today at one of the most important moments in contemporary
history, in the aftermath of the Egyptian peaceful Revolution that has,
in fact, started a number of years ago, and materialized only on January
25, 2011, when Egyptians united to topple a despotic regime that never
reflected the interests of its own people.
Egyptians
succeeded with the help of God and their own solidarity to pass through
a difficult transitional period, full of challenges. Unity among
Egyptians, the peaceful nature of the Egyptian Revolution and solidarity
between the army and the people was instrumental to reaching this
success.
The
early beginnings of the Movement started with a similar active
participation by Egypt and its leadership, who truly represented, then,
the will of the people. Yes, Nasser was representing the will of the
Egyptian people to resist foreign hegemony on emerging nations back
then.
The
Egyptian Revolution represents the corner stone of the Arab Spring. It
was preceded by the Revolution in Tunisia. It was also followed by the
Revolutions in Libya, in Yemen and now in Syria against the oppressive
regime there.
The
Egyptian Revolution has succeeded in achieving its political
objectives. Now, political power has been finally transferred to a truly
civilian government, elected by the Egyptians without any foreign
interference. Egypt has now become a national, constitutional,
democratic, modern state.
We meet today amidst a multitude of challenges facing our countries.
The
Palestinian people continue, with impressive courage, their struggle
for the fulfillment of their legitimate right to establish their own
independent State.
The Syrian people are engaged in a struggle for freedom, justice and human dignity.
The
current international system is facing many challenges, foremost among
them is the international financial crisis and the failure of the
institutions entrusted to maintain international peace and security to
discharge their responsibilities. An increasing number of Non-Aligned
countries are facing unprecedented internal and external threats.
Intolerance, discrimination, extremism and international terrorism are
on the rise. The problem of climate change is becoming more acute. The
suffering of a number of developing countries from poverty and endemic
disease is increasing.
Brothers and Sisters,
It
is the destiny of the Non Aligned Movement to play a pivotal role in
these decisive moments. The Movement was established at the height of
the Cold War, when colonized peoples were struggling to earn their
independence and sovereignty. The Ten Principles of the Movement
constituted a solid foundation to protect the political and economic
interests of its peoples. Despite the shifts in the international
political landscape, the Movement has maintained its fundamental
principles. It never deviated from its original objectives. The
inclusive framework established by the Movement was able to protect the
interests of newly independent developing countries. It succeeded in
creating a wide international framework that established a new
legitimacy for a foreign policy that distanced itself from military
alliances and bipolarity. A legitimacy that permitted newly independent
countries that had just escaped from the oppression of colonialism, to
focus on new objectives based on the principles of independence and
positive neutrality.
Excellencies,
The
main theme of this Summit: “Lasting Peace through Joint Global
Governance” clearly reflects the vision that our Movement needs to
embrace energetically as we move towards a world that is more just; as
we look forward to take an active role in the governance of the
international system.
The
“New Egypt” is seeking the establishment of an equitable international
system that can save the developing countries from the vicious circles
of poverty, dependence and marginalization and launch them into an era
where they master their own initiative, and march them towards
prosperity and strength. This will not happen unless we reach a global
understanding that underscores the necessity to apply the principles of
democracy to the international system itself, and genuine
multilateralism on international politics. It is no longer acceptable to
respect the requirements of democracy at the national level, while
rejecting them at the international level. It is no longer acceptable to
look forward to apply the principles of diversity and equity at the
national level and set them aside in the system of international
governance.
Egypt
believes that one of the fundamental elements of this new equitable
international system lies in enhancing the contribution of developing
countries in the management and reform of global governance institutions
in order to secure equitable participation in setting the global agenda
and more effective participation in the process of international
decision making at the political, economic and social levels.
The
first step towards reaching this goal is the comprehensive reform and
enlargement of the Security Council to make it more in tune with the
global system in the 21st century. It is no longer acceptable to
maintain the historic injustice against Africa by leaving it out of the
category of permanent membership, let alone its disproportionate low
representation in the non-permanent category. This is happening at the
time when the majority of issues under consideration in the Council
pertain to situations in African countries.
At
the same time, we have to revitalize the role of the General Assembly,
and increase its contribution in peace and security matters, as it is
the most democratic and representative organ of the United Nations. We
have witnessed in the last few month how important it is for the General
Assembly to assume a more active role at the time when the Security
Council was deadlocked regarding a number of international crises, the
last of which was the situation in Syria.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The
issue of Palestine has been at the forefront of NAM's priorities since
the Movement's inception and will remain as such until a just and
comprehensive solution, that preserves the inalienable and legitimate
rights of the Palestinian people, is attained, including the
establishment of a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders, with
East Jerusalem as its capital.
We
must continue to stand up for justice, and provide the necessary
political backing for any effort aiming to attain full Palestinian
membership in the United Nations. We should also shed light on the
suffering imposed by the occupation forces on the people of Palestine,
particularly the on the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, which
contradict the principles and customs of international law. On this
occasion, I would like to commend the Declaration adopted by the
Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau in Sharm El Sheikh in
May 2012 on Palestinian Political Prisoners. This important document
highlighted the plight of these prisoners. It reiterated the Movement's
solidarity with their noble struggle.
On
its part, Egypt intends to fully support the Palestinian endeavors at
the UN General Assembly or the Security Council to join the United
Nations as a full member, should the Palestinian leadership decide to do
so. Egypt will also continue to support Palestinian reconciliation
efforts in order to enhance the unity of the Palestinian people. In this
context, I wish to seize this opportunity to encourage our Palestinian
brothers of every affiliation to set aside their differences and
reconcile, and to begin implementing the recent understandings reached
in Cairo to enable them to direct their attention on their real plight
which is combating the occupation and attaining the freedom of the
Palestinian people.
Here,
I wish to refer to and deplore the recent Israeli decision to prevent a
number of Foreign Ministers, members of the NAM's Committee on
Palestine, from entering Ramallah on August 5th to attend the
Committee's Extraordinary Meeting.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our
solidarity with the plight of the Syrian people against a repressive
regime that has lost its legitimacy is not only a moral duty but one of
political and strategic necessity. It emanates from our conviction that
Syria will one day be free and strong. We should declare our full
support for the struggle of those brave men and women seeking freedom
and justice in Syria. We should turn our sentiments into a clear
political vision that ensures Syria's peaceful transformation into a
democratic state that respects its peoples' yearning for freedom,
justice and equality. Such a vision must also safeguard Syria from
drifting to a civil war or fall victim to sectarian strife. On this
note, I wish to emphasize the need to unify the Syrian opposition in a
way that guarantees the interests of all factions of the Syrian society,
and in a manner that preserves the unity and stability of this great
nation.
On
its part, Egypt stands ready to cooperate with all relevant parties to
stop the bloodshed in Syria and articulate a vision on what a future and
free Syrian state would look like. Egypt has proposed an initiative
during the recent Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation in Mecca that seeks to coordinate the efforts of the
relevant regional parties to end this bloodshed as soon as possible.
Excellencies,
Our
Movement faces additional challenges that require us to strengthen and
deepen our cooperation to achieve our common goals. For example, and
despite the pivotal role of our Movement during the 2010 NPT Review
Conference that led to the adoption of four action plans, including an
action plan on the Middle East which called for the convening of a
conference in 2012 on the establishment of a zone free of nuclear
weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, our efforts to convene
such a conference are met by many obstacles. One additional challenge is
the attainment of the universality of the NPT, particularly in the
Middle East, where one country, Israel, has yet to join the Treaty. We
must also continue our efforts to defend our right to peaceful uses of
nuclear energy while we fully respect our obligations under the NPT in
this regard.
On
the economic and social levels, we should seek to build on the existing
coordination between the NAM and the G77 and China group to preserve
the interests of the developing countries in different fields, and
therefore strengthen South/ South cooperation, while further promoting
the ongoing dialogue with our international partners.
We
must strive to achieve the Millennium goals and build on the
achievements of the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil. We must seek a global
environment conducive for comprehensive economic and social development.
We must focus our attention on youth issues to meet their aspirations
for a better future. We must continue our efforts to enable women to
play an effective role in their societies while preventing all forms of
discrimination against them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The
NAM's success has always been linked to its unified positions towards
common challenges and the respect of the diversity among its member
states. This approach has enabled the Movement to address such
challenges while preserving its principles. Today, we must stick to the
principles and goals of our Movement, and reflect the quantitative
increase in NAM member states into a qualitative role for the Movement
in global affairs.
During
the past 3 years, Egypt spared no effort in defending the interests of
NAM Member states. We sought to maintain its unity amidst changing
realities. Today, as we transfer the chairmanship of the NAM to the
Islamic Republic of Iran, we are confident in the latter's ability to
lead the Movement objectively and transparently in a manner that
preserves the unity of its membership and maintains the effective role
it plays in global affairs and builds on the achievements of the
previous NAM chairmanships.
Egypt
will extend its hand, in all sincerity, to all NAM Member States and
will continue to be at the forefront of the Movement's efforts to
achieve freedom, justice, and dignity for its people. Egypt will
maintain its commitment to support the NAM's prominent role in achieving
global, viable, and comprehensive peace, and continue participating in
global governance, in order to attain a more effective world order that
is more just and reflective of the interests of all.
Thank you.
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