A/62/PV.62 General Assembly

If there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the Sixth Committee, which are before the Assembly today. It was so decided.

Statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote. The positions of delegations regarding the recommendations of the Sixth Committee have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. May I remind members that under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401, the General Assembly agreed that, “When the same draft resolution is considered in a Main Committee and in plenary meeting, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain its vote only once, i.e., either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary meeting is different from its vote in the Committee”. May I remind delegations that explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats. Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the reports of the Sixth Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take decisions in the same manner as was done in the Sixth Committee, unless the Secretariat is notified otherwise in advance. I should therefore hope that we may proceed to adopt without a vote those recommendations that were adopted without a vote in the Sixth Committee.

As colleagues know, when the draft resolution on measures to eliminate international terrorism was adopted in the Sixth Committee, the representative of Uganda took the floor after its adoption to propose that another organization — the East African Community — be added to the list of organizations in the twenty-first preambular paragraph. I subsequently received a written request from the representative of Kenya to make that addition. On 26 November, I sent an e-mail and faxes to all missions proposing that the East African Community be added and indicating that I would make that proposal in plenary unless any delegation objected by 3 December 2007. I have received no objection to the proposal, and it is my understanding that delegations agree to the addition of the East African Community in the twenty- first preambular paragraph. I would therefore propose that the draft resolution be amended with that addition and that it be adopted, as it was in the Sixth Committee, without a vote.

The representative of Canada has submitted an oral amendment to the draft resolution recommended by the Sixth Committee in paragraph 11 of its report. In accordance with rule 90 of the rules of procedure, the Assembly shall first take a decision on the amendment submitted by the representative of Canada. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt the oral amendment submitted by the representative of Canada? It was so decided.

Since the oral amendment submitted by the representative of Canada has been adopted, we will now proceed to the draft resolution, as orally amended. The General Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution, as orally amended. The Sixth Committee adopted the draft resolution without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt the draft resolution, as orally amended, without a vote? The draft resolution, as orally amended, was adopted (resolution 62/71).

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 108.

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 121.

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 129.

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 137.

The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of all of the reports of the Sixth Committee.

This concludes our consideration of agenda item 120.

On behalf of the member States of the Eurasian Economic Community — the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan — and the following sponsors Armenia, Philippines, Thailand and Turkmenistan, I would like to introduce draft resolution A/62/L.14, entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Eurasian Economic Community”. The Eurasian Economic Community — EURASEC — was established in accordance with the treaty signed on 10 October 2000 by the Presidents of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan. The Republic of Uzbekistan joined the Community in 2006, when the former Organization of Central Asian Cooperation merged with EURASEC. The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have the status of observer States in EURASEC. The treaty on the establishment of EURASEC affirms the commitment of the member States of the Community to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the generally recognized principles and norms of international law. EURASEC has had observer status in the General Assembly since 2003, and it closely cooperates with the United Nations system in most of the basic areas of its activities, such as trade and economic development; the establishment of a customs union; energy; transport; agriculture and agro-industry; the regulation of migration, banking and finance; communication; education; health care and pharmaceutics; environmental protection and natural disasters risk reduction. Its main partners are the Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In order to strengthen the institutional framework of this interaction, EURASEC and UNDP signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2006. On 25 January 2007, the agreement on cooperation between the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of EURASEC and the Economic Commission for Europe was signed. Thus, as of today, favourable conditions have been created for mutually advantageous cooperation between the United Nations and EURASEC. Meanwhile, it is becoming obvious that, in order to enhance practical cooperation and coordination to address our common objectives in social and economic fields, particularly a timely achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed goals, it is essential to place the relationship between the Eurasian Economic Community and the United Nations on a more systematic basis. That is the purpose of the draft resolution that is being introduced today. The resolution also notes that strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and the Community contributes to the promotion of the purposes and principles of the United Nations and it invites other organizations, programmes and funds of the United Nations system, as well as international financial institutions, to cooperate and develop direct contacts with the Eurasian Economic Community with the purpose of undertaking joint implementation of programmes to achieve their goals. In conclusion, I wish to express my gratitude to all those delegations that have participated in the three informal consultations and made their valuable contributions. I am convinced that the introduced draft resolution will be adopted by consensus.

The Russian delegation supports the statement made by Tajikistan as the president of the Eurasian Economic Community. The 2005 World Summit Outcome consolidated our understanding of the indivisible nature of peace, security and development. The outcome document also asserted that the formation of the collective approaches, which are needed to overcome modern threats and challenges, require the constant strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and the regional and subregional organizations, based on the firm foundation of the United Nations Charter. Currently more than 50 per cent of world trade is carried out within the context of regional trade agreements. The effective work of global mechanisms for regulating trade is inconceivable without regional integration, the success of which has a direct impact on the economic prosperity of a whole number of regions in the world. Russia actively concludes and uses regional trade agreements and develops multilateral institutions for regional economic integration aimed at mutual liberalization of trade relations. Among the most successful regional mechanisms is the Eurasian Economic Community. In the brief period since its establishment in October 2000, just seven years ago, it has become a capable, dynamically developing and effective association with a well- developed institutional and legal basis. The Community has thus confirmed its usefulness and maturity. Moreover, the Community has become an integral element within the broad architecture of multilateral cooperation on the Eurasian continent for ensuring strong development, stability, peace and security. In that context, we wish to emphasize that the treaty on the establishment of the Community asserts the commitment of member States to the principles of the United Nations Charter, as well as the generally recognized principles and norms of international law. The framework of the Eurasian Economic Community makes it an important partner with the United Nations in our region and establishes the need for dynamic development of cooperation between the two. In 2003 the Community was granted observer status in the General Assembly and firm links were established with the Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Development Programme. At the same time, the current level and format for interaction between the United Nations and the Community does not fully match the potential in region. We feel convinced that the time has come for the two to work on a more systematic basis so as to strengthen the effectiveness of their cooperation and enhance their synergistic effect in meeting their common goals in the socio-economic sphere, especially concerning the timely achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed goals in the region. We also wish to emphasize our interest in ensuring that the question of cooperation between the United Nations and the Community is included in the next report of the Secretary-General, which will be submitted to the next session of the General Assembly. For all of those reasons, the draft resolution was introduced by the delegations of Community member States and is being developed further in consultation with other United Nations Member States. We also wish to express our gratitude to all of those delegations that became sponsors of the draft resolution on that question. We also wish to thank colleagues from other delegations who have actively participated in consultations for their constructive and positive approach in working on the draft resolution.

There is no doubt that the expansion of cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in various fields has helped to achieve the goals of the Organization. The draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Eurasian Economic Community is aimed to enhance the effectiveness of the work of both organizations in helping the member States of the Community to resolve the most topical problems of socio-economic and cultural development. The Eurasian Economic Community, is first and foremost, an organization for economic and social cooperation for a number of countries in the post-Soviet period, in areas such as energy, transportation, finance, health, education and environmental protection. We feel that the adoption of the draft resolution on cooperation between the two organizations will give an impetus to strengthening direct contacts between the Eurasian community and United Nations agencies in the joint implementation of projects in the socio-economic sphere. The opportunities for interaction between the two are numerous. I will note only two. The issue of access to sources of energy is growing increasingly acute, especially for countries of the Eurasian Community. We feel that cooperation between the Community, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme holds future promise for better access to available sources of energy for the countries of the Eurasian Economic Community. We feel that an important area of cooperation is also United Nations assistance with the full integration of the member States of the Eurasian Economic Community — countries with economies in transition — into the world economy and their entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). We hope this cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Community, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other United Nations agencies will help to ensure the rapid inclusion of those States in the WTO. We wish to express our gratitude to all States participating in consultations that supported the sponsors of the draft resolution.

In accordance with General Assembly resolution 58/84 of 9 December 2003, I now call on the observer for the Eurasian Economic Community.

Allow me to express, on behalf of the leaders of the State members of the Eurasian Economic Community (EURASEC), our hope for the consensus adoption of the draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Eurasian Economic Community. Four years ago, the Community was granted observer status in the United Nations General Assembly. In the framework of our interaction with the United Nations system, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Development Programme have become the main partners of the Eurasian Economic Community. Memoranda of understanding were signed with them in 2006 and 2007. Joint events devoted to important issues of mutual interest are regularly held with those organizations and there are exchanges of experience and contacts with experts at different levels. Issues of central importance in the cooperation have been the rational and efficient use of fuel and energy resources, the development of international transportation infrastructure and environmental issues. In particular, we draw the attention of the international community to the problem of cleaning up deposits of uranium tailings in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the Semipalatinsk launching pad in Kazakhstan, as well as dealing with the Aral Sea problem. Those problems continue to be relevant. Among the most important areas of the Community’s cooperation with the United Nations is the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action for landlocked countries, of transport development programmes and of programmes to increase the effectiveness of transit traffic between Europe and Asia. All the Community’s activities are based on the principles of the United Nations Charter and other generally accepted norms of international law. I wish to stress again the adherence of the Community and its member States to those principles. In the post-Soviet era, the main focus is undoubtedly on integrative cooperation within the framework of the Community, which is emerging as an important institution for regional interaction and a substantial element in the establishment of an effective system for ensuring stability in the region and expanding economic cooperation. During the seven years of the Community’s existence, all its member States have enjoyed steady growth in their gross domestic product, about 7 per cent per year, and their industrial and agricultural output, as well as rising wages and pensions. The Community has also helped to ensure stability in the region. During this period, commodity turnover among the States of the Community has more than doubled, amounting to more than $75 million in 2006 and around $90 million in 2007. National currency exchange rates have stabilized, and the inflation rate has declined. All of that clearly shows that the integration efforts undertaken within the framework of the Community have been effective. We have focused consistently on the problem of overcoming poverty, on issues related to migration and energy and water resources management and on strengthening the Community’s transport capacity. A number of programmes aimed at strengthening the social infrastructure have been adopted within the framework of the Community so as to ensure dignified living conditions for the 206 million people living in its member States. In particular, we have carried out a successful programme entitled “Ten Easy Steps for Ordinary People” and have taken important decisions to enhance interpersonal communication and provide opportunities to receive education and medical assistance anywhere in the Community and to travel without a visa to any of its member States. The structure of the Community is being strengthened, along with its treaty and legal foundation. Furthermore, the Community continues to expand. For example, in 2006 Uzbekistan joined the Community as a full-fledged member. The Organization of Central Asian Cooperation became integrated into the Community, and the Eurasian Development Bank was established. At the October meeting of the Community’s Inter-State Council, the heads of member States signed important documents on the establishment of a single customs territory and a customs union for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. In that regard, it was agreed that the Community’s three other States, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, would accede to the customs union as soon as their economies were prepared for such a step. We believe that priority areas for our future cooperation could include issues related to sustainable economic development, the environment, energy and water supplies and the development of science and technology, transport infrastructure, transit capacity and the labour market and a competitive private sector. We are prepared to discuss all those issues in greater detail with the relevant United Nations agencies and to share with them our proposals on each issue so that we can take the interaction between the United Nations and the Community to a qualitatively new and systemic level. We believe that that is precisely the goal of the draft resolution to be adopted today. We are convinced that the draft resolution to be adopted today will contribute to strengthening of joint efforts to strengthen interaction in Eurasia, will contribute to socio-economic development of our members and to the well-being of our people and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. New opportunities and prospects are opening up in terms of expanding our partnership circle and deepening our cooperation with international organizations. The Eurasian Economic Community, for its part, is prepared to engage in fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation with all interested States and international organizations.

We have heard the last speaker in the debate on this item. The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/62/L.14. I should like to announce that, since the introduction of the draft resolution, Mongolia has become a sponsor. May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/62/L.14?

The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (h) of agenda item 114.

Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the report of the Third Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take a decision in the same manner as was done in the Third Committee. I now give the floor to the representative of Cuba to speak on a point of order.

Our delegation would like an explanation, if possible, as to why this item is being considered today, because we understood that the item would be taken up on 18 December. Could you give us some information on that, Mr. President?

I am advised that this was done at the request of the Secretary of the Third Committee. The Assembly will now take action on the draft decision, recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 8 of its report. The Third Committee adopted the draft decision, entitled “Term of office of the members of the Consultative Committee on the United Nations Development Fund for Women”, without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 63.

Given the nature of the item, may I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to consider sub-item (j) of agenda item 114 directly in plenary meeting? I see no objection.

The General Assembly has concluded its consideration of sub-item (g) of agenda item 114. The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 114.