Mr. Chairman,
Allow me to congratulate you for your exemplary leadership. Also for your vision in guiding our Movement through these turbulent times when the global community is faced with old as well as new challenges and opportunities.

The theme you have selected for today's interactive session is timely. It reflects the forward-looking approach that we must adopt to keep our Movement relevant in the wider global context.

Mr. Chairman,
We firmly believe that any reform of the UN must be centred on development, the greatest challenge of our times. We also believe that development remains primarily a national responsibility. It must be nationally owned, designed and driven. However, international cooperation remains key to achieving national development objectives.

We are concerned at the slow pace of implementation of the UN development agenda. We call for a strengthened global partnership for development that is responsive to the needs of the developing countries and in particular to those of the LDCs.

We require an enabling international environment conducive to development, market access to be able to sell our products, capacity building to take advantage of these opportunities, jobs for our people, a transparent and participatory financial architecture, and a long-term predictable flow of financial resources to developing countries, if we are to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

Drawing from our experience in Bangladesh, we believe that gender mainstreaming and empowerment are critical factors for development. Access to education and health, coupled with providing micro-credit facilities can unleash the entrepreneurial skills of individuals. Our experience also demonstrates that empowerment of women economically and politically can stave off extremist thoughts and action. The UN should work as a conduit for disseminating the homegrown ideas and best practices like micro-credit and non-formal education that have proven to work in Bangladesh and in many other countries as well.

Mr. Chairman,
Bangladesh believes that threats, new and old, are interlinked and that no State can guarantee its security by itself. We also believe that development, security and human rights are inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing, and that this linkage should be fully reflected in UN policy framework and actions.
Bangladesh attaches particular importance to the Charter provisions for peaceful settlement of disputes. We should strive more to exhaust all avenues provided in the Charter before authorising use of force.

We need to strengthen a "culture of peace" among the nations and promote prevention as a means of achieving a new vision of collective security. Bangladesh, which tables a resolution on "culture of peace" every year in the General Assembly, calls upon all States to further the idea through promoting dialogue and co-operation among peoples, religions and civilisations.

Bangladesh's commitment to UN peacekeeping is unflinching. We remain engaged in the international community's effort to maintain international peace and security. Our peacekeepers have shed blood for upholding UN mandates around the world. We would support all efforts that can contribute to the strengthening of UN peacekeeping efforts.

We have all along supported establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission. We hope that the Commission would become operational the soonest possible.

Bangladesh unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We have ratified twelve of the thirteen UN anti-terrorism conventions and are working on the recently adopted one. It is important that efforts to conclude a comprehensive convention on terrorism must address such issues as definition of terrorism and adoption of a counter-terrorism strategy that would have full respect for human rights while fighting this menace.

We are disappointed to see that the outcome document failed to include the views of the majority on disarmament and non-proliferation because of disagreement on the part of a few.

Mr. Chairman,
We support further strengthening of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). We are also supportive, in principle, of the steps proposed by the High Commissioner in her Plan of Action towards preparing the UN human rights machinery to meet the human rights challenges of the 21st century.

We underscore the need for any human rights mechanism- existing or in the making-should be able to work in a way that avoids selectivity and double standard which had affected the Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Chairman,
Our experience dictates that development, security and human rights goals are best achieved in a matrix of pluralism, moderate and progressive social ethos, greater gender balance and women's empowerment as well as accountable governance. We believe that these democratic values are universal-they transcend national boundaries.

We have welcomed the establishment of the UN Democracy Fund which we hope would contribute in capacity-building programmes of Member States, who specifically asks for such assistance, in establishing and strengthening their democratic governance structure.

Mr. Chairman,
Our leaders have adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome with high hopes. We believe that implementation of the commitments contained in the document, which also reaffirmed our past commitments emanating from the major UN conferences and summits in the 1990s including the Millennium Declaration, would make the world a better place for all of us.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.

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