THE STATEMENT OF THE HON'BLE FOREIGN MINISTER M. MORSHED KHAN, MP ON HIS VISIT TO HAVANA, NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON D.C.

03 October 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you are all aware, I led the Bangladesh delegation to the 61st UNGA session, which began in New York on 18 September 2006. During my week-long stay in New York, I delivered the Bangladesh statement and attended seven ministerial-level meetings on the sideline of the UNGA. These were the ministerial meetings of the LDC Group, ACD, SAARC, D-8, G-77 and China, Commonwealth and the OIC.

I am happy to share some of the important outcomes of these meetings but before that I would give you a brief summary of the statement I made at the General Assembly.

In my UNGA statement, I underscored the importance of international economic cooperation and urged the international community to fulfill their pledges and augment development assistance to help LDCs attain the millennium development goals. In particular, I stressed the need for granting duty-free and quota-free market access to all LDC exports and that the Doha Development Round must conclude with an agreement on special and differential treatment for the LDCs. In this context, I highlighted Bangladesh's economic achievement and the fact that we have already achieved two MDGs - gender parity in school enrolment and access to safe drinking water. My statement also presented a compelling argument for free movement of unskilled labor, given that it benefits both the receiving and the sending states.

I reiterated Bangladesh's tough position on terrorism and informed the General Assembly of the steps that the BNP Government has taken to root out terror in all its forms and manifestations. I conveyed Hon'ble Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's unequivocal stance against militancy and terrorism. I informed the world body that the present BNP Government would complete its tenure this month and would hand over power to a neutral caretaker government so that we can, once again, have a free and fair general election in Bangladesh.

At the OIC Ministerial Meeting, I strongly and unequivocally condemned the recent Israeli aggression in Lebanon and stressed that sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be upheld. I emphasized that the international community must address the root causes of terrorism. I also suggested that the OIC leaders should work together to define terrorism to ensure that the fight against terror is not abused to undermine legitimate struggles for self-determination.

I chaired a luncheon meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers on 21 September 2006. The meeting was attended by the heads of respective SAARC delegations to the 61st UNGA, including Prime Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk of Bhutan, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister of India, , Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli, Foreign Minister Samaraweera of Sri Lanka. It was an extremely useful follow-up on the last Council meeting held in Dhaka. We discussed the status of implementation of the various decisions taken at the last Council meeting, including participation of observers, SAFTA implementation and poverty alleviation. All participating Ministers deeply appreciated the role of Bangladesh as the Chairman of SAARC for steering the work of the organization. As the next SAARC Chair, the Indian delegation thanked Bangladesh for our valuable contribution as the Chair of the SAARC Council of Ministers.

At the meeting of the G-77 and China, I proposed that the group should endeavor to develop a set of guidelines which the developing countries should use to negotiate and accept foreign aid from the donors. I suggested that the developing countries should refrain from competing amongst themselves and accept harmful conditionalities of foreign aid. I reiterated the call that the LDCs should be allowed to borrow against their own reserves at zero interest mark-ups. I also stressed the need for duty-free and quota-free market access for all LDC exports.

My intervention at the Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting highlighted Bangladesh's achievements in developing a comprehensive disaster management strategy. I informed the Commonwealth Ministers that our recurrent experience with the natural disasters has helped us develop the expertise. The international community has already lauded Bangladesh's disaster management strategies as the best practice model. I suggested that the Commonwealth could look into the possibility of introducing weather insurance and weather derivatives in the disaster-prone countries.

The ACD Ministerial Meeting, the pan-Asian group comprising 30 countries, deliberated on membership criteria, coordinating mechanisms and overall future directions of the Dialogue. In my intervention, I emphasized that the ACD member countries, given that they are both energy deficit and energy surplus countries, must strengthen energy cooperation and develop mechanisms to promote energy security. I also proposed that the member countries should share their 'best practice' models in the field of poverty alleviation and human resource development.

At the Ministerial Meeting of the D-8 countries, we discussed, among other issues of common concerns, the implementation of the Preferential Trade Agreement that the D-8 member countries signed this year. I strongly recommended that the D-8 countries should take concrete steps to improve people-to-people contact. I proposed that we should look into the possibility of relaxing the visa requirements for our citizens. I also suggested that we should pursue direct air-links between and among all the D-8 capitals. My statement also emphasized that the D-8 countries, given that they spend more than $ 75 billion in debt service annually, must work together to achieve complete debt relief for their economies.

The High Level Meeting on the Mid-term Review of the LDC Programme of Action, held on 18 September 2006, reviewed the progress in augmenting international support for the economic development of the LDCs. This was a very important meeting and there was a consensus that the international commitment and pledges fell short of the required level of financial and technical support. In my statement, I argued that lack of capital, restricted market access and income volatility were the three most critical impediments to economic growth and development in the LDCs. In order to augment capital flows to the LDCs, I proposed that the LDCs should be allowed to borrow against their own reserves at zero interest rate differentials and the developed countries must commit themselves to this arrangement. I pointed out that the current reserve system imposed an unfair tax on the least developed countries. I also suggested that the international community needed to reach a consensus on an expeditious basis to grant duty-free and quota free market access for all LDC exports to the developed markets.

Bilateral Meetings:

Bilaterally, I met the Foreign Ministers of Australia (Alexander Downer), Bahrain (Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa), Guatemala (Gert Rosenthal), India (Anand Sharma), Italy (Vittorio Craxi), Lebanon (Fawzi Salloukh), Myanmar (Nyan Win) and Syria (al Moualem). I discussed a host of bilateral issues with my counterparts from these countries. In addition, I had the opportunity to exchange greetings and views with the heads of delegations of a number of countries, including President Parvez Musharraf, President George W. Bush, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar of Malysia and Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon of Korea. I also attended a reception hosted by President Bush.

I also met the President of the 61st UNGA Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Deputy Secretary General Mark Mallock-Brown, OIC Secretary General Prof Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanouglu and the Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon.

Meetings in Washington D.C. (26-27 September 2006)

I attended a Working Dinner organized by the State Department and hosted by Mr. Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs of the State Department. Mr. John A. Gastright Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs, Ms. Elizabeth Millard, Senior Director of National Security Council and other high officials of the State Department participated.

During the dinner, I apprised Mr. Boucher of the Government's sincerity and willingness to resolve any political differences in Bangladesh through meaningful dialogue. I hoped that the next general election would be held on time as per Constitutional provisions in a free and fair manner. Apart from these we exchanged views on a number of bilateral and multilateral issues, including the election of the next UN Secretary General. Among other issues discussed were the situations in the Middle East and Darfur.

Meeting with Mr. Stephen J. Hadley, Assistant to President George W. Bush and National Security Adviser for National Security Council (NSC) at the White House. Ms. Elizabeth Millard, Senior Director of National Security Council, and Ms. Patricia Mahoney, Director, South Asia, NSC, were in attendance during the meeting.

In the course of the meeting, I apprised Mr. Hadley of the Government's continued campaign against extremists and terrorists which has yielded widely recognized results. The National Security Adviser appreciated the efforts of Bangladesh Government in combating terrorism. We also exchanged views on the holding of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in a free and fair manner.

The Foreign Minister said that the Government's success in this respect has been because of unprecedented public support in response to the Prime Minister's call and motivation campaign. He said that this has proved, once again, the moderate and democratic character of Bangladesh and the rejection by the people of any form of religious extremism and acts of terrorism in the name of religion. The Foreign Minister thanked Mr. Hadley for the support and assistance of relevant US agencies in helping building the capacity of the law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh. Mr. Hadley appreciated the Minister for his briefing and assured their continued support in the fight against terrorism.

NAM Summit

Earlier, I was in Havana during 12-16 September 2006 to attend the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. On behalf of the Hon'ble Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, I delivered the Bangladesh statement at the summit. The Bangladesh statement underscored the need for finding immediately a just, equitable and lasting solution to the Middle East problem, ensuring full sovereignty of the Palestinian people and emphasized that NAM member countries must work together to facilitate the peace process. It also urged the international community to take concrete measures to root out terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and address the underlying causes of terrorism without propagating prejudices against particular groups, ethnicity or civilization.

We also urged the international community to focus on pro poor and pro-development trade, especially in WTO and other multilateral forums. It also implored that the developed countries must increase ODA, FDI, 'aid for trade' and facilitate market access for the least developed countries. In this context, our statement called for revitalization of global disarmament initiatives, not only to foster peace and security but also to increase development assistance and financing of development.

At the NAM Ministerial meeting, prior to the Summit, we proposed that NAM forms three expert groups to deal with political, economic and social and human rights issues. I suggested that NAM couldn't just afford to react to a crisis. It must also develop capacity to pre-empt and prevent crises. Our proposal received support of many other delegations. We also emphasized the importance of south-south cooperation and free movement of labor for revitalization of NAM.

I also participated at the Ministerial meeting of the NAM Committee on Palestine. Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the members of this committee. I reiterated the call for an international conference to expedite the Middle East peace process and resolve the Palestine issue and underscored that the occupation of Palestine must come to an end and persecution of the Palestinian people must stop immediately. The Ministers unanimously endorsed a statement that condemned the recent Israeli aggression against Palestine and called for immediate withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Southern Lebanon.

Bilateral meetings during the NAM Summit

On the sideline of NAM, I met a number of Ministers and dignitaries including the Cuban Minister and the President of the Cuban Central Bank Francisco Soberon and Nicolas Maduro Moros, the Foreign Minister of Venezuela. We discussed a whole range of bilateral issues. I also had the opportunity to exchange greetings and share views with President Parvez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.