GodsGrace2: Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani Prime Minister UNGA Speech 09/22/23 – Written Transcript
****NOTICE – THIS IS AN AI TRANSCRIPTION – MOST OF THE SPEECH WILL BE WORD FOR WORD – IF THERE IS A WORD OFF – JUST KEEP GOING AS THE MAJORITY WAS TRANSLATED CORRECTLY ****
Mr. President of the United Nations General Assembly, Your Excellency, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ladies and gentlement May God and peace blessings be upon you all.
First I would like and on behalf of the government and people of Iraq to offer our sincere condolences and our solidarity to the Kingdom of Morocco and the state of Libya, government and people over the catastrophe of the earthquake in Morocco and the floods in Libya, and we ask God Almighty to grant peace to the families of the deceased and the quick recovery to the injured. Mr. President, I come to you today bearing the salutations of the Iraqi people.
Iraq was among the 50 states that founded the supported organization 78 years ago. Iraq has always and to this very day, believed in the general principles that the United Nations was founded upon. And it’s a tribute to all of us programs, because it believes that our only path is the path of human brotherhood and solidarity. To guarantee the safe existence of the world as a whole.
Ladies and gentlemen, the spirit of consensus has prevailed in the new Iraq and we have overcome some difficult days. We now have a government that enjoys a widespread political coalition that covers all aspects and sheets of the Iraqi society.
This government has adopted a comprehensive and ambitious reforms programs to correct our path and to regain trust in the political system and to offer a dignified life to our citizens and to secure their future and build a capable and strong Iraq. On this path, we have adopted a program with crucial parties that reflect issues that must be implemented without delay, and which related to the basic needs of our people.
These priorities include employment opportunities, overhauling the services sectors, poverty eradication, raising the standards of living, fighting corruption and enacting comprehensive reforms economically and in the sectors of management, finances, and banks, in order to overcome the obsolete legacy of previous management systems that were unable to keep pace with changes and global advancements.
We have made important strides in this direction and in record time. The investment climate in Iraq has developed and has opened up to the global economy and to fruitful partnerships. We have signed many agreements in a variety of sectors. Iraq has become a safe environment that attracts investors to opportunities that are filled with promise.
Iraq continues to be an important oil state. It is a pivotal state in the global energy market. It offers opportunities and projects and businesses of extreme importance in this field. We have launched the road to development project.
This pioneering project is one of the most modern projects in the region. It is a vital land corridor that connects essential economic parts in our developing area. It is the best path for trade and economic exchange in the region. It is important in the field of transport and economy this project is a strategic Iraqi vision, a vision of connectivity and outreach to the world and positive economic interaction many international organizations have issued reports citing the spread of corruption in Iraq.
We have diagnosed this disease and we have named it the corruption pandemic making combating it the top of our priorities. We are cracking down wanted persons wherever they were. And regardless of the ranks and affiliations.
We have surrendered them to the judiciary, the Iraqi judiciary so that this disease can be stamped out here. We ask our friends and our partners to help us combat corruption in all its stages. We ask them to facilitate pursuing those who perpetrate corruption we must all work together and cooperate in combat and corruption. We must retain return the money that they have stolen, because we believe that there’s a symbiotic relationship between corruption and terrorism and this is what we all want to fight.
Esteemed delegates. We have established an independent and balanced foreign policy that is targeted towards cooperation and that is based on bringing views closer together and focusing on commonalities. We want Iraq to be a source of stability in its regional and international sphere. We want Iraq to be part of the solution to any international or regional problem. We want Iraq to be an enabler of understanding and cooperation. We seek to build constructive partnerships that are based on mutual respect, and on incentivizing all the different parties.
We aim to help in drawing policies that will establish and achieve sustainable development for our peace loving peoples. The Republic of Iraq reaffirms its commitment to the principles of international law. We affirm our respect for all United Nations resolutions, we stress our determination to establish the best of ties with everyone, especially our neighbors.
We reject any interference in our internal affairs, regardless of the excuse and our constitution stipulates that Iraq will not be a launching point for any aggression towards other states. Similarly, we ask everyone to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We reserve our right to take the necessary measures as established by international laws and conventions to repel any violation of our country’s here we reaffirm that we extend a hand of friendship to our neighbors to maintain the security and stability and progress and prosperity of our region in a manner that will guarantee prosperity for our peoples.
We hope to achieve regional integration, we hope to remove anything that obstructs the free flow of trade in the region. We aim to facilitate the movement of persons and capital and goods through political borders and we aim to connect infrastructures together all of these are factors that would mitigate the potential for armed conflict and would limit the further escalation of existing conflicts.
We see a that we can achieve economic integration by standardizing and streamlining economic policies and custom fees and laws and connecting economic infrastructures together through joint investments and offering opportunities and as a gesture towards pushing forward these efforts.
We are working on holding the Baghdad 2023 conference for economic integration and regional stability. We will not follow a policy of polarization rather we will deal with everyone in accordance with our national interests. We continue to bolster Iraq’s natural place in the field of international cooperation and take every action to enhance stability.
Our government has placed the file of IDPs and the forcibly displaced people persons at the top of our priorities and we have taken many national measures to find solutions, sustainable ones to secure their voluntary and safe return to their homes and to rebuild their liberated cities. We have also sought to resolve the issue of missing persons who were disappeared.
By the criminals of that we offer material and psychological support to their families and work on their reintegration. In Iraq, we are moving towards endorsing a policy of the protection of civilians. So that we would entrench the concept of preserving human rights and respecting humanitarian international humanitarian law.
We train our security forces and we monitor their performance in the field of protecting civilians, especially in terms of any mistakes that are committed in armed conflict. We also seek to protect civilians during natural disasters. This would make Iraq the first state in the Middle East that adopts such a policy and creates an environment of cooperation between security forces and the citizens.
We are making steady progress towards holding local elections in the governor’s towards the end of this year. After a 10 year hiatus, these elections are a pillar of decentralization in Iraq. They are an important part of the resilience of the governance system and state establishments. The federal government, through its comprehensive and multiple programs enjoys the best of relations with the region of Kurdistan and all of the governors of Iraq on an equal footing.
It is in constant contact with representatives of the region and the local governments in all of Iraq’s governors so that we will transform opportunities to projects that would enhance the development of resources and the Iraqi economy.
Ladies and gentlemen. Our region and our country specifically the land of Mesopotamia, The Land Between the two great rivers is suffering from a drought, a drought as a result of climate change. And there is an extreme need to preserve our rights in water resources and international river basins.
The natural water bodies in Idaho or the Iraqi marshes is one of the lungs of the entire planet. Having these marshes dry out would be a biological, ecological and historic loss to all living beings on this planet. There will be a loss of a human heritage and a chapter in the book of humanity and its civilization. Iraq witnessed the first international treaty and this treaty was on water and it was signed to to 2550 years ago.
Therefore, the cradle of civilization must not be allowed to die of thirst. this environmental disaster would have a harsher impact on Iraq and the region due to the unprecedented increase in temperatures which turns every aspect of daily life into an almost impossible task. Therefore, Iraq is working on and calling for exerting more efforts between the relevant regional states so that we could work together and we could find an effective coordination mechanism so that we could form a negotiating bloc within the climate convention.
We call for establishing an integrated mechanism to manage cross border water resources and to address the effects of droughts and sandstorms and heat waves. We stressed the need to mobilize international efforts to guarantee the sustainability of water resources here. We call for establishing a regional grouping that will be comprised of the coastal states of the Gulf, including Iraq and Iran. And the Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council because these are the states that will be disproportionately subject to the temperature rise.
This grouping would be tasked with coordinating regional efforts to manage water resources and address climate change and bolster environmental protection and work together and leading action to convert to jobs.
Our government at the national level has taken the necessary measures to lessen emissions and stop gas flaring and the environmental pollution it causes. We have also launched several projects in terms of waste recycling and encouraging the use of clean energy.
Our government has endorsed and ratified a national strategy to combat pollution and its impact for the years 2023 to 2030. Iraq believes that addressing these challenges requires establishing institutions that are able to deal with economic challenges, and more specifically, climate challenges. Your Excellencies despite the cross border challenges that we face, as they face all of humanity, we seek to confront them effectively and within our national capabilities, by cooperating with our partners and friends. And the most important of these challenges is the challenge of drugs.
Drugs hinder all efforts to establish development and invest in human resources and the development of youth. Therefore, our government has adapted to the National Strategy to Combat drugs. psychotropics for the years 2023 to 2025. We, as the international community and governments in the region have no alternative except to intensify our efforts to coordinate our work and combating drugs and any related activities that would facilitate them falling in the hands of our children, our societies. And it is no secret that there is a direct relationship between terrorism and drugs.
Mr. President, Iraq is classified and according to population service, is classified as a useful state and that youth, males and females constitute 60% of the Iraqi population. Therefore the Government of Iraq has given them priority attention and its government program and seeks to support the youth because they are the best investment.
The Iraqi government has established many programs and strategies and projects and initiatives to support us in every aspect. We have launched the initiative called riada, translated as pioneer for development and employment. And it aims to support students and youth and empower them and develop their creativity so that they will be able to find employment opportunities and create effective economic action.
And we aim to develop practical and productive energies so that we could encourage students and us to keep up with the changes of the labor market and technological advancements and to invest skills and creativity so that we would allow for innovation and provide 1000s of employment opportunities to use so that they would live in a dignified manner.
We have also established a supreme Youth Council that is chaired by the Prime Minister, the ministers of Youth and Sports and the ministers of planning and finances and Labor and Social Affairs and education and scientific research and culture.
Thanks to the sponsorship of the Iraqi Government by the Iraqi Government of the youth sector and through its construction of sports centers, Iraqi sports teams, and students, teams were able to win many ALC accolades and titles and several tournaments and championships. Here we would like to reiterate that our government continues to implement programs to empower women and to grant women the effective right to contribute in every stage of development.
Women have been an important factor in all of our victories against terrorism and women continue to be our partners in overcoming all the difficulties that we are facing. Mr. President, we say to the world that we have a firm stand on the Palestinian right to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. We also reiterate Iraq support for the unity of Syria, land and people we call for ending the suffering of the Syrian people and allowing them to exert full control over all Syrian territory.
Mr. President, we note the continued threat posed by terrorist organizations and their ability to recruit elements that will threaten our security and target our states. We know the need to distinguish between instigating violence and spreading hatred and attacking the beliefs of others on the one hand, and the freedom of expression on the other.
Burning the Holy Quran is a hate crime. And it aims to offend an aggressor the beliefs of a quarter of the world’s population and those who respect sanctities this cannot be marketed as freedom of expression. We Iraq know the bitter taste of religious extremism, and we know the effects of this extremism. And such actions are the main ingredients towards creating such extremism and encouraging it and terrorists. That is the best example of this,
In closing time has come for Iraq to regain its natural place in the international community after its glorious success and combating terrorism. On behalf of the world. And the defeat that we have established with the help of friends and partners, we defeated this terrorism. The people of Iraq have registered and have made immortal epics in battling the most vicious of crimes.
And here we would like to know the wise guidance of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and His blessing IIDX and we know that the valor of all the security and military forces of Iraq and these victories and in their efforts to establish the basis of social peace with the spirituality, Iraq has become safe and stable, and we will work through productive diplomacy so that Iraq would become a center where brothers and sisters and friends and partners need to build a region that is safe and prosperous that serves all of our people. Iraq now enjoys the strength of its resources, and its geographic location, and the will of its people. Who’ve confront challenges and who has emerged victorious. As always, I thank you for your kind attention, peace and God’s blessings be upon you.
Speaker 1
On behalf of the assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq for the statement just made
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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Tishwash: This is my favorite one so far #Urgent | Prime Minister: We diagnosed the scourge of corruption in Iraq and called it the corruption pandemic
Sudani: The will to agree prevailed in the new Iraq, and the coalition government succeeded in restoring confidence in the political system
Sudani declares Iraq’s commitment to all international agreements and calls on neighboring countries not to interfere
Sudani: The constitution requires that Iraq not be a launching pad for attacks on other countries
Sudani: The government adopted a comprehensive and ambitious reform program to correct the course and restore confidence in the political system.
Sudani: We ask friendly countries to extend a helping hand in the fight against corruption
Sudani: We are committed to the best relations with neighboring countries.. Iraq must not be left to die of thirst
Sudani: We ask friendly and partner countries to extend a helping hand to us in combating corruption and facilitating the process of following it up and those responsible for it.
Sudani: Burning the Holy Qur’an is a hate crime aimed at attacking a quarter of the world’s population
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwdmHGQvq1M