H.H. The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani chaired the State of Qatar's delegation in the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) opening session this morning in New York. The session was attended by Their Majesties, Highnesses and Excellencies, heads of state and government, heads of delegations, and governmental and non-governmental organizations.

HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani delivered a speech at the session. The speech reads as follows:

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"In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Your Excellency the President of the General Assembly, Your Excellency the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Honorable Audience, May Gods peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you, At the outset, I congratulate His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis on assuming the presidency of the 78th Session of the General Assembly, wishing him success, also I express my appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Csaba Korosi for his efforts in presiding over the 77th Session. I commend the efforts made by His Excellency Mr. Ant?nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the personnel of the United Nations for fulfilling its noble goals.

Allow me first of all to offer my sincere condolences to His Majesty King Mohammed VI and to the brotherly Moroccan people for the victims of the devastating earthquake. I also extend my condolences to the government and people of the brotherly state of Libya for the victims of the floods there. We ask Almighty God for a speedy recovery for the injured and that the deceased be filled with His mercy. I affirm our full solidarity with them in this tragedy.
Mr. President, God has bestowed favor on us by living in an era of unprecedented accelerating progress, in which an innovative spirit prevails in the fields of medicine, technology, and science in general, and wherein the human ability to exploit the resources enabling the provision of a decent life for all of humanity has multiplied. The sequent innovations have brought about productivity, prosperity, and communication between humans in a way close to realizing science fiction visions.

Although this evolution has enabled us to realize many wishes, yet it has come at a cost for the people of the world, our planet and its resources. The average life expectancy and standard of living for the majority of humanity have risen, and this has clearly manifested itself in population growth. Nevertheless, poverty and unemployment rates have also increased, and there is a growing awareness of the lack of justice in wealth distribution, in addition to the dire consequences on the environment.

In areas such as genetics and artificial intelligence, the possibilities for realizing the well-being of all humanity are increasing. But the gap between possibility and reality is also widening. However, as these possibilities are unfolding in the same era, there are people who are grappling with child labor, starvation, unemployment, and civil wars, while developed countries guard their borders against the influx of refugees fleeing this suffering, as if the people on earth are living in two different eras.

The rapid technical development and the growing reliance on it opens up unprecedented prospects for humanity to develop for the better. Undoubtedly, science and technology are crucial for increasing productivity and improving human life quality.

But celebrating the means without responsible thinking about the ends for which they are used has led to major disasters such as using nuclear weapons, conducting dangerous experiments on humans, and the genocide in concentration camps. It is incumbent on us to keep pace with the scientific and technical development and encourage it in our countries, and that barriers between countries in this field must be removed. At the same time, it is not plausible to ignore the worsening risks in terms of reality falsification, invasion of personal privacy, educational process disruption by facilitating plagiarism, and spiraling effect of disinformation and human deception ploys.

Therefore, in addition to the necessity of cooperation and investment in developing these technologies, we reiterate the call for unifying the efforts to prevent the misuse of cyberspace and regulate this vital aspect on the basis of the rules of international law.

In this context, the "Web Summit 2024" will take place in Doha. The convening of this event constitutes an important opportunity to review development in the field of technology, and create new cooperation opportunities in the realm of technology for the benefit of all humanity. This is an occasion to welcome everyone to Doha.

Mr. President, We must not forget that there are peoples around the world, especially in our region, who are absorbed by the present tragedies, and who consider their involvement in the issues which I have mentioned as a sort of luxury. If we truthfully constitute an international community, and not a merely diverse entities, it must be our duty to strive towards ending the injustice afflicting them, at least in accordance with what is required by the resolutions of this body, and entailed by international law.

It is not acceptable for the Palestinian people to remain prisoners of the Israeli settler occupation arbitrariness, and the rejection of any just political solution in accordance with the principles of international legitimacy by successive Israeli governments. You have to bear in mind that the failure of the international organization to take actions against the occupation provided and continues to provide the opportunity for Israel to undermine the foundations of the two-state solution by means of settlement expansion until the occupation has brazenly taken the form of an apartheid regime in the broad daylight of the twenty-first century. Even some of Israel's close friends have taken notice of this. Israel also responds to Arab peace and normalization initiatives with more nationalist and ultra-orthodox intransigence and extremism that is reflected in government coalitions and further settlement expansion, in addition to the Judaization of Jerusalem, attacks on holy sites, besides using heavy-handed means against those languishing under the occupation, and tightening the noose on the Gaza Strip.

Qatar provides political, humanitarian and development support to the brotherly Palestinian people and contributes towards rebuilding the Gaza Strip which is reeling under the siege, in addition to its continuous contribution to UNRWA funds. It also continues its adherence to the firm stance regarding the fairness of this cause, which has become a credibility test for world politicians in relation to the Middle East region.

Source: QNA
Cover Image: Amiri Diwan

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Rikhia Basu

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