Saudi Arabia`s statement at session of UN General Assembly delivered 6 New York

Mr. President,

Protection of human rights, the rule of law, dissemination of a
culture of peace and initiatives to promote dialogue among cultures
and peoples should constitute basic components of any effective
strategy to combat terrorism and extremism. Needless to say, respect
for United Nations resolutions and the rules of international law is
the only way to resolve chronic international conflicts and defuse
focal points of tension, thus preventing terrorists from exploiting
feelings of despair and frustration brought about by subjection to
injustice, aggression and occupation.

With a view to contributing to the furtherance of international
cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism, the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia convened an International Counter-Terrorism Conference in
February 2005 which was attended by experts and specialists from more
than 60 States and international and regional organizations. The
"Riyadh Declaration", which was issued by the Conference, affirmed
the unanimous international resolve to oppose terrorism and extremism
and made practical recommendations to combat terrorism, cut off its
sources of funding, and achieve closer multilateral cooperation in
this field. The Declaration resulted in the call of the Custodian of
the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to establish
an international center for combating terrorism under the auspices of
the United Nations. We hope that this call will find its way to
application in the near future.

The tremendous developments that have taken place in the transport,
communications and information technology sectors have helped to
facilitate and expand contact and interaction among all the peoples
of the world with their various religions, beliefs, cultures and
languages. As a result, there is no part of the human family, in all
its rich diversity and fertile pluralism, which is now living in
isolation without affecting or being affected by others. Although
these developments have generally improved human life, extremist
minorities within every religious and cultural community are seeking
to exploit these tremendous technological developments to propagate
notions of intolerance, exclusion, racism and hatred. Therefore, we
all need to work together in an earnest manner under the auspices of
the United Nations in order to create an environment conductive to
promotion of the values of dialogue, tolerance and moderation and the
furtherance of relations of cooperation and peace among cultures,
peoples and States.

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