Speech of the PM of the CR Mirek Topolánek Given on the Occasion of the Working Lunch with Ambassadors of Member Countries of UN Security Council

Dear Ambassadress, dear Ambassadors, dear ladies and gentlemen, dear guests,

Let me give you a warm welcome to this dinner arranged on the occasion of the candidature of the Czech Republic to the UN Security Council.

We have the honour to be able to meet with permanent representatives of all the 15 countries, which work in this key organ of United Nations.

I believe that our success in tomorrow's elections will enable Czech diplomats to meet you, starting from January of the next year, on the occasion of solving complicated problems of international peace and security.

Evidence of importance which the Czech government assign to the membership in the UN Security Council is my visit to New York City.

We are a small country, security and prosperity of which have always depended on the international situation. We experienced situations when the international community did not want or could not intervene to give us guarantee of peace and freedom.

This experience with powerlessness of the world in connection towards injustice, the experience with totalitarian and despotic regimes leads us to active attitude in promoting global security.

We have many-year experience with religious, nationalist and ideological conflicts. And we are a member of a strong, prosperous and peaceful community – the European Union.

Therefore we know what hopelessness is. And we know what hope is. We believe that peace and stability cannot be achieved without an effort. And we know that it concerns attainable objectives.

We were a country, which experienced oppression and lack of freedom. We were a country, which needed patient effort of others to reach freedom and democracy. And now we are fully ready – in moral, economic and political terms – to help other on their way to happiness.

This is the principal reason of our candidacy to the UN Security Council. I regard it as a logical result of our country's development; and also as the acknowledgment of indisputable role of the UN Security Council in maintaining international peace and security, as it is stated in the UN Charter.

As early as in 1994 and 1995, when we had an opportunity to bear such a responsibility, I mean in the course of solving conflicts in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, we were successful. We want to continue in this in the following two years.

I believe that also thanks to our experience regarding this work, we are able to effectively contribute to the performance of the UN Security Council. During those twelve years we had an opportunity to entrench at the international scene as a reliable and foreseeable partner.

I do not want to analyse here in detail complicated character of tasks and urgency of threats which the Security Council faces. The Czech Republic is aware of them, starting from the terrorism, inter-civilization conflicts up to spread of weapons of mass destruction. I want just to remind you that the Czech Republic has participated in more than 20 peace missions in the Balkan, in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Georgia and in other operations with the mandate of the Security Council in Kosovo and Afghanistan in the last 15 years.

That is why we have direct experience both with successes and failures of the international community. And as I have already mentioned, our long-time historical experience leads us towards our will to persist and not to retreat, in spite of the fact that remedy seems to be impossible. For that matter – while there is life, there is hope.

There is a long way ahead of us to make this planet safe, stabile and flourishing place for life. The mandate in the UN Security Council lasts only two years, but I regard it as an Olympic relay, as an honour to bear a torch which will arrive one day.

To succeed in the election to the UN Security Council is not easy. But it is necessary to be prepared beforehand as there are just several weeks between a successful election and taking a seat at the well-known round table.

The Czech Republic exerted a lot of effort for the preparation of the future team, for doing relevant analyses, setting communication and decision-making mechanisms. I can say with full responsibility that we are prepared very well and that our foreign service will be doing good work.

Another demanding task is ahead of us in the first half of 2009: The presidency to the EU Council. My government is convinced that in the course of execution of these tasks mutual synergies exist, which will benefit our partners, friends and all member countries of the UN.

Dear guests,

The world community is formed by complex of countries which are not free, which head towards freedom and which already have freedom. We have passed all these three phases. And with this deep understanding of situation of various states we head towards our candidature to the Security Council. I hope it will be successful.

Thank you for your attention.