愛善会サミールen of aizenkai

May 3-4,2007

　Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like, at the outset, to express my pleasure and gratitude at this opportunity to be here at this beautiful location and to address this august gathering. My friend, Mr. Yano, asked me to give a speech about my career and experience in the diplomatic sphere, and some ideas and perspectives that I have acquired during this career.

　He gave me a big task: To tell you about this in a short time. However, I will try my best to do so without making you bored. I would like to start by saying that my first post as a diplomat was the Jordan Embassy in Tokyo some good time ago. Coming from a county at the far west of Asia, it was a great challenge and experience for me to come to Japan at the far East of Asia. At that time, Japan to us was the land of transistor radios, Sony and Toyota. But being in Japan, I was impressed by the country's beauty, great cultural heritage and above all with its polite, gentle, well-mannered and hard-working people.

　We, the Arabs, also have a great cultural heritage, and I believed then, as I believe now, that we have a lot to learn from Japan on how to preserve and revive our cultural heritage while keeping up with the most modern technology and industry. After Japan, my career as a diplomat took me to various countries, to France, to Australia, to Spain, to the United Nations in New York, to China, and then once again, to Japan.


　It also included various short diplomatic missions to several countries and to various international conferences. To look back, I find that each one of those places left a great and varied impression on me, and added some or much to my own experience. In Spain, we enjoyed the richness of culture, which combines in it a mixture of Spanish and Arabic cultures. In Seville, Granada, Cordoba and other Spanish cities you come away with great memories of a special culture that lives in memory forever. In Australia, a new vast country which god blesses with incredible beauty of nature, the endless sea, the beautiful barrier reef, the mountains as well as the deserts.

　This beauty is reflected in the beautiful, kind and relaxed nature of its people. I was lucky to be the Ambassador to China during a period of great transformation when the country's economy was pushing forward with great strides. I could witness the quick pace of development in every field and aspect of life. I was there at a historical period of that nation's development and could witness with my own eyes that amazing development that might require many, many books to detail. However, the greatest experience I have had was working at the United Nations in New York. The United Nations is called a World Body and rightly so because it holds within its building various organizations and organs from the world at large that bring representatives of all countries to work together to try to find solutions for the world's many problems.

　As a diplomat, when you work on bilateral affairs between your country and the country you are accredited to, sometimes you tend to see matters through that angle between the two countries. But, when you are working at the United Nations you feel as if you are looking at the world as a whole through a kaleidoscope, where things take different shapes according to the angle by which you move the kaleidoscope. As such, working at the UN gives you a clear insight into two aspects:

1.The various aspects of international affairs,
and the factors that play into formulating positions on the problems facing our world.

2.The various matters that face our world, which require international cooperation to find common solutions --
like weapons of mass destruction, globalization, climate change and others.

　I was at the United Nations during the time when the Cold War was coming to an end, and with it a period of great transformation for the UN's role. I also was there at a time of a big international crisis, which involved our area, the Middle East, when Iraq occupied Kuwait in 1991. Both left me with good experiences and memories of history in the making. Now, after giving you this brief tour of the various places where I worked, I would like to share with you some of the experiences and observations I took away from these.

　1. When you visit other parts of the world, it is important not only to open your eyes to see beautiful places and things, but it is more important to open your mind and vision. We come to see people, who are doing things and handling their affairs in different ways. They often handle the same problems in different ways. If you open your mind to respect their ways, and not to judge them according to your own ideas, then you will learn and will be able to benefit others with what you learned.

　2. In school we study history to learn its lessons and avoid repeating the mistakes. But, looking around at world problems, one cannot but wonder whether we truly learn, because we keep repeating the same mistakes in various times and locations.

　3. Modern technologies in every field have made the world into a so-called one village, but I wonder whether this has truly brought the people of the earth closer or do we look at each other but keep our minds closed.

　Many times, the question comes to my mind when I look at people using computers and mobile phones: These things no doubt made our life much easier, but did it make us any closer?
　When I see young people in coffee shops, restaurants and on the street with their eyes fixed on their mobile phones, it seems to me they can more easily speak to the phone. I sometimes think that with the charm of the new gadgets, we sit together but are not communicating, we hold hands but are worlds apart, and we hug but lack the feelings. Am I losing hope?
　Not at all, because hope is what keeps the world going, it keeps us dreaming of a better world and trying to achieve that dream. The United Nations and other international bodies came out of humanity, and hope to find a way to unite us all to solve common problems and achieve the common goal of creating a more peaceful world with prosperity and security for all. We have an Arabic proverb that sums this up: "Living would be so hard if it were not for the small venue of hope." Thank you very much. （2007.5.4）