UN General Assembly
2000

weapons, including small arms, especially their excessive and destabilizing accumulation in areas of conflict. We regard universal participation in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms as an important step towards effective transparency, on both a regional and a global scale. For Bulgaria this past year has been a period of continued intensive efforts by the Government to build on the economic stabilization that has been achieved and to move forward with structural reforms, modernizing State administration, enforcing the rule of law in civil society and creating favourable conditions for sustainable economic growth. The steps and initiatives that have been undertaken in compliance with the Government programme 'Bulgaria 2001' are directed at moving ahead with the integration of Bulgaria into European and Euro-Atlantic structures. Being an integral part of Europe, Bulgaria regards accelerated accession to the European Union and full membership in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as an expression of our sovereign political choice based on broad public support. Since Bulgaria is endeavouring to promote and enhance the values of democracy, we are sincerely interested in seeing these