I would like to express
my sincere congratulations, Sir, on your election as
President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth
session and to extend my best wishes for a successful
conduct of the deliberations and work of this body.
I wish also to thank your predecessor, Mr. Didier
Opertti, for his leadership and his personal contribution to
the achievements of the fifty-third session.
The United Nations was created over 50 years ago
in specific political circumstances marked by enthusiasm
brought about by the end of the Second World War. Its
establishment was a very important step towards a new
global order, although the political situation dominated by
super-Power rivalry over next several decades prevented
it from using its potential to the full. The current
international political situation is much more propitious
for pursuing the original purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter. Following the end of the bipolar
division of the world, we have witnessed new political
processes that have profoundly changed the political
landscape. An ever- growing number of countries are
embracing democratic principles and implementing them
in practice. This should be emphasized, especially in a
forum such as the General Assembly, because the spread
of democracy gives momentum to the work of the United
Nations and stimulates the expansion of its activities
throughout the world.
A growing number of countries are acknowledging
their share of the global responsibility for a better life on
our planet and for the wise exploitation of its resources.
In this era of globalization and interdependence, the
6

United Nations plays a unique and irreplaceable role. Its
fundamental and key tasks — safeguarding peace and
security; promoting economic cooperation and social
development, including poverty eradication; strengthening
the role of international law; and protecting human
rights — are even more relevant today than they were 54
years ago. The Slovak Republic is very much aware of this
fact.
One of the crucial issues in reforming the Organization
and preparing it for the challenges that lie ahead is the
reform of the Security Council. The Security Council is the
symbol and pillar of the concept of collective security,
designed in the aftermath of the most tragic conflict of this
century in order to prevent its repetition.
The fundamental political changes that have taken
place in the world in the last 50 years represent a challenge
to the future role of the Security Council and its legitimacy.
We must draw lessons from past setbacks. Caused mostly
by the divergent interests of major actors or by a lack of
political will, they paralysed the Security Council, which
remained inactive instead of taking effective action on
behalf of the Member States. Otherwise, we risk the erosion
of the authority of the Security Council and consequently
of its central role in the maintenance of international peace
and security. The United Nations cannot afford to let that
happen, because there is no alternative to the concept of
collective security as embodied in the United Nations
Charter. The modern world needs a supreme security
authority with unquestioned credibility.
The key tasks of Security Council reform are to
strengthen its representative character, improve the
effectiveness and transparency of its decision-making
process and working methods and, ultimately, enhance its
legitimacy. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to reach the
widest possible agreement on enlarging its membership and
on the veto right, which plays a pivotal role in the overall
reform of the Council. Unless the scope of application of
the veto and its relationship to potential new members of
the Security Council are clarified, it will be very difficult
to proceed to the enlargement of the category of permanent
members.
Slovakia recognizes as legitimate the efforts of some
countries, which, being capable of assuming a share of the
gobal responsibility for the maintenance of international
peace and security, desire a position in an enlarged Security
Council. At the same time, however, it is necessary to
ensure the appropriate representation of the developing
countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean
region, since those countries represent a significant
majority of the United Nations membership.
Regrettably, as the past six years of discussions in
the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of
Equitable Representation on and Increase in the
Membership of the Security Council have shown, a
fundamental divergence of views continues to exist with
regard to enlarging the category of permanent members,
thus making it very unlikely that concrete results will be
achieved in the near future.
We believe that in order to move ahead, we should
proceed gradually rather than running in place in order to
prevent the United Nations from “missing the boat” in our
rapidly changing world. If there is no agreement on other
categories of membership, Slovakia is ready, at this stage,
to support expanding only the non-permanent category.
The overall number of seats in the enlarged Security
Council would then depend on the scenario eventually
agreed on by Member States. Nevertheless, it should not
exceed the range of 23 to 25 in order to preserve its
capability to act promptly. I would like to point out that
Slovakia is flexible in this regard. The expansion of the
Security Council should also take into account an
appropriate increase in the representation of the Eastern
European regional Group, whose membership has more
than doubled in recent years.
Peacekeeping operations continue to be one of the
key instruments available to the United Nations in the
discharge of its primary responsibility for the maintenance
of international peace and security. Nevertheless, in the
light of the tragic experience of recent and still-raging
conflicts, it is necessary to reinforce those mechanisms,
which would allow the United Nations to more actively
concentrate on preventing conflicts and addressing their
causes rather than their consequences. An early- warning
system should be further enhanced, and preventive
diplomacy should play a more active role in potential
conflict situations.
Today’s conflicts have many dimensions, which
must be addressed comprehensively. An integrated,
multidimensional approach to peacekeeping and post-
conflict peace-building must be taken if a conflict is to be
resolved in a durable manner. It is important to ensure an
effective coordination among the military, civilian and
humanitarian components of multidisciplinary operations,
which should be given adequate mandates and resources.
7

As time is a crucial factor in most cases of
deployment of peacekeeping forces, Slovakia supports the
efforts to enhance United Nations rapid-deployment
capabilities through the United Nations standby
arrangements system. Regional initiatives play an important
role in this respect, and Slovakia has therefore joined the
Central European Nations Cooperation in Peace Support,
aimed at closer cooperation among several Central
European States in the field of the preparation, training and
participation of their armed forces in peacekeeping
operations.
Since its admission to the United Nations Slovakia has
been contributing to a number of United Nations
peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia and Europe,
including those in Angola, Rwanda, the border region of
Uganda and Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Syrian
Golan Heights, Jerusalem, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia
and Eastern Slavonia. The Slovak Government has also
recently decided to contribute an engineering unit to the
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western
Sahara (MINURSO). Slovakia thus ranks among the leading
troop contributors in terms of the number of troops per
capita. I would like to take this opportunity to assure the
Assembly that Slovakia is determined to continue to support
United Nations peacekeeping activities in all the main
areas: troops, logistics and training.
The active participation of the Slovak Republic in
United Nations peacekeeping activities has proved that it
has a responsible approach to the maintenance of
international peace and security, and has logically led to the
submission of its candidature for the non-permanent seat in
the Security Council for the term 2000-2001. Through
membership in the Security Council, Slovakia would like to
prove that small countries, too, can make an important
contribution to the resolution of conflicts and crises in the
world.
Kosovo is the most recent example of the tragic reality
of the present-day Balkans, driven by violence and ethnic
hatred, which is not only a product of the region’s
complicated historical circumstances, but, above all, the
result of human rights violations and of the misuse of
ethnic differences to reach short-sighted political goals.
Slovakia attaches great importance to the political resolution
of the Kosovo conflict, and appreciates the efforts of the
United Nations, the Secretary-General, the Contact Group
dealing with the former Yugoslavia and regional
organizations to this end. We welcomed with great hope the
adoption of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), aimed
at creating conditions for building a democratic Kosovo
based on respect for the human rights of all citizens,
regardless of their ethnic origin and religion, and for all
the principles enshrined in Article 2 of the United Nations
Charter.
Post-conflict peace-building in Bosnia and
Herzegovina has proved that reconstruction of a
conflict-torn society on a multi-ethnic basis is in no way
an easy task. However, if new tragedies are to be
prevented, the international community must give a hand
to the people in that part of Europe in their quest for
reconciliation and for building mutual trust. An important
role in these efforts is to be played by the economic
reconstruction and development of the entire Balkan
region.
In this connection, Slovakia welcomes and fully
supports the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. I
believe it will open a new stage in the history of the
region. The proof of the importance which the Slovak
Republic attaches to securing stability in this part of
Europe is the appointment of the Minister for Foreign
Affairs of Slovakia, Mr. Eduard Kukan, as the Special
Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Balkans. A
conference was held under his auspices in Bratislava, the
capital of Slovakia, on the post-war reconstruction of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The conference clearly
showed the direction which the international community
and Yugoslav society should take if the country is to
become a firm part of the community of nations in the
Balkans, built on new foundations.
The Slovak Republic considers a just peace in the
Middle East to be an important component of global
stability. For this reason, we welcomed the signing, on 4
September 1999, of a new agreement between Israel and
the Palestinian Authority on the implementation of
individual steps of the Wye Memorandum. At the same
time, we hope that Israel, Syria and Lebanon will also
renew their dialogues. Although certain issues remain to
be resolved among the parties, we believe that a final
agreement will eventually be reached and a permanent
peace will be secured for the Middle East region.
The continent of Africa is suffering from far too
many conflicts, often fed by poverty and
underdevelopment. Clearly, cooperation between the
international community and African States is greatly
needed in order to prevent and to address conflicts and to
help Africa to create conditions for sustainable
development. Slovakia shares the Secretary-General’s
view, expressed in his report on Africa last year, that
8

Africans themselves must demonstrate the political will to
respond to problems by peaceful means and to adhere to
the rules of good governance through ensuring respect for
human rights and the rule of law, strengthening
democratization and promoting transparency in public
administration. In the meantime, the assistance of the
international community is important not only for the
economic development of African States, but also to enable
them to build their own capacity for conflict prevention and
resolution.
The African regional and subregional organizations,
such as the Organization of African Unity, the Economic
Community of West African States and the Southern
African Development Community, should be given credit
for the role they have played in the implementation of
peace operations in several African countries, and should be
provided with the necessary financial and material
assistance. Slovakia is ready to contribute its share — for
instance, by offering its Training Centre for Peacekeeping
Operations, which has specific facilities for training
engineering units.
Another pressing problem is the prevention of the
illicit flow of arms and military material into zones of
conflict, and the enforcement of an effective
implementation of the Security Council arms embargoes.
The most disturbing fact is that the Security Council’s
sanctions are violated mostly by non-African countries
which have turned Africa into a store for all kinds of
weapons. Slovakia firmly adheres to all Security Council
decisions, including sanctions. We believe that Security
Council sanctions committees should be actively engaged
in ensuring the concerted efforts of all the actors concerned
— Governments, international governmental and
non-governmental organizations, private companies and
leaders of opinion — in order to identify the sources of
arms flows into zones of conflict and cut off military forces
and rebel groups from their resources, thus eliminating their
ability to wage war.
I realize that the United Nations is not only a
peacekeeper; it also has a role to play in the everyday lives
of many people suffering from hunger, poverty, disease,
illiteracy and backwardness. All of us are obligated to
promote sustainable development and to protect the global
environment and human rights. The best way to prevent and
eliminate conflicts is to create conditions for a worthy life
for every individual on this planet as well as friendly
relations among nations based on the principles of equal
rights, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human
rights.
Being a small country, the Slovak Republic does not
always have means to resolve global issues comparable to
those that some big countries have. But it compensates
for this disadvantage with its determined and active
approach to all the major problems that mankind is
facing. As experience has shown, small and medium-sized
countries can contribute significantly to the resolution of
crises and conflicts. This may be due to the fact that these
countries are not burdened with power interests and are
capable of presenting and advocating solutions acceptable
to all. Slovakia has already demonstrated its ability to be
an active player in international relations. The United
Nations and its Security Council are the forums in which
we can put this valuable experience to the best use.


Please accept
our warmest congratulations, Sir, on your well-deserved
election to the presidency of the General Assembly. We
wish you every success, which we are convinced will be
forthcoming in your leadership and in the outcome of
these proceedings.
We also wish to convey heartfelt recognition to the
Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Mr. Didier Opertti, who so
brilliantly presided over the last session, a matter of
legitimate pride for Latin America.
I should also like to convey a message of warm
support and tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, for the fruitful work that he has been pursuing
with commendable energy and great vision, to reform,
strengthen and invigorate the complex and sensitive
United Nations system within a comprehensive context
while looking towards a new century and a new
millennium that will require all kinds of revisions,
adjustments and adaptations.
5

We share and support the initiatives that, among their
other objectives, are designed to make it easier for countries
that are relatively underdeveloped and engaged in the tasks
of economic and social development and combating poverty
to achieve the very difficult and painful transition to a new
globalized world with a market economy devoid of barriers,
where rapidly developing patterns are being imposed with
regard to competitiveness, advanced technology, models of
culture and consumption, social and computer
communications, sophisticated systems of financing and a
vast array of other tools and processes. All of this
highlights with stark reality the great differences and
imbalances that exist at the international level.
Those are the major challenges that we must confront
together, using political will, hard work, education, training,
the transfer of science and technology, investment,
openness, production, trade, superior skills and active
policies of participation to ensure that shared benefits will
flow out to profit all, fairly and equitably, at every layer of
the social fabric of our peoples.
It would be unfortunate and very dangerous if these
great opportunities offered by globalization were not
translated into positive, innovative and tangible changes to
effectively promote, in the shortest time possible, a
substantive improvement in standards of living, expectations
and opportunities for the vast majority, within the
framework of sustainable development.
On occasions, at certain stages in these transitional
processes, disturbances have occurred as a result of
troubling inequalities between various sectors and social
actors. Such differences exist and are growing both in
advanced countries and in developing countries, which are
in the majority.
We should anticipate, reverse, mitigate or, at least,
temper with realism and sensitivity such negative effects,
which owe their origins and characteristics to specific
circumstances and considerations that were assumed to be
temporary. A failure to take adequate measures could put
at risk budding democracies, which are precariously
building stability and the institutional structures of law and
governance.
In this primordial task, the participation of citizens and
of civil society, in its various forms, is vital. We must make
use of a constant, open and pluralist dialogue to facilitate
changes of course, reform and consensus, which will
contribute to the strengthening of democratic systems and
make it possible for people to live together in peace.
In this context, this year the two main political
forces in Nicaragua, which together won a little more
than 90 per cent of the vote in the most recent elections,
have produced an agenda that will be submitted to the
National Assembly for consideration, so that it can be
debated with complete transparency in the nation's
principal forum.
Furthermore, beginning in 1997, my country began
a difficult reorganization and structural adjustment
process, taking the decision to deal responsibly with the
high political and social costs of laying down the stable
foundations for dynamic national reconstruction and
transformation.
We must put behind us once and for all the painful
period in our history, which lasted more than a decade
and was characterized by destruction and violence in a
cycle of fratricidal confrontation and which, fortunately,
has now been overcome. That historical interval left us in
a very weakened state that was reflected in the
deterioration of all human development indicators, the
general collapse of economic activities and a gigantic
external debt whose unbearable and overwhelming weight
was borne on the impoverished shoulders of the long-
suffering people of Nicaragua.
This situation of extreme fragility made it necessary,
from the beginning of my Government, to formulate an
economic policy that would gain the support and
credibility of the international community and the
multilateral organizations. This led to an agreement with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new
enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF)
programme which, after its projected completion within
a period of three years, would have made it possible for
us to qualify for the concessionary plan of the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative.
While we were occupied with the many sacrifices
that we had to make during that tough process of healing,
reorganization and reconstruction, a little less than a year
ago we suffered the ill-timed and devastating effects of
Hurricane Mitch, which severely affected our efforts,
work and plans. However, generous international
cooperation mitigated to some extent the suffering, the
irreparable loss of thousands of lives of our compatriots
and the widespread destruction of basic infrastructures,
property, natural resources and the environment.
The damage inflicted by the tragedy also created
new challenges and opportunities, encouraging us to
6

redouble our efforts and to seek the necessary unity, joining
together without distinction, in efforts to move forward. In
May this year, therefore, the Consultative Group for the
Reconstruction and Transformation of Central America,
convened initially by the Inter-American Development Bank
in Washington in December 1998 as a result of Hurricane
Mitch, met in Stockholm and offered Nicaragua phased
global support amounting to $2.5 billion for a period of
three to four years. This significant support will enable us
to give urgent attention to social programmes and
infrastructure projects, with priority being given to the
sensitive areas of health, education and housing, as well as
to plans for assistance to small producers and agricultural
workers affected by Hurricane Mitch.
The disciplined implementation of the ESAF
programme and the new set of circumstances ushered in by
the hurricane, led last week to an event that happily
coincided with the celebration of our national
independence — a resolution of the International Monetary
Fund by which it associated itself with the resolution
previously adopted by the World Bank, thereby opening the
door to Nicaragua for its inclusion in the HIPC initiative.
This extraordinary event, which will mean a substantial
pardoning of our external debt, was a historical watershed,
opening up a fresh chapter in our new independence, which
will transform the economic and social reality of our
people, making it possible for them to enter the new
century relieved of an unbearable burden inherited from the
past, with renewed vigour, great potential and realistic
optimism for a substantially improved quality of life for
Nicaraguans.
We should like to reiterate our eternal gratitude to the
international community and to the multilateral
organizations that have smoothed our path, enabling us to
march together, shoulder to shoulder, towards a promising
future.
Nicaragua appreciates the sustained efforts of the
United Nations system. Those efforts have been expanded
during this decade to incorporate the great challenges and
main issues confronting the country, including issues
concerning governance and local development, the
promotion of a healthy environment, the reduction of
extreme poverty, greater access by disadvantaged
populations to public services, the modernization of
democratic institutions, the promotion of population
policies, the process of demobilization of ex-combatants
and the search for solutions to property conflicts through
dialogue. Likewise, we acknowledge the special efforts
made by the United Nations with regard to strengthening
the administration of justice and the penal system, and to
the creation of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights. It is also appropriate to emphasize its support for
the prevention of natural disasters through overcoming
socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
Working together with the United Nations, we have
gradually been fulfilling the commitments of the Earth
Summit of 1992 during my term of office in order to
create the National Council on Sustainable Development
(CONADES). We have also been making strides
concerning the Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate
Change, as well as participating in the major projects of
the Meso-American Biological Corridor and the
Biological Corridor of the Atlantic.
At the same time, we have been making a consistent
effort in the demining of the border zone with Honduras,
where the last war left more than one 100 thousand anti-
personnel landmines in the ground. We thank the
international community, and especially the Organization
of American States and the United Nations, for the
significant resources they placed at our disposal to
undertake this delicate task.
As signatory to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, we
unreservedly support initiatives aimed at establishing an
international mechanism for the total elimination of
nuclear weapons. We are also conscious of the grave
menace to the security of our nations and to peace posed
by arms trafficking, including trafficking in small arms,
which cause the greatest suffering and loss of human life.
We join in the world crusade to combat poverty,
whether that poverty is generalized, focused or in diverse
strata of our societies. We are pleased that the last year of
this century has been designated the International Year of
Older Persons, who seem increasingly to suffer from
poverty and neglect. We likewise reaffirm our
commitment to ensure social protection, along with the
redoubling of efforts to make more effective both the
personal security of citizens and the security of their
property.
I would not want to end without inviting the
Assembly to reflect on the hopes of the 22 million
persons who, at the threshold of the twenty-first century,
continue to lack representation at the United Nations —
the Organization of universal vocation, where the most
important decisions having to do with international policy
are taken. The Republic of China — founded in 1912 and
which has been an independent sovereign nation that
7

maintains official diplomatic relations with Nicaragua and
the other republics of Central America and other
countries — continues, lamentably and unjustly, to be
unrepresented in the Organization. This prevents it from
participating in the work of the Organization and from
making its valuable contribution in the various areas of
international cooperation, despite the fact that it has
complied fully with the provisions of the Charter of the
United Nations, which was signed at San Francisco.
My Government has supported and will continue to
support, with firm and fraternal solidarity, the
unquestionable right of the Republic of China — whose
exercise of full sovereignty over Taiwan for half a century
is an unquestionable reality — to be incorporated as a full
member of the United Nations. We therefore call anew on
the international community not to deny that friendly,
progressive and exemplary people the right to be recognized
and allowed effective participation in this great forum,
thereby affording it the well deserved opportunity of
sharing with us its vocation for peace and its generous
spirit of international cooperation.


On
behalf of the people and the Government of Papua New
Guinea, I wish to join previous speakers in congratulating
His Excellency Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab on his election to
the presidency of the General Assembly. His unanimous
election shows the esteem in which the international
community holds him personally, and his country,
Namibia. The Papua New Guinea delegation is confident
that he will guide the fifty-fourth session of the General
Assembly to a successful conclusion. My congratulations
go also to the other Assembly officers.
May I also take this opportunity to express my
delegation's sincere appreciation to his predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti, for his outstanding
stewardship in facilitating the work of the fifty-third
session.
We would also like to place on record our
appreciation to the Secretary-General for his diplomatic
skill and for the leadership he has provided on major
issues of international concern. I must also congratulate
the Secretariat staff for the tremendous work they put into
the discharge of their functions and duties, at times under
very difficult and dangerous circumstances.
Like others who have spoken before me, I too
congratulate on behalf of the people and the Government
17

of Papua New Guinea the three new Member States, all
from the South Pacific Forum region — the Republic of
Nauru, the Republic of Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga
— and welcome them into the United Nations family. I
would also like to pay tribute to all Member States which
made their admission possible. This is an Organization in
which smallness in terms of population or size should not
be a handicap. I am confident that the work of the United
Nations will only be enhanced through the sharing of the
particular experiences and knowledge that these three new
Members will bring.
It has only been a little over two months since the new
Government, of which I am a part, was elected to office in
my country. But this time has been hectic and very
challenging. The Government has been confronted with
problems inherited from previous Governments over the last
23 years of our independence and especially over the last
two years. These have been compounded by other problems
associated with the recent downturn in the global economy,
with the economic crisis in the Asia-Pacific region and with
natural disasters, all of which we have little control over.
This experience, together with my country's location
and its close relations with other countries in the region,
defines my Government's foreign policy focus on
partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region. This point has been
brought home by a series of natural disasters which have
affected Papua New Guinea over the last 10 years. There
have been 30 of them in that decade. The droughts, floods,
bush fires, cyclones, frosts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes,
tsunamis and landslides have shown that peoples and States
throughout the world have to be partners in dealing with the
causes and consequences of such disasters, and must
manifest preparedness to take responsive and remedial
measures. There must be a global partnership in developing
appropriate mechanisms for disaster prevention and disaster
reduction.
When my Government came into office on 14 July
this year, it had five main priorities. These are: restoring
integrity to the institutions of the State; stabilizing the
exchange rate of our currency, the kina, and containing
inflation and reestablishing constructive dialogue with
Papua New Guinea's development partners; restoring
stability to the national budget, focusing on fewer and more
important priority areas and advancing the privatization of
some of our public institutions for a fair run; creating better
conditions for the private sector by removing barriers to
investment growth; and continuing the Bougainville peace
process.
My Government has addressed these challenges,
including a comprehensive programme of structural
adjustment through the mini-budget recently adopted by
Parliament. In doing so, we are working hard to make
sure that a strong and efficient private sector can
contribute to public welfare and national development. By
the same token we are also reviewing the size and
effectiveness of the public sector to make it more
responsive to the desires and aspirations of our people.
The results, together with other measures we have
adopted, will, we hope, stabilize the economy, thereby
stimulating economic growth. The signs are very
encouraging.
I know that as a small open economy, my country's
development is directly influenced by global factors,
including world market prices for our products. Currently,
my country is suffering from the economic crisis
experienced by our major trading partners in Asia, and we
are forced to undertake significant reform programmes to
protect our economy and our people. In this regard, we
turn to international financial institutions to help us
restructure our economy. The World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development
Bank have been very positive in their responses to our
policies, especially my Government's recent mini-budget
last month.
I held bilateral discussions with friends such as
Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand two weeks ago
during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council
ministerial meeting in Auckland, New Zealand. They
indicated their support for the current structural
adjustment programmes my Government has introduced.
For Papua New Guinea to realize and sustain its current
reform programmes, it has to secure external financial
support.
I see my Government's foreign policy of partnership
in the Asia-Pacific region as a building block for the
global partnership on which the future of my people
depends. There is really no other alternative.
On peacemaking and peacekeeping, the Bougainville
conflict involves substantial commitments of personnel
and funds by the Government of Papua New Guinea, by
neighbouring countries and by the United Nations. My
Government acknowledges and is deeply grateful for the
constructive role played by Australia, Fiji, New Zealand,
the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as by the
United Nations Development Programme and a number of
non-governmental organizations including churches and
18

the Red Cross. We are also grateful that the Security
Council found it possible to answer our request to send an
observer mission to ensure that the parties involved in the
peace process continue to honour the Lincoln Agreement.
We note the reference to Bougainville in the Secretary-
General's report on the work of the Organization.
As peace continues to be consolidated on the ground,
so the role and size of the neutral regional Peace
Monitoring Group can be expected to change. Re-
establishment of police, courts and correctional services will
provide important supports and benchmarks for progress
towards lasting peace on the island. In the event that the
Bougainville parties are unable to resolve the constitutional
arrangements before the end of this year, we hope that at
the appropriate time the Security Council will agree to an
extension of the mandate of the United Nations mission on
Bougainville.
I pay tribute to all United Nations Member States, and
especially to those current and immediate past members of
the Security Council, for responding positively and for their
continued support for a peaceful resolution of our
Bougainville crisis.
Consistent with our commitment to peaceful dialogue
between nations, Papua New Guinea condemns those who
employ terrorism against innocent people and who finance,
recruit, train and deploy terrorists and mercenaries.
In 1975, when I addressed this forum from this
podium at the time of our admission to the United Nations,
I committed Papua New Guinea to the principles and
purposes of the United Nations Charter. Now, some 24
years later, we recognize that like any other institution, the
United Nations has limitations. We believe that after 50
years the time is right to review the Charter, taking into
account today's realities.
The Charter should be a document that puts the people
of the world on centre stage, and at the same time it must
recognize that the Governments are here to represent them
as well as to serve them. In this respect, there cannot be
any distinction as to colour, creed, race, sex or religious
persuasion.
My delegation welcomes the Secretary-General's
current and ongoing reform programme. As a member of
the Non-Aligned Movement, my delegation reaffirms the
position that the Security Council should be reformed and
expanded in both categories, taking into account today's
realities. My delegation believes the numbers in the Council
should reflect the increased United Nations membership,
and therefore I concur with the majority of Member
States who have advocated a Security Council of the new
millennium consisting of 26 or more members.
Papua New Guinea believes that all permanent
members of the Security Council, including new
permanent members, should have similar privileges and
rights. The use of the veto power should be done away
with, or curtailed and applied only to Chapter VII issues.
The working methods of the Council should be more
transparent.
The reforms of the Organization would not be
complete without the reconfiguration of the regional
groupings within the United Nations structure. My
Government believes that an effective Security Council
should be composed of a representative from each
subregion of the world. In this regard, due consideration
should be given to current realities, especially to the
geographical location of each Member State. For example,
in the reformulation Australia and New Zealand should be
considered as part of the South Pacific subregion of the
Asian group. The reforms in the Security Council should
therefore take account of this change.
Changing the world, through decolonization, from a
system of relations between imperial powers and the
colonized to a partnership between sovereign States is
among the United Nations greatest achievements. The
process, however, will not be complete until the
remaining 17 non-self-governing territories have exercised
their inalienable right to self-determination and/or
achieved self-government and, where appropriate,
independence. Neither small size nor remoteness should
be allowed to qualify or limit this inalienable right.
On the regional front, Papua New Guinea is pleased
to note the progress made in implementing the Matignon
Accords, culminating in the recent agreement contained
in the Noumea Accord, which confirms the way forward
for the exercise of the right of self-determination by the
people of New Caledonia, especially the indigenous
Kanak people. The Noumea Accord will, we believe,
provide a sound basis for the future fulfilment of all
legitimate political aspirations. We urge all parties to
honour both its letter and spirit.
We acknowledge that the United Nations Decade for
Decolonization will come to an end next year. We urge
the administering Powers and the members of the Special
19

Committee to work together to develop a new programme
of action for the year 2000 and beyond.
On East Timor, my Government welcomed the
agreement between the Republic of Indonesia, the
Portuguese Republic and the United Nations on 5 May
1999, which enabled the United Nations to organize the
ballot on 30 August. The overwhelming 98.6 per cent
turnout at the ballot and the 78.2 per cent vote in favour of
independence are very clear.
My Government calls on all parties to respect the
results of the United Nations-supervised ballot and the
wishes of the East Timorese people. Although since the
ballot there have been deaths, massive destruction of
property and the undemocratic and forced displacement of
people by the militias and certain members of the
Indonesian military who did not accept the results, we are
pleased that this has changed after the recent announcement
by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, B. J.
Habibie, reaffirmed by Foreign Minister Alatas yesterday.
Democracy is all about the will of the majority. It is not
about unanimity, nor is it about enforced application of
rules by a minority.
We are also pleased that the Government of Indonesia
was able to recognise its obligations — not only as a party
to the 5 May Agreement, but also as a Member of the
United Nations — to permit the deployment of a Security
Council-sanctioned multinational peacekeeping force in East
Timor.
At the same time, however, it is our fervent hope that
in the interests of the long-term security and stability of the
region, the leaders and the people of East Timor will also
make peace with their neighbours. It is important for them
to acknowledge the fact that it was the Government of
Indonesia that made it possible for the people to exercise
their right to self-determination.
We are firmly committed to the Barbados Programme
of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States, including issues of climate change and
the consequent effects of rising sea levels. We strongly urge
its full implementation. My Government will continue to
follow and support the future work on these issues,
including the special session of the General Assembly on
small island developing States to be held on 27 and 28
September 1999. The world's leading scientists have
concluded that the rise in global temperatures poses serious
threats, including sea-level rise and an increase in natural
catastrophes such as the El Niño and La Niña phenomena.
The greatest challenge for the United Nations is to
strengthen the global community's capacity to respond
promptly and effectively to natural disasters. The
devastation caused by the recent earthquakes in Taiwan
and Turkey and by the floods in the United States and in
the Bahamas resulting from hurricane Floyd makes it all
the more imperative for the international community to
take positive action.
On the question of the management of the oceans
and seas, Papua New Guinea joins others in calling on
Member States at this session of the General Assembly to
work together on a resolution to establish a consultative
process to improve coordination and management of the
programmes for the protection of the oceans and seas. At
this Assembly session we should formalize this process.
We are concerned that at the recent meeting of the
Council of the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica,
a number of States appeared to be more preoccupied with
reducing our potential to prosper from prospecting,
exploring and exploiting the deep seabed. The debate in
Jamaica clearly reflected that the States with stringent
environmental guidelines no longer endorse the principle
of a global commons. They now find themselves caught
up in a conflict of interest in which their role as guardians
of the global commons is now being overshadowed by
their desire to grab the benefits for themselves, with little
or no sense of obligation to the world community at
large.
We have also noted a tendency by countries that
have co-sponsored pioneer investors in deep-sea mining
to try to avoid their international obligations towards the
environment. We are particularly concerned that they have
placed the interests of investors above the interests of the
global community. We make particular mention of the
trend to withhold information from the International
Seabed Authority under the guise of “confidentiality”,
“proprietary interests”, and “information of a scientifically
sensitive nature”: these are merely codes for denying
global communities access to information that might
allow them to prepare better for disaster prevention and
other actions needed to protect the environment.
Regarding nuclear issues, Papua New Guinea,
consistent with our shared commitment to a stable,
peaceful and environmentally safe world, supports the
objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-
Ban Treaty. Together with our partners in the South
Pacific Forum, we continue to reaffirm our commitment
20

to maintaining the South Pacific region as a nuclear-
weapon-free zone. We also express our support for the
other regional nuclear-weapon-free zones in Africa, South-
East Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, and also
for the proposed new initiatives for Central and South Asia.
We call on all nuclear-weapon and threshold States to
stop all testing, manufacturing and stockpiling of these
weapons and to take steps towards the destruction of all
nuclear weapons. Indeed, the same principle should apply
to all weapons of mass destruction.
The South Pacific Forum members have always
maintained that we have a right to ban transboundary
movements of radioactive and other hazardous wastes,
within and through the region. We also continue to share
the position that appropriate compensatory mechanisms
should be established to compensate victims of past nuclear
tests and provide compensation for damage resulting from
any accidents.
In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm that Papua New
Guinea is firmly committed to the United Nations Charter;
to the reforms initiated by the Secretary-General, especially
those relating to the Security Council and the
reconfiguration of the regional groups within the United
Nations system; and to the United Nations decolonization
process and the Nouméa Accord for the Kanak people of
New Caledonia. We support the determination of the United
Nations to work towards a global mechanism for natural-
disaster preparedness and prevention; the special session of
the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the
implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for
the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States; and the management of the oceans and seas.
Partnership in promoting change is the key to
addressing the challenges that the world will face in the
twenty-first century. I believe that the challenge for all
Member States is to join together to bring about
transparency, accountability and good governance as the
basic tenets of this Organization, its organs and subsidiary
bodies. If this is achieved, the “people first” sentiment of
the United Nations Charter will be truly embraced.


Let me begin by congratulating
you, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, on your election as President
of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. This is
an expression of delegations’ confidence in and high esteem
for your diplomatic skills, and reflects also the
distinguished role which your country has played in
furthering the goals of this Assembly. I assure you of the
full support and cooperation of the Tanzanian delegation as
you guide the deliberations during this session.
I wish also to commend your predecessor, Mr. Didier
Opertti, for ably presiding over the Assembly at its fifty-
third session. I congratulate very specially the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the
able and distinguished manner in which he has continued
to manage and guide the affairs of our Organization in the
face of many daunting challenges.
This last General Assembly session of the century
and millennium, provides an opportunity to review the
past and draw lessons from it. We must build on the
positive, even as we mobilize the individual and collective
will to avoid carrying the baggage of poverty, conflict and
human rights violations into the next century. The role of
the United Nations system must also be re-examined in
accordance with the new vision we have for the future.
The twentieth century witnessed tremendous
advances in science and technology. But the benefits were
not shared widely, let alone equally. Unprecedented
economic development and prosperity has been attained,
with world consumption topping $24 trillion in 1998,
twice the level of 1975 and six times that of 1950. But,
on a world scale, the 20 per cent of the world’s people in
the highest income countries consumed 86 per cent of the
world’s goods and services, producing a corresponding
degree of pollution and environmental damage. And a
whole fifth of humanity has been left completely out of
this prosperity.
This century has also experienced major international
conflicts, particularly the two world wars. The existence
of a bipolar system driven by ideological differences, and
the resultant arms race that led to the abuse of science
which was the development of weapons of mass

destruction, including nuclear weapons, exacerbated the
security situation in the world. To its credit, the United
Nations Organization has laid the foundation and
framework for the attainment of peace, security,
development and human rights. The United Nations actively
supported liberation struggles all over the world, and we are
entering the new millennium having accomplished the
mission of political decolonization in most countries. Of
particular gratification to Africa is the end of apartheid.
We have also witnessed the end of the cold war, even
though the peace dividend has yet to reach all corners of
the globe and include the innocent victims of the cold war.
For, as the African proverb has it, when two elephants
fight, it is the grass that suffers.
Africa has unfortunately been left behind in
development. Despite the positive macroeconomic
achievements in recent years, the average African
household today consumes 20 per cent less than it did 25
years ago. Other new, critical challenges facing Africa
include conflicts and the urgent need to consolidate the rule
of law, human rights and democratic governance.
The United Nations in the coming century will be
measured, among other things, by the degree to which these
issues, particularly the development dimension, are
addressed. The United Nations, by virtue of its global
reach, its universal membership and its impartiality, has a
vital role to play to ensure there is equity between the
response to the challenges facing Africa and those facing
other parts of the world.
The United Nations should also continue its role of
coordinating the United Nations system, including the
Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization
and regional economic commissions. We reiterate the need
for broadening and strengthening the participation of
developing countries in international decision-making.
Democracy and good governance between nations is as
important to humanity as democracy and good governance
within nations.
Processes of liberalization and globalization of the
world economy have profound implications for Africa and
other least developed countries in terms of their position in
the world economy, their development prospects, the nature
of their economic policies and their impact on economic
sovereignty.
The community of nations, at the dawn of a new
millennium, should rethink the mechanisms and policies
that underpin the functioning of the global economy to
create a conducive international environment that ensures
the rapid economic development of the least developed
countries. We need a system whose pillars are growth,
stability and social equity, and which should facilitate the
integration of least developed countries into the world
economy in a beneficial way.
These countries, particularly those in Africa, remain
constrained by weak supply capabilities, which, when
compounded by an unfavourable international economic
environment, limit their ability to benefit from
globalization. The trend of the last few years does not
give us much comfort. From 1990 to 1996, African
exports of goods grew by only 2 per cent on average.
The long-term objective of our development efforts
is to improve production of quality goods and services
that can meet local needs and be exported. We see trade
as a dynamic force for accelerating growth and
development. We are, however, aware of our limitations
in producing such products for the international market.
Our economies still largely rely on the production of
commodities, in respect of which terms of trade continue
to worsen. The issue of commodities should thus continue
to be central to the international development agenda. In
particular, we urge the international community to provide
resources and technical assistance to countries that depend
on commodities to build the capacity for vertical and
horizontal diversification of commodities.
Furthermore, developed countries and funding
institutions should increase their support to the Common
Fund for Commodities, including fulfilment of their
pledges. The United Nations should also reconsider the
proposal for the establishment of a special fund to
promote commodity diversification in Africa.
We hope that the Seattle ministerial meeting of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) will give further
impetus to the implementation of measures to assist least
developed countries to become integrated into the
international trading system in a meaningful way. We call
upon the donor community to extend financial and
technical assistance towards the implementation of
integration frameworks prepared by the least developed
countries.
The burden of debt is one of the main obstacles to
the achievement of the economic and social development
objectives of African and other least developed countries.
These countries devote a high proportion, in some cases
2

exceeding 30 per cent, of government revenue to debt
service payment, with the consequent risk of social and
political instability. We welcome the various debt relief
initiatives undertaken by the donor community. They
provide some relief, but more far-reaching measures,
including debt forgiveness, need to be taken urgently to
have an impact on poverty.
Tanzania welcomes the revisions made to the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative at the
Cologne summit of the Group of Seven. However, if
growth is to be sustained, adequate levels of external
funding must complement our economic reform efforts. Nor
should debt relief under the HIPC Initiative be a substitute
for increased bilateral non-debt-creating aid, and neither
should it be financed through reallocation of committed aid.
Tanzania has established a multilateral-debt-relief fund
to help it service multilateral debt so as to direct the
savings to poverty-reducing activities in the social sector,
such as education, health and water services. We have
shown that it is possible to link debt relief directly to
poverty eradication initiatives in a transparent and
accountable manner that involves government, civil society
and donor countries. The debt relief we have received
through the fund has gone straight to cushioning the social
sector budget. I want to thank the Governments of
Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway,
Sweden and the United Kingdom, which have contributed
to our war on poverty by contributing to our multilateral-
debt-relief fund account.
My delegation is deeply disturbed by the drastic
decline in official development assistance to less than one
third of the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of
the gross national product of donor countries. For five years
continuously, from 1992 to 1997, aid as a percentage of
gross national product in countries of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) fell, from
a combined average of 0.33 per cent to an all-time low of
0.22 per cent. This trend needs to be reversed as a matter
of urgency.
But what is needed is aid that increasingly enhances
our capacity for ownership of the development agenda and
process, and our capacity to be self-developing. We do not
want the kind of aid that takes from us the initiative for
development in dignity, and increases rather than reduces
dependency on aid. Among other things, we need aid that
will help us develop an attractive environment for private-
sector investment, domestic and foreign.
Technology is a key factor in the development
process. The recent great strides in technology present
tremendous opportunities for human development.
However, this technological revolution has largely
bypassed African and other least developed countries. The
United Nations, and the international community at large,
should facilitate and finance access to and transfer of
technology, including new and environmentally sound
technologies, for developing countries on favourable,
including consessional, or grant terms.
Tanzania is working closely with other countries to
find a peaceful resolution to conflicts in the Great Lakes
region, particularly in Burundi and in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. The Burundi peace process, under
the facilitation of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, is going
well in Arusha. The main sticking point is security
arrangements that would instil confidence and trust for
all, as well as a democratic process involving all
stakeholders. We hope that these problems will be
resolved in the coming rounds of talks, so that a peace
agreement can be reached as soon as possible. The
international community should therefore continue urging
full participation by all the key players in the Arusha
peace process. All attempts to wreck the negotiations,
under any pretext, should be discouraged.
Concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
it is very encouraging that all the parties involved in the
conflict have finally signed the Lusaka ceasefire
Agreement. The challenge ahead is to not let the
momentum ebb, but to move expeditiously to implement
the truce, including sending and empowering Organization
of African Unity (OAU) observers and a United Nations
peacekeeping force, as envisaged.
Angola continues to experience a fratricidal war
waged by rebel UNITA forces against the legal
Government of Angola. Clearly, Jonas Savimbi has
violated the Lusaka Peace Agreement and has shown
contempt for international opinion. It is counterproductive
for the United Nations to remove its observer team from
Angola, as this would send a negative signal that the
international community is abandoning Angola in its hour
of need.
The most recent summit of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), held in Maputo,
expressed solidarity with the Government of President
Dos Santos and pledged to give him moral and material
support. The international community should likewise be
forthright in its support for the Angolan Government and
3

in condemning Jonas Savimbi as the war criminal that he
is. Action commensurate with the gravity of his insolence
and his human rights abuses should likewise be taken
against him.
On Western Sahara, Tanzania is following closely the
peace process under the United Nations Mission for the
Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). We hope that
a solution to the crisis will be found through a referendum
as provided for in the United-Nations-brokered peace
process without any further unnecessary delays.
My delegation commends the truces and negotiated
settlements reached in the conflicts in Guinea-Bissau, Sierra
Leone and Liberia, even as we urge practical commitment
to peace and reconciliation in the Ethiopia-Eritrea war.
I wish also to commend and encourage the positive
developments unfolding in Middle East. I urge Chairman
Arafat and Prime Minister Barak to remain committed to
the peace process and to move with courage and vision to
the next stages that will ensure the durable and shared
peace and security that has eluded the Palestinian and
Israeli people for so long.
From this podium, I denounce the merchants of war
fuelling conflicts on the African continent. Arms dealers
should stop supplying weapons to conflict areas. Countries
should adhere to the relevant international conventions
prohibiting the arms trade, especially between non-state
entities. It is immoral and unacceptable that natural
resources such as gold, diamonds, oil and timber, which
should be exploited to build a better future for African
children, are being used instead to buy weapons from rich
countries and arms dealers, with which to kill and maim
those very children and their parents.
Associated with conflicts in the Great Lakes region is
the problem of refugees. Tanzania has received refugees for
over 40 years now. As I speak, we still host over 800,000
refugees, some in refugee camps and many others in
settlement camps and elsewhere in society. We have always
received refugees out of humanitarian concerns in the
African way and in fulfilment of our international
obligations. We have never turned away those fleeing to
save their lives, and we have never negotiated refugee
quotas with other countries. Yet even for us, the time
comes when we must appeal for more help to give us the
capacity to provide succour and refuge to these people. I
pay tribute to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, Mrs. Ogata, and her colleagues for the efforts
they are making to draw international attention to African
refugees and displaced persons.
The Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has done much,
but it can only do as much as the international community
gives it resources to do. I urge greater support to UNHCR
and other relief agencies working in Tanzania, and greater
support to my Government.
A lasting solution to the refugee problem, however,
lies in resolving the root causes in the refugee-generating
countries. This would enable UNHCR to begin the
repatriation process, as was done successfully in the case
of Rwanda three years ago.
Four years ago, the United Nations established the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha.
Apart from the Tribunal’s early teething problems, the
Government of Tanzania lauds its many precedent-setting
achievements in the emerging area of international
criminal justice. We commend the improvements in the
efficiency of the Tribunal’s operations and management
under its Registrar.
As we pledge to continue fully supporting the
Tribunal in accordance with our obligations as the host
country, we call upon the United Nations and the entire
international community to continue providing all
necessary support, including resources and manpower,
until the task of prosecuting all culprits in the Rwanda
genocide episode is successfully accomplished. A strong
and clear message must come out of this Assembly that
no war criminal will ever escape the long arm of
international law.
Tanzania adds its voice to the denunciation of the
violent attempts to thwart the fulfilment of the desire of
the people of East Timor to be free and sovereign, clearly
and preponderantly expressed in a free and fair
referendum. The results of the referendum must be
respected and the Timorese people’s aspirations realized.
The international community must assume its
responsibility to see this process to a successful
conclusion. No effort and no sacrifice is too big to be
made in that regard. We commend and encourage the
decision of the Government of Indonesia to invite and
cooperate with international efforts under the United
Nations to stop the massacres and mayhem and to ensure
that the wishes of the majority of the people of East
Timor are unequivocally met.
4

We in Tanzania believe that no national or global
efforts to eradicate poverty can succeed unless and until
they address the specific problems related to the poverty of
women. We urge the United Nations to continue promoting
gender equality issues, including the provision of resources
and technical assistance to enhance women’s education,
health and other projects aimed at their empowerment.
My Government is striving to make sure that women
are given opportunity to fully participate in all levels of
decision-making and that they get equal access to education
and access to credits on a preferential basis. We have also
taken measures to protect women, girls and children from
sexual harassment and abuse. Tanzania has most stringent
legislation on sexual offences that provides for punishment
up to life imprisonment. There is also a new Land Law
providing for complete gender equality in the ownership,
use and disposal of land and which supersedes customary
land law. There are also laws to protect the rights of
women in marriage, child custody and inheritance, which
are being reviewed to address all the concerns of women.
Special efforts are also being made to increase the
enrolment of girls and women at all levels of education.
These are challenging times, especially for developing
countries. Yet, I believe there is a ray hope for building the
foundations of a more equitable and dynamic system of
international development cooperation through the smart
partnership approach of a “win-win” outcome for all
players. As we enter the new millennium, I wish to reiterate
our firm commitment to cooperating with others in
achieving the goals of the United Nations Charter,
particularly those relating to the promotion of economic
development and prosperity, peace and security and a better
world for present and future generations.
As we enter the century of globalization, let all
Governments ask the question: Are we globalizing
prosperity or are we globalizing poverty? Are we striving
for the kind of political correctness that eschews affluence
amid poverty or for that which manufactures euphemisms
for poverty, pretending it will go away? In a vivid cartoon
in 1965, Jules Feiffer portrayed the plight of the poor in
these words:
“I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I
wasn’t poor; I was needy. Then they told me it was
self-defeating to think of myself as needy; I was
deprived. Then they told me that underprivileged was
overused; I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a
dime. But I have a great vocabulary.”
That plight of the poor persists equally poignantly to
this day. We have spoken much; perhaps too much. The
archives of this Organization are bursting with studies and
ideas and reviews. Let us strive to do more and talk less
in the new century.


It is my honour today to
convey to the Assembly the warm greetings and best
wishes of the Government and people of the friendly
islands of Fiji.
On their behalf, I congratulate the President on his
election. He will be interested to know that his great
country, Namibia, is grouped together with my country in
the same pool at the Rugby World Cup, which begins in
Wales next month. While we are friendly rivals on the
rugby football field, we are absolutely confident here that,
with his extensive experience, and impressive credentials,
we can all look forward to another successful session of
the General Assembly.
We also express our deep appreciation and gratitude
to our outstanding Secretary-General and to the members
of the Security Council for their wise and able
stewardship of the United Nations over the past year.
The priority challenge for the international
community continues to be to help ensure that there is
26

freedom and justice and peace and prosperity in every part
of our common habitat — the good planet Earth.
I trust that this session of the General Assembly will
focus particular attention on specific issues that bear
directly on our collective responsibility, as Member States
of the United Nations, in promoting peace, security and
development to make our good planet Earth a better and
safer place for all its citizens.
In this regard, I wish to acknowledge the Government
of the Republic of Indonesia for its foresight in giving the
people of East Timor the freedom to choose their political
future. Now that they have freely made their choice, we in
Fiji join other States Members of the United Nations in
appealing to the Government of Indonesia to facilitate the
peaceful and orderly transition of East Timor to full
nationhood and independence.
To enable this, it is crucially important that every
effort is made to restore law and order and ensure the
provision and maintenance of effective security measures to
allow the people of East Timor to return to their homes.
The tragic situation which has arisen there, with the loss of
hundreds of lives, need not have occurred had the
Indonesian Government and the military properly exercised
their responsibility to deal decisively with the unlawful
armed elements.
As a member of the United Nations family, Fiji stands
ready to participate alongside other Member States in the
United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor in laying
the foundation for lasting peace in that new nation. Also,
we call on the international community to provide tangible
assistance to enable East Timor to put an effective
Government in place and rebuild its shattered economy.
I take this opportunity to reaffirm Fiji’s continuing
commitment to United Nations peacekeeping operations in
Lebanon, Sinai, Bosnia and Kosovo. Within our own
Pacific island region, we remain ready to support and assist
Papua New Guinea in bringing permanent peace to
Bougainville, as part of a South Pacific Forum regional
peace mission. In the Solomon Islands, we are ready and
prepared to cooperate with the Government, at the
invitation and under the aegis of the Commonwealth of
Nations, in restoring peace and promoting goodwill and
understanding among the people of this very important
neighbouring State. In all this, the guiding principle of
Fiji’s participation is respect for the sovereign rights of the
countries concerned and maintenance of the democratic
rights and freedoms of their peoples.
Making sacrifices in serving our common interests
is nothing foreign to us in Fiji, for it is through the
willingness of the various constituent communities in our
multi-ethnic and multicultural society to make sacrifices
in order to safeguard our collective future that we have
succeeded in constructing an agreed constitutional
framework for peace and prosperity in our country. We
unanimously adopted a new Constitution in July 1997 to
replace the racially weighted Constitution imposed on our
people following the military coups of 1987. Under the
new Constitution, general elections were held in May this
year. In those free and democratic elections, my
Government was elected into office with a clear,
overwhelming majority. We decisively won the elections
because our People’s Coalition Party promised policies on
development that were focused specifically on addressing
the basic needs of the people — the need for regular
income through jobs or business opportunity; the need for
better education and health services; a safe and clean
water supply; electricity; good standard of housing at
affordable prices; safe streets and neighbourhoods; and a
clean and healthy environment. But above all these was
the emphasis we placed on the critical need to bring relief
and assistance to the poor, to those on low incomes and
to the growing number of those who, through no fault of
their own, live in dire poverty.
Unemployment and poverty can be countered
effectively only when people have the opportunity,
through development, to apply their God-given talents and
ability fully. To promote development we need sustained
economic growth, but growth that creates employment
and opportunities for a wide cross-section of society:
growth that creates wealth for only a few and does not
reach the masses that live in grinding poverty cannot be
regarded as being for the national good. We therefore
need to promote economic growth for human
development: it must be regarded as the right of every
citizen in any society to share in the benefits of growth,
development and progress — benefits not just in the form
of material well-being, but also in the improved quality of
life through self-fulfilment and the contentment that
comes from service to others and love of one’s
neighbours and fellow citizens.
And so it is with the global community. The
promotion of freer international trade for greater growth
and prosperity must be pursued with a strong sense of
economic and social justice. At international gatherings
such as this, we hear high-sounding platitudes and
promises of international arrangements that would favour
all nations. Such are the kinds of promises about gains
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from free trade that we hear from the World Trade
Organization. In reality, however, opportunities are never
the same, let alone equal, given that conditions and
circumstances are different, varying from country to
country. It is not surprising, therefore, that international
agreements genuinely aimed at facilitating freer and
increased mutually beneficial international trade have often
been undermined and frustrated by unilateral decisions and
actions taken to protect vested national economic and
political interests.
Globalization and our growing interdependence must
be accompanied by a strong and genuine international
commitment — especially by those economies that
dominate world trade, international finance, technology and
industrial production — to consider special arrangements
for the developing economies. The specific aim must be to
create new opportunities for developing countries to earn
higher incomes through their own efforts as participants in
the global trading system.
This is why my country, along with others in the
Pacific, African and Caribbean regions, are deeply grateful
to the European Union for the special trading and other
arrangements under the Lomé Convention. For us in Fiji,
300,000 of our total population of 800,000 are dependent
for their livelihoods, directly and indirectly, on the sugar
industry. But it is the sugar protocol of the Lomé
Convention with the European Union which is helping to
sustain the continuing viability of this very important
industry, while enabling us to attain the internal efficiencies
necessary to enhance our international competitiveness.
Similarly, it is the special South Pacific Regional
Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, or
SPARTECA, which Australia and New Zealand maintain
with Pacific island nations, that has been a positive factor
in increasing Pacific island exports to these two countries.
This Agreement has stimulated new industries in the
manufacturing sector in our country, has substantially
increased our export earnings and has helped create new
employment for thousands of our people.
We are, of course, grateful for the development
assistance we are receiving from both bilateral and
multilateral donors. I recognize in particular our traditional
donors such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United
Kingdom, the European Union, the People’s Republic of
China and many others, along with the various United
Nations development agencies. This development assistance
has been of immense value both in our economic and in
our social development efforts.
While we deeply appreciate all this assistance, we
also believe that helping us with increased opportunities
in trade and investment is the best form of aid — aid to
assist us in achieving higher rates of growth and progress
through our own self-reliant capability. We would
therefore welcome increased and stronger United Nations
support for global policies that contribute specifically to
increased foreign capital investment and assistance to
developing countries.
We have been very disappointed by what we
perceive to be the lack of genuine commitment by the
international community, especially by bilateral and
multilateral donor agencies and the large developed
markets, to respond positively to the Barbados
Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States. This Barbados
Programme commitment was made five years ago. I very
much hope, therefore, that the coming special session on
small island developing States will readily agree on a
common regime of international support to assist them in
their efforts to achieve sustainable development.
In that regard, my Government welcomes the new
emphasis by multilateral agencies such as the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
Asian Development Bank to assist developing economies
in the eradication of poverty, in enhancing human-
resource development through better education and health
facilities and services and in the improvement and
expansion of infrastructure to support increased
investment in the economy by both foreign and local
investors.
May I take this opportunity to congratulate the
Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Nauru and the
Republic of Kiribati on their admission to the United
Nations. Their membership will no doubt add strength and
resonance to the voice of Pacific Island nations in this
very important international forum. But like them, we in
the Republic of the Fiji Islands recognize that, in the
ultimate, the United Nations draws its strength from the
quality of the commitment of every Member State to its
basic purpose and mission, as set out in the United
Nations Charter and other related documents.
Article 56 of the Charter reminds us all of our
collective responsibility. All Member States are to pledge
themselves to take joint and separate actions in
cooperation with the United Nations for the achievement
of its purposes.
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Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights states that we are all endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood. In my country, the Republic of the Fiji
Islands, we have, in our new Constitution, adopted a
number of very important fundamental principles as the
basis for consolidating peace, unity and stability in our
multiethnic and multicultural society. In Fiji we believe in
the kind of multiculturalism that recognizes the value and
contribution of each community and also that cultural
diversity serves to enrich our society. But we temper this
by drawing in and uniting all our citizens through focusing
on our common needs as human beings.
We believe deeply and sincerely that it is the duty of
government — indeed, of every government — to give
equal care and attention to the development needs and
concerns of all citizens, irrespective of race, religion,
gender or economic and social status. These principles and
this approach are working for us in Fiji, and I have no
doubt that their universal application will also contribute to
greater international peace, goodwill and understanding.
Indeed, as we direct our attention to the beginning of the
new millennium, and in particular the proposed millennium
summit of the General Assembly in September of next year,
let us look to it both with seriousness of purpose and with
a new determination as a unique opportunity to rebuild the
foundation for international cooperation.
My delegation fully supports the efforts of our
Secretary-General to reform the Organization. The United
Nations was established fifty-four years ago. To be
meaningful, this reform must include a revision of the
United Nations Charter to reflect the realities of today.
On the Security Council, this must include an increase
in both the permanent and non-permanent membership,
based on a more equitable representation of the different
geographical regions. We also urge that the existing
regional groupings in the United Nations for the purpose of
representation in the various organs and specialized
agencies should be reviewed with a view to reconfiguring
them. This is, again, to ensure fair and equitable
representation of the various geographical regions.
The countries from the South Pacific region, for
example, are currently split between the Asian Group and
the Western European Group. Australia and New Zealand
are part of the Western European Group. On the other
hand, Fiji and other island States from the South Pacific are
members of the Asian Group. Such a configuration is not
only discriminatory on ethnic lines, it is also, in these
days, artificial and irrelevant.
I believe, therefore, that it is time Member States
from the South Pacific should be allowed to have their
own distinctive regional grouping in the United Nations.
In proposing this, we are not asking for something that is
totally new. In fact, this is already the accepted
arrangement in such United Nations agencies as the
World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture
Organization.
With regard to its development agenda, the United
Nations, we believe, must give greater attention to its
responsibility, under Article 55 of the United Nations
Charter, on the promotion of international cooperation in
economic and social development, with particular
reference to the needs of developing countries.
The World Summit for Social Development at
Copenhagen in 1995 agreed on 10 main commitments to
be part of an international Programme of Action to
enhance social development, including the eradication of
poverty in the world through decisive national actions and
international cooperation. We look forward to next year’s
review by the United Nations of this very important
Programme of Action. As we begin the new millennium,
let it be a challenge to the United Nations to recommit
itself to the very important goal of promoting social
justice and equity as a top priority in economic
development, both within and between nations.
It is incumbent on all of us — the Member States,
multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the
IMF, and the various United Nations development
agencies — to cooperate in taking all appropriate actions
to create conditions of stability and well-being, which are
necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among
nations.
As I have said, our membership of the United
Nations and our attendance here at this session of the
General Assembly reflect our commitment to the United
Nations Charter on the maintenance of international peace
and security. I urge all Member States to work together
to encourage the resolution of disputes and conflicts
through dialogue and the pursuit of consensus. And we
must do this always with recognition and respect for
national sovereignty and independence.
As men and women of goodwill, we have gathered
here at the United Nations to reaffirm our common
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commitment to promoting a more peaceful world. But let
us remind ourselves that peace is more than the absence of
war or conflict. Peace can be real and enduring only when
we all cooperate closely to create conditions for life to be
lived in freedom and security, and with justice and dignity.
We must therefore collaborate and cooperate in
promoting international trade in goods and services,
financial and technology transfers and development that
benefits all countries, big and small, developed and
developing. And let us act in concert, and with
responsibility, in safeguarding and protecting our precious
national and global environment.
In concluding, I pray to the Almighty to bless us all,
as children of His divine creation, with His wisdom and
love, so that we may live together and relate to each other
as brothers and sisters, bound together by mutual care and
concern for one another.