I have
the honour today to speak on behalf of the European
Union, which wishes, through you, Sir, to congratulate
the President on his election. That election testifies to
the esteem of the international community for his
person and his country. I commend the speed of action
and efficiency that you have shown in the face of the
tragic events of 11 September, in adapting the agenda
for the work of this Assembly.
I would also like to associate with this tribute the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.
Mr. Secretary-General, your re-election had already
drawn attention to the unanimous appreciation of the
Member States for your exceptional qualities as a
manager, politician and humanist. The Nobel
Committee paid an even wider tribute by awarding you
the Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations itself, here
at your side, was also a recipient of this message of
hope from a world in a state of shock, appealing to the
United Nations to remain at the centre of the
international community’s action for peace and
development.
It was the fundamental values constituting the
foundation of the United Nations that were attacked in
so cowardly a manner right here in New York on 11
September, when our host country, several thousands of
its citizens and nationals of over 60 countries were the
37

victims of a barbaric act of aggression for which no
justification can be accepted.
That attack, by its enormity, has opened our eyes
to the worldwide threat that terrorism has become. It is
our open, democratic, tolerant and multicultural
societies that were attacked through the United States.
The terrorist threat must be hunted down in each of our
countries, in our various regional organizations and, at
the world level, through the United Nations.
The European Union has most categorically
condemned the 11 September attacks, and the fight
against terrorism is now, more than ever before, one of
our top objectives. The Union has declared its total
solidarity with the United States. It has reaffirmed its
unreserved support for the military action undertaken
in the name of legitimate self-defence, in conformity
with the Charter of the United Nations and Security
Council resolution 1368 (2001).
On 21 September, an Extraordinary European
Council adopted an action plan for an unprecedented
campaign against terrorism. This plan contains a
number of specific measures intended to enhance
judicial and police cooperation, including the
introduction of a European arrest warrant. It also
includes measures to put an end to the financing of
terrorism and to improve air security. The European
Council acknowledged that the fight against terrorism
requires greater participation by the Union in the
efforts of the international community to prevent and
stabilize regional conflicts. By developing the
Common Foreign and Security Policy and bringing the
European Security and Defence Policy into operation
as soon as possible, the Union will be at its most
effective.
At the global level also, fresh impetus must be
provided to the fight against terrorism. Naturally, the
United Nations has a central role to play in developing
a coordinated and diversified strategy. We warmly
welcome the major steps that have already been taken
to that end. The most remarkable of these was the
adoption of resolution 1373 (2001) by the Security
Council on 28 September. The European Union and its
member States are already committed to rapid
enactment of the measures needed for its
implementation. We call upon all countries to
cooperate actively with the follow-up system set up by
the Security Council, and we reiterate our readiness to
provide aid in that connection to any countries that
may have technical difficulties in meeting the
requirements.
It is also essential that all States ratify without
delay the 12 conventions on combating terrorism and
apply all of their provisions. The International
Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of
Terrorism is a decisive aspect of international action
and needs to be speedily signed and ratified.
Lastly, the European Union welcomes the recent
progress made in negotiating a comprehensive
convention on international terrorism, on the basis of a
draft submitted by India. The remaining difficulties
must now be dealt with as soon as possible so that this
instrument can be ready for signing early next year.
The efforts we are making to combat terrorism
must also form part of overall efforts to build a better
world, a world in which human dignity is sacrosanct, in
which human rights and fundamental freedoms are
fully respected.
The promotion and protection of human rights
and an attachment to the principles of democracy and
the rule of law are essential components of the
European Union’s Common Foreign and Security
Policy and of its development, cooperation and
external relations. The European Union will actively
pursue its work on consolidating human rights and
fundamental freedoms, with particular insistence on the
universal, indivisible and interdependent nature of all
human rights. It will continue to support efforts by the
Secretary-General to integrate human rights into
United Nations activities at all levels and in all forums,
and to cooperate with all United Nations human rights
machinery.
The European Union welcomes the imminent
establishment of the much-awaited International
Criminal Court. The Union sees this as being of
paramount importance and urges all States that have
not yet done so to accede to the Rome Statute as soon
as possible. More than ever before, we need a universal
and permanent court capable of sanctioning the most
serious violations of international humanitarian law
and human rights, thereby contributing to peace and
security in the world. It is vital that the United Nations
give effective support to the establishment of the
Court.
Following the tragedy of 11 September, the
special session of the General Assembly on the 10-year
38

review of the World Summit for Children had to be
postponed. However, until it is held, we need to keep
up the momentum developed in the preparatory
discussions. We must continue to integrate the specific
dimension of the child into our actions and strive to
ensure that every child’s life is free from terror, the
horrors of war, abuse and exploitation, hunger and
poverty.
The European Union is resolved to continue the
fight against all forms of discrimination and violence
against women, and to ensure that all countries take
strong measures to apply the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women. Women must be able to enjoy their human
rights in full, on an equal footing with men. Girls must
have the same opportunities as boys, particularly in
education and access to social services. The European
Union insists also that there be equal rights to property,
credit facilities and social services, including
reproductive health services. It is in the interest of
everyone that women be able to participate fully in
economic and political life at all levels.
The Union stresses the importance of
implementing Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)
and the special attention that must be given to the
participation and full association of women on an equal
footing in all efforts aimed at maintaining and
promoting peace and security.
We must also vigorously pursue the crucial fight
against racist and discriminatory tendencies and
intolerance, which are daily realities throughout the
world. The World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
has, I believe, shown us the way forward. It has also
enabled us to advance our ways of thinking about the
causes and origins of racism and, above all, to view our
past in a new way. What matters now is that we find
the will to close the darkest chapters of our history so
that we can build a new relationship based on mutual
respect, solidarity and partnership.
The terrible humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is
gripping the attention of the international community
just as much as the political, diplomatic, military and
economic aspects of the situation in that country. This
is the first time that the international community has
adopted such a global approach to an armed conflict.
We are convinced that this is the best — if not the
only — way to ensure effective resolution of the crisis.
The coordination of aid efforts, primarily on the ground
and as part of the range of actions undertaken by the
United Nations, remains essential.
Emergency humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is an
absolute priority for the European Union, which has
undertaken to mobilize an aid package of over 320
million euros as soon as possible. The Union expresses
its concern about the difficulties of access, as well as of
delivering humanitarian assistance, in Afghanistan. It
supports the efforts of the United Nations specialized
agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross
and all humanitarian organizations in seeking practical
and flexible solutions. It also calls on the countries of
the region to facilitate, by all possible means,
humanitarian operations to deal with new influxes of
Afghan refugees.
The European Union recognizes the vital role of
the United Nations in the search for a peace plan for
Afghanistan. It intends to support the initiatives of the
Secretary-General and his Special Representative and
to make a constructive contribution, with regard to
both the search for an internal political solution and to
a plan for rebuilding the country. The Union also
stresses the importance of the regional dimension of
the stabilization of Afghanistan.
We must make adequate contributions to the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs so
as to ensure that it can function efficiently. The
European Union attaches particular importance to aid
to persons displaced within their countries. We
therefore welcome the fact that a unit has been
established within the Secretariat to cater to their
specific needs. Following the recent attacks against
humanitarian aid personnel, the European Union can
only call once again for the strengthening of
arrangements, particularly those of a legal and financial
nature, for guaranteeing the safety and security of
humanitarian aid workers and United Nations workers
in general.
Now more than ever, disarmament and non-
proliferation constitute the cornerstone of any peace
and security structure, and must therefore be subject to
binding multilateral norms. It is against that
background that we wish to strengthen the non-
proliferation regime, promote the rapid entry into force
of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and
reinforce the biological and toxin weapons Convention.
We must also combat the proliferation of ballistic
39

missiles and the illicit trade in light weapons and
continue to work for the complete elimination of anti-
personnel mines.
With regard to peacekeeping, the United Nations
has shown in the past year that it is better equipped and
better organized than it has been in recent times. By
way of example, I should like to mention the
operations in East Timor, Eritrea and Sierra Leone.
Progress has thus already been made on the ground in
implementing the recommendations of the Brahimi
report. But much remains to be done, and the European
Union will continue to provide its active support for
improving the capabilities of the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations and advocating that the
Organization be given the resources that it needs to
enable it effectively to discharge its increasingly
complex responsibilities.
A comprehensive and long-term approach is
required in order to resolve differences of opinion,
consolidate peace and prevent a resurgence of conflict.
The European Union, which is currently establishing
its own military and civil crisis-management capability,
is actively engaged in strengthening its cooperation
with the United Nations and other international
organizations in the area of conflict prevention, crisis
management, humanitarian aid, post-conflict
reconstruction and long-term development.
The Balkans, a region so close to the countries of
the European Union, remains at the centre of the
Union’s external activities. We resolutely maintain our
commitment to contribute to building a region of
security, prosperity and democracy there, where multi-
ethnic societies can be free to flourish. Progress has
been remarkable and encouraging, but unfortunately in
many cases the situation remains fragile. The
international community must remain vigilant and must
not let extremists, of whatever kind, use violence to
destroy the stabilization work already carried out.
The situation in the Middle East is worsening.
The lack of any political perspective naturally
encourages continued confrontation and plays into the
hands of extremists. Defiance, fear and resentment
radicalize people’s mindsets. The European Union calls
on Israelis and Palestinians, while there is still time,
immediately to resume the peace process, without
preconditions, on the basis of the Mitchell report. It
calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately withdraw
their forces from Palestinian-administered areas. It
calls on the Palestinian Authority to do its utmost to
arrest those responsible for violence against Israel.
It is necessary to preserve what has been achieved
so far in the peace process: the principles of the Madrid
Conference, in particular the principle of land for
peace, as well as Security Council resolutions 242
(1967) and 338 (1973) and the agreements signed by
the parties, which have already led to real results on the
ground and to progress on the basis of earlier
negotiations. The European Union calls on both parties
to do their utmost in the political, security, economic
and social areas in order to get back to the negotiating
table, without preconditions, with the objective of
realizing the legitimate aspirations of the peoples of the
region, as set out at the Madrid Conference of 1991.
For the Palestinians, the establishment of a viable
democratic State and an end to the occupation of their
territory is essential. The Israelis must have the right to
live in peace and security within internationally
recognized borders. The European Union also recalls
that the search for a comprehensive and lasting peace
in the region requires due account to be taken of the
Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Lebanese aspects of the
conflict. The same principles should apply in the
resolution of those situations.
It is primarily for the parties themselves to try to
find peace through negotiating all elements relating to
permanent status. This will include finding a viable and
just solution to the particularly complex issues of
Jerusalem and the refugees, as well as those of the
economic support for the Palestinian people.
The European Union, in close cooperation with
the United States of America and the other partners
involved, reaffirms its willingness to work for a final
settlement to the conflict. We believe that it is now a
matter of urgency to develop an initiative to strongly
urge the parties to resume their political dialogue.
The European Union finds the status quo in
Cyprus unacceptable. We express our disappointment
at the unjustified decision of the Turkish side to decline
the Secretary-General’s invitation to pursue talks. We
continue to support the Secretary-General’s endeavours
towards a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the
Cyprus question in accordance with the relevant
Security Council resolutions.
The scale of the tragedies on the African
continent demands resolute action on our part, at all
levels, to address the direct structural causes of those
40

conflicts. Conflicts in Africa have become increasingly
complex and their cross-border effects increasingly
destructive. The crises in the Great Lakes region of
West Africa, in Zimbabwe and in the Horn of Africa
require increased vigilance on the part of the
Organization. Those crises also show the need for a
comprehensive and integrated international approach.
We gave an enthusiastic welcome to the launch of the
New African Initiative at the Lusaka summit of the
Organization of African Unity. The European Union
has stated its willingness to respond and has already
entered into a dialogue at the highest level with the
African Union.
At the Millennium Summit, we pledged together
to attain a set of development objectives. That is an
ambitious project which involves, inter alia, good
governance in each country and at the international
level. The Union underlines the need for strengthened
partnership between rich countries and poor countries
to achieve the development objectives of the
Millennium Declaration. That partnership entails
obligations and joint but varied efforts on the part of all
countries.
First of all, we must make every effort to
eradicate poverty. New, concrete commitments were
made at the third United Nations Conference on Least
Developed Countries, held at Brussels last May. The
European Union committed itself to untying aid, to
opening up its markets through the “everything but
arms” initiative and to the full financing of the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative. It is
now a question of finalizing the follow-up mechanisms
of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed
Countries. The European Union will also continue to
give priority to the development of Africa.
Two major international conferences will give us
an opportunity to take up the challenges and achieve
the principal objectives of the Millennium Declaration.
At the International Conference on Financing for
Development, to be held next March at Monterrey,
Mexico, we shall focus on improving cooperation
among all development actors, and on using resources
more effectively and better mobilizing them.
At the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, to be held at Johannesburg in October
2002, we wish to promote the sustainable use and
management and the protection of the natural resources
that are the underpinning of economic and social
development. We wish also to integrate action on the
environment and poverty, to ensure that globalization
serves the needs of sustainable development, and to
promote better ways of managing public affairs and
participation. The European Union would like to
explore with its partners the possibility of achieving at
the Summit a global pact on sustainable development.
Such a pact should contain commitments both from
Governments and from other actors. A global pact
should lead to concrete action to improve the
implementation of sustainable development policies.
We hope that United Nations Member States will
without delay commit themselves to be represented at
Monterrey and at Johannesburg at the highest possible
political level.
The United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change was one of the major results of the
1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development. We welcome the progress made at Bonn
and at Marrakesh, and we undertake speedily to ratify
the Kyoto Protocol.
We have also just reached an intergovernmental
consensus at the highest level on the strategy needed to
halt the appalling global AIDS pandemic. That was a
major step forward, but the urgent and tragic nature of
the problem demand greater ambition. We will actively
contribute to the creation of the new Global Fund to
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and we
will play an active role in all the other processes that
emerged from last June’s special session so that the
Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS is put into
practice through concrete measures.
Among other challenges, the demographic
changes that lie ahead are of particular interest to the
European Union. The second World Assembly on
Ageing, to be held at Madrid in April 2002, will be an
opportunity for us to work together to build a society
for all ages.
The Millennium Summit enabled us to tackle, at
the highest level, the major challenges facing the world
community. We must now turn our attention to the
process of following up the Declaration adopted by
heads of State or Government with all due regard for
the lofty and balanced aims of that cardinal text. For
that, we need reliable data and depend on the existing
follow-up machinery and processes and on the
concerted efforts of the various actors in the
41

international community who can help us to achieve
those objectives.
We must also continue reform of the United
Nations system as a whole, including the specialized
agencies and the operational funds and programmes.
The strengthening of the Security Council and its
comprehensive reform in all its aspects should be
pursued with determination. If we want a Security
Council capable of responding even more effectively to
the major challenges of the moment, we must intensify
our efforts.
Looking beyond the tremendous and growing
complexity of our actions at the international level, our
debate should highlight this basic truth: if we want to
build a world made more peaceful by respect for the
law, solidarity and tolerance, we must strengthen our
cohesiveness in the face of the new challenges before
us, and also step up our efforts to promote human
rights, eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable
development.
In this forum of the United Nations, we reply to
the messengers of destruction with our common ideal,
which will be stronger than hatred and division among
mankind. That edifice, whose foundations are set in our
spirits and in our hearts, will be unassailable.


Let me begin, Sir, by
congratulating President Han Seung-soo on his election
as President of the fifty-sixth session of the General
Assembly. I would like also to express our appreciation
of and respect for Mr. Harri Holkeri for the
professionalism and dedication with which he
conducted the previous session.
Since the acts of terrorism on 11 September, each
of us, as individuals and as leaders responsible for the
future of our planet, has been trying to understand what
happened — why and how. The universal
condemnation of the arrogance and fascist mentality
9

that conceives and implements such terror could not
have been more justified. The immediate determination
that the perpetrators must be punished and their bases
eliminated was necessary and prudent. The awareness
that this is a long and complex process remains
evident.
Scholars and analysts have attempted to explore
and explain that day of terror, its causes and its
ramifications. This is a necessary process that, if we
are patient, will begin with more questions than
answers. Listening will inevitably lead to dialogue, not
just this year, but every year. If we are honest, this
dialogue will reflect the fact that, although we all see
quite plainly that there has been a change, we do not
agree on what that change is or how it affects each of
us.
There are those who believe that the world has
been taken off the path of economic globalization and
democratization. There are some who insist that the
nature and course of international relations has
irrevocably changed — that the world order, as it
existed, has come crashing down. That may be the
inescapable, though illusory, initial reaction. It may
appear that bilateral and multilateral relations have
been fundamentally and involuntarily re-tailored.
Yet if this perception becomes more than a
natural temporary reaction — if the terrorists succeed
in intimidating us, and force us to take actions that are
not in our best interests, causing us to abandon
principles and agendas — then the terrorists will have
succeeded. They will have terrorized their way to
setting agendas and determining policies. But just as
New Yorkers have vowed continued allegiance to their
city and their way of life, the international community,
too, must remain true to its structures, traditions and
agenda.
That is not to say, however, that life has returned
to business as usual, or that it can do so. It certainly
cannot return to thinking as usual. Our allied approach
to the problems and realities that we collectively face
requires genuine, radical rethinking. The deep
dissatisfaction, injustice, poverty and hopelessness —
which do not justify terror but serve to validate it,
legitimize it and guard it — must be addressed and
eradicated, too. These deep-problems must be replaced
by equality, education, social justice, women’s and
children’s human rights, civil liberties and democracy.
Armenia readily joined the global struggle to
eradicate the terrorism network because the success of
this effort is as important for us as it is for the coalition
leaders. However, Armenia asks that, in our effort and
exercise of responsibility, to neutralize this enemy, we
be careful about our own definitions and labels. Just as
it is crucial to ensure solidarity in the united battle
against the evil of terrorism, a divergence of
interpretative opinion or varied agendas should not be
construed as lack of solidarity.
Just as the coalition leaders are concerned about
the effects of terrorism on their countries, peoples,
lifestyles and values, Armenia is concerned about how
the advent of such terror, and the extended battle
against it, will affect our region and our country. The
war on terrorism has added a further dimension to our
domestic and foreign policy agenda, not narrowed its
focus. The economic and political conditions which
make ours a volatile region have not gone away.
Indeed, they have been exacerbated by the new
alliances and priorities. Worse still, they might be
further aggravated if they are ignored and allowed to
lie latent while all attention is focused on the
immediate danger. In focusing on the hatred of
thousands, we do not want to dismiss the frustration
and needs of millions, many of whom stand at the brink
of war.
That is why, even as Armenia has offered
unreserved cooperation with the global coalition,
signed the United Nations and Council of Europe anti-
terrorism conventions, and offered military and
strategic assistance, we continue to insist that the
fundamental short- and long-term developmental issues
facing us also be dealt with. We are worried about the
stability of our region, because the basic freedoms
which are the hallmarks of modern society and which
decrease the likelihood of violent social and political
solutions are not universally guaranteed in our
neighbourhood.
Security and peace around the world depend on
stability in each region. If we are committed to world
peace and security, each of us in our own region must
take on the responsibility to address the outstanding
issues in a new light, guided by new thinking. It
remains for the leaders to abandon the expediency of
realpolitik for the efficacy of “justpolitik”. This is
nothing that has not been said before, but perhaps in
this new environment of searching, our call will not fall
on deaf ears. Our region has the wealth, the traditions,
10

the opportunities and the links that can make it flourish
and thrive.
As far as Armenia’s contribution to peace and
stability in the Caucasus is concerned, there are two
intertwined issues affecting our relations with two of
our neighbours. One is the absence of relations with
Turkey, to the west; the other is the Nagorny Karabakh
conflict, which affects our relations with Azerbaijan.
For the past 10 years, representatives of my
Government have, from this podium, affirmed that
basic freedoms of thought, belief, conviction, ethics,
traditions, values and culture also apply to the men,
women and children of Nagorny Karabakh. This lies at
the heart of the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh.
Azerbaijan’s insistence on inventing numbers,
redefining terms, creating history and obfuscating
discussion are part of the problem, not the search for a
solution. In response to the charges made today by my
colleague from Azerbaijan with regard to Armenia and
Nagorny Karabakh, let me say the following. Nagorny
Karabakh has never been a part of independent
Azerbaijan. Whether we consider history or geography,
whether we adopt a long-term political perspective or
face the reality of the facts on the ground, the men,
women and children of Nagorny Karabakh have earned
the right to live peacefully on their historic lands. For
decades they have been denied that right. Today, a
dozen years after the re-eruption of the conflict, the
children of Karabakh have completed an entire school
career free of alien domination and foreign occupation.
Justice for the people of Nagorny Karabakh has
been at the core of Armenia’s policies and actions, not
just because we believe it is right, but also because we
believe that, in order to achieve lasting peace,
economic cooperation and political development, this
conflict will have to be resolved fairly and fully.
Azerbaijan’s empty calls for a military solution, which
arise from an adherence to old clichés rather than from
new realities, are not acceptable among neighbours that
are serious about peace.
As for our relations with Turkey, in this post-
11 September world, when the cold war has truly and
finally ended, where erstwhile adversaries have found
reasons to put aside ideology and establish
partnerships, perhaps Turkey will put aside
preconditions in the interests of regional and world
peace. Armenia would like to have normal, good-
neighbourly relations with Turkey, and is hopeful that
Turkey will establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia, open the borders and engage in constructive
cooperation.
But the obvious must be stated. The memory of
the Armenian genocide continues to haunt and obstruct
Turkey’s relations with Armenia. However, we are
confident that this issue can be addressed between the
two Governments, through dialogue. The events of the
past two months have reminded Armenians that man is
indeed capable of immense, indescribable evil and that
mass violence is not a thing of the past. Yet if we, as
the victims of genocide, are unwilling to permit our
own tragic past to define our actions in the future, we
can confidently call on Turkey to do the same, and to
join us as equal participants in a dialogue between our
two peoples.
There is no doubt that the United Nations
provides the most overarching and inclusive framework
for creating the conditions that make States and
peoples prefer peace to war. The United Nations —
acting, where possible, with various multilateral and
regional organizations — should identify and utilize
the comparative advantage and specificity of each
institution and each country as a potential fighter, as a
potential instrument in the war for peace, and even as a
potential victim.
The United Nations did not need 11 September to
acknowledge economic development and poverty
eradication as strategic battlefields in the war against
terrorism. Donor countries can contribute to the
success of this war by providing not only military
forces, but also greater financial and technical
assistance.
Such assistance must be coordinated. The new
challenges call for the consolidation of existing
mechanisms of international dialogue, cooperation and
security. The United Nations can make a major
contribution to this process, especially if it reflects, in a
more equitable manner, the political and economic
realities of today’s world. We believe that real reform
of the Security Council lies in the expansion of both
categories: permanent and non-permanent. We support
the desire of Germany and Japan to become permanent
members of the Security Council.
Armenia also attaches great significance to the
issue of equitable geographic representation, and hence
it supports increased representation for
underrepresented regions, especially Asia, Africa,
11

Latin America and the Caribbean. In this regard,
Armenia is equally supportive of India’s quest for
permanent membership in the Security Council. We
believe strongly that any increase in non-permanent
membership should also ensure enhanced
representation for the Group of Eastern European
States through the allocation of one additional non-
permanent seat.
Modern life has caused upheavals in static
societies, and the answer lies not in any particular faith
but in healthy, democratic institutions and legislation
and viable economic systems.
Writer V. S. Naipaul made that assertion, and this
year he was awarded a Nobel Prize, as was Secretary-
General Kofi Annan. This choice of recipients provides
much food for thought. Neither has been exclusivist;
they have both been inclusive, as can be seen in their
ability to bring their deep-rooted traditions to bear on
the challenges facing our global society. While Naipaul
the writer teases and provokes, Annan the diplomat
challenges and soothes. They both do so with grace and
from positions of strength. They can both afford to be
more extreme in their pronouncements, but they are
not.
The message here is that in this year of dialogue
among civilizations, there are successful ways of
merging the best of the world’s traditions, even while
challenging the world to move forward towards justice
and democracy for all. Naipaul and Annan do not reject
the failures of the world, but challenge us to address
them. We, collectively, could do worse than to follow
their example.


I am
again the last speaker of the day, but I am happy
because it gives me a little extra time to congratulate
the President on the effective manner in which he is
conducting the work of the session, which gives us
every reason to believe that it will be steered to a
fruitful conclusion.
I wish also to extend our heartfelt condolences
and sympathy to the families of the plane crash victims
of yesterday. Let us pray that it had nothing to do with
terrorist acts, as the tragic events of 11 September
alone were more than enough to bring to the fore the
fight against terrorism as one of the top priorities of the
United Nations and the international community.
Cognizant of the distinction between terrorism and the
struggle to exercise a people’s right to self-
determination, Viet Nam persistently condemns
terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, which
takes a heavy toll of innocent lives. We fully support
the international endeavour and cooperation to ensure
world peace, stability and security in full conformity
with the United Nations Charter and with fundamental
principles of international law, particularly those
respecting national independence and sovereignty. No
individual country can go solo or have double
standards in this fight. While members of the
international community must act in a responsible
manner by not tolerating, nurturing and/or supporting
terrorists on their soil, they should also bring the
terrorists to justice or extradite them to the country
where their crimes were committed, so that they can be
duly punished.
Though combating international terrorism has
become the pressing task of the day, it must not
overshadow the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Poverty, the widened development gap, the HIV/AIDS
epidemic, the deteriorating environment, regional
tensions and conflicts, all point to the potential
instability of the world today, as mentioned by our
leaders a year ago. The Summit Declaration, in
reflecting the genuine wishes and resolve of the
world’s peoples, vigorously reconfirmed the values and
principles of the Charter, defining the priority
objectives of the United Nations and the international
community for the years to come, thus becoming our
platform, our programme of action for the new
millennium. To implement the Declaration at the global
level, the United Nations last year conducted numerous
activities, including the organization of a series of
special sessions in the economic, social and security
fields. The international organizations in the United
Nations system — such as the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) —
are actively coordinating with nations to incorporate in
their national programmes the specific objectives set
forth in the Summit Declaration. This is a significant
start which should be further promoted, as the most
pressing challenge to us all is how to eradicate poverty
on a global scale. In this spirit we wish to congratulate
the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, who started his
second term in office with the Nobel Peace Prize. We
are fully convinced that the Secretary-General will
continue to contribute to the cause of all nations and
peoples.
Against the backdrop of globalization
spearheaded by the information technology revolution,
the other side of international political and economic
life has been further exposed. The gap between rich
and poor has widened further, and adverse
circumstances in international relations have emerged,
further underscoring the disadvantage and vulnerability
of the developing countries. The Secretary-General
once said words to the effect that poverty and the gap
between rich and poor are the seeds of instability and
precarious development, and that today’s main
challenge is how to ensure that globalization becomes
the driving force of development instead of leaving a
billion people in abject poverty. A common concern at
present, however, is the tendency towards decreasing
official development assistance (ODA), particularly the
decrease in contributions to the development
organizations in the United Nations system, which will
surely hamper their activities. More than ever before,
the United Nations, the international community, the
developed countries in particular, should further assist
the developing countries in the eradication of poverty,
disease and illiteracy, and facilitate their fuller and
equitable participation in international economic life.
Development requires an environment of peace
and stability. But complex implications arising from
the conflicts in some parts of the world and the
possible intensification of an arms race, are not
conducive to development at all. Of particular concern
is the escalation of violence in the Middle East. We
join the community of world peoples calling for an
42

early end to violence, the resumption of peaceful
negotiations for a just, long-lasting solution in which
the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the
legitimate rights of all parties concerned, would be
guaranteed. By the same token, the embargoes imposed
upon Cuba, Iraq and Libya, which cause untold
suffering to these peoples, should be lifted so as to
enable them to concentrate their energy and efforts on
national reconstruction and development.
This year, South-East Asia has witnessed certain
complex developments, but peace, stability and
cooperation remain the burning aspiration of our
peoples and continue to be the main tendency. The
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
countries are determined to build a zone of peace,
development and prosperity and to coordinate efforts to
effectively cope with regional and global challenges. In
that context, the success of the 34th Ministerial
Meeting, the eighth ASEAN Regional Forum held in
Hanoi last August and the ASEAN Summit held in
Brunei Darussalam in early November, all contributed
to establishing priorities and effective measures for the
future of this region. These meetings reaffirmed
ASEAN’s determination to further promote solidarity,
cooperation, dialogue and mutual understanding within
ASEAN, and between ASEAN countries and their
dialogue partners, especially China, Japan and the
Republic of Korea, for the peaceful settlement of their
differences on the basis of respect for fundamental
principles and norms of international law, particularly
those regarding consensus and non-interference in the
internal affairs of others. The Hanoi Declaration on
Narrowing the Development Gap for Closer ASEAN
Integration and other important documents were
adopted on confidence-building and the promotion of
mutual understanding for peace and stability in South-
East Asia, as well as in Asia and the Pacific. They
welcomed the promising progress in the ASEAN-China
consultation regarding a code of conduct in the Eastern
Sea, reaffirming those principles of the 1992 ASEAN
Manila Declaration on the settlement of conflicting
claims of territorial sovereignty in the Eastern Sea. We
sincerely hope that the United Nations and the
international community, in line with the Millennium
Declaration, will deliver active support and assistance
to the implementation of our regional cooperation for
peace, stability and development in the region and
throughout the world.
In the course of 15 years of rebuilding, Viet Nam
has recorded great achievements in all fields. The ninth
Party Congress has drawn necessary lessons from our
own experiences, reaffirmed our resolve to continue the
course, stepping up industrialization and modernization
programmes, and mapping out the socio-economic
development strategy for the years 2001 to 2010. While
trying to bring into full play our inner strength, we will
create more favourable conditions to attract investment
and expand further effective cooperation with foreign
partners and countries. We will continue to pursue our
foreign policy of independence, openness, international
economic integration, friendship and trusted
partnership with all countries in the international
community in the endeavour for peace, independence
and development.
The Millennium Summit and its Declaration
provided us with a momentum in the new millennium,
which should be maintained through the active
implementation of the guidelines unanimously
endorsed by our leaders. The United Nations and each
Member State should make efforts to achieve those
objectives.
In order to contribute effectively to the common
cause, the United Nations should speed up the process
of reform, renovation and democratization. Viet Nam
fully supports the central role of the General Assembly,
the highest representative body of the whole
membership, and the reform and expansion of the
Security Council in both the non-permanent and
permanent categories. The developing countries should
have fuller representation and participation in the
Council’s decision-making. But it is of the utmost
importance that the United Nations should design
measures to concentrate resources for development and
the eradication of poverty and for the other major
objectives included in the Millennium Declaration. It is
the expectation of the whole membership that the
United Nations should become a worthy world body,
operating in a more effective manner in the interests of
all countries and for a just, humanistic and better world
in the new millennium. We believe that the United
Nations will surely live up to this expectation and Viet
Nam pledges to contribute actively to this common
endeavour.


It
is for me a signal honour to take the floor today before
the Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. On behalf of my
delegation, I wish at the outset to express my sincere
congratulations to Mr. Han Seung-soo of the Republic
of Korea on his well-deserved election to the
presidency of this body of the United Nations. We
believe that his vast experience, his dynamism and his
competence guarantee the success of our work at this
session. He can count on my delegation to be fully
available to him. We will spare no effort to facilitate
his work so that his noble mission can be carried out to
the fullest.
Allow me next to pay sincere tribute to Mr. Harri
Holkeri for the way he acquitted himself in his term of
office leading the work at our last session. We all
appreciated his many talents as a statesman and
seasoned diplomat, which in large measure contributed
to bringing the work of that session to a successful
conclusion.
I should like, finally, to avail myself of this
felicitous opportunity to convey the greetings of the
Burundian people to Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-
General of the United Nations, and to express to him
once again my heartfelt congratulations on his
unanimous re-election to the helm of the Organization
for a second term of office. At the same time, I address
to him my warmest congratulations on the Nobel Peace
Prize just awarded to him and to the United Nations
itself. This token of renewed confidence is a striking
expression of recognition of the United Nations
family’s tireless efforts in every corner of the world for
the cause of peace and development. My Government
is particularly obliged to the Secretary-General for his
personal commitment to helping the people of Burundi
emerge from crisis so that through the ongoing peace
process they can resume the path of peace,
reconciliation and development.
All of us were shocked and horrified by the
murderous attacks perpetrated here in New York,
Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on 11 September
2001. My Government firmly condemned those odious
terrorist acts, characterized by indescribable barbarity.
The President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Pierre
Buyoya, dispatched a message of condolence to
22

President George W. Bush immediately after the tragic
events had been reported.
The events of 11 September 2001 mark a new
global challenge for the United Nations in its resolute
fight against terrorism and for maintaining
international peace and security. The Government of
the Republic of Burundi fully subscribes to the relevant
resolutions of the United Nations on the fight against
terrorism. Committed to the ideals of peace and
security the world over, it intends to make its own
contribution to building a world from which
international terrorism will be banished. Towards that
end, Burundi endorses the various international
conventions against international terrorism. It has
already ratified three of them, and this morning we
signed the International Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted in
1999. The necessary steps will be taken to sign and
ratify the remaining conventions. Burundi hails the
adoption by the Security Council of its resolution 1373
(2001) and stands committed to examining in depth its
scope of application on our own national territory.
In light of the plethora of sophisticated juridical
provisions — extant for nearly 30 years now — to fight
against this scourge, a profound awareness and far
more sustained collective action today is imperative.
The Government of Burundi agrees with the content of
Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), which
emphasizes:
“... the need to enhance coordination of efforts on
national, subregional, regional and international
levels in order to strengthen a global response to
this serious challenge and threat to international
security” (S/RES/1373 (2001), op. para. 4).
That global response obviously, and as a matter of
priority, is an imperative for us, the Members of this
institution, the United Nations, on which the Charter
explicitly confers the role of maintaining international
peace and security.
As to the situation in my own country, Burundi,
the present session is being held at a time when the
peace process has just completed a particularly
decisive phase. Indeed the Arusha Peace Accord,
which Burundi signed on 28 August 2000, has begun to
be resolutely implemented. May I be allowed to bring
to the attention of the distinguished representatives
gathered here certain major developments worthy of
being emphasized. After a number of consultations
held among the signatories to the Peace Agreement,
and after the Facilitation and Regional Initiative, the
matter of the transitional leadership for the next three
years has been settled. On 1 November 2001, the
solemn inauguration of the President and Vice-
President of the Republic and the transitional
Government was held.
I wish to make a point of expressing the very
sincere thanks of the Government and people of
Burundi to the heads of State and other eminent
personalities that elevated those ceremonies by their
presence.
At this important stage in the peace process, I
should like to take care of a pleasant duty, namely that
of paying tribute first to the late Mwalimu Julius
Nyerere, who was the first to play a mediator’s role in
the inter-Burundian peace process in an extremely
delicate setting. Secondly, I wish to make it a point
solemnly to hail the courage, vision, perseverance and
tact that His Excellency the former President Nelson
Mandela displayed throughout the inter-Burundian
negotiations so as to help the Burundian people regain
the path to peace, reconciliation and democracy. From
this lofty tribune I wish to express to him our feelings
of profound gratitude. We feel the same sentiments of
sincere appreciation to the United Nations and all
countries and personalities that have worked from near
or afar to see to the signing of the Peace Accord,
people who continue to invest of themselves in order to
see the Agreement fully implemented. It is thanks to all
these pooled efforts that some glimmer of hope is
perceptible in the Burundian political skies.
The new Government has set itself as a priority
task halting the war, rehabilitating victims and
restoring the country in socio-economic terms.
Notwithstanding, however, our firm determination to
move forward, the programme continues to encounter
enormous challenges, challenges such as the
persistence of war and the exacerbation of poverty.
With regard to the war, we must deplore the fact that
armed groups continue to sow grief and desolation in
various parts of the country, pursuing a nameless war, a
war that is killing innocents in their homes, in the
camps for displaced persons and along the roads, a war
that favours pillaging and rape and that has destroyed
social and economic infrastructures built at great cost.
We denounce and condemn in the strongest terms this
new type of violence, namely the seizing of school
23

children by rebel elements to press-gang them into
guerrilla forces or to have them do their dirty deeds.
In this context the priority of all priorities for my
country thus remains the quest for a ceasefire, which
would make it possible to begin the major reforms
envisaged during the transitional period.
Notwithstanding numerous initiatives directed by our
Government towards the armed groups — the Conseil
national pour la défense de démocratie-Forces pour la
défense de démocratie (CNDD-FDD), and the Forces
nationales de la libération (FNL) — inviting them to
subscribe to the peace process and join in negotiations,
as yet there is no sign of a firm, formal commitment on
their part that would allow us to move forward in that
direction. Nonetheless we feel that these armed groups
no longer have political claims that they can truly
brandish, given the fact that the Arusha Accords
envisage their participation in transitional institutions,
their recruitment into defence and security corps and
their social and professional reintegration if they so
desire.
While thanking our partners for the variety of
initiatives already launched to bring the Burundian
rebels into the peace process, I should like once again
to call upon all the countries members of the Regional
Initiative, the Facilitation in the inter-Burundian
negotiations, the Organization of African Unity, the
United Nations, and the rest of the international
community to continue to bring pressure to bear upon
these armed groups so that they will lay down their
arms and rejoin other Burundians around the
negotiating table without further delay, in conformity
with Security Council resolution 1375 (2001), adopted
on 29 October 2001, and other resolutions of the
Council. We particularly ask for the invaluable help of
the countries in our subregion, all of them co-
signatories to the Arusha Accords, so that all the
necessary steps will be taken to stop these armed
groups from attacking Burundi. Notwithstanding these
various initiatives, if the rebels continue obstinately to
refuse dialogue, my Government will call upon the
international community and all parties signatories to
the Arusha Accords to do all they possibly can to
neutralize and disarm the FDD and FNL and, at the
same time, the other negative forces allied to them.
The continuing deterioration in the socio-
economic situation in my country constitutes yet
another source of major concern for the new
government team. Indeed, eight years of the worst kind
of fratricidal war, together with three years of
unjustified economic embargo, from July 1996 to
January 1999, have plunged the country into a state of
extreme poverty which will be difficult to overcome.
What is more, international cooperation since 1996 has,
as it were, been frozen, thus confronting us with a lack
of foreign exchange and a major erosion of our
monetary situation. Furthermore, in the year 2000,
economic activity continued to suffer from the heavy
blows of drought, bringing about negative growth for
two consecutive years in an essentially agricultural
country.
Over the same crisis period, the situation with
regard to health has significantly deteriorated.
Notwithstanding efforts exerted by my Government,
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases such as those
linked to malnutrition, continue to rage among our
people, already weakened by the horrors of war. The
major performance indicators for education reflect a
net decline. Access to drinking water and general
hygiene conditions have seriously deteriorated at a
time when many of our dwellings and the basic social
infrastructure, such as schools and health centres, have
been destroyed by war.
Faced with a particularly trying situation,
Burundi looks for a great deal from the United Nations
and its agencies, its various bilateral partners,
international organizations and non-governmental
organizations to help our economy to recover, in the
name of international solidarity and for the benefit of
our people plunged today into a state of unprecedented
poverty. I thus urgently appeal to my country’s various
partners to make tangible the reality of the promises
made at the Pledging Conference for Burundi, held in
Paris from 11 to 12 December 2000, for the purpose of
rebuilding and helping the recovery of our economy. A
round table following through on these commitments
made at that Conference is to be organized in Geneva
in December 2001. The Government of Burundi counts
on the active participation of our partners, particularly
in making available the aid promised.
On the international scene the delegation of
Burundi hopes to see the implementation of the
provisions of the Millennium Declaration adopted last
year by the heads of State and Government of Member
States of the Organization. It particularly supports the
reforming of the Security Council and welcomes the
fact that this matter already enjoys the broad-ranging
backing of the Members of the United Nations. It
24

regrets nonetheless that discussions on the modalities
that the reform is to take are at an impasse, and this,
eight years after the establishment of the Working
Group under General Assembly resolution 48/26,
adopted on 3 December 1993. My delegation,
notwithstanding all that, remains confident that the
work of the Working Group concerned will be quickly
concluded, the results being of the keenest interest in
terms, once again, of galvanizing this major body.
Burundi wishes to draw the attention of the
Assembly to the problems that have grown more and
more serious and alarming because of the accumulation
and excessive and destabilizing proliferation of small
arms and light weapons and the arms race. In this
connection it is ever more necessary and urgent to
develop and effectively implement specific
disarmament programmes. We welcome the adoption of
the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and
Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light
Weapons in All Its Aspects at the United Nations
Conference, held from 9 to 20 July 2001, here in New
York. Our surest hope is for that Programme to be
effectively implemented to relieve the suffering of
people in the regions where this kind of weaponry
continues to take the lives of thousands of innocent
people. What is more, the Government of Burundi
remains devoted to the goal of the total elimination of
weapons of mass destruction, whether they be nuclear,
chemical or biological.
To have peace and security prevail required
adopting a working strategy for conflict prevention,
with a view to understanding fully the motives and
dynamics of confrontation and to curing this evil at its
root. It also means resolutely attacking the structural
causes that drive people to revolt, namely ignorance,
want, disease, extreme poverty, underdevelopment and
its corollaries, and inequities in the distribution of
wealth. There is a chain directly linking desperate acts
and the fanaticism bred of frustration and humiliation.
Thus, the imbalance between the North and the South
is unlikely to promote harmonious equilibrium. Indeed,
on the basis of available statistics, more than one third
of mankind lives in absolute poverty. This is liable to
grow worse if the rich countries continue not to
shoulder their responsibilities in terms of aid for
development.
Improving the living conditions of people
contributes, through its induced effects, to reducing
other anachronistic factors growing out of poverty,
such as the child labour ban by International Labour
Organization (ILO) conventions and the spread of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. My delegation continues to hope
that the International Conference on Financing for
Development, scheduled for March 2002 in Mexico,
will adopt strategies to reduce these inequalities
between and within countries. It expects from that
Conference a definition of the strategic objectives in
terms of consistent policies for integrating developing
countries into the global economy, whatever their level
of development.
As to globalization, many indeed are those that
denounce its perverse effects, as witness the clashes in
Seattle and Genoa. In this context, we are duty-bound
to see to it that globalization becomes a positive force
for all mankind in the best interests of all. Yet another
issue of concern to my delegation continues to be that
of human dignity, which cannot be conceived as
divorced from respect for human rights, including that
of self-determination. Towards that end, the delegation
of Burundi continues to hope that the Second
International Decade for the Elimination of
Colonialism, from 2001 to 2010, proclaimed by the
Assembly by its resolution 55/146 of 8 December
2000, will help to eradicate its last bastions.
It is impossible to talk about international
concord without calling to mind the right to justice,
genuine justice and real fairness in the settlement of
disputes. On that score my delegation would like yet
again to reiterate the importance the Government of
Burundi ascribes to the International Criminal Court,
regarding which preliminary steps towards ratification
are being taken. Indeed, my delegation shares the same
conviction as the Secretary-General of our
Organization, Mr. Kofi Annan, when he affirms that we
must build a world where order and justice reign in
terms of respect for the primacy of law in international
relations.
The challenges confronting the international
community are multiple and take many forms. The
efficacy of the Organization will be judged by its
ability to keep cohesion intact and to promote people’s
holistic development, so as to fashion a world where all
can realize their potential and where we all espouse
peace, fraternity and equality. We are all called upon to
strive towards the realization of that noble cause.


The
fact that we are meeting under the presidency of one of
the most eminent personalities of the Republic of
Korea bears eloquent testimony to the positive changes
in international relations and to the end of the
ideological bipolarization of the world.
I would like at the outset to convey the
condolences of the Republic of the Niger to the United
States of America and the Dominican Republic for the
tragedy that occurred this morning.
The Niger would like to warmly congratulate
Mr. Han Seung-soo on his election as President of the
General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session, as well as
the other members of the Bureau. We are sure that he
will demonstrate the same dynamism, energy and
human qualities as his predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri
of Finland, as he continues his outstanding work for the
benefit of humankind.
I would like to reaffirm the warm congratulations
of the Niger to our brother, Mr. Kofi Annan, the
Secretary-General, for his re-election to a post whose
visibility, prestige and effectiveness he has done so
much to enhance, as well as for the award of the 2001
Nobel Peace Prize, which is a testimony — if further
evidence were needed — to the global recognition of
the work that he has already accomplished in the
service of humanity.
This serves as an eloquent rebuttal to the
arguments of all those who claim to find, in the denial
of the fundamental principles of dialogue between
cultures and nations — principles enshrined in the
Charter — the high road to salvation. In this regard, the
Niger endorses the relevant General Assembly and
Security Council resolutions, and welcomes the
emergence of a general consensus on the need to wage
war against terrorism on a collective and global basis,
within the framework of the international legality
embodied by the United Nations.
If we are to succeed, the fight against terrorism
must be based on a programme of international
cooperation, including, in particular, substantial
financial and technical assistance to the most
disadvantaged States so as to enable them to make a
significant contribution to that process.
Still on the subject of peace and security, I would
like to point out that, within the realm of disarmament
and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, we are in
the final stages of the process of ratifying the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and of
signing a safeguards agreement with the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
With regard to conventional weapons, the
convening of the United Nations Conference on the
Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All
Its Aspects fulfilled one of the commitments
undertaken by our heads of State or Government in the
historic Millennium Declaration. The Niger welcomes
the fact that the Conference was able to adopt, by
consensus, a Programme of Action to combat that
scourge, which is one of the most serious threats to
international peace and security. Furthermore, the
Niger welcomes the fact that that Programme of Action
took account of the principal concerns expressed by
African States in the Bamako Declaration, by
providing, in particular, financial and technical
assistance measures for the disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration of former combatants.
No part of the world has been spared the illicit
trafficking in and circulation of small arms. But the
developing countries, in particular those on the
continent of Africa, are paying the highest price for the
proliferation of small arms from the standpoint of their
security, stability and development.
That is why the Economic Community of West
African States moratorium on the manufacture, import
and export of small arms, adopted in Abuja in October
1998, which was extended for three years on 5 July, as
well as the Programme for Coordination and
Assistance for Security and Development, should
receive substantial financial support from the
international community.
36

In this context, the Niger reaffirms its support for
the proposal of the United Kingdom to create an
international fund, to be managed by the United
Nations Development Programme, for the collection of
small arms. If it is effective, that fund will help to
support regional and national projects for the collection
and destruction of small arms in exchange for
development projects. In this regard, I am pleased to
reaffirm to the Assembly the gratitude of the Niger to
the countries that participated in the work of the Group
of Interested States on Practical Disarmament
Measures.
Since the events of 11 September, the entire
world has been assessing the tragic consequences of
that Manichaean ideology. Terrorists are, without
doubt, a threat to international peace and security. It
has been claimed that those events were committed in
the name of Islam. But as everyone knows, Islam is the
religion of the golden mean, and condemns suicide and
murder. It advocates dialogue and persuasion and the
steadfast combating of any tendency towards individual
or collective nihilism. That is one of the reasons why
the Niger fully associates itself with the global
coalition against terrorism. That is also why, during the
recent discussions on measures to eliminate
international terrorism, the Niger reiterated its firm
condemnation of all forms of violence and its
determination to commit itself to all subregional and
international initiatives aimed at eradicating that
scourge.
In the Millennium Declaration, world leaders
undertook to enhance the effectiveness of the United
Nations in the maintenance of international peace and
security by providing it with the necessary tools and
resources to better prevent conflict, bring about the
peaceful settlement of disputes and consolidate peace
and post-conflict reconstruction. In order to be
effective, a preventive conflict-management strategy,
as set out in the report of the Secretary-General,
requires the international community, working together
with national and regional actors, to adopt a
comprehensive approach encompassing political,
diplomatic, humanitarian and institutional measures,
and to undertake actions aimed at economic
revitalization. As a follow-up to that report, last July in
Agadez my country, acting within the national dynamic
aimed at consolidating peace and with the support of
the United Nations, organized a forum on conflict
prevention — the first of its kind in Africa. That forum
recommended the elaboration of a national conflict-
prevention strategy, the implementation of which
would be coordinated by the National Commission for
Social Dialogue, which brings together representatives
of the State and civil society.
For too long, the international community’s
attention has been focused on the Middle East, where
repeated efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement of
the Israeli-Arab conflict have ended in deadlock. The
support of the G-8 for the idea of sending international
observers to Palestinian territory is an important step
forward; such action would guarantee the impartial
application of the recommendations of the Mitchell
report.
The Niger would like to reaffirm, here in the
Assembly, that a lasting settlement of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict cannot be achieved without the
realization by the Palestinian people of their
inalienable right to an independent sovereign State.
The Niger wholeheartedly supports the position of the
United States of America in this regard.
With regard to the conflict in Western Sahara, the
Niger supports the efforts of the United Nations, in
particular those of the Secretary-General and his
Personal Envoy, to bring about a final settlement that is
acceptable to interested and concerned parties.
With regard to Asia, the summit meeting that
took place last July in India between the President of
Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India raised great
hopes for a political settlement of the conflict in
Kashmir. Such initiatives must be supported and
encouraged so as to allow for the self-determination of
the Kashmiri people as soon as possible in accordance
with the relevant Security Council resolutions.
By according highest priority to the specific
needs of Africa, the Millennium Summit recognized
the full magnitude of the serious problems that beset
our continent. Proof of this is that most African States
are included on the list of least advanced and poorest
countries and have been left behind by the
technological revolution. The ravages caused by armed
conflicts and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have affected
more than 26 million Africans and wiped out the hard-
won progress made over the past decade. At the same
time, the flow of official development assistance to
Africa has plummeted, while foreign direct investments
have continued to stagnate. Worse yet, between 1999
and 2000 those investments even fell from $10.5
37

billion to $9.1 billion, while during the same period
they rose in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.
It is therefore urgent to increase the volume of
official development assistance, to expand debt-
cancellation initiatives, to improve the access of
African exports to international markets and to promote
investment. These measures must be accompanied by
appropriate support for the efforts of the United
Nations system because this Organization is the best
forum for promoting new partnerships for the benefit
of Africa.
In this respect, the Niger very much hopes that
Africa’s drive to reappropriate its own development
will be encouraged. That drive is marked by the
proliferation of national and regional initiatives, the
most recent manifestation of which was the adoption at
the Lusaka summit of the Organization of African
Unity (OAU) of an African development plan, the
implementation of which the G-8 has decided to
support.
The forthcoming International Conference on
Financing for Development should prove to be a
decisive turning point in the establishment of a more
just and equitable world economic order. It should,
inter alia, lead to the adoption of a clear political
declaration defining strategic priorities, accompanied
by a precise timetable, with respect to the
strengthening of the capacities of the developing
countries, particularly the least developed among them,
and their integration into the world economy. The
Conference should be the point of departure of a broad
world partnership to channel all energies towards the
mobilization of resources for development and the
reform of international financial structures.
In this regard, the 10-year Brussels Programme of
Action for the Least Developed Countries has made it
possible to lay the foundations of an enhanced world
partnership to achieve the economic growth essential to
reducing poverty. Following the firm commitments
undertaken in Brussels, there are now grounds for hope
that, particularly with regard to trade, the current round
of World Trade Organization negotiations in Qatar will
take fully into account the interests of the least
developed countries, whose 630 million inhabitants
have a legitimate aspiration to benefit from the positive
effects of globalization.
In the absence of an appropriate response from
the affluent countries, the damage caused by the
HIV/AIDS epidemic may prove to be irreparable, given
that some specialists estimate that there will be 100
million dead from that disease by the year 2010 if
effective measures are not taken immediately to stem
the scourge.
Need we recall, moreover, that malaria claims as
many human victims in Africa as AIDS, particularly in
West Africa? It is comforting to note, however, that the
international community has finally become aware of
the signal danger posed by that disease. The Niger
welcomes the decision of the United Nations to
proclaim the period 2001-2010 the Decade to Roll
Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in
Africa. The United Nations is thus in step with the
various initiatives of the OAU in the struggle against
malaria, led by Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria and Mamadou Tandja of the Niger.
There can be no doubt that the struggle against
major diseases calls for substantial resources and a
strong capacity for coordinated action. The Niger
therefore welcomes the Secretary-General’s
establishment of the Global AIDS and Health Fund,
which should give a new dynamic to the struggle
against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which together
claim 5 million dead throughout the world every year.
The announcement made at the G-8 summit in
Genoa that $1.8 billion will be devoted to launching
the Global Fund is an important step in the right
direction. In spite of everything, a great deal remains to
be done. According to United Nations estimates,
approximately $3 billion must be mobilized before
2001 for AIDS alone and contributions of $7 billion to
$10 billion will be necessary every year thereafter until
2005. Thus, today more than ever, the international
community must demonstrate active solidarity between
rich and poor and a sense of unshakeable collective
responsibility — in a word, unfailing political will —
if it wishes to translate into deeds the Declaration of
Commitment adopted at the special session on
HIV/AIDS.
The progress achieved in the Niger in its current
reform programme has allowed us to re-establish and
consolidate the country’s economic bases, to revive
fruitful relations with the international financial
institutions and thus to secure the Niger’s eligibility for
the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative.
Furthermore, the Niger recently established a new
framework for the implementation of its own national
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anti-poverty policy. A strategy for reducing poverty
defines the country’s priorities and measures and
actions to be undertaken in order to achieve the targets
set in various spheres, which will allow us to make
serious inroads into poverty by 2015.
This struggle against poverty in the Niger enjoys
the highest political involvement. A programme
initiated personally by the President of the Republic,
Mr. Mamadou Tandja, is designed to improve the living
standards of the people of our country. The first phase
of what is known as “The Programme of the President
of the Republic” has already led to the construction of
1,000 wells, 100 mini-dams, 100 schools and 100
health centres for rural communities. It is well known
that such communities in the Niger suffer intractable
illiteracy, a serious lack of infrastructure and cyclical
food shortages caused by irregular rainfall. The
Programme also stresses the link between poverty and
the environment. It is in that context that we plan to
plant 1 million trees throughout our national territory
by the end of this year.
The Government is thus perfectly in step with the
deep-rooted aspirations of the people of the Niger, who
recognize in its actions their ancestral lore of personal
and collective effort against adversity, and with its
bilateral and multilateral partners, whose ongoing
concern is the restoration of the environment. All the
institutions of the United Nations family and the
European Union — in particular France, Germany,
Italy and Great Britain — as well as Canada and Japan,
have contributed significantly to reviving the
ecological system and to combating desertification in
the Niger.
In the Niger, we are fully aware that this fight is
primary a national one. We wage it through
volunteerism, the roots of which are deeply entrenched
in our traditions and extend beyond our frontiers. I take
this opportunity to reiterate the profound gratitude of
the Niger to all the bodies of the United Nations
system, in particular the United Nations Development
Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the
United Nations Children’s Fund and our other
development partners, for their precious support for the
efforts of the Government to promote the well-being of
our people.
To conclude, I would say that the international
community needs a strong United Nations to achieve
the ambitious objectives set forth in the Charter and to
implement the Millennium Declaration. It is therefore
necessary to give unstinting support to the Secretary-
General in his efforts to reform the Organization,
strengthen its role and secure the resources that will
allow him to accomplish his task effectively. The
United Nations remains indeed the only institution
capable of bringing about the new world order to which
we all so deeply aspire.


At the outset, I wish
to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan, upon his unanimous re-election. The Nobel
Peace Prize conferred upon the United Nations and its
Secretary-General testifies to the broad recognition of
the increasing role played by the world Organization in
promoting peace, security and development and vests
in it, at the same time, greater responsibility and trust
in meeting both the existing and evolving global
challenges.
This session of the General Assembly is taking
place at a time when the international community is
drawn together more closely in the face of the
unprecedented task of developing an effective response
to the challenge of terrorism. The people and
Government of Mongolia have resolutely condemned
the barbaric attacks of 11 September as a deliberate act
of terrorism against freedom and democracy — an
attack against all humanity and expressed its full
support for the collective efforts of the anti-terrorist
coalition. From this high rostrum, I wish to reaffirm
Mongolia’s strong commitment to our common
7

struggle against the scourge of terrorism. I wish, on
behalf of the Government of Mongolia, to reiterate our
profound sympathy to the people and Government of
the United States of America and to all the families that
have been affected by this tragic event. I also express
my condolences to New Yorkers and to the
Governments of the United States of America and the
Dominican Republic over the tragic accident that took
place yesterday here in New York.
The response of the international community to
the terrorist attacks has clearly demonstrated its firm
resolve to collectively fight this global scourge. In this
respect, Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) of 28
September is a timely measure, unprecedented both in
its scope and nature. It has laid the groundwork for
practical measures to be taken by all Member States in
the fight against terrorism and established an effective
mechanism to monitor its implementation. My
Government is taking every necessary measure to
implement the provisions of the resolution and the
relevant report to that effect was submitted to the
counter-terrorism Committee of the Security Council
on 10 November.
I wish also to inform the Assembly that Mongolia
signed yesterday the 1999 International Convention for
the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. With its
ratification in the near future, Mongolia will be party to
all the United Nations anti-terrorism conventions
applicable to it. We also believe that, in light of recent
events, the existing international legal framework on
terrorism ought to be further strengthened through the
speedy conclusion of a comprehensive convention
against international terrorism and a convention against
nuclear terrorism, preferably at this session of the
General Assembly. In the same vein, the pace of setting
up the International Criminal Court must be
accelerated.
In order to put the anti-terrorist strategy in the
right perspective, it would seem important to us to see
the problem in a wider setting, that is, to address issues
that provide a fertile soil for terrorism, such as
transnational organized crime, illicit drugs, money
laundering, illegal arms trafficking and others. The
United Nations, in our view, is uniquely positioned to
meet such a challenge and to develop a comprehensive
strategy to uproot international terrorism through
global and concerted action.
The events of 11 September have drastically
changed the world as we see it. It has revealed the
heightened vulnerability of the human family. It has
also revealed, in no uncertain terms, the need for
change in our approach to the way we perceive our
own security. In this regard, the concept of human
security, which places the safety, security and well-
being of a human being at the heart of the matter,
deserves our utmost attention. We see the prime merit
of the human security concept to be that it addresses in
a comprehensive manner the three-tiered freedom
outlined in the Millennium Declaration: freedom from
want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in a
healthier and cleaner environment.
In the emerging era of globalization, it is
becoming increasingly evident that no country can
ensure its security on its own. This indivisibility of
global human security requires a genuine display of
solidarity and collective responsibility on the part of
every country of the international community so that it
can effectively address the formidable challenges at the
turn of the new millennium.
After several decades of development efforts, the
number of the world’s poor remains at an
embarrassingly high level. Exclusion, marginalization
and inequality among and within countries are being
further exacerbated by both existing and evolving
transboundary threats.
Looking back, one could describe the decade of
the 1990s as a decade of commitments for
development, with a series of international conferences
and summits resulting in important declarations and
plans of action. Yet today, the world finds itself in
many respects in no better shape. The legitimate
question arises: Why? Does the international
community, increasingly seen as a single human family
living in a shared global village, have the capacity to
redress this situation? Technically, the right answer
seems to be yes. There are resources — financial,
human and technological — to ensure a better life. On
the other hand, one has to admit also that the
underlying reasons could be manifold, as the changes
undergone and challenges faced by the world over the
last decade are indeed complex both in nature and in
scope.
Yet, we cannot but agree with the Secretary-
General that
8

“The widening gap between goals and
achievements implies that the international
community has failed to deliver on crucial
commitments it made during the 1990s”.
(A/56/326, para. 81)
The real, hard question is then: Do we have the
sufficient political will and sense of solidarity to forge
the genuine partnership needed to erase the staggering
discrepancy between commitments and action? In the
final analysis, the answer to this question has to be
affirmative and has to be supported by practical,
meaningful action. We cannot afford to fail to honour
for yet another decade our commitments if we are
serious about ensuring human security. We cannot
afford to fail to implement the far-reaching yet
achievable targets set by the Millennium Summit last
year. Our failure could be used as a justification for
deadly acts by those who pose a threat to humanity. Let
us therefore make the first decade of this new century
one of implementation and cooperation for a safer,
healthier and better world. Additional efforts are
urgently required, and affluent countries could exhibit
their solidarity and shared responsibility by further
opening their markets, providing broader and faster
debt relief and giving more and better-focused
development assistance and incentives for foreign
direct investment flows to their less fortunate partners.
We must mobilize the political will necessary to
make the upcoming conferences on financing for
development, sustainable development and food
security a success. The lead-up to these important
events and the conferences themselves are to take into
consideration the special needs of small, vulnerable
and structurally disadvantaged economies so as to
enable them to integrate into the multilateral trading
system and take advantage of the opportunities offered
by the advance of globalization. We also believe that
the international ministerial meeting on transit
transport cooperation, to be held in 2003, is of crucial
importance in enhancing international cooperation to
ease the inherent development handicaps of the
landlocked developing countries, as recognized in the
Millennium Declaration.
My delegation shares the view that a commitment
to human security demands enhanced international
cooperation in conflict prevention and strengthened
capacities to assist countries in restoring, building and
keeping the peace. In this respect, Mongolia fully
supports the Secretary-General in his efforts to move
the United Nations from a culture of reaction to a
culture of prevention. We believe that mutual
understanding and dialogue among different peoples
and civilizations are acutely needed to break the pattern
of mistrust, suspicion and recrimination that either lead
to a conflict or serve as a pretext for it. We know that
mutual understanding and dialogue are possible when
there is cooperation between nations.
This session of the General Assembly is of
special significance to my country and its people, as we
celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Mongolia’s
admission to the United Nations. On 27 October 1961
Mongolia became a full-fledged member of the world
Organization, an event of historic importance to my
people. Over the years our cooperation with the
organizations of the United Nations family has been
expanding both in scope and in substance. Today
Mongolia is party to some 140 international treaties
and conventions, and is a member of 33 inter-
governmental and 20 regional and other organizations.
The United Nations assistance and cooperation has
been instrumental in developing human resources,
capacity-building, education, health and information
technology, reducing poverty, protecting the
environment and developing an adequate response to
natural disasters.
Within the framework of the fortieth anniversary,
we have been undertaking a host of activities to take
stock of our past cooperation with the organizations of
the United Nations system and identify priority areas
for future cooperation. This culminated in the joint
conference organized by the Government of Mongolia
and the United Nations on 3 September, in Ulaanbaatar,
under the theme “Forty Years of Mongolia-United
Nations Cooperation: Implementation of the
Millennium Declaration”. The main thrust of the
discussions and conclusions of that conference has
been incorporated into the memorandum of the
Government of Mongolia on the implementation of the
Millennium Declaration, which has been circulated as
an official document of this session of the General
Assembly.
Over the last four decades of our cooperation,
Mongolia has been endeavouring to contribute, where
it could, to the common efforts of the international
community to promote peace, cooperation and
development. My delegation is proud to recall that on
the initiative of Mongolia the General Assembly
adopted the Declaration on the Right of Peoples to
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Peace, the principles and guidelines for international
negotiations, resolutions to observe annually a
Disarmament Week and relevant resolutions on the
importance of human resources, cooperatives, rural
women and the special needs of the landlocked
developing countries. Furthermore, as a strong
advocate of nuclear-weapon-free zones in various parts
of the world, in 1992 Mongolia declared its own
territory a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and has been
working to further institutionalize this.
Recognizing the crucial role of education in
ensuring sustainable human development and human
security, my delegation is pleased to note that this
session of the General Assembly is about to proclaim,
on Mongolia’s initiative, the 10-year period beginning
1 January 2003 the United Nations decade for literacy.
Mongolia supports peacekeeping operations as
one of the important means of maintaining
international peace and security. Since the mid-1990s,
Mongolia has taken deliberate steps and made
measurable progress in developing its peacekeeping
capability. Showing its willingness to contribute to the
United Nations peacekeeping missions through direct
participation, in 1999 Mongolia signed a memorandum
of understanding with the United Nations on standby
arrangements regarding the provision of staff officers,
military observers and medical officers. Mongolia
stands ready to actively cooperate with the United
Nations and to make a practical contribution to its
peacekeeping operations.
As a member of the Conference on Disarmament,
Mongolia cannot but fully agree with the Secretary-
General, in paragraph 77 of his report on the work of
the Organization (A/56/1), that the “level of
international cooperation in disarmament remains
disappointingly low.” In order to bring the Conference
on Disarmament out of its ongoing stalemate it may
seem advisable to give political impetus to the
disarmament agenda by convening a Security Council
meeting at the highest level or holding one of the future
sessions of the Conference on Disarmament at the level
of Foreign Ministers.
In recent years Mongolia has been an active
participant in international activities aimed at
strengthening institutions and processes of democratic
governance, protecting human rights and promoting
democratic consolidation. The 1992 Constitution of
Mongolia guarantees the Mongolian people
fundamental freedoms and human rights. Mongolia is
party to all major international human rights
instruments. Earlier this year Mongolia set up an
independent National Human Rights Commission.
Yesterday Mongolia signed the two Optional Protocols
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Willing
to share its fresh experience of peaceful and
simultaneous transition to democracy and a market-
oriented economy over the last decade and to learn
more from the valuable experiences of other countries,
Mongolia has offered to host the Fifth International
Conference of New or Restored Democracies in 2003
in Ulaanbaatar.
The task of ensuring human security and
promoting human-centred development is high on the
agenda of my Government, as envisaged in its
programme of action. Recognizing the importance of
the quality of governance in achieving development
goals, my Government approved a national programme
on good governance for human security to facilitate the
policy focus, coherence and sustainability of its
programme of action. Mongolia has thus become the
first country aspiring to ensure human security through
building good governance. As we move along this
trailblazing path, we are aware of the need for the
knowledge, expertise, experience and assistance of the
organizations of the United Nations system and our
fellow members of the international community.
The Government is resolved to ensure sustained
economic growth through reinvigorating and
encouraging the development of domestic industry,
rehabilitating the banking sector, upgrading the living
standards of the people, reducing poverty and
unemployment, and ensuring equitable social and
educational opportunities. We will intensify structural
reforms and encourage an export-oriented, private-
sector-led economy. Mining, processing of raw
materials of animal origin, tourism and other export-
oriented sectors are the top priority areas of
development. Privatization of State assets, including
the most valuable State enterprises, will continue. The
creation of a favourable environment for the attraction
of foreign investment is also a priority objective.
In its endeavours to carry out simultaneous
economic and political reforms Mongolia faces many
challenges. On behalf of the Government of Mongolia,
I wish to express our sincere gratitude and high
appreciation to our bilateral and multilateral partners
for their generous support and cooperation pledged at
10

the eighth meeting of the Mongolia Assistance Group,
held last May in Paris, demonstrating thus their support
of my Government’s policy and action.
Mongolia will continue its active participation in
multilateral processes and international organizations
such as the United Nations and will spare no effort to
ensure that the world Organization remains a focal
point for coordination of the effort of the community of
nations toward peace and development in the years to
come.