Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to join my colleagues who have extended to you their warm congratulations on the occasion of your election as President of the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly. I am confident that your qualities of statesmanship will actively contribute to the success of the tasks of the session and the achievement of additional important goals. These same qualities were those of your predecessor and have earned him our deep appreciation and gratitude.
267.	I also take pleasure in acknowledging the sincere and continuous efforts of the Secretary General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, in the course of fulfilling his duties and responsibilities and with the aim of consolidating the Organization.
268.	The wide range of items on the agenda of this session represents to us, a people of the third world, a good step in the right direction as well as a very important stage in the strengthening of the ability of the United Nations to discharge its basic responsibilities.
269.	I note with optimism and appreciation the special attention that is being paid to industrial and agricultural development, particularly the efforts aiming at the establishment of funds for development, population settlement, health childcare and nutrition. I also note the role of the specialized agencies in offering expert assistance to the developing countries. The deplorable situation of millions of persons who suffer from poverty, disease and ignorance at a time of great scientific achievements by mankind not only is a cause for sorrow and shame but in itself constitutes a cause for doubting the morality of our civilization and the truth of its human values. We are therefore called upon to treat the inhuman situation of these millions by eradicating its root causes. This can be done through the establishment of a new world order of economic development that will provide to every developing country the kind of financial and technological assistance it needs. To this end we should work towards the creation of a favorable international climate devoid of tension; towards arresting the tidal wave of armament acquisition which has spread to small countries; towards confronting all forms of aggression with courage and determination; and towards re-channeling the huge sums of money that the powerful countries are expending on destructive weapons, in order to meet the needs of construction and development in those countries that lag behind as a result of subjugation by imperialistic and exploiting Powers.
270.	The State of Qatar, firm in its belief that international cooperation constitutes the sound basis for all human progress is, in addition to its interest in building up its own strength, doing its utmost to contribute, in cooperation with its sister Arab nations, to the realization of a comprehensive regional and Arab development plan. It is, further, anxious to participate in a number of development activities in Africa and Asia and in the world at large. I shall refrain from giving the details of these efforts, but I earnestly believe that they are in the direction that we all seek and support.
271.	My country, always welcoming every step towards international understanding, hopes that this understanding will spread to encompass the entire world community. We further believe that the achievement of the goal of international understanding and amity is contingent upon the peaceful and just solution of international problems within the framework of the Charter and the resolutions and recommendations of the United Nations. It seems natural, while talking of just solutions, to refer to the resolutions and recommendations of the Organization aimed at halting the chronic state of war that has existed for over a quarter of a century and that is . commonly known as the Middle East crisis, I especially note the earnest efforts that are being made at present with the aim of implementing Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 339 (1973). These efforts have kindled great hopes of arriving at a just and honorable settlement of the crisis.
272.	In this context it is important for me to reaffirm a basic fact that faces all efforts made previously and being made at present to resolve the Middle East crisis. That fact is that the cause of the people and the land of Palestine lies at the root of the crisis; it is its origin as well as a continuous source of its exacerbation. Ignoring this fact has consistently led to the failure of international arrangements for the resolution of the crisis ever since the question of Palestine was first put before the General Assembly in 1947. Persistence in ignoring this fact will, quite naturally, not lead to new results. If the problem of the Palestinian people is still viewed as one of relief, employment and assimilation; if the land of the Palestinians is still viewed as an area of human agglomeration, with no borders and no existing structure; or if it is regarded as nothing more than a secure Israeli boundary liable to alteration and modification, then one must conclude that such an attitude is in conflict with the Charter of the United Nations and with its noble aims and purposes.
273.	To disregard the natural desire of the Palestinian people for freedom and self determination in its own land, and to ignore its legitimate aspiration to the establishment of a national entity where it could bind up its wounds and cast off the burden of destitution that has weighed on its shoulders and its conscience for many years, would constitute open encouragement to the Israeli spirit of aggression. That spirit of aggression has attempted and continues to attempt to procure all of Palestine a Palestine without Palestinians and to thwart the struggle of the Palestinian people to regain its rights. The Israeli aggression has not contented itself with the collective and individual terrorism that it has practiced since its presence in the occupied land. It has indeed gone beyond that to haunt and pursue the Palestinian refugees everywhere. The daily strafing and bombardment of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon is well known. I believe that the report of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East [A/9613 and Corr.l] includes details on the total destruction of the Nabatya camp in southern Lebanon as a result of an air raid.
274.	The auspicious war of OctoberRamadan has left a deep imprint in so far as it served to acquaint the world with the realities of the Middle East crisis and to provide certain facts about the strength, condition and intentions of the parties concerned. In the light of these facts and for the purpose of averting a new and very powerful military conflict, it has become the duty of all, inside the Organization or outside it, to work actively and in a positive manner to ensure the implementation of the conditions of a just peace in the area. Such a just peace can be attained by implementing the Security Council resolutions and the recommendations of the General Assembly through ensuring the withdrawal of Israel from lands occupied in 1967 and through the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. This ought to be accomplished without any repetition of the bloody spectacle of the Syrian city of Quneitra. The blowing up by Israel of every house, mosque and church before its withdrawal from that city is a clear indication that the Israeli spirit of aggression views all international peacemaking efforts as undesirable pressure.
275.	I note with regret that a State Member of the United Nations has ignored the Special Committee formed by the Organization for the purpose of investigating Israeli practices in violation of human rights in the occupied territories. That Member State, further, has prevented the Special Committee from performing its role, thus acting in flagrant disdain of the resolutions of this Assembly. Everyone here knows that the abject violation of human rights in the occupied territories, in total disregard of elementary human, religious and moral principles, is the real reason why the Special Committee was prevented from carrying out its assigned tasks. If this indeed is the reason behind the Israeli position, scornful as it is of the United Nations, does it stand to reason that we should allow it to pass without curbing or punishing it?
276.	The recent bloody and regrettable events in Cyprus have led to an increase in tension in the region of the Middle East and have added a huge and new international problem to those of the international community in general and those of the Mediterranean region in particular. It is our great hope that the parties concerned will appreciate that the implementation of United Nations resolutions aiming at the settlement of international conflicts is considered to be among the primary means for consolidating the authority of this Organization. Any weakening of this authority would be detrimental to the structure and prestige of an organization to which all humanity looks for the realization of international peace and security.
277.	It is quite natural that the painful and bloody events that the Middle East is experiencing today and their increasing acuteness impel us to support the Iranian proposal for creating a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East [AI9693]. It appears clear that if Israel does not become a signatory to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, then the accelerating danger of military conflict may assume a more ominous form. "}
278.	My Government welcomes the step taken by the new Government in Portugal regarding the problem of imperialism in Africa. We hope that the representatives of Mozambique and Angola will join us in this Organization, so that both these nations will occupy the important place among us that they deserve.
279.	The arm of liberty will continue to strike at the last remaining bastions of colonialism in Rhodesia, South Africa and everywhere else, until these bastions fall and vanish for ever from our world.
280.	I would also like to welcome the new States that were admitted as Members in the Organization at this session, hoping that their presence with us will have a positive bearing on the strengthening of international peace and security.
281.	We have pinned great hopes on the accomplishments of this session. I pray to God to guide us in transforming these hopes from the realm of studies, proposals and recommendations to the realm of realization.


Last year, at the previous session [.2124th meeting], in my first address as Secretary of State, I spoke to this Assembly about American purposes. I said that the United States seeks a comprehensive, institutionalized peace, not an armistice. I asked other nations to join us in moving the world from detente to cooperation, from coexistence to community.
41.	In the year that has passed some progress has been made in dealing with particular crises. But many fundamental issues persist and new issues threaten the very structure of world stability.
42.	Our deepest problem going far beyond the items on the agenda is whether our vision can keep pace with our challenges. Will history recall the twentieth century as a time of mounting global conflict or as the beginning of a global conception? Will our age of interdependence spur joint progress or common disaster?
43.	The answer is not yet clear. New realities have not yet overcome old patterns of thought and action. Traditional concepts of national sovereignty, social struggle and the relation between the old and the new nations too often guide our course. And so we have managed but not advanced; we have endured but not prospered; and we have continued the luxury of political contention.
44.	This condition has been dramatized in the brief period since the twenty-eighth session. War has ravaged the Middle East and Cyprus. The technology of nuclear explosives has resumed its dangerous spread. Inflation and the threat of global decline hang over the economies of rich and poor alike.
45.	We cannot permit this trend to continue. Conflict between nations once devastated continents; the struggle between blocs may destroy humanity, ideologies and doctrines drawn from the last century do not even address, let alone solve, the unprecedented problems of today. As a result, events challenge habits; a gulf grows between rhetoric and reality.
46.	The world has dealt with local conflicts as if they were perpetually manageable. We have permitted too many of the underlying causes to fester unattended, until the parties believed that their only recourse was war. And because each crisis ultimately has been contained we have remained complacent. But tolerance of local conflict tempts world holocaust. We have no guarantee that some local crisis perhaps the next will not explode beyond control.
47.	The world has dealt with nuclear weapons as if restraint were automatic. Their very awesomeness has chained those weapons for almost three decades; their sophistication and expense have helped to keep constant for a decade the number of States which possess them. Now, as was quite foreseeable, political inhibitions are in danger of crumbling. Nuclear catastrophe looms more plausible, whether through design or miscalculation, accident, theft or blackmail.
48.	The world has dealt with the economy as if its constant advance were inexorable. While postwar growth has been uneven and some parts of the world have lagged, our attention has been focused on how to increase participation in a general advance. We continue to deal with economic issues on a national, regional or bloc basis at the precise moment that our interdependence is multiplying. Strains on the fabric and institutions of the world economy threaten to engulf us all in a general depression.
49.	The delicate structure of international cooperation, so laboriously constructed over the last quarter century, can hardly survive, and certainly cannot be strengthened, if it is continually subjected to the shocks of political conflict, war and economic crisis.
50.	The time has come, then, for the nations assembled here to act together in the recognition that continued reliance on old slogans and traditional rivalries will lead us towards a world ever more torn between rich and poor. East and West, producer and consumer; a world where local crises threaten global confrontation and where the spreading atom threatens global peril; a world of rising costs and dwindling supplies, of growing populations and declining production.
51.	There is another course. Last week before this Assembly [2234th meeting] President Ford dedicated our country to a cooperative,, open approach to build a more secure and more prosperous world. The United States will assume the obligations that our values and strength impose upon us. But the building of a cooperative world is beyond the grasp of any one nation. An interdependent world requires not merely the resources but the vision and creativity of us all. Nations cannot simultaneously confront and cooperate with one another.
52.	We must recognize that the common interest is the only valid test of the national interest. It is in the common interest, and thus in the interest of each nation, that local conflicts be resolved short of force and 'heir root causes be removed by political means; that the spread of nuclear technology be achieved without the spread of nuclear weapons; that growing economic interdependence lift all nations and not drag them down together.
53.	We will not solve these problems during this session, or during any one session, of the General Assembly, but we must at least begin to remedy problems, not just manage them; to shape events, rather that endure them; to confront our challenges instead of one another.
54.	The urgent political responsibility of our era is to resolve conflicts without war. History is replete with examples of the tragedy that sweeps nations when ancient enmities and the inertia of habit freeze the scope for decision. Equally, history is marked by brief moments when an old order is giving way to a pattern new and unforeseen. Those are times of potential disorder and danger but also of opportunity for fresh creation.
55.	We face such a moment today. Together let us face its realities. First, a certain momentum towards peace has been created, in EastWest relations and in certain regional conflicts. It must be maintained. But we are only at the beginning of the process. If we do not continue to advance, we will slip back. Second, progress in the negotiation of difficult issues comes only through patience, perseverance and a recognition of the tolerable limits of the other side. Peace is a process, not a condition. It can be reached only in steps. Third, the failure to recognize and grasp the attainable will prevent the achievement of the ideal. Attempts to resolve all issues at one time are a certain prescription for stagnation. Progress towards peace can be thwarted by asking too much as surely as by asking too little. Fourth, the world community can help resolve chronic conflicts, but exaggerated expectations will prevent essential accommodation among the parties. This Assembly can help or hinder the negotiating process. It can seek a scapegoat or a solution. It can offer the parties an excuse to escape reality or sturdy support in search of a compromise. It can decide on propaganda or contribute to realistic approaches responsive to man's yearning for peace.
56.	The Middle East starkly demonstrates those considerations. In the past year we have witnessed both the fourth ArabIsraeli war in a generation and the hopeful beginnings of a political process towards a lasting and just peace. We have achieved the respite of a ceasefire and two disengagement agreements, but the shadow of war remains. The legacy of hatred and suffering, the sense of irreconcilability have begun to yield however haltingly to the process of negotiation. But we still have a long road ahead.
57.	One side seeks the recovery of territory and justice for a displaced people. The other side seeks security and recognition by its neighbors of its legitimacy as a nation. In the end, the common goal of peace surely is broad enough to embrace all these aspirations.
58.	Let us be realistic about what must be done. The art of negotiation is to set goals that can be achieved at a given time and to reach them with determination. Each step forward modifies old perceptions and brings about a new situation that improves the chances of a comprehensive settlement.
59.	Because these principles were followed in the Middle East, agreements have been reached in the past year which many thought impossible. They were achieved, above all, because of the wisdom of the leaders of the Middle East who decided that there had been enough stalemate and war, that more might be gained by testing each other in negotiation than by testing each other on the battlefield.
60.	The Members of this body, both collectively and individually, have a solemn responsibility to encourage and support the parties in the Middle East on their present course. We have as well an obligation to give our support to the United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Middle East and elsewhere. The United States applauds their indispensable role, as well as the outstanding contribution of SecretaryGeneral Waldheim in the cause of peace.
61.	During the past year my country has made a major effort to promote peace in the Middle East. President Ford has asked me to reaffirm today that we are determined to press forward with these efforts. We will work closely with the parties and we will cooperate with all interested countries within the framework of the Geneve Conference.
62.	The tormented island of Cyprus is another area where peace requires a spirit of compromise, accommodation and justice. The United States is convinced that the sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of Cyprus must be maintained. It will be up to the parties to decide on the form of government they believe best suited to the particular conditions of Cyprus. They must reach accommodation on the areas to be administered by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities as well as on the conditions under which refugees can return to their homes and reside in safety. Finally, no lasting peace is possible unless provisions are agreed upon which will lead to the timely and phased reduction of armed forces and armaments and other war material.
63.	The United States is prepared to play an even more active role now than in the past in helping the parties find a solution to the centuries old problem of Cyprus. We will do all we can, but it is those most directly concerned whose effort is most crucial. Third parties should not be asked to produce miraculous outcomes not anchored in reality. Third parties can encourage those directly involved to perceive their broader interests; they can assist in the search for elements of agreement by interpreting each side's views and motives to the other. But no mediator can succeed unless the parties genuinely want mediation and are ready to make the difficult decisions needed for a settlement.
64.	The United States is already making a major contribution to help relieve the human suffering of the people of Cyprus. We urge the international community to continue and, if possible, to increase its own humanitarian relief effort.
65.	The United States notes with particular satisfaction the continuing process of change in Africa. We welcome the positive demonstration of cooperation between old rulers and the new free. The United States shares and pledges its support for the aspiration of Africans to participate in the fruits of freedom and human dignity.
66.	The second new dimension on our agenda concerns the problem of nuclear proliferation.
67.	The world has grown so accustomed to the existence of nuclear weapons that it assumes they will never be used. But today technology is rapidly expanding the number of nuclear weapons in the hands of major Powers and threatens to put nuclear explosive technology at the disposal of. an increasing number of other countries.
68.	In a world where many nations possess nuclear weapons, dangers would be vastly compounded. It would be infinitely more difficult, if not impossible, to maintain stability among a large number of nuclear Powers. Local wars would take on a new dimension. Nuclear weapons would be introduced into regions where political conflict remains intense and the parties consider their vital interests overwhelmingly involved. There would, as well, be a vastly heightened risk of direct involvement by the major nuclear Powers.
69.	This problem does not concern one country, one region, or one bloc alone. No nation can be indifferent to the spread of nuclear technology; every nation's security is directly affected.
70.	The challenge before the world is to realize the peaceful benefits of nuclear technology without contributing to the growth of nuclear weapons or to the number of States possessing them.
71.	As a major nuclear Power, the United States recognizes its special responsibility. We realize that we cannot expect others to show restraint if we do not ourselves practice restraint. Together with the Soviet Union we are seeking to negotiate new quantitative and qualitative limitations on strategic arms. Last week our delegations reconvened in Geneva, and we intend to pursue these negotiations with the seriousness of purpose they deserve. The United States has no higher priority than controlling and reducing the levels of nuclear arms.
72.	Beyond the relations of the nuclear Powers to each other lies the need to curb the spread of nuclear explosives. We must take into account that plutonium is an essential ingredient of nuclear explosives and that in the immediate future the amount of plutonium generated by peaceful nuclear reactors will be multiplied many times. Heretofore the United States and a number of other countries have widely supplied nuclear fuels and other nuclear materials in order to promote the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This policy cannot continue if it leads to the proliferation of nuclear explosives. Sales of these materials can no longer be treated by anyone as a purely commercial competitive enterprise.
73.	The world community, therefore, must work urgently towards a system of effective international safeguards against the diversion of plutonium or its byproducts. The United States is prepared to join with others in a comprehensive effort.
74.	Let us together agree on the practical steps which must be taken to assure the benefits of nuclear energy free of its terrors. The United States will shortly offer specific proposals to strengthen safeguards to the other principal supplier countries. We shall intensify our efforts to gain the broadest possible acceptance of IAEA safeguards, to establish practical controls on the transfer of nuclear materials, and to ensure the effectiveness of these procedures. The United States will urge IAEA to draft an international convention for enhancing physical security against theft or diversion of nuclear material. Such a convention should set forth specific standards and techniques for protecting materials while in use, storage and transfer. The Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII), annex], which this Assembly has endorsed, warrants continuing support. The Treaty contains not only a broad commitment to limit the spread of nuclear explosives but specific obligations to accept and implement IAEA safeguards and to control the transfer of nuclear materials.
75.	Whatever advantages seem to accrue from the acquisition of nuclear explosive technology will prove to be ephemeral. When Pandora's box has been opened, no country will be the beneficiary and all mankind will have lost. This is not inevitable. If we act decisively now, we can still control the future.
76.	Let me now turn to our economic problems.
77.	Lord Keynes wrote:
"The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind. Very few of us realize with conviction the intensely unusual, unstable, complicated, unreliable, temporary nature of the economic organization."
78.	The economic history of the postwar period has been one of sustained growth, for developing as well as developed nations. The universal expectation of our peoples, the foundation of our political institutions and the assumption underlying the evolving structure of peace are all based on the belief that this growth will continue.
79.	But will it? The increasingly open and cooperation global economic system that we have come to take tor granted is now under unprecedented attack. The world is poised on the brink of a return to the unrestrained economic nationalism which accompanied the collapse of economic order in the 1930s. And, should that occur, all would suffer: poor as well as rich, producer as well as consumer.
80.	So let us so longer fear to confront in public the facts which have come to dominate bur private discussions and concerns.
81.	The early warning signs of a major economic crisis are evident. Rates of inflation unprecedented in the past quarter century are sweeping developing and developed nations alike. The world's financial institutions are staggering under the most massive and rapid movements of reserves in history. And profound questions have arisen about meeting man's most fundamental needs for energy and food.
82.	While the present situation threatens every individual and nation, it is the poor who suffer the most. While the wealthier adjust their living standards, the poor see the hopes of a lifetime collapse around them. While others tighten their belts, the poor starve. While others can hope for a better future, the poor see only despair ahead.
83.	It can be in the interest of no country or group of countries to base policies on a test of strength, for a policy of confrontation would end in disaster for all. Meeting man's basic needs for energy and food and assuring economic growth while mastering inflation require international cooperation to an unprecedented degree.
84.	Let us apply these principles first to the energy situation. Oil producers seek a better life for their peoples and a just return for their diminishing resources. The developing nations less well endowed by nature face the disintegration of the results of decades of striving for development as the result of a price policy over which they have no control. The developed nations find the industrial civilization built over centuries in jeopardy.
85.	Both producers and consumers have legitimate claims. The problem is to reconcile them for the common good.
86.	The United States is working closely with several oil producers to help diversify their economies. We have established commissions to facilitate the transfer of technology and to assist with industrialization. We are prepared to accept substantial investments in the United States and we welcome a greater role for the oil producers in the management of international economic institutions.
87.	The investment of surplus oil revenues presents a great challenge. The countries which most need these revenues are generally the least likely to receive them. The world's financial institutions have coped thus far, but ways must be found to assure assistance for those countries most in need of it. And the full brunt of the surplus revenues is yet to come.
88.	Despite our best efforts to meet the oil producers' legitimate needs and to channel their resources into constructive uses, the world cannot sustain even the present level of prices, much less continuing increases. The prices of other commodities will inevitably rise in a never-ending inflationary spiral. Nobody will benefit. The oil producers will be forced to spend more for their own imports. Many nations will not be able to withstand the pace, and the poorer could be overwhelmed. The complex, fragile structure of global economic cooperation required to sustain national economic growth stands in danger of being shattered.
89.	The United States will work with other consumer nations on means of conservation and on ways to cushion the impact of massive investments from abroad. The preliminary agreement on a program of solidarity and cooperation signed a few days ago in Brussels by the major consumer countries is an encouraging first step.
90.	But the long range solution requires a new understanding between consumers and producers. Unlike food prices, the high cost of oil is not the result of economic factors, of an actual shortage of capacity or of the free play of supply and demand. Rather it is caused by deliberate decisions to restrict production and maintain an artificial price level. We recognize that the producers should have a fair share; the fact remains that the present price level even threatens the economic wellbeing of producers. Ultimately they depend upon the vitality of the world economy for the security of their markets and their investments. And it cannot be in the interest of any nation to magnify the despair of the least developed, which are uniquely vulnerable to exorbitant prices and have no recourse .but to pay.
91.	What has gone up by political decision can be reduced by political decision.
92.	Last week President Ford called upon the oil producers to join with consumers in defining a strategy which will meet the world's longterm need for both energy and food at reasonable prices; he set forth the principles which should guide such a policy; and he announced to this Assembly America's determination to meet our responsibilities to help alleviate another grim reality world hunger. At a time of universal concern for justice and in an age of advanced technology, it is intolerable that millions are starving and hundreds of millions remain undernourished.
93.	The magnitude of the longterm problem is clear. At present rates of population growth, world food production must double by the end of this century to maintain even the present inadequate dietary level and an adequate diet for all would require that we triple world production. If we are true to our principles, we have an obligation to strive for an adequate supply of food to every man, woman and child in the world. This is a technical possibility, a political necessity and a moral imperative.
94.	The United States is prepared to join with all nations at the World Food Conference in Rome to launch the truly massive effort which is required. We will present a number of specific proposals: to help developing nations, which have the lowest yields and the largest amounts of unused land and water and whose potential in food production must be made to match their growing need; to increase substantially global fertilizer production, for we must end once and for all the world's chronic fertilizer shortage; to expand international, regional and national research programs because scientific and technical resources mus? hi mobilized now to meet the demands of the year 2030 and beyond; to rebuild the world's food reserves, as our capacity for dealing with famine must be freed from the vagaries of weather; and to provide a substantial level of concessionary food aid. The United States will in the coming year increase the value of our own food aid shipments to countries in need. We make this commitment despite great pressures on our economy and at a time when we are seeking to cut our own Government's budget, because we realize the dimensions of the tragedy with which we are faced. All of us here have a common obligation to prevent the poorest nations from being overwhelmed and to enable them to build the social, economic and political base for self-sufficiency.
95.	The hopes of every nation for a life of peace and plenty rest on an effective international resolution of the crises of inflation, fuel and food. We must act now and we must act together.
96.	Let us never forget that all of our political endeavors are ultimately judged by one standard to translate our actions into human concerns.
97.	The United States will never be satisfied with a world where man's fears overshadow his hopes. We support the United Nations efforts in the fields of international law and human rights. We approve of the activities of the United Nations .in social, economic and humanitarian realms around the world. The United States considers the World Population Conference, held last month, the World Food Conference to be held a month from now and the continuing Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea of fundamental importance to our common future.
98.	In the coming months the United States will make specific proposals for the United Nations to initiate a major international effort to prohibit torture; a concerted campaign to control the disease which afflicts and debilitates over 200 million people in 70 countries schistosomiasis; and a substantial strengthening of the world's capacity to deal with natural disaster, especially the improvement of the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator.
99.	We have long lived in a world where the consequences of our failures were manageable a world where local conflicts were contained, nuclear weapons threatened primarily those nations which possessed them, and the cycle of economic growth and decline seemed principally a national concern. But that is no longer the case. It is no longer possible to imagine that conflicts, weapons and recession will not spread.
100.	We must now decide. The problems we face will be with .us the greater part of the century. But will they be with us as challenges to be overcome or as adversaries that have vanquished us?
101.	It is easy to agree to yet another set of principles or to actions other nations should take. But the needs of the poor will not be met by slogans; the needs of an expanding global economy will not be met by new restrictions; the search for peace cannot be conducted on the basis of confrontation. So each nation must ask what it can do, what contribution it is finally prepared to make to the common good.
102.	Beyond peace, beyond prosperity, lie man's deepest aspirations to a life of dignity and justice. And beyond our pride, beyond our concern for the national purpose we are called upon to serve, there must be a concern for the betterment of the human condition. White we cannot, in the brief span allowed to each of us, undo the accumulated problems of centuries, we dare not do less than try. So let us now get on with our tasks.
103.	Let us act in the spirit of Thucydides that "the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it".


The United Nations is celebrating its fiftieth
anniversary. Today, it is up to us to take stock of its
progress and its successes, as well as its and shortcomings
since its inception, but also, and in particular, to consider
and assess the experience it has gained, in order to provide
a firmer basis for its future, which, after all, is closely
linked with the future of mankind.
The people of Burundi, whom I have the honour to
represent in this Assembly, set particular store by this
session, which should galvanize all the Member States of
our Organization to work for the progress and the survival
of the world as a whole.
In Burundi, a number of activities to promote
awareness of the purposes and principles of the United
Nations have been undertaken. We can assure the Assembly
that our country duly acknowledges the eminent role that
the United Nations has played and continues to play in
helping Burundi return to the road of peace and security.
We are pleased that the presidency of this session of
the General Assembly, which should be the springboard for
its revitalization, has been entrusted to Mr. Diogo Freitas
do Amaral, who has been blessed with great intellectual and
moral qualities and wide political and diplomatic
experience. His country and mine enjoy friendly relations
in all areas. What has already been said about him here
show that the congratulations my delegation extends to him
are well deserved and justify the assistance it will be
pleased to give him as a contribution to the success of his
noble mission.
We would also like to pay a sincere tribute to his
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire. Throughout his term of
office, he applied himself to the tasks resulting from the
present developments in the United Nations. In this
connection, Foreign Minister Amara Essy has worked
wholeheartedly to promote our Organization across the
world and has brilliantly championed the strengthening of
the United Nations and the enhancement of its prestige.
This is an excellent opportunity to express our sincere
gratitude to Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General
of the United Nations, whom I had the pleasure to receive
in Bujumbura last July. We are extremely grateful to him
for his profound commitment to peace, security and
development throughout the world. The resounding appeal
for peace and national reconciliation he made to the people
of Burundi in particular and to Africa in general still rings
in our ears.
Two years have passed since, from this very
rostrum, His Excellency President Melchior Ndadaye,
who was swept to power in Burundi following democratic
elections, addressed a message of peace, friendship,
brotherhood and solidarity to the General Assembly. Since
the contemptible assassination of President Ndadaye on
21 October 1993, my country has laboured under a
political, institutional, social and economic crisis that
persists to this day. Nevertheless, despite the devastation
and the political and ethnic massacres, the people of
Burundi did not yield to despair. In a surge of optimism,
the registered political parties and the representatives of
civilian society held negotiations and in-depth discussions
on how to bring the country out of the abyss into which
the enemies of the fatherland had plunged it. After long
and arduous debates, the Convention of Government was
signed on 10 September 1994; this was followed by the
restoration of the presidency and the establishment of a
National Coalition Government.
We greatly appreciated the decisive contribution
made by the United Nations to the people of Burundi’s
return to peace and security. When the crisis broke out,
the Secretary-General sent a Special Envoy to the scene.
Following that, he appointed His Excellency Ambassador
Ahmedou Ould Abdallah as Special Representative to
Burundi, and we extend our profound thanks to him for
his patient and tireless efforts to bring the various
political partners together, despite their often deep
differences of opinion at the height of the crisis. The
United Nations sent to Burundi two successive
delegations made up of distinguished ambassadors to the
Security Council and headed by a distinguished African
statesman, His Excellency Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari
of Nigeria, to offer us advice and to bring us a message
of peace and comfort. Other delegations of the United
Nations and various international bodies in the United
Nations system came to Burundi to demonstrate their
support and solidarity. In the context of the promotion of
human rights and education for peace and tolerance, a
United Nations Centre for Human Rights and a United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) Peace House were established in Burundi.
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) also
deserves our profound thanks because it has, from the
very beginning of the crisis, sought appropriate solutions
to enable Burundi to regain peace and stability. The work
done by the pan-African organization is primarily to the
23

credit of its Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Salim
Ahmed Salim, who displayed considerable diplomatic and
human skills on behalf of Burundi. His work was later
carried on by his Special Representative, His Excellency
Ambassador Léandre Bassolé of Burkina Faso.
We should like to extend our thanks to all of the
friendly countries which have assisted us in various ways
and continue to do so, particularly in the brother countries
which gave shelter to Burundi refugees. We are working to
enable our compatriots to return home safely and we are
coming to grips with the problem of displaced persons.
The Convention of Government, which was mentioned
earlier and the first anniversary of which we have just
celebrated, gave us an opportunity to set up State
institutions and organs as well as various kinds of political
and legal machinery that could restore confidence and
cooperation among the political partners.
The first mission assigned us under this Convention is
to restore peace and security in the country. Then it will be
a question of restoring the rights of refugees and displaced
persons, that is, to facilitate their return home with the
assurance that in an initial phase they will be assured of the
basic necessities until they can provide for their own needs.
The Government also intends to initiate the economic
recovery and national reconstruction programme. However,
if our subregion continues to produce refugees and to serve
as a suitable place for illicit trafficking in deadly weapons
of war, this situation would constitute an ongoing source of
insecurity and destabilization for the countries concerned.
Last February in Bujumbura, when we hosted the Regional
Conference on Refugees, Repatriates and Displaced Persons
for the Great Lakes region, organized under the auspices of
the OAU in cooperation with the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a number of
conclusions were drawn and resolutions adopted. Today we
recognize that the road to be travelled remains a long one
because the resolutions that were adopted remain a dead
letter.
Indeed, it is important for the international community
to become better mobilized to help us eradicate the basic
causes of the continued instability and fragility of our lakes
region. In our opinion it would be necessary, first of all, for
everyone to have the same understanding of our history
and, above all, to accept it as it is. They should also give
serious consideration to lasting, definitive solutions that
must be found for this conflict situation.
For our part, we consider that the major problem in
Burundi lies in the conceptions of, access to and
management of power among the various political actors
in the national community.
We can affirm that the conflict that Burundi has
experienced is far from being ethnic, as many political
and media circles have alleged. The basis of the problem
is essentially political, which is why solutions to this
problem are condemned to be political also. We must
reject and denounce the advocates of the policy of
exclusion, segregation and extermination, which give rise
to crises, instability and repeated conflicts. We condemn
the ideology of hatred, of violence and of genocide
exploited by so many politicians who wish to attain
power or wish to remain in power at any cost.
The crisis which we are experiencing dates from the
beginning of our independence and has deep roots in the
organization and direction of the country during the
colonial period. The various regimes which have
succeeded one another in Burundi were powerless to
resolve this situation. The problem must be addressed by
the people of Burundi, assisted by the international
community and not replaced by it.
We rely on the regional Conference on Security,
Stability and Development in the Great Lakes region,
which will be organized under the auspices of the United
Nations, and which will seek to find appropriate, lasting
and definitive solutions. We should like to thank the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for having
designated an African diplomat to take charge of the
preparations for this Conference, to which my country
attaches real importance.
Moreover, my delegation appeals to neighbouring
countries to help us neutralize the efforts of those who,
working from their own territory, have endeavoured to
destabilize ours. It would indeed be illusory to want to
extinguish a fire from within when, outside, militias,
armed bands or malevolent groups are organizing and
training themselves in order to attack Burundi.
Today, the country must face attacks waged jointly
by the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People
(PALIPEHUTU), the National Liberation Front
(FROLINA), the National Council — improperly labelled
the Democratic Defence Council (CNDD) — and its
armed branch, the curiously named Forces for the
Defence of Democracy (FDD). These groups, in collusion
24

with military-political forces, are responsible for the
genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.
In addition to these attacks there is another
destabilizing force, the pirate radio station cynically
baptized “Voice of the People”, or, “Democracy Radio”,
which inculcates ethnic hatred within the Burundi
population and which is working towards the dissemination
of a neo-nazi-type ideology in this region of Central Africa
at the end of this twentieth century. We are relying on the
valuable assistance of our neighbouring and brotherly
country, with which we share geography and history and
with which we maintain the closest relations, to dismantle
this medium of hatred, which is reminiscent in many ways
of the infamous Free Radio-Television of the Thousand
Hills (la Radio-Télévision Libre des milles collines)
(RTLM), which galvanized the massacres last year in
Rwanda.
We should like to reaffirm the unswerving attachment
of the Government of Burundi to the principles of good-
neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs
of another State. We respect the bilateral, regional and
international agreements and conventions to which Burundi
has freely subscribed. In following these commitments the
Government of Burundi hopes that our immediate
neighbours and our partners will properly understand our
problems and the problems that affect our region. They
should understand the complexity and delicacy of the latter
so that in trying to help us find solutions they will avoid
pouring oil on the fire.
We know that, alone, we cannot arrive at harmonious,
satisfactory and lasting solutions, and that is why we
welcome with open arms the various forms of mediation
aimed at helping us get out of the present crisis and at
producing stability within our subregion. However, we
would not want such mediation to lead to other, unexpected
problems linked to undue interference in our internal
affairs.
We have begun a campaign for the restoration of
peace, with the support of the Government, the National
Assembly and the political parties that are signatories to the
Convention of Government. We are resolved to dismantle
the armed gangs, be they within or outside our country. But
our efforts to restore peace will be futile if we do not work
towards eradicating the phenomenon of impunity, which has
been aggravated by our country’s current crisis. In this
context, a request was sent to the United Nations to
establish an international judicial commission of inquiry
into the crimes committed in Burundi. We express our
gratitude to the Security Council for the establishment of
this commission.
Along these lines, we are planning to organize, in
the near future, a national debate on the fundamental
problems affecting the country, with a view to the
adoption of a national covenant for peaceful coexistence
between the various constituent parts of the nation and
also of a new Constitution reflecting the realities now
facing the country.
Lately, the President of the Republic, His Excellency
Mr. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, has been consulting
various socio-political groups — professionals, the
military, representatives of religious communities, women
and disaffected youth — to solicit their suggestions for
ensuring the speedy restoration of peace in Burundi. The
conclusion is inescapable: everyone aspires to peace,
justice and development. That is why our partners should
not be discouraged, nor should they despair, when it
comes to Burundi. The programme of national
reconciliation and reconstruction will require a
mobilization of appreciable funds, which Burundi alone
cannot marshal. The reinstallation and reintegration of our
displaced persons, expatriates and those who have been
dispersed, the reconstruction of the socio-economic
infrastructures that were destroyed, the training of our
young people and the relaunching of the overall
productive apparatus — these are my Government’s major
concerns.
We call upon the international community to support
us unwaveringly in order that we may implement this vast
programme. We hope that our partners will respond in a
positive way at the General Round Table of donor
countries, scheduled to be held in Geneva shortly, so that
the necessary financial resources for the reconstruction of
Burundi can be mobilized.
With respect to the Great Lakes subregion, Burundi
encourages the Government of Rwanda to continue its
policy of national reconciliation and to create the
conditions of peace and security conducive to the return
of Rwandan refugees to their homeland. For its part, the
international community must ensure that those
responsible for the genocide in Rwanda are punished in
accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security
Council. We strongly urge the countries of the subregion
to cooperate fully with the International Tribunal created
for this purpose.
25

As regards the crisis in Somalia, my country hopes
that the protagonists will agree to form a government based
on a broad consensus. We invite our Somali brothers to lay
down their arms and to work towards national
reconciliation — the only road to lasting peace — and to
devote themselves to rebuilding their country.
As for Angola, we welcome the constructive dialogue
that has been established between President José Eduardo
dos Santos and the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi. This
is a positive development, which we hope will lead to a
complete cessation of the hostilities that have taken so
many lives among the brotherly people of Angola. We also
nourish the hope that the Lusaka Peace Agreement will be
implemented strictly by the parties so that peace can be
restored to Angola. We urge the United Nations to speed up
the planned deployment of forces in the context of the
United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM
III).
We also welcome the developments in Liberia, in the
Middle East and in the former Yugoslavia. We hope that
the recent events in the former Yugoslavia will not inflame
the situation further or stand in the way of a solution,
which has been awaited for so long by the international
community.
A look at the political configuration of the United
Nations reveals a strange paradox: at a time when hotbeds
of tension are concentrated in Africa, at a time when
poverty there has broken every record and at a time when
natural and man-made disasters are proliferating, many
international forums are seeking to reduce our continent to
the status of a poor relative. At a time when the golden
jubilee of our Organization is being commemorated, Africa
is the only one of the five continents to be excluded from
permanent representation on the Security Council. But the
dangers that loom over Africa, both from within and from
outside, require that it be at the centre of deliberations and
decisions on peace and security. Aside from this reality, the
democratization of the United Nations is tantamount to a
categorical imperative. Thus we strongly urge the
establishment of a genuine parallel between the emergence
of democracy on the scale of the Member States and the
reform of the United Nations, so that Africa could be given
access to permanent seats on the Security Council. Under
the principle of democracy, the projected reforms of the
United Nations system should reserve for our continent the
lion’s share, for two reasons: first, Africa, as a vast
collective entity, has the right to permanent seats on the
Security Council; and, secondly, Africa has the right to
participate in the Council in a manner commensurate with
its numerical significance. Once this twofold requirement
has been recognized, Africa will be prepared to select
those countries that are best suited politically,
diplomatically, economically and demographically to sit
permanently on the Security Council, on behalf of the
entire continent.
On the eve of the twenty-first century, Burundi is
keenly aware that the United Nations remains the source
of salvation for the human race. My country reiterates and
reaffirms its unswerving dedication to the ideals and
objectives of the United Nations. As a concrete
manifestation of that dedication, the Government of
Burundi — even though it has borne the brunt of the
effects of the international economic situation and of its
own, two-year-long, severe national crisis — has just
disbursed more than $76,000 by way of contribution to
the regular budget of the United Nations. Nevertheless,
Burundi must stress the imperative need for the world
Organization to become an ever-present shield for peace,
security and progress. To achieve this, it must evolve with
the times and become a genuine universal forum in which
all countries, regardless of their political, economic,
geographical and economic disparities, can join together
and unite in order to take decisions on the future of
humankind.
This metamorphosis, to which the countries of the
United Nations so strongly aspire, requires of Member
States and other accredited agencies working to that end
not only the political will but also and above all the
creative genius to revitalize and breathe new life into the
Organization, allowing it to meet the challenges as this
century enters its twilight years and to adapt to the vital
issues of a planet moving inexorably into the third
millennium.


Allow me at the outset, on behalf of the
delegation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to
congratulate Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral on his election
as President of the General Assembly at this session, a
historic session that coincides with the fiftieth anniversary
of the United Nations. I am confident that under his
guidance, our session will be crowned with success.
Let me take this opportunity also to convey our
appreciation for the dynamic and effective activities
undertaken by his predecessor, His Excellency Minister
Amara Essy. We would like to express our appreciation
also for the perseverance shown by His Excellency Mr.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali in serving the common cause of all
nations for peace, national independence and
development.
This session of the General Assembly is a special
occasion for us to look back at the changes in the world
and at the growth of the United Nations over the past 50
years, since the end of the Second World War. Out of
the tumultuous course of mankind’s history in those 50
years, let us identify what has changed, what has not, and
what cannot change. Only with such a clear vision will
we be able to chart our course into the twenty-first
century and to find the confidence to build a United
Nations that can meet the expectations of all of us.
While the first half of the twentieth century has left
in the mind of mankind the haunting memories of two
dreadful world wars, in the second half of this century,
despite the fierce local wars that have taken place — such
as those in Indochina, Korea and Viet Nam — nations
have been spared the horrors of a global conflagration.
Moreover, after several decades of an unbridled arms
race, the world has chosen the course of reason, striving
for the long-term goal of general and complete
disarmament, especially with regard to nuclear weapons
and other weapons of mass destruction.
The recent indefinite extension of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons gave rise to much
hope. However, the nuclear testing undertaken right
afterwards caused disillusion in international public
opinion and has made it imperative for all nations — first
and foremost the nuclear-weapon States — to redouble
their efforts in a fully responsible manner, so as to
19

complete the comprehensive test-ban treaty in the course of
the next year.
While the threat of a new world war and a nuclear
holocaust is receding, peace and security remain elusive for
many regions and countries beset by racial, ethnic and
religious conflicts, and terrorist activities that take on
disquieting proportions. In the intractable case of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, a peaceful solution should be pursued,
without the imposition of measures, from any quarter
whatsoever, that may complicate the situation further and
cause more suffering to the multi-ethnic population of
Bosnia.
The past half-century can also be said to have been a
shining chapter in the history of the struggle of peoples to
regain their national independence, sovereignty and the
right to be the masters of their own destinies, and to strive
for well-being, freedom and equality within the
international community. The international community has
been following very closely the peace process in the Middle
East and welcomes its recent progress. Only strong political
will and respect for the fundamental national rights of the
Palestinian people and the legitimate interests of all the
parties concerned can bring about lasting stability in this
region of the world.
In practice, however, the basic and universal principles
of sovereignty and sovereign equality continue to be
ignored or violated by reason of the unequal and
undemocratic set-up of international relations and through
impositions upon, and interference in, the internal affairs of
other countries, for different reasons and with a variety of
justifications.
At the end of this twentieth century, thanks to
mankind’s achievements in science and technology and in
communication and production, and thanks also to the hard
work of all nations, our world as a whole has become more
prosperous and more alive, with the manifold increase in
material and non-material flows and exchanges, thus
facilitating better mutual understanding and closer
relationships among nations. However, our conscience
cannot rest easy in view of a reality that we cannot ignore:
the fact that one-fifth of mankind still lives in abject
poverty, and the challenges posed by the enormous gap
between the annual per capita gross national product for the
least developed countries — less than $200 — and that of
advanced industrialized countries, which is more than a
hundred times higher. Furthermore, all nations, no matter
where in the world, face global problems that threaten our
economic achievements and the progress made in
enhancing the quality of life.
Nowadays, mankind has a clearer, more holistic
awareness of development, peace and security. We
understand better the close correlation and interaction
between economic development and social development,
between internal security and external security, and
between economic, social and military security.
Another reality of the world today, which is of far-
reaching significance to each nation and individual, is the
increasing role of international law, which binds nations
and circumscribes and harmonizes the behaviour of States
through multilateral instruments and institutions. Such a
role is all the more crucial in the light of the tendency to
blur the boundaries between national and international
jurisdiction, as well as to extend the enforcement of one
country’s laws beyond its borders. Recently, international
opinion has been increasingly concerned about the fact
that the implementation of United Nations sanctions is
shifting towards punishment or retribution for private
political motives, in contravention of the purposes
originally assigned by the Charter. Nor can public opinion
remain unconcerned by the fact that sanctions in reality
affect mainly the life and health of the innocent civilian
population, and therefore cannot accept the prolongation
of sanctions regardless of their effectiveness and
consequences. In view of this, international opinion
cannot but protest the imposition of unilateral sanctions
for several decades, such as is the case of the embargo
against Cuba. We express our sincere sympathy for the
hardships experienced by the Cuban people and strongly
urge that the embargo against Cuba be lifted, and that the
relevant resolutions of the General Assembly be promptly
and effectively implemented.
In short, 50 years after the Second World War, the
world offers us a scene of vivid contrasts between
continuity and change, between stagnation and
development, between division and integration, especially
the vast and profound integration that unfolds before us
under the impact of the trend towards interdependence,
regionalization and globalization. Moreover, the powerful
vitality and steadfast determination which drive peoples
to preserve their national traditions and cultural identities
demonstrate their will to safeguard from within the
inevitable process of international integration something
stable and lasting, which links the present of each nation
to the roots of its traditions, and the need to affirm the
singularity of each society, each nation and each
20

community, and not only of each individual. The history of
the past 50 years is a clear testimony thereof.
Over the past half century, the United Nations has
weathered the tests and trials of the cold war and of the
immediate post-cold-war years to endure and grow. Its
indispensable role as a centre for harmonizing the actions
of nation States in a world characterized by rapid and
complex changes and increasing interdependence has been
recognized by all Members.
As I have mentioned, the United Nations has recorded
some encouraging achievements for peace and development,
for equality and justice. However, given the speed and
scope of changes taking place in the world, it must be
recognized that the United Nations has failed to reform and
adjust itself in keeping with the new situation and with the
trend of the times, and thus to address the needs of nations.
We are of the view that the peace-keeping operations of the
United Nations must strictly observe the principle of respect
for independence, sovereignty and non-interference in the
internal affairs of States, and should go hand in hand with
the persevering search for a peaceful solution. The United
Nations ought to draw the lessons of the successes and
failures of its recent peace-keeping operations so as to
better discharge the responsibility entrusted to it by the
community of its Member States. It is certain that in a few
weeks, during the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of
the United Nations, our Heads of State and Government
will voice the hopes that the peoples of the world place in
our Organization. For this reason, it is imperative that we
turn the United Nations into an effective instrument to serve
the common ideals and interests of mankind in the next
century. The challenge for the United Nations, as it tackles
the burning issues of today’s world, is to continue
upholding the progressive spirit enshrined in its Charter and
adequately to implement, with all due attention, both the
“Agenda for Peace” and the “Agenda for Development”,
overcoming the discrepancy between the desirable and the
possible so that the United Nations can be a true
representative — in the fullest sense of the term — of the
expectations and interests of its Members, in its structure
and organization, its agenda, its mandate and its mode of
operation. This requires that the General Assembly should
play an “essential role” as the Secretary-General reminded
us at the opening of this session, namely that by virtue of
the principle of “equal rights ... of nations large and small”,
it is the General Assembly that is endowed with the
democratic legitimacy of our global Organization.

Mr. Kittikhoun (Lao People’s Democratic Republic),
We agree with the overall thrust of the draft
declaration on the fiftieth anniversary of the United
Nations and believe that it is particularly important to
reaffirm the principles of respect for independence,
sovereignty and sovereign equality, territorial integrity and
non-interference in the jurisdiction and the internal affairs
of nations, the peaceful settlement of disputes and non-
use of force or threat to use force. At the same time, the
positive role that the United Nations has played and
should continue to play in helping nations exercise their
right to self-determination and to development should not
be forgotten. The declaration should not fail to address
two topical issues. One is the need for a Security Council
that is more effective, more representative and transparent
in its workings, while the other is the need for adequate
resources to enable the United Nations fully to carry out
its mandate. Viet Nam recognizes a plain fact of everyday
life, which is that whoever contributes more shall be
entitled to more rights. But conversely, whoever has more
rights will have to show greater responsibility. Therefore,
the richest countries should set an example by meeting
their financial obligations in full and on time, which is of
vital significance for our Organization at this juncture. We
particularly agree with the stress placed by the draft
declaration on poverty as the scourge visited upon billions
of people on our planet, as well as on the human person
as the centre of the whole development process. Those
are only some preliminary observations.
In this incredibly changing world, the Asia-Pacific
region in general and South-East Asia in particular are
entering a new era with profound changes and great
promises for peaceful cooperation and dynamic
development. Most striking is the common consciousness
and efforts of the whole region directed towards building
a peaceful and stable environment conducive to the
development of each country in the region and of the
region as a whole. As a country in the dynamic region
and a member of the Association of South-East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), Viet Nam will make positive
contributions toward those common objectives.
Viet Nam’s official membership in ASEAN since
last July, the participation of Laos and Cambodia as
observers and Myanmar’s accession to the Bali Treaty
have opened up prospects for further strengthening
cooperation throughout the region and for expanding
ASEAN into an association of all 10 countries of the
region. These are the foundation and components of a
South-East Asia of peace, stability and prosperity.
Together with the other countries concerned, the ASEAN
countries recently held the second ASEAN Regional
21

Forum, at which the participating countries agreed to
promote cooperation on an equal footing among all parties,
by taking the appropriate measures, and in the short term
by stepping up confidence-building measures in order to
consolidate peace and security in the region.
Alongside that favourable overall trend, there are
potentially destabilizing factors in the region. The dispute
in the Eastern Sea and other recent developments remain a
source of concern for countries both within and outside the
region. Regarding this issue, we would like to reaffirm once
again our position, which is that the disputes in the Eastern
Sea should be settled through peaceful negotiations in
accordance with the principles contained in the Manila
Declaration adopted by ASEAN in 1992, as confirmed at
the recent ASEAN ministerial meeting in Brunei, and in
conformity with international law, especially the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which
entered into force at the end of 1994. Pending a
fundamental and lasting solution to these disputes, all
parties concerned should maintain the status quo and refrain
from any action that might further complicate the situation,
especially the use or threat of use of force.
For Viet Nam, 1995 has been a year of great historic
significance. As we join the rest of the international
community in preparing for the fiftieth anniversary of the
United Nations, our people are solemnly celebrating several
other major events, especially the fiftieth anniversary of the
proclamation of our independence. During the past half
century, our people have endured tremendous human
sacrifice and material loss in order to safeguard our national
independence. To rebuild and develop our homeland, we
have overcome innumerable tests and trials, as well as the
extremely heavy consequences of long and fierce wars.
Thanks to the determination of the whole nation united in
mind and in action, our reform and renewal process, now
in its tenth year, has achieved major initial results, thus
making it possible to move to a new stage of development:
the industrialization and modernization of our country.
Recent years have seen the continuous development of
our economy, with an average annual growth rate of 8.2
per cent, an annual increase in exports of 20 per cent, and
a 40 per cent annual increase in foreign investment. The
standard of living is steadily improving. Economic
development is increasingly linked with social and cultural
development. Our objective is to build a strong and
prosperous Viet Nam with an equitable and civilized
society. Alongside our economic reforms, we have carried
out political reforms to build a State governed by the rule
of law, and which is of the people, by the people and for
the people. On the basis of our 1992 Constitution, we
have promulgated a series of laws, codes and legal
decrees in order ever more completely to ensure the rights
and interests of all citizens, and at the same time to create
a firm legal basis for governing the country. These all-
round achievements constitute a firm guarantee of social
and political stability and lay the foundation needed for
future sustainable development.
Along with reform in all aspects of social life, Viet
Nam has consistently pursued its foreign policy of broad
openness, the thrust of which is to diversify and
multilateralize its external relations in order to create a
stable environment and external conditions conducive to
the task of building and defending the country, and to
enhance Viet Nam’s position on the international scene.
To implement this policy, Viet Nam has established
diplomatic relations with nearly 160 countries, including
all the world’s major Powers and leading economic and
political centres. Viet Nam’s accession to full membership
of ASEAN, the signing of an agreement of cooperation
with the European Union, and the normalization and
establishment of full diplomatic relations with the United
States all took place in July this year. That was no
coincidence, but was the outcome of a whole process of
implementing a foreign policy inspired by a new spirit, by
which Viet Nam is willing to be the friend of all nations
in the international community, and to strive for peace,
national independence and development. This provides
eloquent testimony to the correctness of our foreign
policy and to its consonance with the trends of our times.
As it broadens its relations with all countries, Viet
Nam is also endeavouring consistently to improve and
strengthen relations with international organizations,
including the international financial and monetary
institutions, and is ready to participate in regional and
global cooperation organizations. Following the
normalization of its relations with the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asia
Development Bank and its participation in the ASEAN
Free Trade Area, Viet Nam is now actively preparing to
join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and
the World Trade Organization at an appropriate time. Viet
Nam continues to maintain close and effective
cooperation with the United Nations and with specialized
agencies of the United Nations system.
The achievements of its foreign policy provide a
new impetus for Viet Nam to accelerate the process of
regional and global integration, and to participate more
22

effectively in global forums and institutions, with a view to
tackling the pressing problems facing all mankind, and to
contributing meaningfully to the common endeavour of the
international community to achieve peace, national
independence, friendship, cooperation among States and
development.
Today and in the weeks to come, from every point on
the horizon, peoples of the world, regardless of language,
race or culture, are turning to this Hall, where the
representatives of 185 countries are assembled at a historic
moment marking half a century of the United Nations with
the ardent hope and expectation that the Organization will
truly enter a new era, in which its own motto, “United for
a better world” can become a reality. There is no promise
more dear to our hearts and no commitment more solemn
than our determination to prepare ourselves for the common
journey into the twenty-first century, to realize the noble
purposes of the Charter of the United Nations for a better
world and for a fairer and more reasonable world order that
will meet the ardent hopes of the present generation and
that will build a sound foundation for succeeding
generations.