At the outset, I
would like to express to you. Sir, my sincere congratulations as you assume
this high post. Your election is an expression of the confidence you enjoy.
It also emphasizes the role your country, Bulgaria, plays at the regional and
world levels and reflects the relations of friendship and cooperation it has
maintained with other countries of the world.
I would like, in this connection, to commend your predecessor in the
presidency of the General Assembly, Ambassador Samir Shihabi, who conducted
the work of the previous session of the Assembly with high efficiency.
Our current session, the first to be held since our present
Secretary-General, Ambassador Boutros Boutros-Ghali, assumed his high office,
is convened at the threshold of a new era of profound change with which the
world Organization must come to grips in a manner that would enhance its
effectiveness and credibility, now that the old bipolarity has disappeared and
the burdens faced by the United Nations in every field have increased. There
is a great deal of hope set by the peoples of the world on our Organization.
In this context, I would like to pay tribute to the former
Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, whose term ended with the
conclusion of our last session.
In this hall 179 delegations are meeting. Our Organization started with
51 Member States in 1945. This increase in membership reflects the success of
the United Nations in eliminating colonialism, and upholding the right of
peoples to self-determination and independence. By so doing, the United
Nations has achieved the aim of universal membership. This is an achievement
we should be proud of and we look forward to seeing it become a launching pad
from which the Organization would proceed to translate the noble principles
and objectives of the Charter from the realm of ideas to the world of
reality.
The State of Qatar shares with all Member States the desire of
reactivating and developing the United Nations in a manner that would be
compatible with the new world situation and which would strengthen the
Organization's role in maintaining peace and stability in the world.
We believe that that desired stability will be achieved only through the
creation of effective mechanisms for resolving disputes that arise between
States either by diplomatic means, such as direct dialogue and mediation, or
by recourse to international law as applied by the International Court of
Justice.
Despite the end of the cold war and the bipolarity which were among the
causes of the arms race, arms limitation continues to be one of the main
concerns of the United Nations. It was hoped that the end of the cold war
would mean a significant and speedy reduction in the magnitude of that arms
race. However, this has not been the case. In 1990, experts estimated that
15 per cent of the aggregate of all Government budgets in the world is still
being spent on armaments and military preparedness. This is a much higher
percentage than that of expenditure on education or on health care. The
burden of military expenditure weighs more heavily on developing countries
than on industrialized countries because of the discrepancy between the two
groups of countries in the area of disposable resources.
If we look carefully into the new developments in nuclear armaments we
find that the situation is much worse. For while we go on wasting the
valuable resources which should be used for development and the building of a
better future for man, we endanger that very future with nuclear armament.
Therefore, the problem of arms control will remain one of the central issues
which the Organization will continue to address in the near future just as it
used to do in the past.
We in the Gulf region, because of what we went through during the war of
liberation of our sister State of Kuwait, have a special interest in
prohibiting chemical and other weapons of mass destruction and we attach the
greatest of hopes on the success of the Conference on Disarmament in rapidly
concluding a convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons and preventing
the spread of research and production techniques in this field in accordance
with General Assembly resolutions, particularly those adopted in the course of
its last session.
In this connection, I should like to point out the necessity of
compliance by Israel, and by all other States of the Middle East, with this
convention, both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and
with the regime of international inspection. This should in adherence to the
principles of equality and justice and the need to ensure the security of all
States of the region without bias or discrimination. Failure by any State in
the region to comply with both agreements, or the accordance of special
treatment to any of those States would render the whole endeavour void of
seriousness and effectiveness. Therefore, we call upon the international
community to ensure compliance therewith by Israel.
The question of Palestine is one of the questions that have been with the
United Nations since its inception and still awaits a solution. My country
attaches great importance to this question and hopes for rapid progress
towards its solution in the framework of the ongoing peace process.
The question of the Palestinian people and the denial by Israel of the
inalienable rights of that people is the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict and
once the solution of the question of Palestine has been achieved in a manner
that would be acceptable to the Palestinians, we will also accept it. If
Israel wants to live in peace it should withdraw, not only from the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip, but also from all the occupied Arab territories, including
East Jerusalem, the Golan and southern Lebanon, in accordance with the United
Nations Charter and relevant resolutions which stipulate the inadmissibility
of the acquisition or annexation of territories by force, and that it is
illegal to occupy the territories of others by military force.
The State of Qatar welcomes the resumption of negotiation between the
concerned parties in Washington and reaffirms its commitment to support the
peace effort and expresses its hope that a lasting, equitable and
comprehensive solution will be reached to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the
question of Palestine on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967)
and 338 (1973).
The delegation of my country wishes to voice in this world forum its deep
concern over the continued suffering of the brotherly people of Somalia and we
appeal to all Somali factions to put an end to the bloodshed, set aside their
differences and put the national interest first. My country commends the
increasing efforts made by the United Nations at present to alleviate the
suffering of that people in a bid to move towards restoring stability to that
afflicted country.
As for the situation in the Gulf, my country reaffirms its commitment to
the joint political position of its sister countries, members of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) with a view to preserving security and peace in the
region, which in turn would contribute to achieving the desired peace in the
world.
With regard to the island of Abu Mousa, it is regrettable indeed that at
this historic stage through which our region is passing such a dispute should
arise between the two neighbours, the State of the United Arab Emirates and
the Islamic Republic of Iran. Out of our deep concern for the safety and
stability of the region, we believe that this dispute should be resolved by
peaceful means, through dialogue or by recourse to the law.
The disintegration of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has led
to serious consequences that have shaken the conscience of humanity. My
country is especially concerned over the acts of aggression committed against
the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and characterized by extreme violence,
particularly against the Muslim population of that Republic, with the aim of
driving the Muslims out of their homes and country under the slogan of "ethnic
cleansing".
It is the duty of the international community to stand up to this
aggression so that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a Member
State of the United Nations, may preserve its right to freedom and
independence.
In his statement made in December 1991 after his election as
Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali cited the indebtedness of
developing countries as one of the more complicated problems which face the
world economy and which all States must address effectively and decisively.
The former Secretary-General, also, had often drawn attention to this problem,
the existence and gravity of which is not hidden from experts and from the
States that suffer from its worsening burden which weighs heavily on the
developing countries and often makes them unable to meet their economic
obligations, with dire social consequences.
It is self-evident that meeting the burden of foreign debt in every
debtor country would be at the expense of its social programmes and its
efforts to raise the-standard of living of its people and thus those poor
countries become even poorer. The problem of foreign debt must be dealt with
decisively.
The United Nations has shown its great concern over the problems of the
environment by convening the Rio de Janeiro Conference in mid-1992. Even if
that Conference did not rise fully to the level of the hopes set on it, it
marked, nevertheless, a positive beginning that could serve as a point of
departure for more effective efforts to protect the environment without
unnecessary shackles that may impede economic development in developing
countries in the name of the protection of the environment which no one
disputes.
The peoples of the world look forward to the formulation of a new world
order which would ensure world peace and rest on the foundations of
international law, the principles of justice and equality and of cooperation
and brotherhood. That new world order should not inherit the negative
attributes of the old order that led to the creation of blocs, conflicts and
polarization with all the attendant evils of underdevelopment, poverty,
backwardness, hunger, ignorance and disease. The concept of the new world
order should be wide enough to embrace international cooperation and
unshackled trade and should address the problems of economic development, side
by side with the issues of disarmament, indebtedness, environmental protection
and social problems.
If the new world order is to govern the political, economic and social
international relations between States, all States must share, on an equal
footing, in its formulation so that it may become an equitable world order
that truly represents the joint will of the international community and thus
enable the human race to build a safe and happy world, for the present and
future generations.