Turkmenistan

First of all, permit me to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, on his election to the post of President of the General Assembly. I would also like to address words of gratitude to Mr. Hennadiy Y. Udovenko for the dynamic and competent manner in which he carried out his duties as President of the previous session of the General Assembly. We have very attentively studied the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization and have a very positive opinion of it. The quiet revolution begun by the Secretary-General one year ago — the institutional reform of the United Nations — has become an irreversible process tied to the rapidly changing conditions of our new era. One of the major problems confronting the community of nations is how to better understand emerging socio-economic forces and the modalities of globalization, and how to channel them towards the fulfilment of our requirements. Acting within the framework of the United Nations, Turkmenistan is expanding the scope of its responsibilities within the world community of nations. I have the honour to inform the Assembly that yesterday, here at United Nations Headquarters, Turkmenistan signed the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Furthermore, today, during my meeting with the Secretary-General, I handed him the instrument of Turkmenistan?s accession to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, signed by the President of Turkmenistan. Although we know that accession by several countries more is still lacking for the Convention?s entry into force, Turkmenistan by its example would like to call on other States Members of the Organization to join the Convention, adding their voices in its support — or rather in support of their citizens working for the United Nations. The Secretary-General?s proposal concerning real partnerships between the United Nations and multilateral regional organizations seems to be highly relevant, because regional organizations are especially effective in early warning and preventive diplomacy, as well as in finding optimal ways to carry out globalization. The proposal on the establishment of a special unit to combat crime, terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking and money-laundering is very timely. A recent wave of terrorist acts around the world, including the bombings in Tanzania and Kenya and the killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan, requires consolidation of efforts by the world community and decisive action. Turkmenistan resolutely fights against those negative phenomena and is prepared to contribute to the implementation of special United Nations programmes aimed at eradicating these evils. Turkmenistan welcomes the strengthening of the framework mechanism for interaction among all organizations of the United Nations system. I would like to take this opportunity to express on behalf of the Government of Turkmenistan our gratitude to the missions of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other United Nations agencies, the positive results of whose work in Turkmenistan cannot be overestimated. Turkmenistan also expresses its gratitude to the donor countries supporting those programmes in our country. 28 We are gravely concerned about the continuing armed conflict in Afghanistan because it has a negative impact on the stability of the region and on its economic development. Its impact also bears on Turkmenistan, which has one of the longest borders with Afghanistan, stretching for nearly 1,000 kilometres. Turkmenistan shares the opinion that there is no alternative to a peaceful, negotiated settlement in that country and that violence gives birth to violence and will only lead the process to a dead end. That is why we in Turkmenistan believe that the road to peace in that long- suffering nation lies through political negotiations among all parties to the conflict under the auspices of the United Nations. Turkmenistan fully supports the efforts of the United Nations, its Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and his Special Envoy, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, and joint steps undertaken within the framework of the 6 + 2 mechanism. Turkmenistan?s President, Mr. Saparmurat Niyazov, maintains constant contacts regarding this matter with the Secretary-General and with the leaders of neighbouring States. Turkmenistan will continue to cooperate closely with the United Nations in this regard. Interaction among Afghanistan?s neighbouring countries, the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and all the parties concerned should lead to the termination of one of the most protracted and violent conflicts of this century. In view of the global changes that are taking place in the sphere of international relations, Turkmenistan believes that development of the Central Asian region objectively deserves the attention of the world. The States of that region have opened to the world a huge geopolitical and geoeconomic potential, enormous natural wealth, and geographical and transport opportunities. Turkmenistan is vigorously seeking alternative routes for delivery of its energy resources to international markets. In developing a strategy for the implementation of pipeline construction projects, we have proceeded and continue to proceed on the basis of various options. Pipeline infrastructure based on a variety of options will ensure an increased volume and greater diversification of energy deliveries, and will enable us to stabilize and guarantee their international distribution. There is one more issue that I would like to dwell upon in this context. It concerns inter-State pipeline routes. The problem of international pipeline routes can well be compared to that of international sea straits, which was one of the most complex political and diplomatic challenges at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today such straits ensure freedom of navigation, including for landlocked States. Their international legal recognition is called for by the economic and political interests of the world community in developing mutual relations. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, reaffirmed the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation through straits and passages in archipelago waters and the need to do so. Freedom of navigation, which existed in the past as an international custom, was legally codified as one of the most important principles of international law. In this context, of great interest are modern problems relating to the transportation of energy resources to international markets. It so happens that these enormous resources are located far away from the world markets. Usually it is landlocked nations that possess such resources, and the choice of delivery routes and the location of transnational pipelines has turned into a major problem of our times. The resolution of this problem lies at the centre of the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests of the States that own the resources, the transit States and the consumer countries. In this respect, Turkmenistan promotes the initiative of security guarantees and unimpeded transit of energy resources along international pipelines. This initiative has already been discussed with a number of State leaders, as well as with the United Nations Secretary-General. We advocate the establishment of an international legal mechanism designed to protect the interests of the producers, transit countries and the consumers. It is necessary to fully preclude the possibility of pipelines being used as a means of political pressure and economic domination. The process of globalization in international economic relations calls for the elaboration of an international convention that will govern the regime of inter-State pipelines and guarantee their functioning. Turkmenistan regards this matter as one of the most important challenges of the coming twenty-first century and is prepared to sponsor a document on this matter in the United Nations. A change in the geopolitical situation has brought about a new correlation of interests in the Caspian Sea region, thus making it necessary to elaborate new approaches for the determination of the status of the Caspian Sea. The uncertainty that exists today with respect to this issue hampers rational use of the enormous potential of the Sea by the littoral States. A majority of the Caspian Sea States today favour the option of dividing the Caspian Sea into different sectors. Turkmenistan also supports this approach, just as it had previously supported the concept of condominium. 29 What is most important to us under either of the two approaches is that the interests of all littoral States should be fully taken into consideration and that cooperation in the Caspian Sea region should be built on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. The Caspian Sea should be a sea of accord, and its wealth should be a common heritage of all littoral States, with each of them having a right to a corresponding national share of the sea. Turkmenistan believes that the search for a new legal status of the Caspian Sea, which would require all littoral States to look for reasonable compromises and display readiness to have an appropriate perception of new realities, should be ensured by means of monitoring by the United Nations. Today the process of establishing a new international legal status of the Caspian Sea confronts a number of difficulties fraught with very negative consequences for regional stability. Under these conditions we consider that United Nations involvement would be highly appropriate. We are happy to see that today there is a growing tendency towards restraint with respect to the attempts aimed at associating extremism and other negative phenomena with the world of Islam. The Muslim world is multifaceted and diverse. It faces a great range of universal and global problems of development. In this context, there emerges an objective need for mutual understanding and dialogue among various religious trends, a need for restraint and tolerance. The President of the United States, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Prime Minister of Turkey and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Germany and Russia have expressed very wise and politically promising ideas and statements during the current session. In this respect, we find of great interest the idea voiced by the President of Iran, Mr. Khatami, on declaring the year 2001 the year of dialogue between civilizations. The point is that the resolution of today?s global challenges is inconceivable without a meaningful dialogue, an exchange of opinions and a search for ways to resolve the most pressing problems. It is already three years since Turkmenistan began pursuing its policy as a State of permanent neutrality. Turkmenistan?s neutrality is not a shell that protects it from dangers and tribulations of the outside world. On the contrary, it is a position of strength that allows us to actively influence the situation in our region and the world as a whole and to develop effective international cooperation. We seek to maintain equal and equitable relations with all nations, and our national interests are pursued through economic openness and political impartiality. Proceeding from this position, Turkmenistan attaches great importance to the United Nations role as a unique international institution in which all countries of our planet have equal access to international debate and the resolution of problems that concern them. Turkmenistan believes that on the eve of the twenty- first century the United Nations should acquire additional powers and responsibilities, and strengthen its current ones, by becoming a major factor in establishing a climate of mutual respect and trust both in separate regions and the world as a whole. In conclusion, I would like to recall a proposal made by the Secretary-General regarding the holding of the General Assembly session in the year 2000 in the form of the Millennium Assembly. That Assembly would give all the Member States of the United Nations a unique opportunity to take a look into the future, to ponder how they perceive the United Nations of today and to speculate on what kind of United Nations they will support in the next century.