On behalf of the people and Government of El Salvador, I
would like to extend the most sincere congratulations
to Mr. Kerim on his being unanimously elected to
preside over this session and to wish him every success
in fulfilling his mandate. At the same time, I would like
to express our appreciation of the dynamic work done
by the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-
General and call on them to continue to make every
effort to strengthen the United Nations.
Allow me to express once more our gratitude for
the important role played by the Organization, in
particular its contribution to conflict resolution and to
economic and social development, as so successfully
exemplified in the peace process in Central America,
based on the 1987 Esquipulas II Agreement. Recently,
Central American countries celebrated the twentieth
anniversary of the signing of that Agreement which set
in motion the process of establishing a firm and lasting
peace in Central America with a view to achieving,
through dialogue, a peaceful solution to the Central
American crisis and promoting peacebuilding and
democratization in the region.
Following a long process of transition from war
to peace, from peace to democracy and to freedom, we
are now focusing our efforts on the implementation of
an economic and social development model that is just
and equitable. In particular, we are promoting an
integration process that will allow us to strengthen our
capabilities and combine resources to more efficiently
tackle and thus benefit from the process of opening up
to world trade.
In this context, I would like to mention, in
particular, a regional issue that has attracted the
attention of the international community and that was
referred to yesterday in the media, namely, the Gulf of
Fonseca. As President of El Salvador, I wish to inform
you that I have submitted a formal initiative to the
brother States of Honduras and Nicaragua in order to
develop a frank and sincere dialogue with a view to
ushering in a new era of cooperation in this area in
order to truly establish a joint ownership regime and
thereby facilitate the overall and sustainable
development of the Gulf Zone for all its inhabitants.
That proposal, made yesterday, was well received by
the leaders of Honduras and Nicaragua. The three
States should begin a new era of collaboration and
cooperation in order to tackle and fully resolve issues
related to the Gulf. We should not leave any problem in
the Gulf of Fonseca unresolved, whether it be by a
three-nation or a two-nation approach.
A topic of special interest for my country is
international migration, in view of its positive impact
on countries of origin and destination alike, and, in
particular, because of the significant contributions
immigrants make to the economy. Our Government is
making efforts for Salvadorians who have emigrated,
supporting them through our Embassies and
Consulates. In this respect, we greatly appreciate the
agreements and recommendations emanating from the
United Nations High-level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development, which reiterated the
necessity of fully respecting the human rights of
migrants and their families, who must be a central
concern of internal and external immigration policy of
States, including transit States.
I am pleased to confirm that the efforts I have
made in favour of Salvadorian immigrants, especially
in the United States, have yielded positive results such
as the extension of the Temporary Protected States
(TPS) programme, which guarantees work permits and
the opportunity to reside in that country with no risk of
being deported. Those efforts demonstrate my firm will
to continue spearheading initiatives and efforts in order
to stabilize migration for all of our fellow citizens.
In the Central American region, we have made
significant progress in different areas, but
unfortunately, long-standing and emerging threats
could still affect the security of our citizens and the
stability of our countries. It is therefore essential to
unite our efforts to frame suitable national, regional
and international policies.
Currently, in most of our countries, as well as in
the United States and Mexico, citizens are noting that
one of the greatest threats to democracy and economic
and social development springs from the activities of
gangs, generating a wave of violence and crime in an
open challenge to the established order. Those anti-
social groups do not conform to the patterns of
traditional or ordinary crime, but gradually evolve into
more sophisticated forms of organized crime whose
manifestations can also be seen in countries outside the
continent. Many countries represented here are not as
yet faced with this threat. However, the criminal
activities of such groups are expanding, both
substantively and quantitatively, as is actually apparent
and thus the treatment of this issue requires action and
cooperation of all States, especially in Latin America.
As for El Salvador, we are making efforts that have led
to the reduction of crime and homicide perpetuated by
such groups through joint actions involving our public
security authorities, the judicial system and the
legislative authority. At the same time, we are
coordinating efforts and adopting measures within the
framework of security policies for Central America.
We have to strengthen global cooperation in the
fight against terrorism, which is one of the greatest
threats to peace and international security. The recent
thwarted terrorist attacks in European countries and the
repeated threats by extremist groups to continue with
their terrorist actions in different parts of the world are
a grave threat and danger looming over our society.
Consequently, we welcome the efforts of Member
States of the United Nations to adopt a global counter-
terrorism strategy, giving particular importance to
preventing and combating terrorism on a unified,
coherent and coordinated basis.
The Middle East is a region in which nations
have developed different missions and supported
initiatives for a just and lasting solution to the problem,
while the United Nations itself has made undoubted
efforts to that end, which, unfortunately, have not been
successful.
We support any initiative or effort to redirect the
peace process. In particular, we welcome the initiative
to convene an international peace conference for the
Middle East in November. That initiative is a source of
renewed hope for achieving the long-awaited peace
that will allow all peoples of the region to live free
from fear, violence and destruction. It would also
establish an environment conducive to political
cooperation and to shared economic and social
development. We recognize the Palestinian people’s
right to self-determination, as well as Israel’s right to
live within secure and internationally recognized
borders, so that both peoples can live in peace.
Taiwan is a unique political reality in the
international community. It has systematically
developed, in particular in recent years, under the
leadership of President Chen Shui-bian. He has made
his country a modern, peaceful entity that is resolutely
determined to promote peace and international
cooperation. Given that reality, we acknowledge the
legitimate right of more than 23 million Taiwanese to
determine their own future, just as other peoples have
done. That is why we support the initiative to have the
General Assembly review the case of Taiwan in the
light of current global realities, acknowledging the
right of the Taiwanese to hold a referendum on joining
this international Organization.
El Salvador will continue to play an active role in
the reform process of the United Nations, which, we
reiterate, should be comprehensive. In that regard,
since States are responsible for complying with the
objectives of the Charter, we must strive not only to
achieve consensus and move towards Security Council
reform, but also to revitalize the General Assembly and
thoroughly revise the mandate of the Economic and
Social Council.
The current economic situation has improved for
some developing countries that have achieved
acceptable rates of growth. However, international
instability in prices, commodities and raw materials
in particular the high prices for petroleum is having
a negative impact on our development efforts. Indeed,
global economic short- and mid-term imbalances must
be anticipated and prevented, and require the
coordination of international macroeconomic policy
involving developed and underdeveloped countries.
In an effort to review the criteria and conditions
for the extension of international cooperation, the first
Intergovernmental Conference on Middle-Income
Countries took place in Madrid on 1 and 2 March. At
the Conference, we identified several areas for
strategic action that could guide the efforts of
international donors to contribute to the development
of that group of countries. We thank the Government of
Spain for its readiness to host the event and for the
meeting’s success. We also express our gratitude to
King Abdullah II of Jordan and his Government for
convening the summit of the Group of Eleven in May,
and in particular for the recommendation that resulted
from that forum.
Next October, my country, El Salvador, will host
the second International Conference on Development
Cooperation with Middle-Income Countries in order to
further study international measures allowing us to
meet the Millennium Development Goals. We believe
that donor countries and international financial
organizations should reassess their development
cooperation policies with the principal aim of
encouraging those countries which are responsibly
implementing transparent growth strategies that are
adequately endowed in terms of finance management
and of the quality and impact of projects. To the
middle-income countries and the entire cooperating
community, including international financial
organizations, I reiterate here our cordial invitation to
join us in the important event to take place in San
Salvador in October.
With respect to development, I would stress that,
in the past 10 years, my country has reduced the level
of overall poverty from 65 per cent to 30 per cent. One
of my Government’s priorities is and will continue to
be fighting extreme poverty, towards which we are
implementing a series of substantive social
programmes. One of the most important of those is the
Solidarity Network, through which we directly support
families living in extreme poverty, mainly in the rural
areas, by granting health and education subsidies and
by providing infrastructure, basic services and
opportunities to enter the labour market through, inter
alia, the provision of microcredit. We have also
established a special health fund through which we
have increased basic health care for the most
vulnerable sectors of the population, seeking to benefit
more than 4 million people through comprehensive
programmes to include prevention and the promotion
of health education campaigns.
While we acknowledge that progress has been
achieved and efforts made to improve the living
standards of the most vulnerable sectors of the country,
we must continue to enjoy international bilateral and
multilateral cooperation if we are to achieve higher
levels of well-being. Our Government is convinced that
the social sphere is not complementary to anything
else, but the basis of everything.
One of the most disturbing challenges to the
present and future of the international community is
global warming. In particular, as we learn in the
impressive report prepared by the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the
harmful effects of climate change on all peoples have
grown alarming in their human, material, economic and
environmental impacts, which are increasingly being
felt in countries and regions throughout the world. All
States must speedily and fully adopt corrective
measures in order substantially to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions so as to halt the trend towards
irreversible and massive environmental degradation. To
that end, we urge developed countries to join in the
efforts to curb that trend with responsibility and in a
common but differentiated manner.
Alongside international efforts for environmental
protection, the countries of Latin America, including
those of Central America, Mexico and Colombia,
members of the Puebla-Panama Plan, are undertaking
measures and coordinating regional and subregional
activities in the field of renewable and sustainable
energy as alternatives to fossil fuels. Concerned by the
instability of international hydrocarbon fuel prices, at
the previous session of the General Assembly we
proposed that the topic be included on the agenda
because of its impact on economic development, in
particular in developing countries. In the current
situation of ever-spiralling high prices, we reiterate
that proposal. We have been increasingly diverting
precious economic resources that could, in other
circumstances, be directed towards other programmes
essential to our countries’ human development.
That is why, at this global forum, we appeal to
the oil-producing countries to seek, on the basis of
international cooperation and solidarity, to implement
flexible mechanisms to prevent hydrocarbon fuel prices
from drastically impacting developing countries. We in
the United Nations cannot ignore that issue, because
countries that depend on oil could be bankrupted in the
coming years.
I must mention that, faced with high oil prices,
we are promoting several initiatives in El Salvador in
the area of alternative and renewable energy, such as
biofuels. One of those initiatives has led to the
formulation of a bill on incentives for investing in
renewable energy. We also analysed the economic and
technical feasibility of introducing a plan to produce
ethanol on a national scale. That is in addition to
stepping up thermal energy, which in El Salvador
already represents 23 per cent of energy consumption
with the entry into operation of the new plant in the
eastern part of El Salvador. Similarly, we are beginning
technical and financial feasibility studies to promote
the production of biodiesel through the establishment
of a pilot plant and the use of different crops, which
will make it possible to promote reforestation and to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, relying for this on
the direct support of the United States, Brazil and
Colombia.
We believe that Latin American and other
developing countries could contribute substantively to
global environmental conservation efforts. But efforts
will be limited if industrialized countries do not fully
assume their responsibilities when it comes to the
environment.
Lastly, I would like to recall that we are all
representatives of our respective countries and they are
the ones that we must serve and protect from the
threats that we face. We are convinced that the future
of humanity will depend on the decisions and actions
that we will adopt here and that we will implement in
areas of common global interest. We have the
responsibility and obligation to act, and this we must
do in order to avert a problem of uncontrollable
proportions.
We must understand that the future of humanity
will depend on the decisions and actions that we adopt
today, but I would like to strongly emphasize that
people reach development as a result of perseverance,
order, work, discipline and long-term vision. The
transformation process and the progress that has been
achieved in economic and social policy in the
democratic institutions of my country are the result of
the exercise of freedoms. Progress is built and gains
momentum when people work hard, persevere and
have full freedom, which makes it possible to move
towards the implementation of the greatest dream that
people have: to enjoy progress and social peace.
I invite the Assembly to combine their efforts to
consolidate freedoms in those countries that already
enjoy them and to return freedoms to countries that do
not have them or have lost them. Let us remember that
the dearest freedom is the one that we do not have, that
liberty is not missed until we lose it. Without freedom,
there is no economic and social progress. We must
work every day for freedoms that are threatened by
extreme radicalism or populist demagoguery, the seeds
that destroy freedom. God bless the world.