It is a privilege and an
honour for me to address this audience and to represent
Bulgaria in its new status as a State member of the
European Union. Having subscribed to the statement
made by the Prime Minister of Portugal (see
), I would like to assure the Assembly that,
as part of the European family, my country is now even
more committed to the universal and normative role of
the United Nations in today’s globalized world.
I warmly congratulate you, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, on
your assumption of the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-second session. We are delighted
to see in the leadership of this body an outstanding
representative of a neighbouring State and of our
region, South-Eastern Europe. I reiterate that my
country fully supports the priorities you have outlined
for the work of this session. We wish you every success
in the months ahead.
Our gratitude goes to Her Excellency Sheikha
Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her leadership as
President of the sixty-first session. I also take this
opportunity to commend the dedicated and energetic
performance of the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon,
during his first nine months in office.
(spoke in French)
I would like to thank the President for having
chosen climate change as a central theme for our
debate. That world challenge calls upon all of us to
provide an immediate response based on shared but
differentiated responsibilities of Member countries. We
welcome the fact that the high-level event on climate
change held on 24 September has given considerable
impetus to future negotiations on a new international
agreement, which will benefit broadly from the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Kyoto Protocol.
Global warming is exacerbating the serious
economic and social problems that developing
countries are facing. It also threatens the
implementation of development goals set by the
international community, including the Millennium
Development Goals. In that regard, we join other
countries in supporting the recent United Kingdom
initiative calling for urgent action to meet those goals.
Bulgaria is prepared to play its part in solidarity with
developing countries.
Unfortunately, the list of serious threats to our
common security is not short. Non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, arms control and
disarmament continue to be at the forefront of the
international scene. Strengthening the regime of the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to
make it truly universal remains one of the major
priorities of our time. It is regrettable that no progress
has been achieved on the pending question regarding
Iran’s nuclear programme.
Bulgaria reaffirms its support for the United
Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms. We are
firmly committed to the process towards adoption of an
international treaty on the arms trade in the near future.
My country unambiguously condemns terrorism
and rejects terrorist ideology in all its forms and
manifestations. Terrorism cannot be linked to any
specific culture or religion. The United Nations must
continue to play a central role in mobilizing the
international community to meet this challenge and to
meet the related challenge of radicalism and political
extremism.
In order to combat terrorism, we must first
address the fundamental problems of poverty and
underdevelopment, overcome prejudices and
stereotypes and promote tolerance in a world of great
diversity. That is why Bulgaria has joined the Group of
Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations, fully
supporting other complementary initiatives as well.
The situation in Iraq continues to be a source of
concern for the international community. This calls for
the commitment of the United Nations. Bulgaria is
participating in joint efforts to ensure that Iraq will be
able to achieve its vision of a safe, unified and
democratic State.
Afghanistan is another example where a powerful
need has been felt to see increased involvement of the
United Nations, along with NATO and the European
Union, to support the difficult national reconstruction
process.
Progress towards peace in the Middle East is of
primary importance for the international community.
Bulgaria welcomes the resumption of bilateral talks
between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert
and hopes that they will lead to a just and lasting
solution in accordance with the relevant resolutions of
the Security Council and the Quartet principles.
Lebanon too continues to require a strong commitment
on our part to secure its national unity, territorial
integrity, recovery and reconstruction.
Today, the role of the United Nations is no longer
solely to maintain peace, but to ensure that peace is
firmly rooted and sustainable. The Peacebuilding
Commission is now up and running. We believe that it
has great potential, and its position vis-a-vis the
principal organs of the United Nations must be
strengthened and better defined. We see the future of
the Commission as a modern multilateral instrument
for the long-term resolution of conflicts.
The institution-building process in the Human
Rights Council has led to a compromise. We believe
that this has led to opportunities for us to make the
Council an effective international tool to promote
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.
Bulgaria fully shares the view that human life has
supreme value and invites Member States to support a
draft resolution on a moratorium on and abolition of
the death penalty.
For multilateralism to be effective, it must
involve strong partnership between the United Nations
and regional organizations. We heartily endorse the
growing interaction between the United Nations and
the European Union. The recently updated Joint
Declaration on United Nations-European Union
Cooperation in Crisis Management has provided a new
avenue for joint action. In addition, the United Nations
and the African Union are involved in an
unprecedented peace operation, the African Union-
United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, for
remedying the critical situation in Darfur. We also
welcome the pragmatic cooperation established
between the United Nations and NATO.
Various forms of regional and subregional
cooperation have always been the cornerstone of a
global system of collective security. Bulgaria is now
chairing two regional organizations: the Central
European Initiative and the South-East European
Cooperation Process. Regional cooperation in South-
East Europe has grown stronger and is gaining
momentum. The Stability Pact, which was launched at
the initiative of the European Union in 1999, has
provided important impetus. In accordance with the
concept of regional ownership, the key role today has
been assumed by the South-East European Cooperation
Process. Agreement on the creation of a regional
cooperation council secretariat has just been signed by
the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member
countries in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.
Bulgaria is now leading this process and will
spare no effort to strengthen the prospects for
European integration for the entire South-East
European region. Our priorities focus on cooperation in
sectors such as infrastructure, security, energy, the
environment, tourism, justice and domestic affairs.
The unresolved status of Kosovo has a negative
effect on security in the entire region. We regret that
the Security Council has not been able to adopt a new
resolution to replace resolution 1244 (1999) and thus to
confirm its backing for a negotiated solution on the
basis of the proposal of Special Envoy Ahtisaari.
Bulgaria steadily supports all efforts aimed at reaching,
as quickly as possible, a viable and legitimate solution
with respect to the status of Kosovo. Such a settlement
would guarantee regional peace and stability; it should
take into account the interests and the concerns of
neighbouring countries.
Thanks to the efforts deployed by the Contact
Group Troika, we now have perhaps the final chance to
find a negotiated solution. We hope that Belgrade and
Pristina will be able to take this opportunity to find a
compromise that can open the path to a new European
future. While these talks are under way, it is essential
to prevent any worsening of the situation. The
international community first and foremost the
United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe are working together with local institutions,
and they must continue to provide the necessary
instruments and the guarantees to preserve regional
stability.
Promoting democratization, stability, security and
cooperation is a major challenge in the Black Sea
region. Consistent efforts are required so that we can
arrive at a settlement of the of the frozen conflicts in
Transdniestria and in the southern Caucasus, which
continue to undermine stability and hamper regional
cooperation.
Bulgaria actively supports the formulation and
implementation of the Black Sea dimension in the
policy of good-neighbourliness with the European
Union. Major projects have been started in important
sectors such as transportation, energy, trade,
environment and border security. Stability and
predictability in this region are more important than
ever to ensure energy security in Europe and to ensure
the diversification and reliability of energy supplies to
the continent.
Bulgaria is firmly convinced that in order for the
United Nations to play its role effectively worldwide, it
must steadfastly pursue the radical reforms identified
at the 2005 World Summit. Progress was achieved at
the sixty-first session, but much remains to be done so
that the reforms meet the international community’s
hopes.
Despite the good-faith efforts of the mediators,
no tangible progress has been seen on a question that
has been discussed at length: reform of the Security
Council. My delegation supports the recommendation
to move this process forward to the negotiation phase,
with a view to reaching a broadly acceptable
compromise that would take account of equitable
geographic representation. It is obvious that reform of
the Council will not be an easy task. We will require
interim solutions at various stages over a certain period
of time. The first step, however, cannot be put off
indefinitely, because if we are unable to reform the
Security Council, then broad reform of the United
Nations will be incomplete.
A critical consideration of the implementation of
a number of pilot countries in the One United Nations
Initiative has revealed positive results. But consensus
has yet to emerge on how to further the process of
attaining system-wide coherence in the work of the
United Nations. We hope that the final outcome will
take the form of improved and increased development
assistance, which would go together with a United
Nations synergy in the concerned countries and the
competent structures.
In conclusion, we should recognize that progress
has been made in a number of reform areas. But we
have not yet achieved enough. Bulgaria expects that
the remaining tasks on the United Nations reform
agenda will be pursued energetically and without delay.
To that end we appeal to Member States to show more
flexibility on the decisions needed to ensure the
consistency of the reform process. It is in our common
interest to ensure that the sixty-second session is a
success. So let us work together and with goodwill to
make it happen.