Mr. President, allow me first of all to congratulate you most warmly on your election to the important post of President of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session and to wish you success in your very complex task. I also wish to express our gratitude to your predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte. In our troubled times, humankind is placing its most cherished hopes on the United Nations. Here at the rostrum of this Organization, I would like to express our deep satisfaction with the resolve with which the present session of the Assembly has embarked on a policy that is a quest for effective solutions to the key problems now facing the international community. After 11 September, the highest priority unquestionably has been given to fighting international terrorism, which has now acquired the nature of a direct war. This is an evil challenge to humankind. We sincerely grieve for the innocent victims of terrorist acts, wherever they may occur. Any victim evokes sympathy, but the massacre of children in Beslan is hideously evil. The time has come for terrorists to be called to account for their criminal acts. The “terrorist international” must be faced with a united anti-terrorist front on all continents, regions and countries. It is therein that I see the key to victory. The tone was set for this session by the statement made by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. With his customary perspicacity, he emphasized that the highest value is that of the supremacy of law in domestic and foreign affairs. Genuine interest in organizing collective action to address new challenges and threats was a leitmotif of the statements made from this rostrum by United States President George Bush, the heads of several States, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, and other high- ranking representatives. Those statements were evidence of the growing confidence in our Organization and, I believe, represent a long-awaited rebuff to those who wish us ill and to sow doubts regarding the United Nations ability to resolve today’s pressing problems. A special feature of our forum today is the fact that, along with other extremely important objectives, it must serve as a preparatory stage for the sixtieth 2 anniversary session of the General Assembly. The international community has the right to expect that next year’s session will prove to be an historic event and establish new landmarks for United Nations activity. Recalling the ideals endorsed by the founders of the United Nations, and on the basis of contemporary requirements, I would propose that the anniversary session be called a summit of peace and economic and social progress. Turning now to the United Nations role in the life of my country, I should like to convey to the Organization and its specialized agencies our sincere gratitude for their support of our national efforts in all areas of State-building. My people will forever recall the decision taken at the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly in support of the 2,200th anniversary of Kyrgyz statehood. One axiom of Kyrgyz foreign policy is that small countries must have big friends. For us, the United Nations has always been such a tried and trusted friend. That is most appropriate for the development of our Republic on its path to democracy. It is well known that the electoral process is considered to be a litmus test for the level of democracy achieved in any given country. This year, with direct assistance from Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the implementation of a United Nations project in Kyrgyzstan has initiated improvements to the national electoral system with a view to ensuring that it meets international standards. That is particularly important given the election campaign now beginning to organs of power at every level in the Republic. In that context, United States President George Bush’s proposal that a fund for democracy be established within the United Nations is indeed a good one. Such a fund would substantially enhance the United Nations potential in that area. I should now like to turn to another problem. Two years ago, under United Nations auspices, the Global Mountain Summit was convened in our capital, Bishkek. In that context, too, we are most grateful for the Secretary-General’s assistance. The Bishkek Global Mountain Platform was drafted at the Summit, defining key objectives for the sustainable development of mountain countries. That important document was submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session. At this session, I wish also to draw the international community’s attention to the needs of the least developed mountain countries. The time has come to propose, on behalf of interested countries, the adoption at this session of a special resolution recommending forgiveness of the foreign debt of the least developed mountain countries. That would serve as a powerful stimulus to their comprehensive development and to overcoming poverty and would fully jibe with the objectives proclaimed in the Millennium Declaration. A draft resolution on that subject will be submitted to the General Assembly by the delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic and other delegations. In considering future prospects, I believe that the interests of all groups of countries are most fully reflected in the decisions of the Millennium Summit. I am gratified that a thorough and scrupulous analysis of the results of five years of implementation of the Millennium Declaration is being planned as a major element on the agenda of the sixtieth anniversary session of the General Assembly. I consider the war on poverty to be of great importance in that context. The link between poverty and international terrorism is indisputable. Those phenomena are organically intertwined. Unless we can overcome poverty and the mass despair and sense of hopelessness it entails, in particular among young people, our hopes for uprooting international terrorism may indeed prove futile. In seeking to eradicate poverty, Kyrgyzstan is relying above all on its own potential. We are most grateful in that respect for the assistance of the United Nations and the international community, expressed, inter alia, in the Monterrey Consensus. In that connection, we are hoping for increased assistance through the United States Millennium Challenge Account. In general, assistance for the development of poor countries could be considerably enhanced. I believe that this problem will also be duly reflected in the work of the present and anniversary sessions of the General Assembly. Earlier, I linked the eradication of poverty and the fight against international terrorism. Within the range of interlinked measures, however, a policy to eradicate international terrorism through the vigorous application of collective force is of unique significance. Within the framework of the anti-terrorist Coalition now active under United States auspices, Kyrgyzstan is making an important contribution to suppressing the ever-active hotbed of terrorism in Afghanistan. I am convinced 3 that the October elections in that country will be a very important factor in its democratic reorganization and have a positive impact on the situation in the region as a whole. In order to enhance its contribution to the international community’s war on international terrorism, Kyrgyzstan has allowed the deployment on its territory — within limited parameters, I would emphasize — of armed Russian and United States contingents. We are convinced that, in so doing, we are strengthening the interaction of those great Powers in today’s war on a common enemy. Our Kyrgyz land will continue to be a place for the great Powers to cooperate and to pool their efforts, rather than to compete. We support international action to eradicate the terrorist threat in Iraq. That has become the principal obstacle to the development of democracy and to ensuring peace in that country. We know from our own experience that this is a long and thorny path, but one that Iraq will have to take. The foundation for the international community’s actions must be the principle that, in assisting Afghanistan and Iraq in combating terrorism, establishing peace and building democracy, we are assisting ourselves. I believe that there is a need here to unmask any attempt to provide scholarly justification of any sort for international terrorism. I am referring here in particular to the concept of the clash of civilizations, which cannot be thought of as an innocent theoretical exercise. In that light, this summer, along the shores of our “blue pearl”, Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization organized a conference entitled “Eurasia in the twenty-first century: Dialogue of cultures or a conflict of civilizations?” The idea of a conflict of civilizations was firmly condemned at the conference. For my part, I believe that the term “conflict of civilizations” should be erased from the global political lexicon as unfounded theoretically and harmful in practice. I note with satisfaction that, in his statement at this session, President Bush rejected the concept of a conflict of civilizations. The future belongs to the dialogue of cultures and civilizations. In conclusion, I wish to address the issue of United Nations reform. Kyrgyzstan supports proposals aimed at bringing the Organization ever more closely in line with the realities of the twenty-first century, particularly with respect to the role of the Security Council. In that regard, I believe that the United Nations at its anniversary session can and must decide to include Germany and Japan among the permanent members of the Council. We also support the expansion of the permanent and non-permanent categories of Council membership on the basis of the principle of equal geographic distribution. The enhancement of the United Nations peacekeeping potential is another positive concept. Kyrgyzstan will continue to respond positively to requests for its personnel in efforts to attain those goals. Lastly, Kyrgyzstan and other countries of Central Asia, in cooperation with Russia and China, intend to continue to support the international community’s efforts to counter international terrorism and to meet other global challenges and threats through active regional measures. Evidence of our resolve is the growing role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Organization. From this high rostrum, I reaffirm that Kyrgyzstan, in a spirit of unwavering dedication to the principles and purposes of the United Nations, will continue to be a reliable link in the international community’s efforts to ensure peace, security and prosperity for all peoples of this planet.