Lao

On behalf of the delegation of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, I would like to thank Mr. Julian Hunte, President of the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session, for his dedication and hard work and to welcome Mr. Jean Ping, Minister of State, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and la Francophonie of the Republic of Gabon, as President of the Assembly at its fifty-ninth session. On this occasion, I would also like to commend Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his tireless efforts to make the United Nations more effective, and especially for taking the initiative to establish a High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change to address United Nations reform and to propose recommendations to the General Assembly. The member States all look forward to seeing and considering those eagerly awaited recommendations. In 2000, the Millennium Declaration, a landmark document, manifested our strong will to face the most pressing challenges of our time. The Millennium Development Goals have become fundamental benchmarks in our efforts to achieve economic growth and sustainable development. Over the past four years, their implementation at the global and regional levels has proved to be successful in some countries, while many developing countries, especially the least developed, have had difficulties in attaining those goals due to unfavourable conditions. In that context, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic views the high- level plenary meeting to review the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, scheduled for next year, as a crucial opportunity for the international community to take stock of the progress made and to develop appropriate measures to secure the necessary financial resources for better achievements in the years ahead. The international situation continues to be marked by rapid and complex evolution. In that context, peace and international security must be preserved at all costs. The Non-Aligned Movement, at its ministerial conference held in Durban, South Africa, from 17 to 19 August 2004, reiterated its commitment to multilateralism in the maintenance of international peace and security. The strengthening and promotion of the multilateral process would certainly contribute to the world’s efforts effectively to address international challenges. Today, weapons of mass destruction — be they chemical, biological or nuclear — all pose major threats to peace and security at the regional and global levels and are far from being totally eliminated. 2 Therefore, we should all work collectively to ensure that those inhumane weapons disappear from the face of the Earth. Terrorism continues to bring disaster to humanity and endangers national and international security. The international community is urged to further cooperate at the national, regional and international levels in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. All acts of terrorism, wherever and by whomever committed, are criminal and unjustifiable. To that end, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic reaffirms its position to continue to cooperate with the international community based on the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and relevant international conventions. The year 2005 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Asian-African Conference. The commemoration of this golden jubilee will be a crucial opportunity to solemnly reaffirm the validity of the core principles of the Bandung spirit, which are solidarity, friendship and cooperation, and which continue to serve as an effective foundation for resolving global problems and promoting good relations among the countries and the peoples of the world. Recently, the increasingly deteriorating security situation in Iraq has been cause for concern. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic expresses the hope that a peaceful solution can be found to achieve peace and stability and to ensure the well-being of the Iraqi people. We commend the efforts being made to find a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsular issue through the convening of three rounds of six-party talks. We hope that all parties concerned will pursue those talks in order to achieve permanent peace and security in the Korean Peninsula, thus creating favourable conditions for peaceful reunification. Violence continues unabated in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. Such violence will hurt the peace efforts in the Middle East and prolong the suffering of the peoples of the region. Thus, we urge the parties concerned to engage in serious dialogue, settle their conflict and realize the vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions. Last month, at its Durban Ministerial Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement called once again upon the Government of the United States to put an end to the economic, financial and trade embargo against Cuba. That unilateral embargo, which has caused immense material losses and economic damage to the people of Cuba, runs counter to the United Nations Charter and international law. It is time that the embargo was lifted. Capitalizing on the momentum achieved at the historic international ministerial conference at Almaty, Kazakhstan, to address the special needs of landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, as Chairman of the Group of LLDCs, has spared no efforts to bring benefits to these vulnerable developing countries. We would like to convey our appreciation to eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which recognized LLDCs as small and vulnerable economies. We hope that such special recognition will be granted by other international forums and organizations, in particular the World Trade Organization, as gaining access to international markets for products of interest to our countries will significantly help to overcome our geographical handicap as landlocked States. The global illicit drug problem and related crime remain an issue of concern to the world community. Owing to its cross-border and international nature, this problem can be dealt with effectively only through international cooperation. In an effort to contribute to the fight against this scourge, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic continues to build and intensify cooperation at the national, regional and international levels. As a result, opium cultivation in our country declined significantly from 2003 to 2004, and we will strive to eliminate opium cultivation by 2005. I take this opportunity to appeal to the international community to continue to grant financial support to assist our country in addressing a number of challenges, namely the treatment of opium addicts, the creation of new and sustainable employment and the provision of necessary infrastructures to prevent former opium poppy growers from replanting. Over the past year, the Lao people of all ethnic origins, all walks of life and all religions have been living in solidarity and harmony. Social and political stability across the country remained solid. The economy enjoyed a sustained growth rate of 6.5 per cent. The poverty of the people has been gradually 3 reduced, and external relations of cooperation have been broadened extensively. Later this year, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic will be hosting the 10th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and other related summits with ASEAN dialogue partners. On that occasion, a number of important documents will be adopted, aiming to accelerate regional integration and the establishment of the ASEAN community by 2020. In its nearly 60 years of existence, the United Nations, has played its role in promoting international peace and security and socio-economic development. It has had much success. As we enter the twenty-first century, our world today is still confronted with numerous complex problems including wars, armed conflicts, terrorism, global crime, human trafficking, global warming, environmental degradation, HIV/ AIDS and other diseases and the marginalization of developing countries, in particular the three most vulnerable groups among them: the least developed countries, the landlocked developing countries and the small island developing States. The international community should cooperate and work collectively through the United Nations to address the global challenges of our time. The United Nations needs to be reformed if the Organization is to be more effective and more democratic. The General Assembly should also have an important and more active role to play in the management of world affairs. With respect to the Security Council, we wish to reaffirm the position of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, first expressed many years ago, that there should be an increase in the number of permanent and non-permanent members from the developed and developing countries, in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution and taking into account the relative importance of the various countries. In the same context, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic supports Japan, Germany and India as permanent members in a new, expanded Security Council. All this would greatly contribute to achieving our ultimate goal of making the United Nations, our universal Organization, an organization that can gain the trust and the confidence of Member States.