Kazakhstan

Allow me first to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the high office of the presidency of the current session and to express confidence that, under your able leadership, the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly will be successful and fruitful. The terrorist acts in the United States, the anniversary of which we have just marked with great sorrow, prompted all mankind to pay close attention to the fundamental issues of sustainable development. The barbaric acts of international terrorists demonstrated very convincingly the fragility of the world we live in and the importance for all States to join their efforts to ensure economic development and civil rights, security and stability. The contemporary world, with all the diversity of its political and economic systems, requires, as never before, agreed and coordinated efforts by the community of nations to protect common human values, primarily the rights of all citizens to a decent life. Has mankind been able to rid itself of its own entrenched flaws — poverty, environmental pollution, disease and crime? The answer is more than evident: the community of nations has not made progress in resolving those issues. Thus, breeding grounds have been created for the spread of such dangerous phenomena as terrorism and drug trafficking, religious extremism and the illegal arms trade. Having crossed the threshold of the new millennium, mankind has been forced to exert efforts to resolve centuries-old issues and to counter new threats. The events that took place last year have changed the world and have prompted everybody to think hard about the foundations that support it. The community of nations faces a pressing task: to create a new architecture of global security based on a multi-polar world, and to set up effective mechanisms to overcome the obstacles to modern economic and political development. In our view, under these circumstances, the role and the responsibility of international institutions, primarily the United Nations, become significantly greater. Strengthening the authority of the United Nations is our common responsibility. We believe that the existing system of adopting decisions affecting the fundamental interests of mankind should never be doubted, let alone reshaped in any way. The issues of the world and peace should be considered and decisions reflecting the will and the interests of the community of nations should be adopted only within the framework of the United Nations. Grounds for the use of force against Member States should be irrefutable evidence, corroborated by international institutions, of their illegal action to disrupt the world order and to undermine global and regional security. The changed world forces us to take a fresh look at disarmament issues, primarily the consolidation of the non-proliferation regime. It is becoming more and more evident that, under these new conditions, the community of nations should focus its main efforts on preventing terrorists from getting hold of weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, joint action by Member States to continue to consolidate the non-proliferation regime and to make it universal deserve special attention. We believe that the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which binds its participants to take nuclear disarmament measures, 9 should continue to play an important role in the area of nuclear arms control. As one of the few States in the world that have voluntarily relinquished their nuclear heritage, we believe that a prerequisite for an atmosphere of trust in contemporary international relations is the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Because it attaches great significance to the preservation of peace and security in Central Asia, Kazakhstan is interested in signing, as soon as possible, a treaty creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region. Such a zone could be an important contribution by regional States to the disarmament and arms control efforts of international community. Further, additional results-oriented efforts to prevent the excessive accumulation of and illegal trafficking in small arms are no less important. It is impossible to ignore the alarming fact that 55 per cent of known small arms stocks, equivalent to 305 million pieces, are now already in private hands. In view of the need for targeted actions in this area, we express our willingness to host in Kazakhstan, in 2003, an international conference on this subject under the auspices of the United Nations. Our country, home to the Baikonur space launching pad, is well aware of the harmful effects of the militarization of outer space. Therefore, we believe that it is imperative to start, without delay, talks to prevent an arms race in outer space. From the very start, Kazakhstan has resolutely and unconditionally supported counter-terrorist actions by the international coalition. Without any doubt, its effective measures have contributed to the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan. Together with all interested States and parties, our country supports the key role of the United Nations in the post-conflict peace-building in Afghanistan. We intend to take a most active part in implementing an international aid programme for Afghanistan. Kazakhstan is cooperating successfully with the World Food Programme by using it to send its agricultural products to Afghanistan. Our country has provided the Afghan people with free humanitarian aid in the form of grain. We believe that early implementation of the decisions adopted at the Tokyo Conference will contribute to the successful solution of the Afghan problem and to the eradication of international terrorism. When we speak about Afghanistan, we cannot ignore the issue of drug trafficking. Unfortunately, that long-suffering country continues to be a main source of the proliferation of drugs that are being transported through the territories of the Central Asian States and sold on the world markets, first of all in Europe. This problem is getting more and more dangerous and requires urgent and effective measures by the community of nations. We hope that the coordinating role of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme will be strengthened. One has to realize that it is the drug trafficking that constitutes a financial basis of international terrorism. When we put up a just fight against that evil, we, unfortunately, fight its manifestations and do not pay due attention to the root cause of the phenomenon. If this state of affairs remains unchanged, curbing international terrorism will turn into an indefinite process that will exhaust all financial and political resources of the community of nations. The world community is closely watching the development of the situation in the Middle East. Interested States quite justifiably express their concern over the deteriorating chances of a peaceful settlement. We support the need to convene as soon as possible an international conference on the Middle East settlement in order to take parallel steps: to strengthen Israel's security, to strengthen Palestinian economic and political institutions and to settle the details of the final peace agreement. The international community also has to intensify its efforts to curb terrorism and meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. Since the first days of its independence, Kazakhstan has focussed its foreign affairs efforts on the creation of a security system in Asia. That goal was advanced by the first summit meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), convened in June of this year in Almaty. For the first time ever, the heads of the major Asian States came together to express their political will and interest in a joint search for ways to strengthen peace and stability in the Asian region. The adoption at the summit meeting of the final documents, the Almaty Act on the institutionalization of the CICA and the Declaration on Eliminating Terrorism and Promoting Dialogue among 10 Civilizations, has had an extraordinary significance. For the first time ever, the Asian continent has adopted documents making a significant contribution to regional and global security. Expressing our appreciation to the CICA member States for their efficient work at the summit meeting, we call on all interested States to continue their work to implement confidence-building measures in Asia. We in Kazakhstan believe that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization can become an effective tool in ensuring security and stability in the region. The main mission of that organization is to address jointly the problems of security, as well as to create effective mechanisms for trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation. The Johannesburg Summit fully highlighted the important need to overcome the antagonisms of modern economic and political development. It has become evident that with increasing globalization, the community of nations will have to pay close attention to the search for ways to ensure a more harmonious division of profits and benefits between the rich and poor among mankind. Addressing the forum in South Africa, the President of Kazakhstan, Mr. Nursultan Nazarbaev, rightly observed that without the natural and human resources of the developing countries the rich States would have never become rich. It is commonly recognized that sustainable development is the only way to ensure the survival of mankind. Therefore, Kazakhstan supports targeted and coordinated efforts by the international community to solve burning economic, social and environmental problems of the Central Asian region. We attach great significance to cooperation with the United Nations in water resources management, rehabilitation of the environmental disaster areas in the Semipalatinsk region and the Aral Sea, the preservation of biodiversity and the prevention of soil degradation and desertification. At the same time, Kazakhstan has every right to expect more effective actions in this field on the part of the United Nations. Unfortunately, our country, as well as other regional States, have yet to receive assistance that would speed up the solution of the environmental problems. Kazakhstan is interested in strengthening fruitful cooperation with the United Nations to improve regional transportation infrastructure, including within the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA). Kazakhstan is actively cooperating with its Eurasian Economic Community partners and considers that integration organization to be a very promising structure in terms of creating a common economic space for an extensive stretch of the Eurasian continent. Our country stands for a more effective Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and for making its activities more goal-oriented. We express our hope that the upcoming Istanbul summit will become a milestone in ECO's activities. The diplomatic efforts of Kazakhstan are also aimed at further strengthening political cooperation, trade and economic ties with the Central Asian States. We believe that a recently created new organization, the Central Asian Union, has an important role to play in this regard. The legal status of the Caspian Sea is becoming an increasingly important problem within the context of current international relations. The lack of consensus among the five Caspian States on the legal status of this unique water basin seriously hampers the chances of turning the Caspian Sea into a zone of peace and genuine cooperation. The issues of unrestricted navigation, the protection of biodiversity and the environment, as well as demilitarization, remain very much on the agenda. Kazakhstan has consistently called for the continuation of the preparatory work for a multilateral convention based on the consensus among the five Caspian States in order to develop secure legal safeguards providing for long-term and stable cooperation and for creating favourable conditions for attracting investments to develop the mineral resources of the Caspian Sea. In this regard, Kazakhstan attaches great significance to an agreement with Russia on the delimitation of the seabed in the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to ensure the rights of the users of the seabed subsoil, as well as to the protocol on the modified median line in this part of the sea signed in June of this year. We believe that the signing of these documents represents a breakthrough in the protracted process of the development of the legal status of the Caspian Sea. These important agreements give the green light to foreign investments in the development of the enormous mineral resources of Kazakhstan's sector of the sea. This will allow our country to join the group of leading world producers of hydrocarbons. We intend to continue our cooperation with international financial institutions and companies, thereby ensuring a favourable investment climate in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has assumed obligations with regard to the observation and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. Our country is a participant in major international human rights conventions and exerts every effort to implement them. Democracy and human rights are part and parcel of political life in Kazakhstan, which has undertaken, in complex geopolitical conditions, reforms aimed at the liberalization of the economy and at the creation of a civil society. These reforms are unprecedented for a post-Soviet State. The question of human rights, in the view of our country, should be on the agenda of inter-State cooperation. At the same time, we believe that unified standards and criteria should be used in assessing the human rights situation in a particular country. We believe that the prerogative and responsibility for the consideration of the state of affairs in this very sensitive area should rest with the United Nations. We are pinning great hopes on the activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In an increasingly interdependent world, there is no alternative to multilateral cooperation. Only jointly can we work successfully for a world without wars and conflicts, a world based on justice and prosperity. We have embraced with great enthusiasm the statement made by the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and express our support for his concept of joining efforts in order to address the key issues of modern times.