Tajikistan

It is a great pleasure to join in the heartfelt congratulations addressed to Mr. Jan Kavan on his election to the high post of President of the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. Undoubtedly, he will apply his extensive professional and life experience to benefit 9 this General Assembly session, so that it will give fresh impetus to the efforts of our universal Organization. East Timor and Switzerland are new Members this year. The international community welcomes them with joy. We congratulate the Governments and peoples of those two friendly nations. Every year the issues the United Nations must address become more challenging. The need for a universal organization has become especially urgent over the past decade. It is understandable. The cold war has ended and humanity has entered a new stage of development. Addressing global issues and challenges through common efforts has become a basic dimension of that new stage. Another distinctive feature is the constructive nature of such efforts. A third dimension is common understanding that all those efforts, coupled with democratization of internal societies and international relations, should bring about improved living standards for Member States. The United Nations can and must play a significant role in coordinating national, regional and international efforts in the age of globalization. Tajikistan has been a Member State for the 10 years of its new history. As the Tajik State was being established, a fratricidal conflict was sweeping the country. However, over the past five years, peace and stability have prevailed in Tajikistan. Respect for Tajik history and traditions, human rights, an atmosphere of tolerance for diverse opinions and views and focus on major concerns of the nation are all fundamental components of the peace process in Tajikistan, whose lessons could be applied in resolving conflicts in other hotspots of the world. Tajikistan, which suffered to achieve its democracy, is creating today a secular society, has a substantial foundation for its development and looks to the future with optimism. That optimistic outlook is determined by President Emomali Rakhmonov's rational and carefully considered policy of establishing good relations with Tajikistan's neighbours and by the assistance and support received from the international community. The Tajik people extend special appreciation to the United Nations, which, during the time of our difficult trials, demonstrated in the most effective manner its peacemaking and humanitarian capacities. The United Nations, working in close cooperation with the Tajik Government, is showing in Tajikistan its capacity to strengthen peace and stability. We are satisfied with the performance of the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-building in our country and believe that the experience it gained in Tajikistan can be used for the benefit of other States. The rehabilitation of the economy, the eradication of poverty, increasing the living standard and job creation are the issues that are still referred to as our country's most pressing problems. Tajikistan is a State whose social and economic development depends, to a great extent, on the international community's common and comprehensive approach to the issues of combating poverty, financing development, ensuring an equitable international trade system, eliminating ecological threats and resolving demographic problems. In that context, we invariably favour further enhancement of the role of the United Nations as the core international forum for developing such a common approach. Over the past few months, the Member States have achieved some progress in that area. Overall, we believe the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey was positive, and we are looking forward to the implementation of its resolutions. Environmental issues and issues of sustainable development are among the top-ranking items of the United Nations agenda and, appropriately, are becoming a significant component of multilateral diplomacy. The World Summit on Sustainable Development, recently held in Johannesburg was one of the major events in that area. At the Summit, the world's top policy makers analysed the progress made in the implementation of Agenda 21 over the past 10 years. The concept of sustainable development that emerged from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, was further elaborated and acquired new meaningful content. The international community faces the task of meeting the challenges established at the forum in Johannesburg. Accomplishing that task could give us hope that problems such as poverty eradication, environmental protection and ensuring social equity can be resolved in a comprehensive manner. It is our intention to make a viable contribution to implementing the World Summit resolutions. We hope 10 that international cooperation in that area will fully account for the specific conditions and economic capacities of the countries from different groups, particularly, the developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Over recent years we have witnessed a dynamic process in connection with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The number of Member States that ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is increasing. Interaction between countries in addressing desertification and land degradation issues is gaining momentum. Tajikistan has been an active participant in those important processes. We believe it is essential to consistently continue coordination of the implementation of the Conventions in order to avoid duplication and ensure effective allocation of limited international resources. Among the most valuable assets of our planet are water resources. They are at the core of both ecological balance and economic prosperity. They are an indispensable prerequisite for food production, improvement of social welfare and economic growth. However, even today many regions of the world face a shortage of fresh water. According to the Secretary- General, if current practices of water usage persist, by 2025 two thirds of the world's population will be living in a country experiencing so-called water stress. The urgency of the problem encouraged Tajikistan to propose the initiative of proclaiming the year 2003 the International Year of Freshwater. We believe that the preparation for that year and the various events planned within its framework, in particular, the Third World Water Forum, to be held in Japan in March 2003, will give Member States a good opportunity to exchange their expertise gained in applying successful patterns of water-resource management and in searching for needed finances and resources. In putting forward the initiative for the International Year of Freshwater, we expected that the major focus of the events to be held in 2003 would be on universal access to freshwater and diminishing the possibility of conflicts related to water shortage. That would make a specific and substantial contribution to achieving the goals of sustainable development. It is impossible to achieve the goals of sustainable development unless the economic component of globalization is given due attention and discrimination in economic relations is eliminated. In an environment where wealthy countries benefit from globalization and continue to get richer, while poor counties get poorer, social tensions increase and cause political extremism, including the most extreme form — namely, terrorism. Counteracting the threat of terror is a long-term endeavour, since it is a phenomenon that is alien to human civilization, and it is multidimensional and deep-rooted. In addition to uniting the will of all its participants, applying military resources and strengthening the international legal framework, the anti-terrorist coalition established following 11 September 2001 must direct its efforts towards elimination of the primary reasons for terrorism, which can be traced to unsettled conflicts and outrageous social and economic inequities. Tajikistan is actively participating in the common effort to ensure a unified international legal framework for combating terrorism. Our country has become a participant in the most universal anti-terrorist conventions. We totally support the activities of the Security Council in this area. We highly appreciate the role of the Counter-Terrorism Committee that was set up in compliance with resolution 1373 (2001), under the leadership of Sir Jeremy Greenstock; this Committee has assumed a central role in the unprecedented effort to establish a global system to counteract international terrorism. Pursuant to the authority conferred on it by the United Nations Charter, the Security Council will continue to play an active role in preventing threats to international peace and security posed by terrorism. It is essential to continue using all kinds of political, economic, financial and humanitarian measures in order to develop a comprehensive approach to the eradication of international terrorism. It is important that the development of fundamental principles to combat terrorism be enhanced at the international legal level. In this connection, we expect the General Assembly shortly to adopt a comprehensive convention on combating international terrorism, as well as to complete negotiating and adopting a comprehensive international convention on combating acts of nuclear terrorism. We believe the time has come to convene a special session of the General Assembly in 2003 to discuss all aspects of combating terrorism and to adopt consolidated decisions. At that time, we could also discuss the progress made over five years on the implementation of the decisions of the twentieth special session dedicated to the illicit production, sale and trafficking of narcotics. In view of the ever- increasing drug threat, we regard the creation of an anti-narcotics coalition of States as an issue of critical importance. The war against the international terrorist underground will not be effective until the international community makes substantial progress in its struggle against drug cartels and narco-barons. A future global system of counteracting terrorist and narcotics threats cannot be created without support from regional and subregional structures and institutions that have been active in this and other areas of international cooperation. An increase in the number of regional organizations and the strengthening of their mechanisms not only reflects an objective need for filling the lacunae in the interaction of neighbouring States, but also meets the urgent need to establish additional channels for conducting a dialogue and exchange of views on the most important issues. The large-scale operations to liberate the Afghan people from the repressive Taliban regime and measures aimed at the restoration of peace and stability in war-ravaged Afghanistan have demonstrated what can be accomplished when the United Nations and regional organizations combine their efforts. Today, our friendly neighbour, Afghanistan, continues to go through a complicated process of achieving national accord and establishing stable institutions of government and a stable political regime. The revival of an independent and peaceful Afghanistan is taking place under difficult conditions. The urgent problem of providing security still exists. The humanitarian situation also remains alarming. However, what has been accomplished by the Government of Hamid Karzai is very impressive. It is important that the United Nations continue to coordinate the international community's common efforts in strengthening the process of restoring and rehabilitating post-war Afghanistan and completing the elimination of hotbeds of international terrorism on its territory and the eradication of religious extremism and the narcotics threat. In this context, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) faces serious challenges. We believe it is necessary to continue increasing economic and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and not stop at what has been accomplished so far. The Government of Tajikistan will continue to contribute to the revival of Afghanistan through building its relations with the friendly Afghan people on the basis of friendship, mutual respect and multifaceted cooperation for the benefit of our two countries and regional security. With respect to reform of the United Nations, and regional issues, it is important to realize that neither global challenges nor most of the urgent regional issues can be dealt with successfully unless the whole United Nations system is strengthened and its core role in international affairs is reinforced. To achieve this in practice, one has to support the Secretary-General in his efforts to reform the United Nations internal system and to recruit personnel with high professional skills. The Member States should assist the Secretary-General in his efforts to expand the capacity of the Secretariat to carry out peacekeeping operations, prevent and resolve conflicts and contribute to post-conflict peace- building. Reform also implies further efforts towards democratization of the United Nations system as a whole, so that the capacities and contributions of small countries, no matter how numerous their problems, can be united with those of large States. We are firmly convinced that reforms should focus on improving the efficiency of special United Nations institutions and on the implementation of development projects. We deem it important that the United Nations reconsider the allocation of its resources, that it stop implementing programmes and projects of low effectiveness, and instead commit the freed funds to new priorities. The year that has passed since the fifty-sixth Assembly session has convincingly demonstrated that the United Nations, with its 190 Member States, is irreplaceable when dealing with international affairs. As never before, the United Nations has proven its ability to meet the most complicated challenges faced by humanity. It is our conviction that, in the twenty- first century, by cooperating with the United Nations, we will be able to create a world without destructive wars, a world that will become secure and prosperous.