Allow me first of all, Sir, to congratulate you sincerely on your unanimous election to the post of President of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session, and to express our confidence that under your wise and able guidance this session will successfully cope with all its historic tasks. Your election to that high and responsible post is further evidence of the burgeoning image of independent Ukraine, with which Azerbaijan enjoys an especially friendly relationship, and of its substantial contribution to the work of the Organization. I would also like to address special appreciation to Mr. Razali Ismail, whose innovative approach and high professionalism to a large extent facilitated the success of the last session and showed the irreversible nature of the radical process of reforming the Organization with a view to strengthening its effectiveness. For the past six years, the Republic of Armenia has continued its aggression against my country. Aiming to tear away and seize part of the territory of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia initiated and sponsored a separatist movement in the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Here it was gambling with the high principle of the self- determination of peoples and completely ignoring the principles of territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. Subsequently, as members know, the Republic of Armenia resorted to armed aggression against the Azerbaijani Republic, occupying a considerable part of Azerbaijan and leaving about a million people without shelter. Their later invention, the so-called Republic of Nagorny Karabakh, is nothing but a tactical trick in the strategy of Armenian politicians, which is to attach the Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic to the Republic of Armenia. The international community rejected this policy through Security Council resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), which reaffirmed that the Nagorny Karabakh region is a part of Azerbaijan. The 1996 Lisbon summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) put forward three principles for the settlement of the Armenia- Azerbaijan conflict. These were: the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia and of the Azerbaijani Republic; definition of the legal status of Nagorny Karabakh through an agreement based on self-determination and conferring on Nagorny Karabakh the highest degree of self-rule within Azerbaijan; and guaranteed security for Nagorny Karabakh and its entire population, including mutual obligations to ensure compliance by all the parties with the provisions of the settlement. Armenia was the only country out of 54 OSCE member States that rejected those principles. While 7 speaking in favour of a peaceful settlement of the conflict at the earliest possible date, the Republic of Armenia received, during the period 1993 to 1996, a vast amount of Russian weaponry, far exceeding its requirements, including tanks, armoured vehicles and SCUD missiles, worth $1 billion. This clearly demonstrates that that country has not yet given up its aggressive plans. In an address to permanent representatives of United Nations Member States during a visit to United Nations Headquarters last August, the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Heydar Aliyev, stated that Azerbaijan had been and would continue to be in favour of a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Azerbaijan is ready to provide the Armenian population of the Nagorny Karabakh region with the broadest possible autonomy, in accordance with world standards, but it will never submit to seizure of part of its territory or allow a second Armenian State to be created at the expense of its own land. Azerbaijan supported proposals submitted in September by the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Conference, the United States, Russia and France. The elaboration of a draft agreement on cessation of the armed conflict on the basis of those proposals would create a solid foundation for achieving a breakthrough in the process of finding a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan armed conflict. The reform package for the United Nations proposed by the Secretary-General is a serious and fundamental document. Azerbaijan welcomes his report (A/51/950) as a real basis for conducting reforms in order to adapt the United Nations to today’s rapidly changing demands and make it better prepared to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Azerbaijan is prepared to cooperate with all Member States and with the Secretary-General and his reform team in order to achieve the goal that has been set. We support the Secretary-General’s realistic assessment that the main aim of the present reform is to narrow the gap between the aspirations and achievements of the United Nations. We think that establishing the position of Deputy Secretary-General, setting up a Senior Management Group, creating a Strategic Planning Unit and strengthening the executive committees of the sectoral groups, together with a number of other suggestions, constitute an interesting and comprehensive approach that will ensure the harmonious management and functioning of this Organization as it tackles the new and complex tasks of the twenty-first century. We are of the view that, given the numerous pressing problems, the maintenance of peace and security throughout the world must continue to be the main mission of our Organization. In this regard, Azerbaijan welcomes and supports the Secretary-General’s ideas on strengthening the potential of the United Nations in post- conflict peace-building, with the Department of Political Affairs as the focal point for this. This matter is integrally linked to the issue of advancing the disarmament agenda. Accordingly, the idea of establishing a Department for Disarmament and Arms Regulation, which would address the reduction and regulation of armaments and weapons of mass destruction, deserves every support. With regard to disarmament as a whole, I would like to dwell on the urgent problem of the proliferation of conventional arms. The lack of norms regulating conventional arms causes serious concern. One cannot but agree with the Secretary-General when he says that such a situation creates a vicious circle, in that Member States seek assistance in the settlement of armed conflicts, while there is tough competition over arms exports, including exports to conflict areas where the United Nations is seeking to restore peace. All of this leads to the further escalation and prolongation of conflicts. The expansion of the Security Council is a pressing, acute and complex issue. We believe that any increase in the number of permanent members of the Security Council must be confined to countries with the capacity and will to assume global responsibility, including financial responsibility, for the maintenance of international peace and security, and for sustainable development and stability. In this context, Azerbaijan has on several occasions spoken in favour of the candidatures of Germany and Japan, which in our view meet those requirements. An increase in the number of non-permanent members of the Security Council should restore the principle of equitable geographic allocation of seats for all regional groups. In this connection, Azerbaijan supports an increase in the number of non-permanent members of the Security Council from the Group of Eastern European States, given that membership of the Group has doubled in the past five years. We believe that one non-permanent seat for our Group in the Security Council does not reflect the current state of affairs and is not commensurate with the role played by the members of the 8 Group in the maintenance of international peace and security. Azerbaijan also supports the approach taken to the question of equitable representation of Asian, African, Latin American and Caribbean States in the Council. The issue of the total number of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council should first be addressed from the perspective of maintaining and upgrading the efficiency of the Council. We fully support the Secretary-General’s idea that one of the main directions for United Nations reform must be to strengthen United Nations activities in the area of coordination of international cooperation for development. We are convinced that at a time when the question of more rational use of United Nations resources, including financial resources, has become a priority, the Secretary- General’s decision to focus on the activities that the United Nations can best carry out, from the standpoint both of using existing intellectual potential and of meeting the requirements of a large group of members of the international community, is very wise. The Azerbaijani Republic greatly appreciates the nature and results of its cooperation with the United Nations system in the area of socio-economic development. Since our country joined the United Nations, dozens of large-scale development projects have been implemented in Azerbaijan with help from United Nations specialized agencies. These projects have had a positive impact on the all-round transformation of Azerbaijani society. I would like to make particular mention of the establishment of a free economic zone in the third largest city of Azerbaijan, Sumgait, and the programme to rehabilitate the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation. We welcome the idea of establishing a United Nations Development Group, and we believe that strengthening coordination in the activities of the various agencies will add to the efficiency of the operational development activities of the Organization. Among the factors that could help us achieve this goal are the elaboration of a comprehensive strategy for the activities of specialized agencies vis-à-vis the recipient countries, the elimination of overlap in functions and programmes, a renewed concentration on priorities, and the improvement of partnership mechanisms with State institutions and non- governmental organizations of Member States. But all these good wishes and hopes may prove to be simply an unattainable dream if they are not accompanied by a relevant resource base. In this respect, Mr. Kofi Annan’s idea of creating a new system for mobilizing core resources for development purposes, through voluntary contributions and negotiated pledges that would be made available in multi-year tranches, is to be commended and supported. We are convinced that it is necessary to provide the broadest possible mandate for the Secretary-General’s proposed Office for Development Financing. We welcome the Secretary-General’s proposal to deepen and expand the partnership between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions with a view to strengthening cooperation and increasing the rationalization and coordination of activities. In recent years Azerbaijan has accumulated considerable experience through fruitful cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thanks to this cooperation it has been possible to improve the overall economic situation in the Republic, to curb rampant inflation and restore economic growth. Reforming the structure of the Secretariat departments dealing with social and economic matters and conferring new functions on the Economic and Social Council are, in our view, logical elements of the comprehensive reform programme proposed by the Secretary-General. At the same time, it is obvious that reform will not produce the best results if the finances of the Organization are not put into good order. Given this fact, we understand the proposal for the establishment, as a temporary measure until the Organization’s financial situation is on a solid basis, of a Revolving Credit Fund with initial capital of up to $1 billion financed from voluntary contributions or other means that Member States may wish to suggest. In this connection we also fully support the Secretary-General’s proposal to open a development account. We are also firmly convinced that reforming the personnel policy of the United Nations should be an inseparable part of the reform. We are deeply concerned by the fact that even today Azerbaijan is still not represented in the Secretariat. In recent years the world has been overwhelmed by a wave of extraordinary situations resulting from armed conflict, natural disasters and economic crises. As a 9 consequence of these situations millions of people have lost their homes, been deprived of food and basic living conditions and have become refugees and displaced persons. This issue is of particular relevance to Azerbaijan, as refugees and displaced persons in the Republic are in dire need of emergency humanitarian assistance. Recently, several regions of Azerbaijan suffered flooding as a result of continuous rainfall, which inflicted serious damage on the economy and the people. Azerbaijan greatly appreciates the humanitarian activities of the United Nations aimed at protecting and saving the victims of armed conflict and natural disasters. We fully endorse the idea contained in the Secretary- General’s report that humanitarian actions today extend beyond the mere provision of relief and also entail early warning, prevention, advocacy and rehabilitation as well as assistance for transition to long-term development. At the same time we hope that structural changes — such as the creation of the Office of the Emergency Relief Coordinator to replace the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the mobilizing of its efforts to deal more effectively with complex emergencies — will not result in a decrease in humanitarian assistance for single recipient countries that are faced with the consequences of armed conflicts, foreign aggression and occupation and that have hundreds of thousands — even millions — of refugees and displaced persons. This also applies to the suggested reforms of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), of whose Executive Board Azerbaijan is a member. We believe it necessary to maintain the independence of UNICEF in the areas of fund-raising and contacts with donors to ensure contributions for funding the programmes of the organization and accountability to donors with regard to how the funds are spent. We consider it important that the specialized agencies continue to have specific goals and mechanisms to achieve those goals. At the same time we support the proposals regarding a common starting point, close coordination and interaction, and the adoption of measures to avoid overlap and the dissipation of resources. UNICEF’s mandate includes not only the development of children, but their protection and survival. The United Nations Children’s Fund, together with such entities as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme, becomes actively involved in saving the lives of children in emergencies. There is an effective mechanism for interaction between UNICEF and humanitarian organizations, donors, Governments and local and international non-governmental organizations. We hope that the establishment of the United Nations Development Group will not weaken but, on the contrary, strengthen this function of UNICEF. We support the idea of common premises for United Nations missions at the country level, to be called “UN House”. This would certainly encourage closer and more effective interaction between specialized agencies and United Nations programmes. As for Resident Coordinators, we believe it would be expedient to select them from representatives of all interested organizations. A mechanism such as rotation should be worked out for this. We also support the idea of convening joint committees and consecutive meetings of relevant executive boards. On the eve of the twenty-first century, it is high time to consolidate the efforts of all countries for a resolute attack on crime, drug abuse and terrorism. Organized underworld groups that enjoy access to sophisticated technologies and weaponry are challenging law and order as well as economic, political and other institutions, not only in individual countries but in entire regions and throughout the world. The United Nations must be at the forefront of the battle to curtail the activities of such groups. At the same time, we need to ensure that the efforts of the international community are centralized if we are to succeed in crushing crime and drug abuse. In this context we support the idea of uniting the United Nations International Drug Control Programme with a new Centre for International Crime Prevention to create a new Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, to be located in Vienna. Ensuring human rights remains one of the most important of the Organization’s fields of activity. It is especially urgent today when the issue of human rights permeates all aspects of public life and is equally relevant to all countries and all regions of the world. Human rights are closely connected with political, economic, social and other processes. The events of recent years have demonstrated that expansionist actions on the part of some States, aggressive separatism and economic difficulties deprive States of their ability adequately to defend and ensure the human rights of their citizens. That is why the United Nations will have to strengthen its activities, exposing and neutralizing the factors that lead to human rights abuse. We approve in particular of the measures recommended by the Secretary-General with regard to existing or potential conflicts or post-conflict situations affecting human rights. 10 We believe it right to suggest that the issue of human rights must be considered to an equal degree in all four substantive fields of the Secretariat’s work programme: peace and security, economic and social affairs, development cooperation and humanitarian affairs. In the context of enhancing the work of the Organization’s divisions in the field of human rights, we commend the consolidation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Centre for Human Rights into a single Office of the High Commissioner. This will strengthen that entity and lay the groundwork for more efficient use of available human and financial resources. The Secretary-General’s report “Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform” (A/51/950) is a comprehensive and far-reaching set of changes aimed at overhauling the Organization. The quintessential idea of the report that reform should constitute a continuous and steady process, not a quick fix, is of particular significance. In conclusion, I would like to point out that the suggested measures and recommendations are aimed both at creating new structures of leadership and management and at harmonizing the activities of all bodies of the United Nations.