Kyrgyzstan

First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly and to wish great success to the work of the fifty-eighth session under your wise guidance. I also take this opportunity to extend deep appreciation to Mr. Jan Kavan for his insightful leadership of the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. This is my second successive participation in the work of the General Assembly. In my statement last year, I supported the resolute actions of the anti- terrorist coalition in eliminating the Central Asian centre of international terrorism in Afghanistan, as well as the other measures taken by the world community to address global challenges to international peace and security. As life has demonstrated, the United Nations plays a highly positive role in organizing the common struggle against international terrorism. In this regard, the idea of giving the United Nations the lead role in guiding the global anti-terrorist coalition deserves genuine support. One of the primary objectives of my statement last year was to appeal to the United Nations to recognize, as a great event in the history of my country, the two thousand, two hundredth anniversary of Kyrgyz Statehood, as an event of international status. The resolution of the General Assembly on Kyrgyz Statehood was a powerful force in raising the national spirit of our people. For that, we are sincerely grateful to our Organization. Indeed, whenever any problems emerge at a global level, we turn to the United Nations and unfailingly get support. Recently, there have been heated discussions concerning the role of the United Nations. Some hotheads even allege that the United Nations has exhausted its potential. I believe that such ideas contradict the interests of the world community, although on the whole, I see nothing wrong with debates on this theme. Such discussions are demonstrations of democracy, to the development of which the United Nations has significantly contributed worldwide. The development of democracy at a national level involves differences of opinion and criticism of the authorities. Something similar takes place in the framework of the world community. Here, too, a 2 polarization of opinions is occurring, but in this case it is our common offspring — the United Nations — that is coming under attack. Attempts to jeopardize its role are perceived, especially by small countries, as undermining that international body which embodies the interests of all mankind. There is a wise saying: “Small countries must have big friends”. The United Nations is just such a big reliable friend. However, it is difficult to deny that the work of the United Nations is not yet ideal. Certainly its efficiency needs to be enhanced. We understand the Secretary-General’s concern for the situation of the United Nations, and we fully share his assessment of the current world situation. In this regard, the attention paid to the work of this current session of the General Assembly by many heads of State is impressive. The statements made by Mr. George Bush, the President of the United States; Mr. Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation; Mr. Jacques Chirac, the President of France; Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of Germany, as well as other heads of State, despite certain differences in approach, clearly have shown the desire to have a definite role for the United Nations in building the new world order, one that is better in keeping with the aspirations of all people on Earth. The most efficient way of overcoming disagreements in political practice is to search for compromise. We are pleased to note that the technique of compromise is playing a positive role in resolving disagreements on such a key issue for the world as the settlement of the problem of Iraq. This is an encouraging sign. We would like to stress, again, that any measures to improve the United Nations should be based solely on the idea of improving the work of the Organization. The Kyrgyz Republic is ready to support reasonable proposals on this subject, including measures to increase the efficiency of the work of the Security Council. I believe that alongside the search for ways to improve the United Nations, we should concentrate on those specific problems which will need to be resolved again in the foreseeable future. In this regard, we may look at the results of the Millennium Summit, to those vital problems that were highlighted at that time in the discerning report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan entitled, “We the Peoples” (A/54/2000), and also contained in the Millennium Declaration. These last three years have highlighted even more the importance of the issues raised at that time. Since then, the fight against international terrorism was added as one of the major challenges to international peace and security. The report of Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan to the present session of the General Assembly focuses the attention of Member States on the need to increase their efforts towards implementing the Millennium Declaration. This approach deserves very broad support. I believe that only such a universal, global organization as the United Nations is able to cope with the challenges faced by the world community. But the United Nations needs help, and we, through our joint efforts, particularly with the support of the big Powers, can accomplish this. If we do not, then we would be acting at cross-purposes and could expect a grim result. Besides common problems shared by the world community, each country has its own specific problems. Kyrgyzstan is determined to resolve its own problems through reliance on its own efforts. Addressing this Assembly, I cannot fail to stress the concentration of our efforts on advancing the democratic process. In particular, last year I put forward a national idea entitled, “Kyrgyzstan — a country of human rights”. For the development of this idea, a Democratic Code was elaborated and a Public Council of Democratic Security was established. Following the outcome of a national referendum, a new Constitution was adopted which more fully reflects the level of democracy attained as well as new challenges to its development. These measures have given a powerful stimulus to the progressive movement of our country towards a democratic system. We also attach great importance to the establishment of fair, open and responsible governance and to enhancing the effectiveness of the anti- corruption policy being pursued. This year I established the National Council on Conscientious Governance to strengthen the work being conducted in Kyrgyzstan to create an anti-corruption atmosphere in our society. We are focusing our main efforts on the fight against poverty, but the Republic cannot resolve this problem without external assistance. We highly commend the role played by the United Nations in the 3 fight against poverty, and the measures undertaken by our Organization. Again, we appeal to the world community and to the developed countries not to reduce their efforts in providing assistance to the developing countries for the purpose of overcoming poverty. In the autumn of 2002, under the aegis of the United Nations, the Global Mountain Summit was held in our capital, Bishkek. The Bishkek Global Mountain Platform adopted at the Summit has, in essence, become the outcome document of the International Year of Mountains, observed by the United Nations. The document has defined key tasks for sustainable development of the mountain regions of our planet. To address them, Switzerland has initiated creation of the International Partnership for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions. This is only the beginning; we have just set in place the first building blocks for the foundation of an institutionalized home for the mountain regions. Kyrgyzstan hopes to receive assistance from the United Nations and its family of organizations towards the establishment of an international information and educational centre for mountain States, as well as for a network for developing mountain States, with its secretariat established in Bishkek. I believe that the Kyrgyz Republic is the best possible location for this centre since most of our country is mountainous. The United Nations faces an abundance of problems. One of the most important challenges is the fight against international terrorism. Other global challenges include political and religious extremism, territorial separatism, drug trafficking and the fight against fatal illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and others. It is becoming increasingly urgent to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Kyrgyz Republic supports taking decisive measures in this respect. We believe, however, that force should be used only on the basis of Security Council decisions and in accordance with international law so as to prevent conflict and discord within the international community. Not only must global measures be taken in this respect, but efforts must be made at the regional and national levels. One good example of such efforts is the work done by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with the lead role being played by Russia and China, actively relying on the Central Asian participants. In conclusion, I should like once again to stress not only my full confidence in the United Nations, but also the determination of the Kyrgyz Republic resolutely to strive, together with our partners in the international community, for the preservation and strengthening of this Organization, which we believe most fully reflects our interests. May the Almighty help us in this work, and let all good peoples of the world join in our prayers for the success and prosperity of the United Nations.