60. Allow me, first of all, Mr. President, to extend to you the congratulations of the delegation of the Socialist Republic of Romania on your election as President of the General Assembly's twentieth session. We are glad that the Assembly's work will have the benefit of the authority and competence of one of the leading figures of Italy, a country with which Romania enjoys increasingly close relations since our peoples are bound together by an affinity of language and culture.
61. I should like to associate myself with the expressions of thanks conveyed from this rostrum to Mr. Quaison-Sackey, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ghana, for his valiant efforts to carry out the duties entrusted to him as President of the nineteenth session.
62. The most striking feature of the twenty years that have passed since the establishment of the United Nations is the appearance and consolidation of a large number of independent States. This has been a long historical process, at the beginning of which some hundred years ago, may I remind you, Romania and Italy were established as modern national States at virtually the same time. This process, which was to continue and gain momentum, now embraces virtually the whole of mankind. One proof of the power and dynamism of this process was the establishment within the past two decades alone of fifty new States. At this session we have pleasure in welcoming to our Organization the most recent of these States, the Gambia, the Maldive Islands and Singapore.
63. The changes that have been made in the political map of the world are due to the struggle of the peoples for an independent existence. Fully in keeping with this historic trend, the final abolition at the earliest possible date of the last remaining forms of colonial oppression and the political and economic strengthening of the States which have recently gained their freedom have become ever more urgent objectives. On the modern international scene, these States are noteworthy for their full development as independent entities through the building of their own strong and enduring institutions, and through the implementation of national programmes of economic, cultural and social development that will enable them to make up the time they have lost under foreign domination.
64. The corollary of this objective phenomenon is the principle that it is the peoples themselves that must settle their own internal and external affairs in accordance with their aspirations to freedom and progress. This principle is a guiding rule of contemporary international life since it is indissolubly linked to the need to ensure equal rights for all States, be they large or small. It is only thus that the international community will be able to take advantage of all its material and spiritual possibilities and of the great diversity of resources and talents that all peoples wish to develop.
65. In order to take shape and organize themselves the new States have had to, and must continue to, overcome the resistance of forces which attempt to halt the march of history. In order to justify their political and, economic interference in the affairs of other States, these forces stop at nothing; they base themselves on "theories" to the effect that sovereignty and independence are outmoded concepts, and do not even shrink from armed intervention. While the form of their action may differ, the substance remains the same: denial of the right of every people to determine its own destiny, and attempts to prolong indefinitely relations based on inequality and to maintain or restore former privileges.
66. Real and lasting peace can be established only by respecting the will and the legitimate interests of peoples. History shows that any peace which does not rest on these principles is unstable and, far from extinguishing the flames of conflict, stirs them up. Every people has the sacred right to choose the course of its own political and social development and to defend its freedom against any intervention from outside. That is why, in the Romanian Government's view, it is an indispensable condition for the multilateral development of international co-operation that each people should be able to assert its separate existence and its individuality and to enjoy without hindrance all the conditions essential for its material and spiritual progress.
67. The fundamental law of the Socialist Republic of Romania embodies that concept as a constitutional principle and proclaims that Romania's foreign relations shall be based on respect for national sovereignty and independence, on equal rights and the principle of reciprocity and on non-interference in the .internal affairs of other countries.
68. At the time the Constitution was adopted, Nicolas Ceausescu, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, expressed these principles before the great National Assembly in the following words:
"The entire course of international life shows that respect for these principles is of decisive importance for the development of normal relations among States and for safeguarding the right of every nation to determine its own destiny and to conduct its own affairs as it wishes. Interference, in any form, in the affairs of other peoples inhibits their social progress, breeds tension and distrust among States, jeopardizes international co-operation, and endangers the cause of peace."
69. It is in Viet-Nam that we can see most strikingly today the aspirations of a people to freedom and independence being thwarted by a policy of force and of brutal interference. At this very moment, bombs are still raining on Viet-Nam and foreign expeditionary forces, thousands of miles from their own country, are sowing death and devastation among a people which is defending its right to a free life in a reunified country with courage and dignity. The military intervention of the United States of America in Viet-Nam constitutes a flagrant violation of the most elementary principles governing international relations, poisons the international atmosphere and gravely endangers the peace in South-East Asia and the world as a whole.
70. The Romanian delegation reaffirms from this rostrum the full solidarity of the Romanian people and Government with the heroic Viet-Namese people. The Romanian Government firmly supports the position of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and of the South Viet-Namese National Liberation Front, which, so far as solving the problem of Viet-Nam is concerned, is the sole legitimate representative of the people of that part of the country. That problem could be solved, and peace could be restored, on the basis of the agreements concluded at Geneva in 1954 through the cessation of aggressive acts against the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, the withdrawal of United States troops and armaments from South Viet-Nam, and respect of the right of the Viet-Namese peoples to be sole arbiter of their internal affairs without any foreign interference.
71. It is clear from the debates which have already taken place during this twentieth session of the General Assembly that there is a concern, which we consider justified, to make our Organization an instrument which will really bring about international co-operation and which can serve the cause of a peace based on equity and justice.
72. In the view of the Romanian delegation, ways and means of strengthening the United Nations can be found only in the principles of the Charter, in the abiding concern to reflect faithfully the realities of the contemporary world and the changes that occur in it, in full respect for the right of peoples to self-determination, and in the principle of the sovereign equality of States. The United Nations has been successful to the extent that its activities have been in harmony with the objective processes of history, and it has furthered the establishment and development of the new States to the extent that it has acted to promote the sovereign rights of the countries which have thus expressed the aspirations of their peoples to freedom and progress. On the other hand, every time it has been used to promote certain unilateral interests alien to the spirit and the letter of the Charter, the United Nations has found itself in a deadlock. Suffice it to recall in this connexion the last session of the General Assembly.
73. In the last analysis, the United Nations is only the sum of its parts, in other words of the States which, of their own free will and violation, join the Organization desiring to find a milieu in which they can assert their own personalities. The United Nations is the forum where each State should be assured of the right to make, in full equality, its own specific contribution to the search for the solutions that must be found to the great problems confronting mankind. In this regard, it should be noted that the States of Asia and Africa which have recently become independent have been given wider representation in the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.
74. Nevertheless, the United Nations still lacks one of the conditions essential for its effective operation: universality. The damage which the continuance of this situation does to the United Nations and to its ability to help in finding effective solutions to the important problems before it has long made it imperative to achieve universality in the United Nations. In its desire to make its contribution to the implementation of the basic principles that should govern the work of the United Nations, Romania has supported the inclusion in the agenda of the present session of the item entitled "Restoration of the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations" [see A/5771 and Add.1 and 2]. The refusal to restore to this great Power, a founding Member of the United Nations, the place which belongs to it by right is an illegal act which only does the United Nations harm; such major problems as disarmament and economic and social development illustrate how difficult it is to imagine that any viable solutions can be found so long as the United Nations continues to be deprived of the contribution that could be made by the representatives of one quarter of the world's population.
75. The important part which the People’s Republic of China plays in international life is an undisputed fact which is reflected in the proposals made and the action taken by its Government — including, we might mention, the proposal to convene a conference of Heads of State with a view to the prohibition and total destruction of nuclear weapons, a proposal which a great many countries, including Romania, support.
76. Proposals to improve the work of the United Nations are many and various, and the desire to overcome the difficulties connected with the functions and responsibilities of the United Nations has, at the present session, also prompted suggestions and appeals. In our view, the touchstone of all such proposals is respect for the fundamental prerogatives — the sovereignty and legal equality of all States. In that regard, it seems to us that the words spoken thirty years ago by Nicholas Titulesco, a Romanian statesman and outstanding European diplomat who was devoted to the cause of an effective international organization, are equally cogent today:
"As the international community is now organized, there is no place for a super-State. The super-State has been superseded by a voluntary association of free States which are obliged to submit to the law they have accepted in the exercise of their own sovereignty. Consequently, at the present time, international law seems to everyone to be not a law of subordination but a law of co-ordination, and the situation of each State in relation to the others seems to be not a situation of dependence but a situation of independence."
77. The discovery of atomic energy has opened up the prospect of utilizing a hitherto unsuspected force which is capable of harnessing nature and furthering human progress. While the realization of the hopes engendered by this prospect remains in the realm of the future, the present is darkened by the danger that atomic energy may be used against mankind and against the values created by mankind; the present is menaced by the spectre of nuclear war. The existence of enormous stocks of nuclear weapons heightens this danger and has a calamitous effect on international life as a whole.
78. It is our conviction, as the Romanian Government fully explained in the United Nations Disarmament Commission, in the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, and in numerous other bodies, that this situation requires us to make a major effort worthy of the confidence of the world’s peoples and equal to the nuclear peril, to eradicate this danger, and consolidate international peace and security. That is why Romania stands for the unconditional prohibition of nuclear weapons, the wholesale destruction of existing stocks, the cessation of the armaments race and the achievement of general disarmament.
79. The experience of the post-war years shows that one of the sources of international tension and mistrust between States is the existence of foreign military bases and armed forces in the territory of other States. The elimination of all foreign military bases and the withdrawal of all troops stationed in the territory of other States is essential in the interest of strengthening the peace and abolishing all forms of interference in the affairs of other peoples.
80. Romania is also in favour of the establishment of denuclearized zones in different parts of the world, against the NATO plans to establish multilateral or Atlantic nuclear forces and for eliminating military blocks and wiping out the after-effects of the Second World War through the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany, in view of the fact that there are two German States.
81. We are also in favour of the proposal to convene a World Disarmament Conference in which all States would take part.
82. Disarmament must be achieved not only because of the need to strengthen international security, but also because it is indispensable if all mankind’s material resources and energy and scientific potential are to be devoted to economic development.
83. This necessity has become still more urgent, because rapid economic progress is today one of the primary concerns of most States Members of our Organization, which wish to lay a solid economic foundation for the political independence which they have gained, and to raise the level of living of their peoples at a faster rate. This common aim has to be achieved in historical conditions which are very different in each specific case; often these conditions vary from one country to another within the same region. The variety of views expressed and of forms and methods used is a natural result.
84. In a world of sovereign nations and States, each country must, if it is to achieve the expected results, base its economic policy on a realistic evaluation of its own needs and the intensive use of all its resources. In other words, the real solutions for each country lie mainly in its own backgarden; in order to find them, it must dig with care.
85. The United Nations must continue to show a deep interest! in such an important problem as that of permanent sovereignty over natural resources.
86. Since nations and States do not live in isolation from one another, but are mutually bound by a thousand different ties, active international co-operation and the expansion of economic relations between States assume ever-increasing importance. With this in mind, the Socialist Republic of Romania has proposed the adoption of a code of principles which States should use to guide them in their mutual economic relations (see 1215th meeting, para. 106].
87. Basing itself on these considerations, the Romanian Government welcomes the exchanges of experience and views which have taken place in the great debates organized by the United Nations during the past few years. These exchanges have helped to bring about the present widespread recognition of certain fundamental requirements, such as the removal of out-of-date structures by means of land reform, industrialization and planning, the merits of which were still being questioned, even quite recently, by certain people.
88. At the same time, our Organization has an obligation to help the developing countries to implement the programmes which they wish to undertake. Romania supports United Nations activities aimed at making available to these countries the triumphs of modern science and technology, and at granting technical assistance and training specialists.
89. As I already had the honour of stating during the last session of the General Assembly, at its 1308th meeting, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which was held at Geneva in 1964, marks the beginning of a new stage in our Organization's activities in this area.
90. We believe that the newly established machinery should now go on to put into effect the proposals which were made, in order to erase the adverse effects of the continued existence of certain forms of discrimination in international trade and of the deterioration in the developing countries' terms of trade.
91. We also believe that it would be useful for the United Nations to include the human factor, the subject and purpose of all economic development, when dealing with economic matters. It also seems to us that the time has come seriously to consider the advisability of concerted action by the Organization and its specialized agencies in making a complete study of all these problems.
92. The experience of Romania in building up its economy shows that its efforts to make use of all its natural resources and all its labour potential constitute the essential basis for providing a rapidly growing population with physical and cultural living conditions worthy of our time. Guided by this principle, we have based the harmonious development of all the sectors of our national economy on industrialization. The efforts which we have made towards that end have resulted in a rate of growth of industrial production which has risen more than 14 per cent over the last six years, and our industrial output is now ten times larger than it was twenty years ago.
93. Our Government's desire for peace and the increase in our economic potential have found their expression, inter alia, in Romania's policy of expanding its economic relations with all countries, regardless of their social and political system, in the spirit of peaceful coexistence. During the last six years, the volume of foreign trade has more than doubled, at a pace considerably faster than that of the national income. We have quoted these figures because they show that the multilateral development of its national economy, undertaken as part of a steady process of industrialization, is the essential prerequisite for bringing each country more and more into the mainstream of international economic relations.
94. There is an inseparable link between the efforts to carry out a vast economic and social programme for the welfare of our people - efforts which are the principal goal of my Government's domestic policy — and the foreign policy of Romania, which is directed towards lessening international tension, developing co-operation between peoples and strengthening world peace.
95. It is only natural that the Romanian Government should pay special attention to the development of good neighbourly relations between the States situated in our region, and to do everything to further a rapprochement and mutual understanding between the Balkan States, in order to create a climate favourable to friendly co-operation in this part of Europe, that was once a trouble-spot. The improvement of the last few years in the relations between the Balkan States brings to light the opportunities which could be used for
the conclusion of treaty designed to make the Balkan countries as a zone of peace and peaceful co-operation.
96. The agenda of this session includes an item entitled "Actions on the regional level with a view to improving good neighbourly relations among European States having different social and political systems" [agenda item 33]. In the opinion of the Romanian delegation, the debate on this item should encourage better relations and co-operation in Europe. A favourable climate for the discussion and constructive solution of outstanding European questions could thus be created.
97. In our view, the General Assembly is in a position to proceed, at the present session, with the preparation of the declaration on the promotion among youth of the ideals of peace, mutual respect and understanding between peoples [agenda item 66].
98. Finally, may I stress the firm intention of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Romania, together with the other socialist countries and all peace-loving States, to make its full contribution, now and in the future, to the normalization to international relations, to the independence and prosperity of all peoples, and to peace and freedom in the world. The Romanian delegation will do everything in its power to ensure that the twentieth session of the General Assembly of our Organization contributes to the furtherance of these aims, in accordance with the interests and aspirations of the peoples of the world.