1. I should like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on behalf of the Yugoslav delegation, on your election to the high office of President of the twentieth session of the General Assembly. We welcome you as an eminent statesman of our neighbour, Italy, with which country Yugoslavia enjoys the friendliest relations.
2. I should also like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to Mr. Quaison-Sackey, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ghana, who in difficult circumstances directed the work of the General Assembly at its nineteenth session with great political wisdom.
3. It gives me great pleasure to welcome in our midst the delegations of the Gambia, the Maldive Islands and Singapore. The admission of each new Member to the United Nations marks a step forward towards the universality of our Organization and the promotion of international relations based on the principles of the Charter.
4. The General Assembly is beginning its work at a moment when the international situation is rightly considered to be alarming. International relations are going through a profound crisis, while military operations are being carried out on the Asian continent, with ever increasing losses in human life and property. The very considerable results achieved on the international scene by so much effort are in jeopardy. In our opinion, urgent steps are required to halt the dangerous course that events have taken recently and the United Nations is called upon to take action to safeguard international peace.
5. The conflict in Viet-Nam is without doubt the most serious problem and one which has a tremendous and highly unfavourable impact on the international situation. War is being waged against the Viet-Namese people, who are being deprived of their right to determine their own destiny and to choose freely their social and political system. The bombing of the territory of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam constitutes a violation of the United Nations Charter and an attempt to sanction the use of force as a means of political action. For thin reason, as also because of the permanent threat of escalation of the war, we consider that this method of settling disputes is to be condemned.
6. In our view, the problem of Viet-Nam can be resolved only by negotiations based on the Geneva Agreements and on respect for the legitimate aspirations of the Viet-Namese people. It is in the interests of peace, and hence of all the Members of our Organization, that such a solution should be found as soon as possible. The cessation of the bombing of the territory of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam is, of course, the first essential step towards a political settlement and negotiations in which the National Liberation Front must participate with full rights. We hope that the wisdom of such a decision will soon be recognized by all.
7. I should like to say how glad the Government of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is that the Governments of India and Pakistan have heeded the Security Council's appeals to halt their military operations. This represents a great success in our efforts to safeguard peace in that part of the world. The continuation of the armed conflict between two great Asian countries, dangerous enough in itself, could not fail to pave the way for action by certain elements which consider that the stabilization of peace is not in their interests.
8. The Security Council's rapid action and the unanimity of its decisions reflect the general interest of Members of the United Nations in bringing this conflict to an end. Prompted by the same concern, U Thant, the Secretary-General, has once again, with devotion and determination, placed his great abilities at the service of international peace and co-operation.
9. We are convinced that the United Nations will continue to support all efforts to ensure the full implementation of the cease-fire agreements. We hope that the Governments of India and Pakistan will show the same sense of responsibility and realism in the future and will make further efforts to improve their relations in the interests of both countries and of world peace.
10. In our opinion, the present crisis in international relations is due to the resistance offered by the forces of reaction and hegemony to the elimination of any form of inequality and foreign domination. The resistance is expressed by the refusal to accept the policy of coexistence and by attempts to use economic and political power in order to maintain existing privileges and acquire new ones — which, of course, can only be achieved at the expense of the rights and interests of other peoples. Today, as in the past, ideological differences are not, in themselves, the cause of wars; in the same way, ideological affinities are not in themselves enough to prevent the outbreak of wars. Those who advocate a policy of force try to conceal their real interests beneath the cloak of those differences and to compel entire peoples to serve causes which are alien to them.
11. Certain elements of contemporary society which find it in their interest to pursue a policy of domination over other peoples, in the belief that the existence of a nuclear balance makes them safe from a devastating war, think that it is possible to practise coexistence in some parts of the world while pursuing a policy of force in others. We find such a double-headed policy inadmissible: not only is it inconsistent but, in a world that has shrunk as a result of modern technical achievements, events taking place in one part of the world have immediate repercussions elsewhere. No matter where war breaks out, it is in our vicinity. We therefore think that all peace-loving countries and people must oppose the policy of war. Today a coherent policy of coexistence among States, regardless of their size or their social system, is essential, for any war is likely to lead to a world conflagration.
12. Threatened by the spectre of war of annihilation, we all agree on the need for general and complete disarmament. In order to achieve it, however, it is essential first of all to abandon the policy of force or the threat of force as the main argument in international relations. So long as the possibility of free development is not guaranteed to all peoples, so long as claims to prescribe political and social systems for other peoples are not abandoned, so long as the policy of force in international relations and interference in the domestic affairs of other countries is not discarded, mankind will continue to live under a real threat of war.
13. The foreign policy of the Yugoslav Government, like that of the Governments of many other States, is guided by the principles of peaceful coexistence and non-alignment, the fundamental aim of which are the safeguarding of peace, the strengthening of independence and a more rapid economic development for all countries. At the same time, it is a policy of opposition to the division of the world, on any basis whatever.
14. The application of these principles amounts, in fact, to the implementation of the United Nations Charter. That is why we consider that it is of particular importance that the United Nations should continue its efforts to elaborate and codify the principles of coexistence, which would lead to a strengthening of our Organization, an improvement in international relations and the consolidation of peace.
15. The disarmament negotiations carried out both within and outside the United Nations have achieved no significant results. I think that we have good reason to consider that this situation is not due to any lack of studies or proposals but is rather the result of a lack of willingness to make a real start on the process of disarmament. It is also clear that we must seek new ways and means which would enable all countries to take part in the solution of this fundamental problem. The participants at the Conferences of Belgrade and Cairo, convinced that disarmament is the joint responsibility of all countries, declared that they were in favour of a world disarmament conference to which all countries would be invited, whether or not they were Members of the United Nations. The Disarmament Commission adopted, without opposition, a resolution welcoming the proposal of the Cairo Conference and recommending the General Assembly to examine it as a matter of urgency at its twentieth session. We think that this question should be given the highest priority in our work and we hope that the Assembly will adopt specific recommendations concerning the convening of this conference.
16. The conclusion of agreements on a number of initial measures which we believe to be essential at this time would represent important progress towards general and complete disarmament, which is still the main objective of all our efforts. That would enable us to continue the process initiated by the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty for a partial nuclear test ban. In selecting these measures, it would be logical, for understandable reasons, to give priority to nuclear and thermonuclear weapons and, in particular, to the prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons, of all nuclear weapon tests and of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, in whatever form and whatever circumstances.
17. The lack of progress towards disarmament, in the present state of international tension, threatens to open the way to a relatively rapid proliferation of these weapons. It is high time that such a development was prevented. To achieve this, however, conditions conducive to a solution of the problem of general disarmament and of nuclear disarmament in particular would have to be created.
18. Despite the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, which was unanimously adopted by the Assembly [resolution 1514 (XV)], a large number of Non-Self-Governing Territories and millions of human beings are still under foreign domination. In some of these territories, which seem to have been given a special political and strategic role and where the economic interests of some industrial countries are deeply involved, the authorities resort to brutal measures of repression which sometimes degenerate into real colonial wars. In other territories a policy of racial discrimination and segregation is followed and the African people are prevented from exercising their fundamental human rights on their own soil. The implementation of the Declaration is made particularly difficult by the fact that the colonial Powers are supported by certain States which consider that H is in their economic and political interest that the final elimination of colonialism should be postponed.
19. The Yugoslav delegation considers that the General Assembly should make fresh efforts to ensure the immediate implementation of the Declaration. It is the right and the duty of the United Nations to give its full assistance to movements fighting for national emancipation and the elimination of a system which is in flagrant contradiction to the principles of the Charter and which does considerable harm to international relations.
20. After two decades of international action designed to help the developing countries, the economic situation of those countries is growing worse. The amount of international aid granted to them remains stationary, while their economic weakness makes it easy for privileges to be retained and for foreign interests to dominate in new forms. Such a state of affairs cannot fail to have an unfavourable influence on international relations, for it is difficult to attain the degree of political unity essential for international stability if economic development widens the gap between the industrialized countries and the developing countries, bringing them into ever greater opposition. The national effort of the developing countries, although of primary importance, cannot alone suffice to make those differences disappear.
21. At the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development there was general agreement on the need to eliminate the present imbalance in the world economy — which is, in the long run, in the interests both of the industrialized countries and of the developing countries — and the need for the international community to play a greater role in that connexion.
22. Any change in the present structure of world economic relations presupposes the solution of complex international and national problems, and we are fully aware that all decisions in that connexion must be carefully prepared. What we find disturbing, however, is the fact that certain industrialized countries are apparently not prepared to start putting the recommendations of the Geneva Conference into effect. This has been obvious at the sessions of the Trade and Development Board, which did not come up to the expectations of the developing countries. In our opinion, the General Assembly should invite the Governments of Member States to reconsider their attitude to the new trade and development policy which we established by common agreement at Geneva.
23. In this year of the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations, the international situation requires that we should examine the question of the present and future role which the United Nations is called upon to play in international life. As far as my country and Government are concerned, I wish to repeat here our firm conviction that despite some inadequacies and some failures the United Nations has fully justified its existence.
24. When, last year, a period of inactivity was imposed on our Organization, the majority of Member States sought to overcome the difficulties which had arisen as quickly as possible. Also apparent were certain trends in the direction of weakening the United Nations still further. The usefulness of the Organization was disputed and there were oven demands that it should be replaced by another organization. We resolutely opposed such trends because we think that the defects in the structure and workings of the Organization can and must be eliminated by our common efforts within the United Nations.
25. We also feel that the presence of all States in the Organization serves both international peace and progress and the national interests of each country. We therefore urge that the United Nations should become truly universal. In this connexion, the question of the representation of China in the United Nations becomes particularly urgent. The legitimate right of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to represent that country in the world Organization should be recognized forthwith.
26. In the modern world, characterized as it is by rapid changes and the existence of different social systems, we need an organization which unites the different groups of countries rather than setting them one against another, an organization which is a genuine instrument of international peace and cooperation.
27. It is not only the small countries and the underdeveloped countries which need the United Nations. Today the interests of peoples and of States whatever their power and size of their territory, cannot be safeguarded solely within their national frontiers or by their own means. I think that this year there is greater agreement among us on this point. The fact that our work is going on normally confirms that the common interest in strengthening the United Nations has prevailed over the doubts regarding its usefulness and over the resistance to its growing role in international life.
28. With regard to the financial difficulties of the United Nations, we hope that they will be overcome by voluntary contributions from Member States.
29. In this twentieth year of our Organization, the present session of the General Assembly offers a timely opportunity of ensuring that our common conviction regarding the need for the existence of the United Nations and for the reaffirmation and strengthening of its role, and our determination to implement the principles of the Charter, find full expression in the achievement of genuine results during the work of this session.
30. The Yugoslav delegation will support any proposal designed to overcome the present crisis in international relations and to tackle the outstanding international problems realistically and effectively. In your efforts to help us to advance in that direction you may count, Mr. President, on our complete understanding and our full support.