I am deeply honoured to
address this audience on behalf of the Republic of
Bulgaria. I would like to convey my delegation’s
congratulations to Mr. Ali Treki on his assumption of
the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
fourth session, and wish him success in the months
ahead.
Our gratitude goes to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann for his leadership and guidance during the
previous session. Let me also thank Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon for his resolute efforts to promote the
United Nations and its values.
Bulgaria fully aligns itself with the statement
made by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Fredrik
Reinfeldt, on behalf of the European Union.
Furthermore, Bulgaria would like to express its
pleasure at the election of Ambassador Irina Bokova as
the new Director-General of UNESCO. We would like
to thank all Member States for the trust invested in our
candidate. Bulgaria takes great pride in having such a
high-level representative in the United Nations system
and would like to assure the Assembly that our
Government will continue to do everything it can to
foster the policies and ideals of UNESCO.
As a member of the European Union (EU),
Bulgaria is dedicated to the spirit of multilateralism
and therefore fully supports the efforts to strengthen
the United Nations capacity to deliver effective
international responses to global challenges.
The most pressing issues that require our
attention are undoubtedly the global economic and
financial crisis and the negative impact of climate
change. In this light, we particularly appreciate the
Secretary-General’s initiative to convene the United
Nations Summit on Climate Change on 22 September.
Furthermore, I would like to express our support for
the statement made by the President of France at this
general debate. We are indeed running out of time, and
if we want to reach an agreement in Copenhagen,
timely action is needed.
In the globalized world of the twenty-first
century, my country strongly reiterates its full
commitment to the principle of effective
multilateralism based on international law, the United
Nations Charter and the United Nations system, which
place the human being and human security, rights and
dignity at the very centre of international politics.
Bulgaria considers cooperation in South-East
Europe and the Black Sea region to be a priority of its
foreign policy. Situated at a particular geographic
crossroads, Bulgaria is in a unique position to assess
the areas’ pressing issues in their complexity. Together
with our partners in the EU and NATO, Bulgaria is
proactively cooperating with its immediate neighbours.
Bulgaria strongly affirms that regional
cooperation is an integral part of European integration
of the western Balkans. It contributes to the
strengthening of confidence, stability, security and the
affirmation of European standards in the region. To this
end, Bulgaria is committed to pursuing efforts aimed at
combating and preventing the use of hate speech likely
to create fears and tensions between groups from
different ethnic, national, religious or social
backgrounds.
We therefore call for full compliance with human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the western
Balkans. In this context, Bulgaria believes that the
building of a stable, peaceful, democratic and
multi-ethnic Kosovo, living in peace with its
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neighbours, is of primary importance to the security
architecture of the western Balkans and Europe as a
whole.
Bulgaria is particularly interested in the peaceful
long-term development of the Black Sea region.
Despite active cooperation among countries in the
region, much of its potential has so far not been
utilized sufficiently. In this light, it must be said that
the South Caucasus remains a region of concern for
Bulgaria. We call upon the parties involved to
overcome their differences and to engage in a dialogue
to ensure the peaceful and prosperous development of
the entire Caucasus.
Today, it is our task not only to respond to the
challenges, but also to embrace the opportunities that
the Black Sea region provides. Bulgaria believes that
the strong Eastern dimension of the European
Neighbourhood Policy addresses the needs and
priorities of all the partners. We see opportunities for
launching projects in important sectors, such as
transport, trade, energy, environmental protection and
border security. My country is one of the main
supporters of the Black Sea Synergy initiative, which
serves as an inclusive cooperation platform between
the European Union and the countries of the wider
Black Sea region. Bulgaria will endeavour to
contribute to the success of those policies, in particular
through its forthcoming chairmanship of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation Organization.
Bulgaria would, furthermore, like to thank the
United States and our partners in the European Union
for the constructive part they have played in both the
Balkan and the Black Sea regions. We are grateful for
their counsel and support, and we very much look
forward to further deepening and intensifying our
cooperation.
The list of persistent grave risks and challenges to
global security is, regrettably, not a short one. We are
convinced of the need to step up efforts aimed at
achieving progress in the areas of international
disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, the need
for the full and universal implementation of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty regime remains of utmost
importance, and my country is dedicated to supporting
a successful outcome of the 2010 Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference.
We are deeply concerned by the recent turn of
events regarding Iran’s nuclear dossier, and, in this
respect, we strongly appeal to the Iranian authorities to
comply with relevant resolutions of the Security
Council and to provide their full cooperation to the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Bulgaria hopes
that the forthcoming negotiations between Iran and the
five permanent members of the Security Council plus
Germany (P5+1), scheduled for the beginning of
October, will make it possible to renew the discussion
on the Iranian nuclear programme and pave the way for
a comprehensive solution before December this year.
Bulgaria confirms its position that further reform
of the main United Nations bodies is necessary. We
believe it is desirable to enhance the transparency and
effectiveness of the system. Furthermore, we need only
recall the enormous challenges facing Member States
and the international community in the twenty-first
century world to see the need to reform the United
Nations.
Reform of the Security Council should certainly
be a central element in any reform of the United
Nations. We would like to reiterate our position that
both categories of membership on the Council need to
be enlarged. Furthermore, we believe that the regional
Group of Eastern European States should be allocated
at least one additional non-permanent seat.
Bulgaria is well aware of the need to pursue
international diplomacy in order to overcome existing
conflicts. As a consequence, we welcome the positive
role that the European Union plays as a mediator in
numerous conflict areas around the world. One such
area is the Middle East. Bulgaria firmly supports the
efforts of the members of the Quartet in the Middle
East peace process and believes that re-establishing
direct dialogue between the Israeli and Palestinian
delegations is of fundamental importance. Bulgaria
firmly supports the position of the European Union in
this regard and underlines the fact that a
comprehensive and lasting peace can only be realized
if the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live
peacefully, side by side, each in its own sovereign State
and in mutual recognition.
Another area where the United Nations,
supported by the European Union, has an enormous
potential to be a force for peace and stability is in
Afghanistan. Bulgaria believes that, overall, a more
comprehensive and coordinated approach in
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Afghanistan is desirable. In this light, the Bulgarian
Government thanks the Swedish presidency of the
European Union for preparing a blue book listing all
European efforts in Afghanistan with the aim of
helping improve coordination on the ground.
Together with our European Union partners,
Bulgaria is strongly committed to the cause of human
rights. As such, Bulgaria will continue to clearly
condemn all such violations of human rights as torture,
slavery, sexual abuse and female genital mutilation.
Additionally, in this light, we support the call by the
Swedish presidency of the European Union for greater
empowerment of women and gender equality.
Furthermore, we appreciate the Secretary-General’s
report entitled “Implementation of the responsibility to
protect” of January 2009 (A/63/677) as an important
and timely document, and we state our firm interest in
further discussing and elaborating on the concept. We
hope that, with the recent adoption of resolution
63/308, this concept will be implemented.
In the course of the past year, the world has faced
multiple challenges related to the global economic and
financial crisis. This crisis has had a huge impact on
virtually all sectors of our economy. Bulgaria firmly
believes that we can only overcome the crisis through
the joint efforts of all relevant actors. We are all in the
same boat, and we must all ensure that the lessons of
our past mistakes are learned and remembered. To that
end, we call for further intensification of the
cooperation between developing and developed
countries. Additional support should be provided to
developing countries in order to avoid further
aggravation of global poverty and hunger. More
broadly, we are more concerned that the global
recession might lead to a decrease in the total level of
official development assistance. Greater attention
should therefore be paid to the conclusions put forward
in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005
and the Accra Agenda for Action of 2008. Furthermore,
while we are well aware of our financial constraints,
Bulgaria, as a country that only recently emerged from
the status of a recipient of foreign aid, is committed to
live up to its international responsibilities and is
determined to be a force for peace and stability.
It is true that the efforts of the United Nations for
peace, stability and development constitute an
impressive list of achievements. It is also true that a lot
more could and should be achieved this year and in the
years to come. At the end of the day, however, the
achievements of the United Nations depend on what
we, the Member States, are willing to do. We have a
shared responsibility for the future of our planet. Only
through open and honest cooperation can we be
successful in overcoming the challenges ahead.
So let us work together, demonstrate beyond any
doubt our goodwill, flexibility and commitment, and
make this sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly
a real success.