At the outset
allow me to congratulate you, Madam, on your election
as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session and to wish you every success in this very
honourable and responsible position. My
commendation also goes to your predecessor, Mr. Jan
Eliasson.
I should also like to express my deepest
appreciation and praise to Secretary-General Kofi
Annan for the commitment and determination he has
shown in discharging his important duties. Concerning
the forthcoming elections for the new Secretary-
General, I take this opportunity to recall that eastern
Europe is the only region that has not been represented
in this high position. In this regard, we welcome the
candidature of Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of
the Republic of Latvia.
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 still
loom large in our memory. The fifth anniversary of this
tragedy has again filled our television screens with
horrific scenes of suffering and death. It has served to
remind us of the resolve that is necessary to combat
terrorism, which constitutes one of the most serious
threats to international peace and security.
With this in mind, Moldova fully supports the
Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted recently by
the General Assembly, and welcomes the Assembly’s
decision to continue, during the current session,
consideration of the Secretary-General’s progress
report on the prevention of armed conflict (A/60/891).
We consider that the specific measures in the Strategy’s
plan of action are comprehensive in their details and
far-reaching in their insight. We need to take practical
steps individually and collectively to implement the
provisions of the plan. Likewise, we believe that the
recommendations outlined in the Secretary-General’s
progress report will serve as guiding points for
Member States in preventing conflicts throughout the
world.
Many regional organizations have been entrusted
by the United Nations, under the provisions of Chapter
VIII of the Charter, with dealing with a number of
conflicts that are not in the focus of the Security
Council. We need a more systematic outreach to these
regional organizations. No conflict in the world should
escape the attention of the United Nations, whether or
not it is on the Security Council’s agenda.
From this perspective, we are delighted that the
General Assembly, despite opposition from some
Member States, agreed to include in the agenda of this
session a new item, item 27, proposed by Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova —
06-53609 2
GUAM: “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and
their implications for international peace, security and
development”. These unresolved conflicts continue to
impact negatively on the political, social and economic
development of the GUAM States and the millions of
people living in the region. We believe that bringing
the matter to the international community through the
General Assembly will facilitate the resolution of
conflicts in Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of
Moldova, and will not, as some fear, undermine the
existing mechanisms to negotiate settlement of these
conflicts. In this context, I should like to express on
behalf of the Government of the Republic of Moldova
deep gratitude to those countries that have supported
our initiative.
The Transdniestrian conflict is first and foremost
a product of geopolitical interests and designs. It was
unleashed with external support immediately after the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of
independence and sovereignty by the Republic of
Moldova. Unlike other internal conflicts generated and
fostered by ethnic and religious antagonisms, it has a
purely political character. The similarity of the ethnic
structure of the population on both sides of the Dniestr
river speaks for itself in this regard and cannot be
denied.
Over the years the Moldovan authorities have put
in place specific policies aimed at ensuring full respect
for the human rights of ethnic minorities, in accordance
with the highest international standards. International
organizations dealing with human rights issues have
repeatedly attested that in the Republic of Moldova all
the conditions for the preservation of the cultural and
linguistic identities of ethnic minorities have been
created. These conditions include the functioning of
many schools based on the languages of minorities, as
well as the broad use of Russian as the language of
inter-ethnic communication.
The satisfactory resolution of the Gagauz issue by
granting special status to the region concerned is one
of the greatest achievements of Moldova’s national
policy. It offers a unique example in post-cold-war
Europe of an internal conflict settled successfully by
political means. These developments, against the
backdrop of the lack of democracy and growing
criticism by the international community of the
totalitarian Transdniestrian regime of Tiraspol, have
convinced the separatist leaders to cease the political
exploitation of cultural and linguistic factors within the
negotiation process.
It should be emphasized here that the territory
controlled by the separatists is one of the few regions
of its kind in the world, one where political parties and
non-governmental organizations opposed to the
separatist regime are prohibited; where freedom of the
mass media and of opinion is non-existent; and where
other fundamental freedoms, especially those of the
native Moldovan population, are systematically
violated.
Moreover, various types of conventional
weapons, including those prohibited or restricted by
the relevant international arms control regimes,
continue to be manufactured illegally in the region.
The process of military build-up in Transdniestria is
conducted vigorously by the separatist leaders, despite
steady efforts by Moldova to reduce its military forces
and to settle the political conflict exclusively through
peaceful means, without giving up its status of
permanent neutrality.
The Moldovan authorities are determined to find
a political solution to the Transdniestrian conflict based
on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the country. This regional security problem should
be resolved through negotiations, with the participation
of key actors in the “5+2” format. The end goal of
negotiations should be the drafting of a special legal
status for the Transdniestrian region within the
Republic of Moldova. The region’s democratization
and demilitarization are indispensable conditions for
progress in the settlement process.
We have a sound road map for settling the
conflict, the Ukrainian plan, together with the
documents approved by the Moldovan Parliament in
the summer of 2005. It is important that the
negotiations resume as soon as possible, without any
preconditions. The calls for such negotiations are
strongly supported by the Republic of Moldova.
Although little progress was achieved in the four
rounds of the “5+2” negotiations, we believe it is
crucial to hold talks rather than to preserve the status
quo.
With a view to advancing the settlement process,
the Moldovan authorities have taken a number of
complementary actions. Thus, on 22 July 2005, the
Moldovan Parliament adopted the Law on Fundamental
Regulations of the Special Legal Status of Settlements
3 06-53609
on the Left Bank of the River Nistru. This law grants
Transdniestria the right to solve, independently,
problems related to legal, social and economic
development, while complying with the Constitution
and laws of the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, the
law grants the Transdniestrian region the right to have
its own legislative and executive bodies, as well as
more official languages.
In the same vein, conditions have been created to
bring the activities of Transdniestrian companies
within the legal framework of the country through their
registration with the relevant constitutional authorities,
which should allow those companies to benefit fully
from the trade preferences Moldova has with its
partners, including the European Union. That has been
possible due to a joint commitment of the Moldovan
and Ukrainian authorities to secure our common
border. The deployment on the ground of the European
Union Border Assistance Mission facilitated
cooperation between the relevant Moldovan and
Ukrainian services aimed at establishing a single
customs regime and efficiently controlling the frontier.
We are confident that this trilateral interaction will
contribute to settling the Transdniestrian problem.
We take this opportunity to inform the Assembly
that on 17 September the separatist Transdniestrian
regime held a so-called referendum on the region’s
future. We condemn this pseudo-referendum, which
flagrantly infringes the Constitution of the Republic of
Moldova, undermines the country’s territorial integrity
and defies democratic values and standards. The
Republic of Moldova is grateful to the mediators and
observers of the negotiation process — the European
Union, the United States of America, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Ukraine —
for their resolute position on non-recognition of that
farce.
We continue to be concerned about the tensions
in the security zone. The inefficiency of the current
peacekeeping mechanism dictates the need for its
transformation into a multinational peacekeeping
mission with an international mandate. We welcome
certain proposals made in this sense, and are ready to
tackle this issue, in a result-oriented manner, without
delay. With regard to the military aspect, I should
reiterate our concern and deep regret that the Russian
Federation has not yet fulfilled its Istanbul
commitments. The complete implementation of these
decisions will facilitate the process for the entering
into force of the adapted Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe. We also underline the need
for an early international inspection of depots with
ammunition in the Transdniestrian region. Monitoring
of the military-industrial enterprises in the eastern
region of the Republic of Moldova is long overdue.
This year the Republic of Moldova celebrates the
fifteenth anniversary of its independence. During these
15 years, as a Member State of the United Nations, we
have fully shared the common values, responsibilities,
achievements and setbacks of the Organization.
Nevertheless, we laid the foundations for a democratic
society where basic human rights and the rights of
national minorities are fully respected. The main
achievement has been the consolidation of the
Republic of Moldova as a peace-loving, independent
European country. The Republic of Moldova has
irreversibly chosen the way of European integration as
a strategic objective of its foreign policy. We are fully
committed to the idea of integrating into the system of
political, economic and social values of the European
Union’s family. We hope that the successful
implementation of the European Union-Moldova
Action Plan will open up for us the possibility of
elevating contractual relations with the European
Union to a new level.
In conclusion, I voice our hope that the
proceedings of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session will be conducted in a spirit of solidarity and
with a realistic and constructive approach to the
complex issues confronting the world today. The
delegation of the Republic of Moldova is committed to
contributing, alongside other Member States, to the
fulfilment of the lofty goals of the United Nations.