United Arab Emirates, 1997

It gives me pleasure to extend to the

President and to the members of the General Committee, on

behalf of the delegation of the United Arab Emirates, our

congratulations on his election to the presidency of the

fifty-second session of the General Assembly. His

experience and diplomatic skills will undoubtedly contribute

to the success of its work. I would also like to express our

appreciation to his predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail,

the Permanent Representative of Malaysia, who conducted

the work of the previous session with distinction.

I take this opportunity also to congratulate His

Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan on his election as Secretary-

General of the United Nations. We are confident that his

vast experience in international affairs and his competence

and expertise will strengthen the role of the Organization in

achieving international peace and security. I am also

pleased to express, once again, our deep appreciation to the

previous Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, whose efforts had a positive and concrete

impact on the progress of the work of the world

Organization.

The present session is of special importance because

of the major changes taking place on the world scene and

the attendant far-reaching developments and transitions in

the political, economic, social and environmental fields.

Despite the state of openness that has characterized

international relations, the success achieved in resolving

some conflicts and the emergence of indications of relative

improvement in the growth of the world economy, we are

still facing new types of challenges. The most serious of

these are reflected in racial, ideological, and ethnic

conflicts and civil wars; the aggravation of poverty

situations; human rights violations; violence; terrorism;

and drugs. All of these have a negative effect on national

security, the sovereignty of States and economic and

social development. These challenges require cooperation

and coordination between States at the bilateral, regional

and international levels.

The important role played by the United Nations and

its specialized agencies in dealing with these new

developments as a whole is now the major incentive for

consolidating its permanence, supporting its objectives

and upholding its Charter. This means that, more than

ever before, we must provide it with the political,

financial and moral support that will enable it to respond

appropriately and promptly to emerging global needs.

Having studied the report of the Secretary-General

on the reform and renewal of the United Nations, the

delegation of the United Arab Emirates welcomes in

principle its recommendations and proposals aimed at

strengthening and developing the work of the

Organization and adapting it to the realities of the

present-day world. At the same time, however, we wish

to stress the importance of having the reforms reflect the

aspirations of the countries of the world, particularly the

developing countries, in achieving sustainable

development and in promoting peace and security,

stability and growth.

We also support the international efforts aimed at

enlarging and restructuring the Security Council and

improving its rules of procedure with a view to ensuring

equitable geographical representation and equality among

States, achieving transparency and objectivity in the

adoption of its resolutions and the follow-up to their

implementation, and preventing double standards, which

have proved to be too dangerous in many issues of peace

and security. In addition, we support all proposals calling

for the strengthening of cooperation and coordination

between the General Assembly, the Security Council and

the Economic and Social Council and for widening the

circle of dialogue and negotiations with regional

organizations in order to achieve a broader, more

effective and more comprehensive consensus for the

appropriate approach to reform and renewal.

Despite the initiatives and the relentless efforts of

members of the Gulf Cooperation Council during the past

few years to contain the devastating effects of the

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conflicts in the Arab Gulf region, which has great

importance to regional and international strategies, and their

continuing endeavour to support progress towards joint

reconstruction and cooperation, the unstable political and

security conditions in the region remain a source of concern

for us. Such a situation therefore requires the establishment

of a balance based on a firm political will to support all

regional arrangements aimed at eliminating the causes of

conflict and situations of occupation. It also requires

building bridges for multilateral cooperation, at both the

bilateral and the collective level, on the basis of the

principles of peaceful coexistence, confidence-building,

non-interference in the internal affairs of others, mutual

respect for regional sovereignties and the resolution of

disputes by peaceful means rather than the use of force, in

accordance with the rules of international law and the

Charters of both the Organization of the Islamic Conference

and the United Nations.

The continued occupation since 1971 by the Islamic

Republic of Iran of three islands belonging to the United

Arab Emirates — Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu

Musa — is a major issue to which we and the other States

of the region attach great importance. That occupation

constitutes a source of constant tension, concern and

instability in the region, particularly as the Iranian

Government persists in changing the historic, legal and

demographic character of the islands by constructing

military and civilian installations and building bases on

them. Examples of such measures are the construction of a

branch of Bayan An-Nour University and two airports on

the occupied islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb. Iran

has also resorted to repeated military exercises conducted

in the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates,

including those off the three islands, thus continuing to

consolidate its occupation of the islands, persisting in its

provocative policy and imposing a fait accompli by force.

All this is in complete disregard of the dangerous

consequences of this policy for the future and the territorial

integrity of the region and for the aspirations of its peoples

to peace, stability and the achievement of sustainable

development.

The United Arab Emirates expresses grave concern

about all such illegal actions and practices, which not only

constitute a flagrant violation of its territorial integrity and

an infringement of its national rights, but are also

contradictory to the peaceful inclinations of the States of

the region and the world at large. We therefore renew our

call to the Islamic Government of Iran to fulfil its legal and

political obligations and undo all its unilateral actions in the

three Emirates islands. This would prove that its intentions

were good and give credence to its stated policy,

especially given certain recent statements by some Iranian

officials calling for the resolution of existing disputes

through peaceful means and expressing their desire to

establish stability and security in the region.

The United Arab Emirates welcomed the new

Iranian Government and its declared orientation,

especially with regard to the promotion of good-

neighbourly relations, the elimination of tensions and the

peaceful solution of disputes in the region. We hope that

the Iranian Government will consider all our peaceful

initiatives in a spirit of objectivity and cooperation. These

initiatives have already been supported by sister, friendly

and other States, and call either for serious bilateral

negotiations, without preconditions, to be entered into, or

for the dispute to be submitted to the International Court

of Justice.

Resorting to policies of violence and force,

stockpiling banned weapons and using terrorism to deal

with the concerns about the political and security balance

in the region must not become an alternative to dialogue

or to efforts to bolster the mechanisms for building peace

and achieving the economic and social development of

the countries of the region. For this reason, we support all

measures taken by the States of the region to protect their

sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

We stress the importance of full respect for the

sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Iraq

and consider that the suffering of the Iraqi people should

be dealt with within the framework of implementation of

Security Council resolution 986 (1995).

We also urge the Iraqi Government to carry out in

full all its legal obligations under the relevant Security

Council resolutions, especially those dealing with the

release of all prisoners of war and detainees who are

citizens of Kuwait and other countries, and the restitution

of Kuwaiti property.

The peace process in the Middle East is at a perilous

juncture as a result of Israeli Government policies

reneging on most of its obligations with regard to the

peace process and the principle of land for peace, which

are based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and

338 (1973). Such policies constitute a flagrant violation

of humanitarian law, international legitimacy and the

accords concluded between the Palestinian Authority and

the Government of Israel, as do the ensuing serious

actions, including the expansion of illegal settler activities

22

in Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since

1967, particularly in Jerusalem; the expropriation of

Palestinian lands and the demolition of houses; resort to

alleged security reasons in order to carry out measures of

collective punishment; and the imposition of an economic

blockade.

The United Arab Emirates strongly condemns all such

irresponsible Israeli policies and actions, and reiterates the

importance of continuing the peace process as the only

alternative for the stability and security of that region,

regardless of the obstacles and challenges it is facing. It

calls upon the international community, especially the

United Nations, and the sponsors of the peace process to

shoulder their legal, political, historical and humanitarian

responsibilities.

We welcome the efforts of the Secretary of State of

the United States of America during her recent tour of the

region and hope that she will continue her endeavours to

ensure that the Palestinian-Israeli accords are implemented

and that negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks are

resumed on the basis of the principle of land for peace and

the inadmissibility of unilateral actions that would only

prejudice the final phase of the negotiations. We also

commend the tireless efforts of the countries of the

European Union to persuade the Israeli Government to

reverse its policy and seriously abide by all of its

commitments in the context of the peace accords and

international legality, in a manner that would enable the

Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate rights to self-

determination, repatriation and the establishment of their

independent State on their national soil, with Jerusalem its

capital.

In the same context, and given that the other Arab

parties adhere to the peace process as a sine qua non

strategic objective strategy, the Israeli Government must

make a similarly serious commitment to end its occupation

of, and repeated attacks against, the territory of Lebanon in

implementation of Security Council resolution 425 (1978)

and to resume unconditional negotiations on the Syrian and

Lebanese tracks so as to ensure its full withdrawal from the

Syrian Arab Golan to the lines of 4 June 1967, as well as

from southern Lebanon and the west of the Bekaa valley.

The requirements of security, stability and a just and

lasting peace in the region are urgent not only for Israel,

but for all the countries of that region. Consequently, we

emphasize the inalienable right of peoples to resist

occupation and aggression and condemn all forms of

terrorism, whether they are aimed against individuals or

practised by States, because terrorism has a direct impact

in undermining regional and international stability and

security. We also regard the stockpiling of banned

weapons and the threat of their use against other States as

another dangerous manifestation of terrorism. We

therefore urge the international community and the

relevant international organizations to make effective

efforts to render the region of the Middle East and the

Arab Gulf a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction,

including nuclear weapons, and to demand that Israel

accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons (NPT) and comply with the international control

and safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy

Agency.

Efforts by the United Nations and the regional

organizations to deal with national and regional tensions

and conflicts, as well as with the concomitant destruction

of development infrastructure and human suffering in

some developing countries, have not resulted in the

containment of the causes or extent of such conflicts. In

the European continent, for example, manifestations of

tension and ethnic and racial bias still persist among some

factions in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a result of the

continued pursuit by certain Bosnian Serbs of policies that

conflict with the peaceful solutions of the Dayton peace

accords. There are also situations of tension, insecurity

and conflict battering parts of the continents of Asia and

Africa, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, the Great Lakes

region and other areas. It is therefore imperative that

more effective international and regional efforts be made

in order to find peaceful and objective solutions to those

conflicts. We also call upon the parties directly concerned

to work and cooperate with efforts and endeavours

designed to contain such situations in order to achieve

peace and stability at the national and regional levels.

The first positive results achieved by globalization,

development and the growth of world trade have not met

the expectations of countries in advancing and

strengthening their development or environmental and

social policies. This is particularly true in the developing

and least developed regions that continue to suffer from

the spread of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, as

well as the burden of foreign debts, in addition to

fluctuations in the rates of exchange and several other

problems.

The creation of an equitable and just economic

environment built on a foundation of cooperation requires

joint efforts by developing countries on the one hand, and

by developing and developed countries on the other. We

23

must also take into consideration the special requirements

of the least developed countries, in particular by increasing,

rather than decreasing, official assistance to them and by

lifting existing trade barriers and economic obstacles. This

would contribute to a sharing of common responsibilities

and interests among them. We also support all efforts aimed

at promoting and enhancing the role of regional and

international development organizations, at the forefront of

which are the World Trade Organization, the World Bank

and others, each within its own mandate, in the

implementation of a global strategy for comprehensive

development.

In seeking to enhance its participation in such regional

and international institutions, the United Arab Emirates,

thanks to the wise guidance of its Head of State, His

Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, has achieved

a qualitative and quantitative leap in the developmental,

economic, social, environmental and human fields in the

past two decades. It contributed, to a large degree, to the

expansion of the bases for investment,

commerce, industry and the liberalization of trade. It

therefore continued to provide development assistance to

the developing and least developed countries, including,

for example, humanitarian assistance and concessional

loans provided by the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, the

Zayed Benevolent Society and other multipurpose

humanitarian institutions. Within the framework of our

commitment to enhancing the contribution of the private

sector in supporting the activities of the United Nations,

we are pleased to announce that we shall be hosting a

conference on the role of the private sector in supporting

the United Nations, which is scheduled to be held in the

Emirate of Dubai in mid-October. That will be in line

with our policy of continuing to hold a series of

multifaceted regional and international conferences and

exhibitions in the cultural, social, economic, political and

environmental fields. All these are regarded as

complementing the United Nations efforts in the various

areas of sustainable development.

In conclusion, I should like to stress the need to

adopt values of security, peace and freedom as the

formula for attaining a deeper understanding and a more

comprehensive view of the issues of our common destiny.

Let us, then, unite our efforts in building a world based

on respect for the rule of law and justice, a world where

peace, tolerance, prosperity and progress reign supreme.