Bulgaria, 1996

A year ago this month, the

General Assembly adopted by acclamation the Declaration

on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United

Nations. Thus, the special commemorative session of the

Assembly, attended by 128 Heads of State and

Government, solemnly reaffirmed our commitment to the

purposes and principles of the Charter. As Ambassador

Butler of Australia, the Chairman of the Preparatory

Committee, stated, that Declaration must serve as a set of

guidelines for cooperation amongst all nations in the years

ahead.

The fiftieth session, so ably presided over by

Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, took the initial

step towards translating these new guidelines into practical

action aimed at the twenty-first century. In congratulating

Mr. Razali Ismail upon his election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its fifty-first session, I wish him every

success in his highly responsible mission to carry further

the new tasks and endeavours of the Organization in the

course of this session.

Last year’s Declaration spelt out four main areas for

action in fulfilment of the mission of the United Nations in

the coming decades: peace, development, equality and

justice. The world of the twenty-first century will confront

two great opposing forces: globalization and fragmentation.

Bulgaria, as an active member of the international

community, has felt both the new opportunities and the new

risks. In developing its policies and responses, Bulgaria has

proceeded on the basis of its European identity, particularly

its association with and prospective membership of the

European Union. I would therefore like to state that we

share in and attach importance to the European Union

memorandum to this session and to the statement delivered

by Mr. Dick Spring on behalf of the Union.

With the transition from the post-war bipolar system

to a world of multi-centrism, the regional format will

acquire ever-growing importance. This has been our

experience in the Balkans, at least, a region which has

sustained the full blast of the forces of both globalization

and disastrous fragmentation.

In line with its consistently maintained positions,

Bulgaria welcomed from the outset the Dayton and Paris

agreements. We provided observers as well as police

personnel to the international missions in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. The recent elections in that country,

notwithstanding their deficiencies and problems, represent

a vitally important step forward. They opened the way for

yesterday’s welcome and important Security Council

resolution to lift the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia.

At the same time, even during the active phase of

the conflict, we have worked for the promotion of the

positive trends of good-neighbourliness throughout the

region. At last year’s fiftieth session, the Prime Minister

of Bulgaria highlighted this priority feature of Bulgaria’s

foreign policy, favouring comprehensive regional

cooperation. In particular he stated our intention to

convene a meeting of Central and South-East European

States in order to examine a broad range of issues

concerning long-term stability, security and cooperation

throughout the region.

Today, it is my pleasure to inform the Assembly that

such a meeting took place in Sofia on 6 and 7 July 1996

at foreign ministerial level. At that meeting, seven

countries — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,

Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia — adopted a

comprehensive document, the Sofia Declaration on Good-

Neighbourly Relations, Stability, Security and

Cooperation in the Balkans.

The text of the Declaration was duly circulated as an

official document of the General Assembly and the

Security Council. The Declaration was fully supported by

all participants in the broader format of the Sofia

ministerial meeting, including representatives from

Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and the five Contact

Group countries — Germany, France, the Russian

Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of

America; Ireland, which holds the presidency of the

European Union; representatives of countries chairing the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

(OSCE), the Central European Initiative, Black Sea

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Economic Cooperation; and high-level representatives from

the United Nations, the European Commission, the Council

of Europe, the United Nations Economic Commission for

Europe, the World Bank and the European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development. The High Representative,

Mr. Carl Bildt, was also present, took part in the meeting

and made a valuable contribution to its success.

I should like to outline very briefly the main spheres

of activity launched at the meeting in Sofia in July. In the

first area — enhancing regional peace and stability, and

building confidence and good-neighbourliness — the point

of departure was for the countries in the region to reaffirm

their allegiance to the fundamental principles of inter-State

relations as spelt out by the Charter, as well as in Helsinki

and Paris.

In line with these principles, Bulgaria has been

actively promoting confidence-building with all its

neighbours and has already concluded agreements to this

effect with Turkey, Greece and Romania. We stand ready

to enter into such agreements with our other neighbours, as

well as on a multilateral regional basis.

Another important step in this direction will be the

convening in Sofia of a meeting of Ministers of Defence as

provided for in the Declaration of the Balkan countries.

This meeting should contribute significantly towards

strengthening security, enhancing confidence and

considering future arms-control measures in the region.

Recent regional multilateral cooperation in South-East

Europe has focused on infrastructure development and

upgrading as important factors for economic growth and

regional stability. There is an emerging consensus that it

should be oriented towards upgrading and linking local

infrastructures with trans-European ones, as well as with

those in other adjacent areas — the eastern Mediterranean,

northern Africa and across the Black Sea and into Asia.

Transport infrastructure development is the subject of local

cooperation between Albania, the Republic of Macedonia

and Bulgaria, with direct financial and technical assistance

being provided by the United States of America; a

quadrilateral agreement has recently been signed with

regard to this matter. It is also the subject of trilateral

cooperation between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. An

important contribution to the cause of good-neighbourliness

and infrastructure development are the Bulgarian-Greek

cross-border cooperation and water-sharing agreements,

which recently entered into force and will be submitted to

the OSCE under the Pact on Stability in Europe.

Furthermore, in accordance with the agreement

between the Balkan countries, the Bulgarian Government

began preliminary consultations towards setting up a

transregional information and contacts centre for

infrastructure development. We expect further

contributions to be made to the positive developments in

this field from the forthcoming meeting of Ministers of

Transportation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

and Central European Initiative partner countries in Sofia

in November 1996.

Together with its neighbours in South-East Europe,

Bulgaria is building regional cooperation on the basis of

the rule of law and full respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms, including those of persons

belonging to different national, ethnic, religious and

cultural minorities. The countries from the region once

again reaffirmed their commitment to these principles and

values. They also adopted specific guidelines in the

various areas of cultural contacts and cooperation through

exchanges and joint programmes. These should add to

existing bilateral or multilateral programmes that promote

better mutual understanding and the overcoming of

negative stereotypes inherited from the past.

Joint action in the field of crime prevention and the

elimination of international terrorism envisages closer

cooperation between central, regional and border

authorities through efficient communications and

exchange of information; a commitment to accede to all

relevant international conventions that prevent and punish

international crime and terrorism; joining and participation

in specialized regional forums for discussing the problems

of illicit drug-trafficking, organized crime and regional

anti-terrorist cooperation; and the elaboration of a regional

programme to combat organized crime. This already

represents a tangible contribution to the implementation

at the regional level of a zero-tolerance approach to

terrorism.

The Sofia Declaration thus set out both the

framework and the terms of reference for comprehensive

regional cooperation. To this end, follow-up activities are

being elaborated in all areas and we hope that all States

from the region will take part at the next ministerial

meeting in Greece in 1997.

Proposals on cooperation in South-East Europe have

also come from outside the region. The Florence

conference of the Peace Implementation Council last June

identified the three initiatives fostering such cooperation:

the Balkan conference initiated by the Bulgarian

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Government, the stability process under the terms of the

Royaumont declaration of 12 December 1995 and the

South-East Europe cooperation initiative of the United

States Government. There is important potential for

interaction between the three initiatives, with the process

launched in Sofia serving as a comprehensive basis which

could link up with the other two initiatives in specific areas

of common interest.

This regional endeavour represents an integral building

block in the development of an all-European system of

security and cooperation. We expect the Lisbon OSCE

summit in December 1996 to address in a comprehensive

manner this set of issues and provide guidelines for future

action at both the European and regional levels. Various

bodies and agencies of the United Nations system, such as

the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the

United Nations Development Programme, the United

Nations Environment Programme, the Commission on

Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations Crime Prevention and

Criminal Justice Branch and other bodies could also be

highly effective in encouraging and promoting at the

regional level the ideas and initiatives that I have outlined.

I would like to state Bulgaria’s position on some

United Nations-led and other major endeavours at the

global level. We fully share the view that the recent

conclusion of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

is an achievement of truly historic proportions. In pursuit of

Bulgaria’s long-standing policies in favour of nuclear arms

control and disarmament, I had the honour to sign this

Treaty on the very first day it was opened for signature. For

Bulgaria, a convention on the ban on the production of

fissionable material for military purposes would be the next

logical stage in the work of the Conference on

Disarmament, in which Bulgaria is an active participant.

From the point of view of global as well as regional

security, another priority task is the early entry into force

and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

As for the Biological Weapons Convention, Bulgaria is

fully in favour of upgrading its control and verification

mechanism and is ready to contribute to this end at the

forthcoming Review Conference and thereafter.

Bulgaria took an active part in the Review Conference

of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or

Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons

Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to

Have Indiscriminate Effects, and its Protocol II. During the

negotiations, we made special efforts to take into

consideration the new technical requirements on mines as

an absolute prerequisite for the purposes of mine-

clearance and the normal conduct of United Nations

peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. Furthermore,

by a decision taken on 2 May 1996, the Bulgarian

Government imposed a three-year ban on exports of anti-

personnel mines. Bulgaria, which currently hold the

chairmanship of the Commission on Sustainable

Development, attaches particular importance, together

with the other United Nations Member States, to the

special session of the General Assembly on the review of

the follow-up process to the United Nations Conference

on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

In October 1995, Sofia hosted the third Ministerial

Conference on Environment for Europe. The Conference

provided further impetus to the Environmental Action

Programme for Central and Eastern Europe. The

ministerial declaration adopted is an important document

in the field of environmental protection in Europe and a

further step towards implementing the global concept of

sustainability.

In recent years, we have witnessed rapid changes in

the world economy, changes that can be described by the

general trends of liberalization and globalization, both of

which are important factors for development. I am happy

to inform this Assembly that, after long years of

strenuous negotiations, today, 2 October 1996, Bulgaria

is becoming a member of the World Trade Organization

(WTO). By joining WTO, Bulgaria shall become fully

integrated into the world trading system which is essential

for us to be able to achieve stable economic growth.

Bearing in mind the new challenges in the social and

economic areas in today’s multipolar and interdependent

world, my country supports the efforts of the international

community to enhance and streamline United Nations

activities in this field.

Bulgaria is a party to all major international human-

rights instruments. We believe that international

cooperation in the field of human rights is essential for

their implementation. It should be conducted in

accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the

principles of international law, such as the sovereign

equality, political independence and the territorial integrity

of States. We are in favour of constructive and open

dialogue on even sensitive issues related to human rights

in individual States. This approach is not directed against

any country. The situations in different parts of the world

should be examined in a way that takes into account the

specific characteristics of individual countries in a

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comprehensive context and be aimed above all at

encouraging positive developments and tendencies.

Transnational crime and international terrorism are

increasingly emerging, as stated by many speakers in this

forum, as one of the major security challenges facing the

international community today. They directly affect

development and quality of life and erode the very

foundations of democratic society. It has become more than

obvious that these challenges cannot be addressed

effectively by national institutions alone. Today, there is a

pressing need to develop new cooperation in the field of

crime prevention and criminal justice. Such cooperation

could also include more information sharing, including

inputs from intelligence sources.

At this session, the General Assembly must carefully

examine all valuable ideas and proposals in this field put

forward by preceding speakers. My country will readily

support the efforts of the international community aimed at

the elaboration, on a global level, of efficient measures to

combat crime and to eliminate international terrorism.

Allow me to digress for a moment from the prepared

text of my speech in order to share with the Assembly a

most regrettable and tragic piece of news concerning a

political assassination which took place just over 24 hours

ago in Sofia. The target was a former Prime Minister of

Bulgaria, Mr. Andrei Lukanov. I would like to inform the

Assembly that Mr. Lukanov was one of the principal and

personal driving forces behind the democratic changes that

took place in Bulgaria after 1989. He staked his personal

efforts and future on the successful introduction into

Bulgarian society of the values of democracy, the

promotion of human rights and economic reform. He was

also well-known within the United Nations family, in

particular in Geneva, having been an active promoter of the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

since its early years and having promoted Bulgaria’s

participation in the world trading system and the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In an ironic twist of fate,

today marks, as I said, Bulgaria’s accession to WTO.

The Bulgarian Parliament adopted a declaration on this

occasion several hours ago. It firmly declares the will of all

political forces in Bulgaria — Mr. Lukanov having been an

active member of Parliament for the last seven years — not

to permit this act in any way to divert Bulgaria from the

path towards economic and political reform or to infringe

on the peaceful and lawful process of political and public

life, including the forthcoming presidential elections at the

end of this month.

I have instructed my Mission to transmit the text of

this declaration, with a short covering note, to you,

Mr. President, the Secretary-General and Member States.

I invite all of you to share our feelings of support and

sympathy for the family of Mr. Lukanov and to send

messages of support to the Bulgarian Parliament. I invite

the Assembly, at this point in time, without rising, to

share a minute of silence in remembrance of

Mr. Lukanov.

Improvements in the effectiveness and functioning of

the principal organs, a better balance in their authority

and the streamlining of the subsidiary machinery are

important conditions for the reform of the United Nations.

The issue of equitable representation on and increase

in the membership of the Security Council is a key

component of this process. We share the view that some

Member States — developed, for instance Germany and

Japan, and developing alike — are able to assume the

responsibility of permanent membership. A number of

proposals for the reform of the Security Council have

already been put on the table and should be examined

with due attention. In this respect, I would like to mention

the valuable ideas presented by Minister Lamberto Dini

of Italy just a few days ago. One of the major

developments over the past several years has been the fact

that the number of States in the Eastern European Group

has almost doubled. We reiterate our conviction that such

a rise in membership requires one additional non-

permanent seat to be allocated to this Group. Some

Balkan countries have already indicated their willingness

to apply for non-permanent membership in the Security

Council. With its consistent regional policies of good-

neighbourliness and cooperation in South-East Europe, as

well as in the broader United Nations framework,

Bulgaria is equally justified in seeking membership on the

Council in the years to come.

It would be remiss of me, however, not to mention

some serious flaws in the United Nations peacemaking

machinery. The question of finding an adequate solution

to the complicated problems arising for third countries as

a result of United Nations Security Council-imposed

sanctions is one of them. At its fiftieth session the

General Assembly once again expressed concern at the

persisting special economic problems confronting States

affected by sanctions implementation. It also renewed its

invitation to the international financial institutions to

continue to pay special attention to these problems and

their adverse social impact, and to consider ways and

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means for mobilizing and providing resources on

appropriate terms for mitigating the negative impact of the

sanctions on those States. The Assembly also renewed its

request to the competent organs, programmes and

specialized agencies of the United Nations to take into

consideration the special needs of the affected States and to

consider providing assistance to them from their special

programme resources.

Regrettably, few are the practical steps in

implementing these recommendations. These problems,

since they are long-lasting, will continue to exert their

negative impact long after the lifting of sanctions. It would

be highly counterproductive if the peacemaking essence of

sanctions were to be distorted by major economic

dislocation in affected third States. Being among the

countries suffering most from the implementation of

sanctions, at this session Bulgaria will again submit a draft

resolution on the subject and I invite all Member States to

give it their unanimous and firm support.

The proceedings of the fifty-first session of the

General Assembly provide new, important opportunities to

continue on the path of reform and increased efficiency.

They open up new opportunities to render support to those

trends in the modern world, our global village and each of

its neighbourhoods, making for societies with greater

security and promise in which our children can look

forward to a more fulfilling life. Bulgaria is firmly

committed to contributing actively and in a constructive

spirit to the accomplishment of this new mission of the

world Organization.