Kyrgyzstan, 2003

First of

all, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly and

to wish great success to the work of the fifty-eighth

session under your wise guidance. I also take this

opportunity to extend deep appreciation to Mr. Jan

Kavan for his insightful leadership of the fifty-seventh

session of the General Assembly.

This is my second successive participation in the

work of the General Assembly. In my statement last

year, I supported the resolute actions of the anti-

terrorist coalition in eliminating the Central Asian

centre of international terrorism in Afghanistan, as well

as the other measures taken by the world community to

address global challenges to international peace and

security.

As life has demonstrated, the United Nations

plays a highly positive role in organizing the common

struggle against international terrorism. In this regard,

the idea of giving the United Nations the lead role in

guiding the global anti-terrorist coalition deserves

genuine support. One of the primary objectives of my

statement last year was to appeal to the United Nations

to recognize, as a great event in the history of my

country, the two thousand, two hundredth anniversary

of Kyrgyz Statehood, as an event of international

status.

The resolution of the General Assembly on

Kyrgyz Statehood was a powerful force in raising the

national spirit of our people. For that, we are sincerely

grateful to our Organization. Indeed, whenever any

problems emerge at a global level, we turn to the

United Nations and unfailingly get support.

Recently, there have been heated discussions

concerning the role of the United Nations. Some

hotheads even allege that the United Nations has

exhausted its potential. I believe that such ideas

contradict the interests of the world community,

although on the whole, I see nothing wrong with

debates on this theme. Such discussions are

demonstrations of democracy, to the development of

which the United Nations has significantly contributed

worldwide.

The development of democracy at a national level

involves differences of opinion and criticism of the

authorities. Something similar takes place in the

framework of the world community. Here, too, a

2

polarization of opinions is occurring, but in this case it

is our common offspring — the United Nations — that

is coming under attack. Attempts to jeopardize its role

are perceived, especially by small countries, as

undermining that international body which embodies

the interests of all mankind. There is a wise saying:

“Small countries must have big friends”. The United

Nations is just such a big reliable friend.

However, it is difficult to deny that the work of

the United Nations is not yet ideal. Certainly its

efficiency needs to be enhanced. We understand the

Secretary-General’s concern for the situation of the

United Nations, and we fully share his assessment of

the current world situation.

In this regard, the attention paid to the work of

this current session of the General Assembly by many

heads of State is impressive. The statements made by

Mr. George Bush, the President of the United States;

Mr. Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian

Federation; Mr. Jacques Chirac, the President of

France; Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of

Germany, as well as other heads of State, despite

certain differences in approach, clearly have shown the

desire to have a definite role for the United Nations in

building the new world order, one that is better in

keeping with the aspirations of all people on Earth.

The most efficient way of overcoming

disagreements in political practice is to search for

compromise. We are pleased to note that the technique

of compromise is playing a positive role in resolving

disagreements on such a key issue for the world as the

settlement of the problem of Iraq. This is an

encouraging sign.

We would like to stress, again, that any measures

to improve the United Nations should be based solely

on the idea of improving the work of the Organization.

The Kyrgyz Republic is ready to support reasonable

proposals on this subject, including measures to

increase the efficiency of the work of the Security

Council.

I believe that alongside the search for ways to

improve the United Nations, we should concentrate on

those specific problems which will need to be resolved

again in the foreseeable future. In this regard, we may

look at the results of the Millennium Summit, to those

vital problems that were highlighted at that time in the

discerning report of the Secretary-General of the

United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan entitled, “We the

Peoples” (A/54/2000), and also contained in the

Millennium Declaration. These last three years have

highlighted even more the importance of the issues

raised at that time.

Since then, the fight against international

terrorism was added as one of the major challenges to

international peace and security. The report of

Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan to the present

session of the General Assembly focuses the attention

of Member States on the need to increase their efforts

towards implementing the Millennium Declaration.

This approach deserves very broad support.

I believe that only such a universal, global

organization as the United Nations is able to cope with

the challenges faced by the world community. But the

United Nations needs help, and we, through our joint

efforts, particularly with the support of the big Powers,

can accomplish this. If we do not, then we would be

acting at cross-purposes and could expect a grim result.

Besides common problems shared by the world

community, each country has its own specific

problems. Kyrgyzstan is determined to resolve its own

problems through reliance on its own efforts.

Addressing this Assembly, I cannot fail to stress the

concentration of our efforts on advancing the

democratic process. In particular, last year I put

forward a national idea entitled, “Kyrgyzstan — a

country of human rights”. For the development of this

idea, a Democratic Code was elaborated and a Public

Council of Democratic Security was established.

Following the outcome of a national referendum, a new

Constitution was adopted which more fully reflects the

level of democracy attained as well as new challenges

to its development. These measures have given a

powerful stimulus to the progressive movement of our

country towards a democratic system.

We also attach great importance to the

establishment of fair, open and responsible governance

and to enhancing the effectiveness of the anti-

corruption policy being pursued. This year I

established the National Council on Conscientious

Governance to strengthen the work being conducted in

Kyrgyzstan to create an anti-corruption atmosphere in

our society.

We are focusing our main efforts on the fight

against poverty, but the Republic cannot resolve this

problem without external assistance. We highly

commend the role played by the United Nations in the

3

fight against poverty, and the measures undertaken by

our Organization. Again, we appeal to the world

community and to the developed countries not to

reduce their efforts in providing assistance to the

developing countries for the purpose of overcoming

poverty.

In the autumn of 2002, under the aegis of the

United Nations, the Global Mountain Summit was held

in our capital, Bishkek. The Bishkek Global Mountain

Platform adopted at the Summit has, in essence,

become the outcome document of the International

Year of Mountains, observed by the United Nations.

The document has defined key tasks for sustainable

development of the mountain regions of our planet. To

address them, Switzerland has initiated creation of the

International Partnership for Sustainable Development

in Mountain Regions. This is only the beginning; we

have just set in place the first building blocks for the

foundation of an institutionalized home for the

mountain regions.

Kyrgyzstan hopes to receive assistance from the

United Nations and its family of organizations towards

the establishment of an international information and

educational centre for mountain States, as well as for a

network for developing mountain States, with its

secretariat established in Bishkek. I believe that the

Kyrgyz Republic is the best possible location for this

centre since most of our country is mountainous.

The United Nations faces an abundance of

problems. One of the most important challenges is the

fight against international terrorism. Other global

challenges include political and religious extremism,

territorial separatism, drug trafficking and the fight

against fatal illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and others.

It is becoming increasingly urgent to prevent the

spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Kyrgyz

Republic supports taking decisive measures in this

respect. We believe, however, that force should be used

only on the basis of Security Council decisions and in

accordance with international law so as to prevent

conflict and discord within the international

community.

Not only must global measures be taken in this

respect, but efforts must be made at the regional and

national levels. One good example of such efforts is the

work done by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,

with the lead role being played by Russia and China,

actively relying on the Central Asian participants.

In conclusion, I should like once again to stress

not only my full confidence in the United Nations, but

also the determination of the Kyrgyz Republic

resolutely to strive, together with our partners in the

international community, for the preservation and

strengthening of this Organization, which we believe

most fully reflects our interests. May the Almighty

help us in this work, and let all good peoples of the

world join in our prayers for the success and prosperity

of the United Nations.