Kyrgyzstan, 2004

Mr. President, allow me first of all to congratulate you

most warmly on your election to the important post of

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth

session and to wish you success in your very complex

task. I also wish to express our gratitude to your

predecessor, Mr. Julian Hunte.

In our troubled times, humankind is placing its

most cherished hopes on the United Nations. Here at

the rostrum of this Organization, I would like to

express our deep satisfaction with the resolve with

which the present session of the Assembly has

embarked on a policy that is a quest for effective

solutions to the key problems now facing the

international community.

After 11 September, the highest priority

unquestionably has been given to fighting international

terrorism, which has now acquired the nature of a

direct war. This is an evil challenge to humankind. We

sincerely grieve for the innocent victims of terrorist

acts, wherever they may occur. Any victim evokes

sympathy, but the massacre of children in Beslan is

hideously evil. The time has come for terrorists to be

called to account for their criminal acts.

The “terrorist international” must be faced with a

united anti-terrorist front on all continents, regions and

countries. It is therein that I see the key to victory.

The tone was set for this session by the statement

made by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. With his

customary perspicacity, he emphasized that the highest

value is that of the supremacy of law in domestic and

foreign affairs. Genuine interest in organizing

collective action to address new challenges and threats

was a leitmotif of the statements made from this

rostrum by United States President George Bush, the

heads of several States, the Minister for Foreign

Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, and other high-

ranking representatives. Those statements were

evidence of the growing confidence in our

Organization and, I believe, represent a long-awaited

rebuff to those who wish us ill and to sow doubts

regarding the United Nations ability to resolve today’s

pressing problems.

A special feature of our forum today is the fact

that, along with other extremely important objectives,

it must serve as a preparatory stage for the sixtieth

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anniversary session of the General Assembly. The

international community has the right to expect that

next year’s session will prove to be an historic event

and establish new landmarks for United Nations

activity. Recalling the ideals endorsed by the founders

of the United Nations, and on the basis of

contemporary requirements, I would propose that the

anniversary session be called a summit of peace and

economic and social progress.

Turning now to the United Nations role in the life

of my country, I should like to convey to the

Organization and its specialized agencies our sincere

gratitude for their support of our national efforts in all

areas of State-building. My people will forever recall

the decision taken at the fifty-seventh session of the

General Assembly in support of the 2,200th

anniversary of Kyrgyz statehood.

One axiom of Kyrgyz foreign policy is that small

countries must have big friends. For us, the United

Nations has always been such a tried and trusted

friend. That is most appropriate for the development of

our Republic on its path to democracy. It is well known

that the electoral process is considered to be a litmus

test for the level of democracy achieved in any given

country. This year, with direct assistance from

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the implementation of a

United Nations project in Kyrgyzstan has initiated

improvements to the national electoral system with a

view to ensuring that it meets international standards.

That is particularly important given the election

campaign now beginning to organs of power at every

level in the Republic. In that context, United States

President George Bush’s proposal that a fund for

democracy be established within the United Nations is

indeed a good one. Such a fund would substantially

enhance the United Nations potential in that area.

I should now like to turn to another problem. Two

years ago, under United Nations auspices, the Global

Mountain Summit was convened in our capital,

Bishkek. In that context, too, we are most grateful for

the Secretary-General’s assistance. The Bishkek Global

Mountain Platform was drafted at the Summit, defining

key objectives for the sustainable development of

mountain countries. That important document was

submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth

session.

At this session, I wish also to draw the

international community’s attention to the needs of the

least developed mountain countries. The time has come

to propose, on behalf of interested countries, the

adoption at this session of a special resolution

recommending forgiveness of the foreign debt of the

least developed mountain countries. That would serve

as a powerful stimulus to their comprehensive

development and to overcoming poverty and would

fully jibe with the objectives proclaimed in the

Millennium Declaration. A draft resolution on that

subject will be submitted to the General Assembly by

the delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic and other

delegations.

In considering future prospects, I believe that the

interests of all groups of countries are most fully

reflected in the decisions of the Millennium Summit. I

am gratified that a thorough and scrupulous analysis of

the results of five years of implementation of the

Millennium Declaration is being planned as a major

element on the agenda of the sixtieth anniversary

session of the General Assembly. I consider the war on

poverty to be of great importance in that context. The

link between poverty and international terrorism is

indisputable. Those phenomena are organically

intertwined. Unless we can overcome poverty and the

mass despair and sense of hopelessness it entails, in

particular among young people, our hopes for

uprooting international terrorism may indeed prove

futile.

In seeking to eradicate poverty, Kyrgyzstan is

relying above all on its own potential. We are most

grateful in that respect for the assistance of the United

Nations and the international community, expressed,

inter alia, in the Monterrey Consensus. In that

connection, we are hoping for increased assistance

through the United States Millennium Challenge

Account. In general, assistance for the development of

poor countries could be considerably enhanced. I

believe that this problem will also be duly reflected in

the work of the present and anniversary sessions of the

General Assembly.

Earlier, I linked the eradication of poverty and the

fight against international terrorism. Within the range

of interlinked measures, however, a policy to eradicate

international terrorism through the vigorous application

of collective force is of unique significance. Within the

framework of the anti-terrorist Coalition now active

under United States auspices, Kyrgyzstan is making an

important contribution to suppressing the ever-active

hotbed of terrorism in Afghanistan. I am convinced

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that the October elections in that country will be a very

important factor in its democratic reorganization and

have a positive impact on the situation in the region as

a whole.

In order to enhance its contribution to the

international community’s war on international

terrorism, Kyrgyzstan has allowed the deployment on

its territory — within limited parameters, I would

emphasize — of armed Russian and United States

contingents. We are convinced that, in so doing, we are

strengthening the interaction of those great Powers in

today’s war on a common enemy. Our Kyrgyz land will

continue to be a place for the great Powers to cooperate

and to pool their efforts, rather than to compete.

We support international action to eradicate the

terrorist threat in Iraq. That has become the principal

obstacle to the development of democracy and to

ensuring peace in that country. We know from our own

experience that this is a long and thorny path, but one

that Iraq will have to take. The foundation for the

international community’s actions must be the

principle that, in assisting Afghanistan and Iraq in

combating terrorism, establishing peace and building

democracy, we are assisting ourselves.

I believe that there is a need here to unmask any

attempt to provide scholarly justification of any sort

for international terrorism. I am referring here in

particular to the concept of the clash of civilizations,

which cannot be thought of as an innocent theoretical

exercise.

In that light, this summer, along the shores of our

“blue pearl”, Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan and the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization organized a conference entitled “Eurasia

in the twenty-first century: Dialogue of cultures or a

conflict of civilizations?” The idea of a conflict of

civilizations was firmly condemned at the conference.

For my part, I believe that the term “conflict of

civilizations” should be erased from the global political

lexicon as unfounded theoretically and harmful in

practice. I note with satisfaction that, in his statement

at this session, President Bush rejected the concept of a

conflict of civilizations. The future belongs to the

dialogue of cultures and civilizations.

In conclusion, I wish to address the issue of

United Nations reform. Kyrgyzstan supports proposals

aimed at bringing the Organization ever more closely

in line with the realities of the twenty-first century,

particularly with respect to the role of the Security

Council. In that regard, I believe that the United

Nations at its anniversary session can and must decide

to include Germany and Japan among the permanent

members of the Council. We also support the

expansion of the permanent and non-permanent

categories of Council membership on the basis of the

principle of equal geographic distribution.

The enhancement of the United Nations

peacekeeping potential is another positive concept.

Kyrgyzstan will continue to respond positively to

requests for its personnel in efforts to attain those

goals.

Lastly, Kyrgyzstan and other countries of Central

Asia, in cooperation with Russia and China, intend to

continue to support the international community’s

efforts to counter international terrorism and to meet

other global challenges and threats through active

regional measures. Evidence of our resolve is the

growing role of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent

States and the Collective Security Organization.

From this high rostrum, I reaffirm that

Kyrgyzstan, in a spirit of unwavering dedication to the

principles and purposes of the United Nations, will

continue to be a reliable link in the international

community’s efforts to ensure peace, security and

prosperity for all peoples of this planet.