Laos, 2000

At the outset, I would like, on behalf

of the delegation of the Lao People's Democratic

Republic, to congratulate you, Sir, on your well-

deserved election to the presidency of the fifty-fifth

session of the General Assembly. We are confident that

our Assembly stands to gain a great deal from your

able leadership and from your wide knowledge of

international affairs.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate

the outgoing President, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab,

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Namibia, for the

guidance he provided to the fifty-fourth session of the

General Assembly.

The twentieth century has been an epoch of great

technological and scientific discoveries and

achievements. This is indeed one of the positive things

about the past century that we all can be proud of.

However, this same past century has brought enormous

calamities and left manifold complex problems as we

enter the twenty-first century.

Certainly, we have to accept the responsibility for

resolving them and in order to succeed in addressing

this daunting task, we must lay down sound basic

foundations aimed at encouraging and building peace

and international cooperation for development. This is

the lofty goal of our new age that we should all strive

to achieve.

In preparation for the new millennium, a number

of international conferences were held on different

issues under the auspices of the United Nations, such

as the World Summit for Children in New York, the

Earth Summit in Rio, the World Social Summit in

Copenhagen, the World Conference on Women in

Beijing, UNCTAD X in Bangkok and other

international conferences of equal importance. The

main objectives of those assemblies were to solve the

multifaceted problems that have occurred in the world,

with the hope that the new millennium will face

minimal risk in every area and that humankind will

concentrate its intelligence and resources on

developing the economy, civilized culture and

prosperity in equality, in a just and peaceful

environment free from violent confrontation, with

concern for poverty, disease and others. However, the

objectives set forth by these conferences have not lived

up to our expectations. In addition, new challenges that

are far more complex have erupted in the light of

globalization.

The South Summit of the Group of 77 and China,

which was held in Havana in April this year, rightly

identified the positive and negative sides of

globalization and put forward a collective guideline for

future action. The conference was of the view that the

unsolved problems are the well-known issues of the

growing debt, the unfavourable world trade measures

imposed on goods from the developing countries in

particular, the least developed ones as well as

human resources that have not yet been developed to

cope with new technologies and others. Overall, all

these issues need to be seriously dealt with together

between the North and the South, so as to meet the

challenges and make use of favourable opportunities

that will lead to a North-South cooperation based on

equality and mutual interest, as explicitly expressed in

the Havana Declaration.

The achievements of humankind in the past

century are of immense value. We believe that, if these

achievements are correctly used, happiness and

prosperity will be brought to the new generation of the

next century. Nonetheless, we are still yet concerned

over the challenges that the new generation has to face.

Today many young girls and boys worldwide have not

enjoyed happy lives and lacked opportunity for

education. Moreover, they are subject to exploitation

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for the purpose of pornography, prostitution and drug

addiction, that destroy their own future, their families,

the society and, subsequently, becomes the source of

international terrorism.

Similarly, the gender issue is also of great

importance. Although equality between women and

men is respected and women's participation in social

life has increased, poverty and violence continue to be

the major obstacles that affect women's life. To

successfully tackle this problem, countries around the

world should help each other and devote the necessary

resources to this domain.

Drug abuse continues to be a subject of major

concern for the international community. In the Lao

People's Democratic Republic, the Lao Government

has implemented, with the cooperation and assistance

of friendly countries and international organizations

in particular the United Nations International Drug

Control Programme a number of projects with a

view to remedying the effects of drug abuse.

Experience has shown that people involved in poppy

cultivation continue to remain poor. Therefore, in order

to definitely solve this problem, it is imperative to

carry out alternative development projects, ensure food

security, enable people to earn more by cultivating

crops other than poppies, as well as traditional

cultivation. The Lao Government is determined to

continue its efforts in drug control and supervision. It

is our hope that the international community will lend a

strong helping hand in order to help us to overcome our

difficulties as soon as possible for the bright future of

our children.

While the world is entering the new millennium,

a number of regional conflicts have been satisfactorily

settled, thus responding to the aspirations of the

affected nations. However, at the same time, many

other regional conflicts remain unsolved and continue

to cause pain and suffering to the people directly

involved.

In the Middle East, durable peace has not been

ensured: the inalienable national and fundamental

rights of the Palestinian people have not yet been

exercised. We welcome the resumption of peace

negotiations between Israel and the Palestine

Liberation Organization. The two parties should seize

this opportunity to write a new page of history based

on peaceful coexistence and economic cooperation

among the peoples in the region. In this perspective,

we look forward to seeing the establishment of an

independent Palestinian State and of respect for an

existence of all States in the region, thus ensuring

durable peace and cooperation between the nations, in

particular between the Arab States and Israel.

The economic, commercial and financial embargo

applied against the Republic of Cuba continues to

cause enormous difficulties and damage to the Cuban

people. In compliance with the relevant resolutions of

the General Assembly, we urge that an end be put to

this restrictive commercial practice, which runs counter

to the principles of the Charter, international law and

the present world trend.

The Lao People's Democratic Republic is

following closely the situation in the Korean peninsula.

We welcome the outcome of the Korean Summit

between Chairman Kim Jong 11 of the National

Defense Commission of the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea and President Kim Dae Jung of the

Republic of Korea, who met in Pyongyang last June

and laid down an important foundation in response to

the aspirations of the Korean people for the peaceful

reunification of Korea and the settlement of the

problems in the Korean peninsula through peaceful

negotiations, which contributed thereby to the

promotion of peace, stability and cooperation in the

region.

On 2 December 2000, the Lao People's

Democratic Republic will commemorate its twenty-

fifth anniversary. Over this period, the Lao people have

upheld the spirit of patriotism, self-sufficiency, and

strength and have attracted assistance and cooperation

from the international community. They have made

tremendous accomplishments in national construction.

As a result, their living standard has gradually

improved. The most outstanding achievement, attained

for the first time in the country's history, is that we

have reached self-sufficiency in rice production and

even have a surplus for export. The socio-economic

infrastructure has been continuously expanded, the

State is governed by the rule of law and freedom and

democracy are respected and constantly promoted. The

solidarity of the Lao people of all ethnic groups has

been further strengthened. These are all fundamental

factors in ensuring political stability and social order.

Thanks to the policy of renewal consistent with the

mechanisms of the market economy, the development

of the people's right to self-determination and an open-

door policy in our international relations, we are

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convinced that the Lao People's Democratic Republic

will be able to emerge from underdevelopment in the

near future.

Globalization has had an uneven impact on the

development of every country, because each nation is

at a different stage in the development process. While

some developing economies are making use of the

increasing economic opportunities, a large number of

developing countries continue to be marginalized and

are therefore not in a position to benefit from this

process. Most countries in the developing world

continue to face problems of access to markets, capital

and technology. Many are obliged to undertake painful

structural reforms that are not compatible with their

realities and have an undesirable negative impact that

impedes their integration into the world economy.

Against this backdrop, there is a need to build a

favourable environment that would enable the

developing countries to compete in the world trading

system and to fully benefit from globalization. The

United Nations has a crucial role to play in helping to

make this happen.

As we bid farewell to the twentieth century,

humanity is still yearning for a world of peace, a world

free from want and misery, a world governed by

international relations based on respect for the national

sovereignty of States, cooperation for development and

peaceful coexistence between peoples. The

international community is therefore duty-bound to

increase its cooperation in all possible areas so as to

ensure that the objectives of the United Nations

Summit Declaration are achieved and to bring benefits

to peoples throughout the world, as well as guarantees

to new generations of a better life and a more

prosperous future. In this spirit, I wish the present

session great success.