Laos, 2004

On behalf of the

delegation of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, I

would like to thank Mr. Julian Hunte, President of the

General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session, for his

dedication and hard work and to welcome Mr. Jean

Ping, Minister of State, Minister for Foreign Affairs,

Cooperation and la Francophonie of the Republic of

Gabon, as President of the Assembly at its fifty-ninth

session.

On this occasion, I would also like to commend

Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his tireless efforts to

make the United Nations more effective, and especially

for taking the initiative to establish a High-level Panel

on Threats, Challenges and Change to address United

Nations reform and to propose recommendations to the

General Assembly. The member States all look forward

to seeing and considering those eagerly awaited

recommendations.

In 2000, the Millennium Declaration, a landmark

document, manifested our strong will to face the most

pressing challenges of our time. The Millennium

Development Goals have become fundamental

benchmarks in our efforts to achieve economic growth

and sustainable development. Over the past four years,

their implementation at the global and regional levels

has proved to be successful in some countries, while

many developing countries, especially the least

developed, have had difficulties in attaining those

goals due to unfavourable conditions. In that context,

the Lao People’s Democratic Republic views the high-

level plenary meeting to review the implementation of

the Millennium Declaration, scheduled for next year, as

a crucial opportunity for the international community

to take stock of the progress made and to develop

appropriate measures to secure the necessary financial

resources for better achievements in the years ahead.

The international situation continues to be

marked by rapid and complex evolution. In that

context, peace and international security must be

preserved at all costs. The Non-Aligned Movement, at

its ministerial conference held in Durban, South Africa,

from 17 to 19 August 2004, reiterated its commitment

to multilateralism in the maintenance of international

peace and security. The strengthening and promotion of

the multilateral process would certainly contribute to

the world’s efforts effectively to address international

challenges.

Today, weapons of mass destruction — be they

chemical, biological or nuclear — all pose major

threats to peace and security at the regional and global

levels and are far from being totally eliminated.

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Therefore, we should all work collectively to ensure

that those inhumane weapons disappear from the face

of the Earth.

Terrorism continues to bring disaster to humanity

and endangers national and international security. The

international community is urged to further cooperate

at the national, regional and international levels in the

fight against terrorism in all its forms and

manifestations. All acts of terrorism, wherever and by

whomever committed, are criminal and unjustifiable.

To that end, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

reaffirms its position to continue to cooperate with the

international community based on the principles of the

United Nations Charter, international law and relevant

international conventions.

The year 2005 will mark the fiftieth anniversary

of the Asian-African Conference. The commemoration

of this golden jubilee will be a crucial opportunity to

solemnly reaffirm the validity of the core principles of

the Bandung spirit, which are solidarity, friendship and

cooperation, and which continue to serve as an

effective foundation for resolving global problems and

promoting good relations among the countries and the

peoples of the world.

Recently, the increasingly deteriorating security

situation in Iraq has been cause for concern. The Lao

People’s Democratic Republic expresses the hope that

a peaceful solution can be found to achieve peace and

stability and to ensure the well-being of the Iraqi

people.

We commend the efforts being made to find a

peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsular issue

through the convening of three rounds of six-party

talks. We hope that all parties concerned will pursue

those talks in order to achieve permanent peace and

security in the Korean Peninsula, thus creating

favourable conditions for peaceful reunification.

Violence continues unabated in the occupied

Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. Such

violence will hurt the peace efforts in the Middle East

and prolong the suffering of the peoples of the region.

Thus, we urge the parties concerned to engage in

serious dialogue, settle their conflict and realize the

vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by

side in peace within secure and recognized borders, in

accordance with the relevant Security Council

resolutions.

Last month, at its Durban Ministerial Conference,

the Non-Aligned Movement called once again upon the

Government of the United States to put an end to the

economic, financial and trade embargo against Cuba.

That unilateral embargo, which has caused immense

material losses and economic damage to the people of

Cuba, runs counter to the United Nations Charter and

international law. It is time that the embargo was lifted.

Capitalizing on the momentum achieved at the

historic international ministerial conference at Almaty,

Kazakhstan, to address the special needs of landlocked

developing countries (LLDCs), the Lao People’s

Democratic Republic, as Chairman of the Group of

LLDCs, has spared no efforts to bring benefits to these

vulnerable developing countries. We would like to

convey our appreciation to eleventh session of the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,

which recognized LLDCs as small and vulnerable

economies. We hope that such special recognition will

be granted by other international forums and

organizations, in particular the World Trade

Organization, as gaining access to international

markets for products of interest to our countries will

significantly help to overcome our geographical

handicap as landlocked States.

The global illicit drug problem and related crime

remain an issue of concern to the world community.

Owing to its cross-border and international nature, this

problem can be dealt with effectively only through

international cooperation. In an effort to contribute to

the fight against this scourge, the Lao People’s

Democratic Republic continues to build and intensify

cooperation at the national, regional and international

levels. As a result, opium cultivation in our country

declined significantly from 2003 to 2004, and we will

strive to eliminate opium cultivation by 2005. I take

this opportunity to appeal to the international

community to continue to grant financial support to

assist our country in addressing a number of

challenges, namely the treatment of opium addicts, the

creation of new and sustainable employment and the

provision of necessary infrastructures to prevent

former opium poppy growers from replanting.

Over the past year, the Lao people of all ethnic

origins, all walks of life and all religions have been

living in solidarity and harmony. Social and political

stability across the country remained solid. The

economy enjoyed a sustained growth rate of 6.5 per

cent. The poverty of the people has been gradually

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reduced, and external relations of cooperation have

been broadened extensively. Later this year, the Lao

People’s Democratic Republic will be hosting the 10th

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Summit and other related summits with ASEAN

dialogue partners. On that occasion, a number of

important documents will be adopted, aiming to

accelerate regional integration and the establishment of

the ASEAN community by 2020.

In its nearly 60 years of existence, the United

Nations, has played its role in promoting international

peace and security and socio-economic development. It

has had much success. As we enter the twenty-first

century, our world today is still confronted with

numerous complex problems including wars, armed

conflicts, terrorism, global crime, human trafficking,

global warming, environmental degradation, HIV/

AIDS and other diseases and the marginalization of

developing countries, in particular the three most

vulnerable groups among them: the least developed

countries, the landlocked developing countries and the

small island developing States. The international

community should cooperate and work collectively

through the United Nations to address the global

challenges of our time.

The United Nations needs to be reformed if the

Organization is to be more effective and more

democratic. The General Assembly should also have an

important and more active role to play in the

management of world affairs. With respect to the

Security Council, we wish to reaffirm the position of

the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, first expressed

many years ago, that there should be an increase in the

number of permanent and non-permanent members

from the developed and developing countries, in

accordance with the principle of equitable geographical

distribution and taking into account the relative

importance of the various countries. In the same

context, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

supports Japan, Germany and India as permanent

members in a new, expanded Security Council.

All this would greatly contribute to achieving our

ultimate goal of making the United Nations, our

universal Organization, an organization that can gain

the trust and the confidence of Member States.