Moldova, 2002

On behalf

of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, I join

other delegations in congratulating Mr. Jan Kavan on

his election as the President of the fifty-seventh session

of the General Assembly. I would also like to express

my sincere thanks to his predecessor, Mr. Han Seung-

soo, for the competent manner in which he managed

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this forum during the dramatic period of the previous

session.

I would also like to take this opportunity to

welcome the Swiss Confederation as a Member of our

family of nations. We look forward to welcoming East

Timor as the 191st Member of the United Nations in

the near future.

One year after the terrible attacks of 11

September, we remember the innocent victims of those

crimes. As a result of that tragedy, the world changed

fundamentally in many ways. The international

community agreed to start fighting terrorism in all its

forms. The international anti-terrorism coalition, led by

the United States, succeeded in significantly

undermining the capacity of the Al-Qaeda terrorist

organization and in removing the Taliban regime,

which had hosted it. The General Assembly and the

Security Council took prompt action resulting in

mandatory measures aimed at eliminating all forms and

manifestations of terrorism and requiring Member

States to take administrative, financial, legal and other

steps. The immediate, effective and, even more

important, united action by the United Nations against

a terrorist threat that had now reached a new level

shows the Organization's continued importance and

viability. Once more, we saw the capacity of the United

Nations to fulfil its noble mission by uniting and

mobilizing us for this relentless fight.

The Republic of Moldova supports those actions

and reaffirms its commitment to fighting terrorism in

all its forms. My country has been taking concrete

action towards the implementation of all relevant

United Nations decisions, especially Security Council

resolutions 1373 (2001) and 1390 (2002). First,

concrete steps have been taken to consolidate our

domestic anti-terrorist legislation. Moldova presented

two relevant reports to the Counter-Terrorism

Committee. Only months after those tragic events, our

Parliament adopted a law to combat terrorism and a

law to prevent and combat money-laundering. Relevant

modifications were introduced to the Criminal Code.

With its recent accession to the International

Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombing

and to the International Convention against the Taking

of Hostages, as well as its ratification[n of the

International Convention for the Suppression of the

Financing of Terrorism, Moldova is about to conclude

its process of acceding to the 12 main international

instruments related to combating terrorism. We call on

all Member States to undertake new efforts to conclude

the United Nations Comprehensive Convention on

International Terrorism.

At the same time, as a new independent State, we

ask for expert support in implementing some of those

complex measures. Moldova has shown its political

will to combat terrorism by actively participating in

new efforts within the framework of many regional and

subregional organizations, including the Organization

for Security and Cooperation in Europe; the

Commonwealth of Independent States; the Stability

Pact for South-East Europe; the South-East Europe

Cooperative Initiative; and the Georgia, Uzbekistan,

Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova Group.

The stabilization and rehabilitation process in

Afghanistan is a test for the Organization and for the

rest of the international community. Considerable

progress has been achieved, and we must commend the

job done by the anti-terrorism coalition under very

difficult conditions, the efforts of international donors

and, above all, the efforts of the Afghanistan

leadership, led by President Hamid Karzai. The Special

Representative of the Secretary-General for

Afghanistan, Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, has

repeatedly urged the international community to

maintain its strong and active support for the

Government and people of Afghanistan. We share the

view that stability for Afghanistan must be seen within

the context of a broader stabilization process that

secures increased support from international financial

organizations for all Central Asian countries.

Undoubtedly, there is an urgent need for more

substantial efforts to bring an end to the Middle East

conflict. This year has been marked by successive

terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and by Israel's

disproportionate use of force against the Palestinians.

We support the efforts of the Quartet to restart the

peace process on the basis of the relevant United

Nations resolutions in order to achieve the peaceful

coexistence of Israel and an independent Palestinian

State within secure and internationally recognized

borders.

We share the concern expressed by many

previous speakers on the situation concerning Iraq, and

we call on Baghdad to comply immediately and fully

with all relevant Security Council resolutions. In that

regard, we welcome the statement made recently in this

Hall by President Bush recognizing the central role of

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the United Nations and calling on it to shoulder its

responsibility. Moldova, a country with an economy in

transition, attaches great importance to the United

Nations agenda for development and, in particular, the

implementation of the United Nations Millennium

Declaration. The International Conference on

Financing for Development held in Monterrey this

year, the Doha Development Agenda and the World

Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg

constituted an essential step in the convergence of

international efforts in such vital areas as the

eradication of poverty and the reversal of

environmental and resource degradation.

The external debt burden, the lack of necessary

resources, weak financial and banking systems,

frequent natural calamities and droughts are

undermining many of the efforts made by our

Governments. Unfortunately, some recommendations

implemented at the request of and at the insistence of

some international financial institutions have proved to

be relatively, or even totally, ineffective. While they

accept primary responsibility for the well-being of their

citizens, many Governments in the developing world

are still waiting for promised resources.

My country welcomes the entry into force on 1

July of this year of the Rome Statute of the

International Criminal Court (ICC), which inaugurated

a new era in the affirmation of fundamental human

rights on the world stage. Moldova has begun

preparations to join the ICC, which we believe will

become an effective, competent and equitable legal

instrument.

The recent debates in the General Assembly on

the New Partnership for Africa's Development

(NEPAD) demonstrate that the world strongly supports

the unprecedented integration processes taking place

on the African continent.

The Republic of Moldova welcomes the creation

of the African Union. We share the view that the

United Nations and the entire international community

must remain fully engaged in resolving the conflicts

that still prevail in many parts of Africa.

Conflict prevention is the central challenge facing

our Organization. The Secretary-General called for the

United Nations to move from a culture of reaction to a

culture of prevention. Poverty, inequality and injustice

are most frequently named as causes of conflicts.

Separatism is also one of the phenomena provoking

instability and conflicts in many parts of the world.

While we are mentioning the improvement in the

Balkan situation, there are still a number of so-called

frozen conflicts in the post-Soviet area, creating

instability in the entire region. Despite many years of

negotiations the separatist regime in Transdniestria

continues blatantly to ignore any efforts made by the

Moldovan Government, the Organization for Security

and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other

countries, to oppress the local population and violate

elementary human rights. By creating new obstacles to

the process of removing ammunitions and weapons, the

Transdniestrian separatist regime is putting at risk the

fulfilment of the Istanbul OSCE Summit decision,

which was reaffirmed by United Nations General

Assembly resolution 55/179 concerning the withdrawal

of all foreign forces and armaments from the territory

of the Republic of Moldova by the end of this year.

Another reason for our deep concern is the

existence of a huge quantity of unregistered arms at the

disposal of paramilitary units. At industrial sites of the

former Soviet military complex in that region, the

separatist authorities produce different types of

weapons, which are delivered through third countries

to other areas of conflict, thus assisting terrorist and

criminal groups, as well as other separatist regimes.

The considerable changes that have occurred

recently in the international arena have highlighted the

overwhelming role that the United Nations must play in

order to consolidate democratic values and institutions

and ensure peace and stability. My delegation fully

supports the efforts made by Secretary-General Kofi

Annan toward reforming our Organization. Some steps

have been taken to revitalize the work of the General

Assembly. The reform of the Security Council will

make it more equitable and consistent with the

expansion of the international community and will

better reflect new realities. We support the expansion

of permanent and non-permanent membership, so as to

let those Member States that are willing and able, to

better contribute to the maintenance of international

peace and stability.

The United Nations has also contributed to the

economic and social development of my country.

United Nations agencies and especially the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have

actively participated in the implementation of many

important programmes, thus finding lasting solutions to

many challenges and helping our young democracy to

26

survive. We also commend the activity of UNICEF in

Moldova for helping the newest generation of our

citizens navigate through this difficult period of

transition.

In conclusion, I would like to take this

opportunity to express my Government's warmest

appreciation to the Secretary-General for the efforts he

has exerted in order to maintain peace and security and

for his outstanding contribution to promoting and

fostering the role of the United Nations. The award of

the centennial Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations

and its Secretary-General was highly welcomed all

over the world.

In this year's annual report on the work of the

Organization the Secretary-General writes:

“Developments during the past year have

affirmed the Organization's increasing relevance

in world affairs; but a review of the work of the

Organization is also a reminder that much still

needs to be done to achieve the aims and goals of

the Charter and the Millennium Declaration.”

(A/57/1; para. 230)

Let us work even harder to ensure that the United

Nations is able to meet the challenges of the twenty-

first century.