Moldova, 2006

At the outset

allow me to congratulate you, Madam, on your election

as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-first

session and to wish you every success in this very

honourable and responsible position. My

commendation also goes to your predecessor, Mr. Jan

Eliasson.

I should also like to express my deepest

appreciation and praise to Secretary-General Kofi

Annan for the commitment and determination he has

shown in discharging his important duties. Concerning

the forthcoming elections for the new Secretary-

General, I take this opportunity to recall that eastern

Europe is the only region that has not been represented

in this high position. In this regard, we welcome the

candidature of Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of

the Republic of Latvia.

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 still

loom large in our memory. The fifth anniversary of this

tragedy has again filled our television screens with

horrific scenes of suffering and death. It has served to

remind us of the resolve that is necessary to combat

terrorism, which constitutes one of the most serious

threats to international peace and security.

With this in mind, Moldova fully supports the

Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted recently by

the General Assembly, and welcomes the Assembly’s

decision to continue, during the current session,

consideration of the Secretary-General’s progress

report on the prevention of armed conflict (A/60/891).

We consider that the specific measures in the Strategy’s

plan of action are comprehensive in their details and

far-reaching in their insight. We need to take practical

steps individually and collectively to implement the

provisions of the plan. Likewise, we believe that the

recommendations outlined in the Secretary-General’s

progress report will serve as guiding points for

Member States in preventing conflicts throughout the

world.

Many regional organizations have been entrusted

by the United Nations, under the provisions of Chapter

VIII of the Charter, with dealing with a number of

conflicts that are not in the focus of the Security

Council. We need a more systematic outreach to these

regional organizations. No conflict in the world should

escape the attention of the United Nations, whether or

not it is on the Security Council’s agenda.

From this perspective, we are delighted that the

General Assembly, despite opposition from some

Member States, agreed to include in the agenda of this

session a new item, item 27, proposed by Azerbaijan,

Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova —

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GUAM: “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and

their implications for international peace, security and

development”. These unresolved conflicts continue to

impact negatively on the political, social and economic

development of the GUAM States and the millions of

people living in the region. We believe that bringing

the matter to the international community through the

General Assembly will facilitate the resolution of

conflicts in Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of

Moldova, and will not, as some fear, undermine the

existing mechanisms to negotiate settlement of these

conflicts. In this context, I should like to express on

behalf of the Government of the Republic of Moldova

deep gratitude to those countries that have supported

our initiative.

The Transdniestrian conflict is first and foremost

a product of geopolitical interests and designs. It was

unleashed with external support immediately after the

collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of

independence and sovereignty by the Republic of

Moldova. Unlike other internal conflicts generated and

fostered by ethnic and religious antagonisms, it has a

purely political character. The similarity of the ethnic

structure of the population on both sides of the Dniestr

river speaks for itself in this regard and cannot be

denied.

Over the years the Moldovan authorities have put

in place specific policies aimed at ensuring full respect

for the human rights of ethnic minorities, in accordance

with the highest international standards. International

organizations dealing with human rights issues have

repeatedly attested that in the Republic of Moldova all

the conditions for the preservation of the cultural and

linguistic identities of ethnic minorities have been

created. These conditions include the functioning of

many schools based on the languages of minorities, as

well as the broad use of Russian as the language of

inter-ethnic communication.

The satisfactory resolution of the Gagauz issue by

granting special status to the region concerned is one

of the greatest achievements of Moldova’s national

policy. It offers a unique example in post-cold-war

Europe of an internal conflict settled successfully by

political means. These developments, against the

backdrop of the lack of democracy and growing

criticism by the international community of the

totalitarian Transdniestrian regime of Tiraspol, have

convinced the separatist leaders to cease the political

exploitation of cultural and linguistic factors within the

negotiation process.

It should be emphasized here that the territory

controlled by the separatists is one of the few regions

of its kind in the world, one where political parties and

non-governmental organizations opposed to the

separatist regime are prohibited; where freedom of the

mass media and of opinion is non-existent; and where

other fundamental freedoms, especially those of the

native Moldovan population, are systematically

violated.

Moreover, various types of conventional

weapons, including those prohibited or restricted by

the relevant international arms control regimes,

continue to be manufactured illegally in the region.

The process of military build-up in Transdniestria is

conducted vigorously by the separatist leaders, despite

steady efforts by Moldova to reduce its military forces

and to settle the political conflict exclusively through

peaceful means, without giving up its status of

permanent neutrality.

The Moldovan authorities are determined to find

a political solution to the Transdniestrian conflict based

on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity

of the country. This regional security problem should

be resolved through negotiations, with the participation

of key actors in the “5+2” format. The end goal of

negotiations should be the drafting of a special legal

status for the Transdniestrian region within the

Republic of Moldova. The region’s democratization

and demilitarization are indispensable conditions for

progress in the settlement process.

We have a sound road map for settling the

conflict, the Ukrainian plan, together with the

documents approved by the Moldovan Parliament in

the summer of 2005. It is important that the

negotiations resume as soon as possible, without any

preconditions. The calls for such negotiations are

strongly supported by the Republic of Moldova.

Although little progress was achieved in the four

rounds of the “5+2” negotiations, we believe it is

crucial to hold talks rather than to preserve the status

quo.

With a view to advancing the settlement process,

the Moldovan authorities have taken a number of

complementary actions. Thus, on 22 July 2005, the

Moldovan Parliament adopted the Law on Fundamental

Regulations of the Special Legal Status of Settlements

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on the Left Bank of the River Nistru. This law grants

Transdniestria the right to solve, independently,

problems related to legal, social and economic

development, while complying with the Constitution

and laws of the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, the

law grants the Transdniestrian region the right to have

its own legislative and executive bodies, as well as

more official languages.

In the same vein, conditions have been created to

bring the activities of Transdniestrian companies

within the legal framework of the country through their

registration with the relevant constitutional authorities,

which should allow those companies to benefit fully

from the trade preferences Moldova has with its

partners, including the European Union. That has been

possible due to a joint commitment of the Moldovan

and Ukrainian authorities to secure our common

border. The deployment on the ground of the European

Union Border Assistance Mission facilitated

cooperation between the relevant Moldovan and

Ukrainian services aimed at establishing a single

customs regime and efficiently controlling the frontier.

We are confident that this trilateral interaction will

contribute to settling the Transdniestrian problem.

We take this opportunity to inform the Assembly

that on 17 September the separatist Transdniestrian

regime held a so-called referendum on the region’s

future. We condemn this pseudo-referendum, which

flagrantly infringes the Constitution of the Republic of

Moldova, undermines the country’s territorial integrity

and defies democratic values and standards. The

Republic of Moldova is grateful to the mediators and

observers of the negotiation process — the European

Union, the United States of America, the Organization

for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Ukraine —

for their resolute position on non-recognition of that

farce.

We continue to be concerned about the tensions

in the security zone. The inefficiency of the current

peacekeeping mechanism dictates the need for its

transformation into a multinational peacekeeping

mission with an international mandate. We welcome

certain proposals made in this sense, and are ready to

tackle this issue, in a result-oriented manner, without

delay. With regard to the military aspect, I should

reiterate our concern and deep regret that the Russian

Federation has not yet fulfilled its Istanbul

commitments. The complete implementation of these

decisions will facilitate the process for the entering

into force of the adapted Treaty on Conventional

Armed Forces in Europe. We also underline the need

for an early international inspection of depots with

ammunition in the Transdniestrian region. Monitoring

of the military-industrial enterprises in the eastern

region of the Republic of Moldova is long overdue.

This year the Republic of Moldova celebrates the

fifteenth anniversary of its independence. During these

15 years, as a Member State of the United Nations, we

have fully shared the common values, responsibilities,

achievements and setbacks of the Organization.

Nevertheless, we laid the foundations for a democratic

society where basic human rights and the rights of

national minorities are fully respected. The main

achievement has been the consolidation of the

Republic of Moldova as a peace-loving, independent

European country. The Republic of Moldova has

irreversibly chosen the way of European integration as

a strategic objective of its foreign policy. We are fully

committed to the idea of integrating into the system of

political, economic and social values of the European

Union’s family. We hope that the successful

implementation of the European Union-Moldova

Action Plan will open up for us the possibility of

elevating contractual relations with the European

Union to a new level.

In conclusion, I voice our hope that the

proceedings of the General Assembly at its sixty-first

session will be conducted in a spirit of solidarity and

with a realistic and constructive approach to the

complex issues confronting the world today. The

delegation of the Republic of Moldova is committed to

contributing, alongside other Member States, to the

fulfilment of the lofty goals of the United Nations.