North Macedonia, 2006

It is my privilege to

address this forum and share with it the views of the

Republic of Macedonia on the issues of primary

importance on this year’s agenda of the General

Assembly and of the international community at large.

Terrorism is not a new world issue, but it has

unfortunately become our tragic daily reality, thus

rapidly gaining new and more devastating dimensions

in the increasingly globalized world. We are all

affected in one way or another — whether we speak

about actual terrorist attacks or threats.

The real question, however, is: can we or should

we, the nations of the world, continue to live in that

kind of atmosphere, to live in fear, threatened? It

would be a failure of humanity, of free spirit and

democracy, of prosperity and mankind, and finally, if I

may say so, a failure of all of us here at the United

Nations. Recently we adopted the United Nations

Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. I believe it was

high time that we adopted a unified position and

strategy, that all of us gave a strong international

response. Comprehensive international cooperation and

coordination against this evil is equally important to

activities at the national and regional level. We need to

have results; the sooner, the better.

Outside this building, when the United Nations is

mentioned, for many peoples, even nations, it means

hope and help; it means peace; and it means cure. It

means also freedom, democracy and safety — it means

life. So the United Nations should not be shy to

respond, to act and to resolve when it is asked. The

United Nations has to react. Only by resolving

problems do we make progress. We have to follow and

react to the changes and to the new challenges that are

incoming.

The overall reform of the United Nations,

including better management, must be an ongoing

effort. There are still issues from the World Summit

Final Document yet to be delivered, such as mandate

review and Security Council reform, to name only

some. Hopefully, there will be enough understanding

and progress achieved on them too.

Last month we had yet another reminder of how

fragile world peace actually is. The Middle East again

erupted. We have witnessed how difficult it is to

restore peace, to hold a ceasefire and to send United

Nations peacekeepers there. Macedonia welcomed the

unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution

1701 (2006) of 11 August. Macedonia supports the

efforts of the United Nations and the international

community to provide timely humanitarian assistance

to those affected and for the reconstruction of Lebanon.

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The United Nations must fight to make a lasting

peaceful solution for the Middle East.

From the very beginning the Republic of

Macedonia has been part of the international

antiterrorist coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it

has recently increased its contingents as part of the

international forces. Peace- and democracy-building in

those two countries remains one of the key challenges

for the international community and the Iraqis and

Afghans themselves. I again reiterate Macedonia’s

support for their efforts to rebuild those countries and

create a better life for their people.

Last year at the Summit we reaffirmed our

commitment to the global partnership for development,

as set out in the Millennium Declaration, the

Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of

Implementation. It is beyond doubt that every country

has a principal responsibility for its own development.

However, it is more than obvious that national

development efforts must be supported by global

actions. The contribution of the private sector and civil

society may play a critical role in our common

endeavour.

In addition to human rights standard setting, the

United Nations, since the adoption of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, has been a guardian of

human rights. We trust that the recently established

Human Rights Council will give a new impetus in this

area. We hope that the Commission’s weaknesses will

be overcome, but we have to be aware that this requires

a strong political commitment on the part of the

membership. Guided by the wish to contribute to the

work of this important body, we have announced our

candidacy for membership for the 2009-2012 period.

Today Macedonia is a stable and functional

multi-ethnic democracy. Over recent years we have

launched and carried out a large number of reform

projects, which have brought us closer to the European

Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO) alliance. In December last year Macedonia

was granted candidate status for European Union

membership. Macedonia rightfully expects that the

pace of the needed reforms the country is committed to

will lead to an opening of the negotiations on joining

the European Union. As for NATO, we expect the

invitation to join it at the next enlargement summit.

The region of south-eastern Europe to which my

country belongs has experienced significant changes in

the recent past and made considerable democratic

progress: the start of European Union accession

negotiations of Croatia and Turkey; Macedonia

becoming a candidate country for membership in the

European Union; the signing of the Stabilization and

Association Agreement with Albania; and the opening

of the negotiations for the same agreement with Serbia,

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, the newly

independent State. Furthermore, Romania and Bulgaria

are expected to become full European Union members

in a few months.

Good-neighbourly relations and regional

cooperation have been and are among the top priorities

of Macedonia’s foreign policy. We will continue to

pursue such a policy even more vigorously. There is no

alternative to dialogue, and all outstanding regional

issues should be resolved in that manner. This year the

Macedonian delegation will once again introduce in the

First Committee a resolution entitled “Maintenance of

international security — good-neighbourliness,

stability and development in South-Eastern Europe,”

which is traditionally widely supported and co-

sponsored by Member States.

I should like to say a few words about the Kosovo

issue and Kosovo’s future status. Macedonia fully

supports the work of the Secretary-General’s Special

Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, and his team on the Kosovo

status talks. I stress that every effort should be made to

achieve a negotiated settlement mutually acceptable to

the parties concerned, in line with Security Council

resolution 1244 (1999) and the Contact Group guiding

principles. The Republic of Macedonia, with its active

good-neighbourly policy, has been a factor that has

largely contributed, and continues to contribute, to the

final, overall stabilization and positive developments in

the region.

Yet there is one important, still pending, issue in

this context for the Republic of Macedonia: that of the

technical demarcation of our northern border on the

Kosovo section, in line with the agreement between the

Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia, signed in February 2001, and the

recommendations made by the then Secretary-

General’s Special Envoy, Kai Eide. We urge that this

issue be closed in that manner before the final Kosovo

status decision is reached.

15 06-52988

I am confident that our deliberations will

contribute to creating a better world for all. Although

the debates at times show how different we are, our

differences must not be an obstacle to our common

vision. The personification of the hope of mankind for

a better tomorrow remains with the United Nations.