Panama, 1995

Allow me at the outset, Sir, to express my

satisfaction and that of my delegation at the President’s

election to guide our deliberations. We have strong ties

with Portugal, based on the many cultural values that we

have historically shared on the fertile soil of the Ibero-

American community. For this reason, it is a great pleasure

for me to offer Don Diogo Freitas do Amaral our sincerest

cooperation and to congratulate him in advance, by virtue

of his well-known qualities, on his successful leadership of

this memorable fiftieth session of the General Assembly.

The delegation of Panama wishes to take this

opportunity to express to the Secretary-General, Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, our recognition of the skill,

intelligence and dedication with which he is fulfilling his

responsibilities at the head of our Organization.

This fiftieth anniversary has been a year rich in

events. Under the leadership of the United Nations, there

have been two major world gatherings — the World

Summit for Social Development at Copenhagen and the

Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing — which

have focused the attention of the world on matters that

are highly complex and difficult because of their cultural,

social and political implications.

It is gratifying to see that these meetings have

fundamentally mobilized women, who are increasingly

occupying their rightful role, and that the Conferences

have contributed enormously to convert the quest for a

solution to the problems of the family and of children into

the responsibility of us all, and into a moral imperative

that transcends the healthy differences between us.

Panama values as a substantive result the hopeful

consensus and the important guidelines agreed upon.

We reiterate the responsibility of Panama in the

Non-Aligned Movement, as well as our readiness to

attend the Summit at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to

contribute to the necessary review, just as we greatly

value our participation in the Group of 77. In this context,

we reiterate our deepest solidarity with the least

developed countries, with which we are cooperating

within our means.

My delegation is convinced of the need to bring this

Organization up to the level of its new and growing

responsibilities, and to adapt its functioning, its

procedures and its structures to the new conditions that characterize contemporary international society. We are

convinced that this is a feeling shared by all Member

States, and we believe that existing differences will in due

course be resolved.

Panama is following with great attention the

discussions taking place in the Working Groups on the

Security Council, on the financial situation, on the

supplement to “An Agenda for Peace” and on the “Agenda

for Development”. In particular, and in accordance with

decisions taken in the Rio Group, Panama believes that the

increase in the membership of the Security Council should

aim at correcting existing imbalances in the regional

distribution of membership, as well as changing its

procedures and working methods, so that the Council can

function in a transparent way, in keeping with the letter and

spirit of the Charter. In this context, we support the

admission of Germany and Japan as permanent members of

the expanded Security Council.

We are convinced that the expectations of the

international community for renewed action by the United

Nations can be satisfied only if the financial crisis

confronting the Organization is overcome in such a way as

to allow it to respond to the mandates of Member States.

We are particularly concerned at the consistent trend

towards a reduction in funds for development and

cooperation programmes, as well as proposals to reorient

food programmes towards emergency assistance

programmes.

We consider the review and indefinite extension of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

to be of extreme importance, together with the approval of

provisions for its periodic review. As a State party to the

Treaty of Tlatelolco, which establishes the first nuclear-

weapon-free zone, and as a coastal State of the Pacific,

Panama wishes to reiterate the Declaration of the Rio

Group regarding the resumption of nuclear testing, because

that practice has a negative impact on the delicate

compromises that this subject involves, as well as the

Group’s readiness to continue to negotiate treaties for the

total prohibition of such testing, as well as the production

and use of chemical and biological weapons.

Likewise, we vehemently reject all forms of terrorism,

wherever they exist, as well as expressions of racism and

intolerance, which are incompatible with our status as

members of the human race. Respect for human rights is

and must be a fundamental part of the new universal ethics,

which my country has accepted as an integral part of our

value system and which my Government is completely

fulfilling.

We are profoundly concerned at the overall situation

of the African continent, whose peoples deserve the best

of destinies. Nonetheless, we are extremely pleased to

underscore the admirable example offered to us by the

South Africans who, moving beyond racial or cultural

motivations, in a long and heroic effort that has caused so

much suffering, have put an end to the most odious form

of discrimination — apartheid. The difficulties involved

in meeting, living together and working as equals in an

atmosphere of tolerance and cooperation cannot conceal

the important contribution being made today by the

leaders of that Republic under the inspiring leadership of

President Mandela, to whom we wish to accord a special

recognition for having constructed the democratic

foundations of a multiracial and multicultural nation, fully

incorporated into the international community.

In the Middle East, particularly in Palestine and in

Israel, we are delighted to see the efforts of two

Governments and their respective leaders and peoples

who are struggling tirelessly to consolidate the peace

agreements and to move forward in building lasting

peaceful coexistence. Our country wishes to add its voice

of encouragement to all the forces involved in this

exemplary commitment, which contributes so much to the

strength of the United Nations system and to international

ethics. Panama, a defender of the rights of the Palestinian

people and a sincere and constant friend of the Jewish

people, as well as of the Arab peoples, believes it is

appropriate for the international community to begin to

adjust the direction of its own decisions in order to

strengthen what is new, to lend greater force to that

which unites us, in order to encourage those who desire

peace.

Inspired by these events, the Member States of the

United Nations should recognize the recent achievements

that have been made and further encourage the parties to

the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina to find the

political will to arrive at firm, lasting agreements that will

spare their own peoples the suffering and pain of being

innocent victims of war, of racism and of intolerance. The

United Nations peace-keeping forces must be respected

and protected, because this is what their noble mission

demands and because this has been the decision of the

community of nations. The same message applies to other

areas of the world that are threatened by violence, or that

are subject to breaches of the peace.

I believe it is appropriate to refer to the request made

by a large number of States, including Panama, to include

the item of the special situation of the Republic of China in

Taiwan on the agenda of the fiftieth session of the General

Assembly. Panama supports this request because it is

interested in the unification of China. But since that

eventuality is as yet unforeseeable as regards the “when”

and “how”, we are convinced that both parties should

coexist and participate jointly in the international

community with equality and mutual respect. Panama, as a

coastal country of the Pacific, and completely sovereign in

the inter-oceanic Canal whose neutrality opens it to

peaceful use by all nations of the world, desires friendship

with all States and wishes to normalize its relations with all

users of this inter-oceanic passage.

The Torrijos-Carter Treaties provide for the

culmination on 31 December 1999 of the process of the

return to Panama of the inter-oceanic canal and adjacent

facilities and the agreed withdrawal of the troops and

military facilities of the United States. This exceptional

diplomatic and political event constitutes an example of the

peaceful and just settlement of disputes between a world

Power and a small country, which today have excellent

relations of friendship and cooperation based on trust and

mutual respect, as is appropriate for two States committed

to efforts to consolidate prosperity, peace, security and

democracy on the continent.

The regime of neutrality of the Panama Canal, in

establishing freedom of transit for ships, without

discrimination, promotes the strengthening of an

interdependent world with an increasing trend towards

international cooperation. It also provides in our hemisphere

a concrete example of a system of collective security which

ensures the peaceful uses of that inter-oceanic canal,

openly, on equal conditions, both in times of peace and in

times of war, for ships of all flags and nations of the world.

From this rostrum we reiterate the invitation to States

Members of the United Nations to adhere to the Treaty

concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the

Panama Canal.

We are and shall remain the Western hemisphere’s

key to the immense Pacific. President Ernesto Pérez

Balladares’s recent successful tour of Asia, following his

attendance at the Quito Summit of the Rio Group, and his

acceptance of the invitation of the President of the United

States to go to Washington reflect the desire to reaffirm

clearly our decision to establish the closest political,

diplomatic and commercial relations with all nations in the

geographic arc from Japan to Australia, through the

Philippines, and including all the other coastal States of

the Asian continent. In keeping with this, we are

interested in being admitted to the Asia-Pacific Economic

Cooperation Council, as is appropriate for a country that

is essentially maritime and commercial.

We therefore wish to continue to be the point of

convergence, the meeting-point, of races, cultures and

civilizations. We wish to continue to express our natural

historical and geographical calling, which inspired the

Amphictyonic Congress of Panama of 1826, initiated by

Simón Bolívar, the Liberator, and which later made

possible the emergence of the Organization of American

States, the United Nations, the Contadora Final Act and

the Rio Group — cornerstones of agreement, dialogue,

peace and regional and universal democracy.

This explains that our openness to the Caribbean

basin, in entering the Association of Caribbean States, our

incorporation into the Central American Integration

System and our admission to the Andean Group as a

permanent observer are basic to our foreign policy, which

involves intense activity to create bonds of integration and

cooperation in the framework of fruitful, open

regionalism. In this context, we believe it extremely

important to express our encouragement for the efforts

being made by the Secretary-General and his Group of

Friends in the negotiations aimed at bringing peace at last

to the noble people of Guatemala. We welcome the fact

that Contadora is once again becoming a point of

reference in the painstaking negotiation of national

conciliation for that fraternal people. Panama is honoured

to have hosted very recently the parties that reached the

initial agreements to bring lasting peace to Guatemala.

We welcome the achievements of the European

Union and its members, and recognize the value of its

important contribution to international cooperation. We

encourage it to complement this contribution by

intensifying trade with our own country and our region

through renewed readiness to facilitate access for our

products to its markets. We are conscious that Panama is

a bridge not only to the Pacific, but also to the Atlantic,

which opens up new opportunities with the States of the

European Union. We are following with optimism and

attention developments in the countries in transition, with

which we wish to have close relations and increased

exchanges.

Panama, which is today a stable and secure

democracy respectful of human rights, with a Government

that represents with full legitimacy a people determined

3

to shape for itself a great future of peace and well-being,

wishes to remain the cross-roads of international trade, open

to all parts of the world, where, in an era of globalization

and market integration, the goods and services that are the

principal wealth produced by nations can circulate.

Because of everything we are and everything we wish

to remain, we are here today to share the opportunities that

arise from a new situation, which, because it is not imposed

by the manifest destiny of others, promises to open up

paths towards a great future of cooperation and integration

with the region and the world.

Panama is particularly proud to invite the members of

the international community that use our inter-oceanic

waterway to join us in September 1997 in our capital for

the Universal Congress on the Panama Canal, where all the

direct and indirect beneficiaries of this marvel of the

modern world can see the progress in the smooth transfer

of the administration and control of the Panama waterway

at the end of this century, and consider its modernization

and enlargement so that in the twenty-first century it can

continue to be the most efficient, most competitive and

safest means of maritime transport for the exchange of

merchandise and products vital to the economies of many

countries of the world. Recognizing the importance of this

matter, the General Assembly, at its third plenary meeting,

held on 22 September 1995, made it agenda item 162 for

the fiftieth session, under the title “Universal Congress on

the Panama Canal”.

We invite representatives to participate with us in the

development of the infrastructure of transport and trans-

isthmus communications to serve the continent and the

world, with the creation — already under way — in our

country, on the banks of the inter-oceanic Canal between

the Pacific and the Caribbean, of a large port for the

storage and handling of goods, which will complement the

operation of the modernized Panama Canal. We also invite

representatives to participate in the City of Learning

project, a great international centre for the exchange of

cultures and knowledge, being promoted by our country on

the banks of the Canal.

We also wish to say that we have offered the

American hemisphere our territory and all the infrastructure

and installations necessary to establish a multilateral centre

to combat drug-trafficking and related crimes. Panama

raised this matter at the recent Summit of Heads of State

and Government of the Rio Group, which endorsed the idea

and has put it to the President of the United States, Bill

Clinton, because we believe that we can succeed in this

enormous struggle only if all countries coordinate their

plans and actions. At the same time, we strongly support

the holding of a second international conference against

the use of and illicit trafficking in drugs in order to deal

with a problem that has become universal in scope.

Panama, as a founding Member of this Organization

and a signatory of the San Francisco Charter, has been

with the United Nations for its 50 years, carrying on with

it step by step, day by day, observing its magnificent

achievements and its great difficulties, which for some are

overwhelming. But this is not a time for fear or regrets;

it is a time for new endeavours, a time to promote new

forms, ways and means of international cooperation, with

a view to generating, by cultivating the complementary

development of our national individualities, the cultural,

economic and human resources that can enable us to be

free of poverty and backwardness and to open an ever-

broadening road to understanding, tolerance, peace and

prosperity as we enter the third millennium.