Portugal, 2000

It is with the

greatest pleasure that I congratulate you, Sir, on your

assumption of the presidency of this Millennium

Assembly. I pay tribute also to the outgoing President,

Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, and reiterate to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, my praise for his vision and

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for the remarkable and courageous manner in which he

is carrying out his duties.

My French colleague has already addressed the

Assembly on behalf of the 15 member States of the

European Union, a statement with which my country

fully associates itself.

I will now touch upon questions of particular

importance to my country, Portugal.

As the Prime Minister stated here during the

Millennium Summit, the United Nations finds itself at

a turning point which necessarily calls for the exercise

of reflection on the future of the Organization. In this

era of increasing globalization, we should give the

United Nations the means to accomplish the missions

that we have entrusted it with, turning the Organization

into the foundation of a more stable, united and

cohesive international community.

The international community faces three great

challenges at the turn of the millennium: to strengthen

our action on behalf of peace, to contribute to the

eradication of extreme poverty, and to guarantee

environmental conditions conducive to perpetuating

life on earth.

The increasing use of peacekeeping operations

over the last decade, which we have encouraged,

conclusively demonstrates their importance. The

results that we have obtained on the five continents tell

us with certainty that we have chosen the right path. To

continue this effort effectively, the United Nations

must have at its disposal the necessary resources, be

they financial, technical, civilian, political or military.

A credible peacekeeping capacity is in itself a

deterrent to conflicts and therefore an integral part of

the global system of conflict prevention, of which the

United Nations should be an essential component. In

this regard, Portugal welcomed with satisfaction the

Brahimi report on peace operations. We believe that its

list of recommendations point the way to a process of

reform that will strengthen the capacity of the United

Nations in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and

peace-building. We should take advantage of the

momentum that has been created and concentrate on

obtaining concrete results within the next year or two.

I would stress, however, that crucial questions

will always be of a political nature. We must muster the

necessary courage to broaden the scope of the

responsibilities of the United Nations. Let us not

deceive ourselves. As the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, stated, it is our function to intervene. Allow me

to go ever further and to say that it is our duty to do

so — to intervene in time, effectively and on the basis

of international law.

Portugal is ready to do so, as it has shown in the

past. We have participated in peacekeeping operations

in Mozambique, Angola, the Central African Republic

and Guatemala, and today we are participating in

United Nations missions in East Timor, Bosnia,

Kosovo and the Western Sahara, with more than 1,000

peacekeepers. Portugal is currently the 11th-largest

contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping

operations, and first among its European Union

partners.

During the Portuguese presidency of the

European Union, we gave decisive impetus to the

creation of the European Union's capacities to

intervene, which we see as being offered in the service

of international peace and cooperation. In the year

2003, the Union will have at its disposal a force of

50,000 to 60,000 military personnel, to which 5,000

police will be added, as well as a civilian structure for

crisis management.

This aspect of Portugal's external activities will

continue to be favoured, and the importance we attach

to them is equally reflected in our candidacy for the

presidency of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe for the year 2002.

In a globalized world, the existence of

tremendous economic asymmetries is a factor of

permanent tension and conflict. Indeed, about half of

the world's population lives on less than $2 a day.

The turn of the millennium is an opportunity for

us to reaffirm our will to combat and eradicate poverty

on a global scale. It may be a utopian vision at this

point, but with our combined efforts it is a goal that

may be within our reach.

In the time that it takes to deliver each of these

statements in the General Assembly, around 300

children under the age of 1 will die. Is this acceptable?

Obviously not. Could it be, then, that the human and

financial resources necessary to fight this tragedy are

so great that they force us into accepting it? The

answer again is no. Many of those deaths could be

avoided through better management and without an

increase in resources. Health, like education, should be

a priority sector for development assistance.

It is vital to combine efforts, policies and

instruments. Direct development assistance must be

complemented by mechanisms to resolve the

longstanding problems of the poorest countries through

reform of the regulatory institutions of the global

financial and economic system and through agreements

that allow poor countries to access the markets of

developed countries without trade barriers.

I should like to stress in particular the importance

of developing cooperative mechanisms between the

United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions,

namely a revitalized Economic and Social Council. Our

priority should be to redefine the role of each

institution and to avoid any duplication of effort in a

field where the United Nations should play a leading

role.

It is equally important to give responsibility to

the countries receiving aid by demanding that funds be

used efficiently or requiring good governance. In this

regard I should like to emphasize that the fight against

corruption should be a priority of all our Governments.

The Millennium Declaration states clearly that

the principal challenge today is to ensure that

globalization becomes a positive reality for the entire

population of the world, and not a new factor of

exclusion.

Only the United Nations is in a position to

promote the partnership for change that Kofi Annan

referred to in his report entitled “We the peoples”.

Poverty, sadly, is also closely linked to infection

and to contagious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis, which cause millions of deaths every year

and which, in Africa, are laying waste to an entire

generation and posing a tragic threat to future

development. More than ever before, it is vital to

mobilize the energies of civil society, institutions and

the international community at large to fight infection

and contagious diseases. The European Union and the

United States recently agreed, at Lisbon, to strengthen

their cooperation in the fight against those scourges.

Turning to the environment, we must always be

mindful of the fact that economic growth and progress

must not be achieved at any cost, least of all at the cost

of the future. The United Nations must continue to

guide the way on environmental matters, as it has since

the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. But the

response from States has fallen short — often very

short — of what we committed ourselves to do in

political statements and even in international treaties.

Let us not delude ourselves: the United Nations plays

an instrumental role in this crucial, strategic area, as

was reaffirmed in the Millennium Declaration, but it is

only States that can produce results. This is not a job

that can be subcontracted to the United Nations.

Here, civil society should use all its influence, by

bringing pressure to bear on, and calling to account,

Governments that think they can deal with

environmental issues by opting out, as though they

were simply matters of sovereignty. We can no longer

think in that way. Global warming affects us all. To

face this common problem, we need common action on

a global scale.

For geographical, historical and political reasons,

Portugal is a country that is linked to the oceans. For

that reason, we recognize their importance both to the

land ecosystem and to the renewal of energy resources

vital to the sustenance of millions of people. We

welcome the launching of an informal consultative

process on the oceans and the law of the sea, and we

attach particular importance to the debate on scientific

research on marine matters.

Let me speak briefly about an initiative to which

my country attaches great importance. In June, at

Warsaw, a group of more than 100 countries, united by

shared beliefs, endorsed a declaration entitled

“Towards a Community of Democracies”. The

participants recognized that there was no single model

to determine how the will of a people should be

respected. The Community of Democracies will play a

role in uniting the efforts of all countries that believe a

representative democratic system to be the system that

best meets that objective.

I wish now to speak of some regional matters that

are of particular importance to my country. Africa is

one of the great priorities of Portuguese foreign policy.

The first Africa-Europe Summit was held during the

Portuguese presidency of the European Union, and on

the basis of a Portuguese proposal. The Summit opened

new vistas in the relationship between Europe and

Africa which will surely make possible a joint process

of reflection on the challenges and problems that the

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two continents face. The second Africa-Europe Summit

will be held at Lisbon in 2003.

West Africa is at present one of our main

concerns on the continent. In that connection I would

mention the situation in Casamance in Senegal; the

recent conflict in Guinea-Bissau, from which the

country is only now beginning to recover; the serious

conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia; the problem of

refugees from those countries and their consequences

for Guinea; and the instability along the borders of all

those countries.

The persistence and potential spread of those

tensions and conflicts seriously threaten the security of

the entire subregion of West Africa, which could have

grave political, economic and humanitarian

consequences. It is therefore necessary for the

international community to give greater attention to

this sensitive region of Africa while there is still time.

With respect to Angola, we deeply regret the fact

that the war is continuing, which we believe is due to

the lack of implementation of the Bicesse and Lusaka

peace agreements, and to UNITA's violation of the

relevant Security Council resolutions. In our view,

those instruments continue to be the reference point for

a political solution to the Angolan conflict. We

welcome the strengthening of the sanctions regime

against UNITA and reiterate our pledge to cooperate

with the Security Council's sanctions Committee. We

consider that the presence of the United Nations on

Angolan territory continues to be of fundamental

importance, from both a humanitarian and a political

perspective. Only thus can the United Nations quickly

step in to support any political solution that may

emerge. I welcome the intention of the Angolan

Government to organize elections and to hold them in

2001. Promotion of the values of tolerance and

dialogue and of democratic principles is essential to

guarantee a lasting peace.

One year after the referendum that allowed the

people of East Timor finally to exercise their right to

self-determination, the United Nations faces a new

challenge: administering East Timor in its transitional

period and creating the necessary foundations for a

new independent and democratic State that will be a

future member of the Association of South-East Asian

Nations and of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking

Countries — and that we hope can be admitted to

membership of the United Nations by 2001. Portugal

has always supported East Timor and will continue to

do so. Our total financial assistance, not counting our

participation in the military component of the United

Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, will

reach an estimated $50 million this year, and will

remain at that level in 2001 and 2002. Much remains to

be done, but the able leadership of Sergio Vieira de

Mello and the exceptional qualities of Xanana Gusmão

allow us to look to the future with optimism.

The tragic events that took place in Atambua on 6

September, in which three members of the staff of the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees lost their lives, deserve unanimous

condemnation by the international community. They

testify to the impunity with which the militias act in

West Timor. Two days after those events, further

militia activity took place along the border, which led

to the death of 11 people, this time of Indonesian

nationality, who were assisting various non-

governmental organizations and international

organizations. We welcome the swift response of the

Security Council in adopting its resolution 1319 (2000)

and in deciding to dispatch an evaluation mission to

West Timor.

The new democratic Government of Indonesia

has, in general, shown a spirit of cooperation. It is now

time for it to honour its commitment to re-establish law

and order in West Timor, disarming and dismantling its

militias. Their continued existence destabilizes the

transition process in East Timor and is an affront to the

civilian and military authorities of Indonesia,

disturbing the consolidation of the democratic regime

in that country. For our part, we stand ready to work

with the Indonesian Government, helping it to resolve

this problem. It was in that spirit that the Portuguese

Prime Minister proposed here last week a stability pact

for East Timor. It is in that spirit that we will

participate in the quadripartite summit to be held soon

at Jakarta, which will bring together high-level

representatives of Indonesia, East Timor, Australia and

Portugal.

Guaranteeing peace, fighting poverty, protecting

the environment and leaving a better world for future

generations: that is our duty at the turn of the

millennium. Only through democracy can Governments

respond to those aspirations of our societies. Only a

reformed and ever more democratic United Nations

will be able to help us face this common challenge.