Qatar, 1992

At the outset, I

would like to express to you. Sir, my sincere congratulations as you assume

this high post. Your election is an expression of the confidence you enjoy.

It also emphasizes the role your country, Bulgaria, plays at the regional and

world levels and reflects the relations of friendship and cooperation it has

maintained with other countries of the world.

I would like, in this connection, to commend your predecessor in the

presidency of the General Assembly, Ambassador Samir Shihabi, who conducted

the work of the previous session of the Assembly with high efficiency.

Our current session, the first to be held since our present

Secretary-General, Ambassador Boutros Boutros-Ghali, assumed his high office,

is convened at the threshold of a new era of profound change with which the

world Organization must come to grips in a manner that would enhance its

effectiveness and credibility, now that the old bipolarity has disappeared and

the burdens faced by the United Nations in every field have increased. There

is a great deal of hope set by the peoples of the world on our Organization.

In this context, I would like to pay tribute to the former

Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, whose term ended with the

conclusion of our last session.

In this hall 179 delegations are meeting. Our Organization started with

51 Member States in 1945. This increase in membership reflects the success of

the United Nations in eliminating colonialism, and upholding the right of

peoples to self-determination and independence. By so doing, the United

Nations has achieved the aim of universal membership. This is an achievement

we should be proud of and we look forward to seeing it become a launching pad

from which the Organization would proceed to translate the noble principles

and objectives of the Charter from the realm of ideas to the world of

reality.

The State of Qatar shares with all Member States the desire of

reactivating and developing the United Nations in a manner that would be

compatible with the new world situation and which would strengthen the

Organization's role in maintaining peace and stability in the world.

We believe that that desired stability will be achieved only through the

creation of effective mechanisms for resolving disputes that arise between

States either by diplomatic means, such as direct dialogue and mediation, or

by recourse to international law as applied by the International Court of

Justice.

Despite the end of the cold war and the bipolarity which were among the

causes of the arms race, arms limitation continues to be one of the main

concerns of the United Nations. It was hoped that the end of the cold war

would mean a significant and speedy reduction in the magnitude of that arms

race. However, this has not been the case. In 1990, experts estimated that

15 per cent of the aggregate of all Government budgets in the world is still

being spent on armaments and military preparedness. This is a much higher

percentage than that of expenditure on education or on health care. The

burden of military expenditure weighs more heavily on developing countries

than on industrialized countries because of the discrepancy between the two

groups of countries in the area of disposable resources.

If we look carefully into the new developments in nuclear armaments we

find that the situation is much worse. For while we go on wasting the

valuable resources which should be used for development and the building of a

better future for man, we endanger that very future with nuclear armament.

Therefore, the problem of arms control will remain one of the central issues

which the Organization will continue to address in the near future just as it

used to do in the past.

We in the Gulf region, because of what we went through during the war of

liberation of our sister State of Kuwait, have a special interest in

prohibiting chemical and other weapons of mass destruction and we attach the

greatest of hopes on the success of the Conference on Disarmament in rapidly

concluding a convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons and preventing

the spread of research and production techniques in this field in accordance

with General Assembly resolutions, particularly those adopted in the course of

its last session.

In this connection, I should like to point out the necessity of

compliance by Israel, and by all other States of the Middle East, with this

convention, both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and

with the regime of international inspection. This should in adherence to the

principles of equality and justice and the need to ensure the security of all

States of the region without bias or discrimination. Failure by any State in

the region to comply with both agreements, or the accordance of special

treatment to any of those States would render the whole endeavour void of

seriousness and effectiveness. Therefore, we call upon the international

community to ensure compliance therewith by Israel.

The question of Palestine is one of the questions that have been with the

United Nations since its inception and still awaits a solution. My country

attaches great importance to this question and hopes for rapid progress

towards its solution in the framework of the ongoing peace process.

The question of the Palestinian people and the denial by Israel of the

inalienable rights of that people is the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict and

once the solution of the question of Palestine has been achieved in a manner

that would be acceptable to the Palestinians, we will also accept it. If

Israel wants to live in peace it should withdraw, not only from the West Bank

and the Gaza Strip, but also from all the occupied Arab territories, including

East Jerusalem, the Golan and southern Lebanon, in accordance with the United

Nations Charter and relevant resolutions which stipulate the inadmissibility

of the acquisition or annexation of territories by force, and that it is

illegal to occupy the territories of others by military force.

The State of Qatar welcomes the resumption of negotiation between the

concerned parties in Washington and reaffirms its commitment to support the

peace effort and expresses its hope that a lasting, equitable and

comprehensive solution will be reached to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the

question of Palestine on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967)

and 338 (1973).

The delegation of my country wishes to voice in this world forum its deep

concern over the continued suffering of the brotherly people of Somalia and we

appeal to all Somali factions to put an end to the bloodshed, set aside their

differences and put the national interest first. My country commends the

increasing efforts made by the United Nations at present to alleviate the

suffering of that people in a bid to move towards restoring stability to that

afflicted country.

As for the situation in the Gulf, my country reaffirms its commitment to

the joint political position of its sister countries, members of the Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) with a view to preserving security and peace in the

region, which in turn would contribute to achieving the desired peace in the

world.

With regard to the island of Abu Mousa, it is regrettable indeed that at

this historic stage through which our region is passing such a dispute should

arise between the two neighbours, the State of the United Arab Emirates and

the Islamic Republic of Iran. Out of our deep concern for the safety and

stability of the region, we believe that this dispute should be resolved by

peaceful means, through dialogue or by recourse to the law.

The disintegration of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has led

to serious consequences that have shaken the conscience of humanity. My

country is especially concerned over the acts of aggression committed against

the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and characterized by extreme violence,

particularly against the Muslim population of that Republic, with the aim of

driving the Muslims out of their homes and country under the slogan of "ethnic

cleansing".

It is the duty of the international community to stand up to this

aggression so that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a Member

State of the United Nations, may preserve its right to freedom and

independence.

In his statement made in December 1991 after his election as

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali cited the indebtedness of

developing countries as one of the more complicated problems which face the

world economy and which all States must address effectively and decisively.

The former Secretary-General, also, had often drawn attention to this problem,

the existence and gravity of which is not hidden from experts and from the

States that suffer from its worsening burden which weighs heavily on the

developing countries and often makes them unable to meet their economic

obligations, with dire social consequences.

It is self-evident that meeting the burden of foreign debt in every

debtor country would be at the expense of its social programmes and its

efforts to raise the-standard of living of its people and thus those poor

countries become even poorer. The problem of foreign debt must be dealt with

decisively.

The United Nations has shown its great concern over the problems of the

environment by convening the Rio de Janeiro Conference in mid-1992. Even if

that Conference did not rise fully to the level of the hopes set on it, it

marked, nevertheless, a positive beginning that could serve as a point of

departure for more effective efforts to protect the environment without

unnecessary shackles that may impede economic development in developing

countries in the name of the protection of the environment which no one

disputes.

The peoples of the world look forward to the formulation of a new world

order which would ensure world peace and rest on the foundations of

international law, the principles of justice and equality and of cooperation

and brotherhood. That new world order should not inherit the negative

attributes of the old order that led to the creation of blocs, conflicts and

polarization with all the attendant evils of underdevelopment, poverty,

backwardness, hunger, ignorance and disease. The concept of the new world

order should be wide enough to embrace international cooperation and

unshackled trade and should address the problems of economic development, side

by side with the issues of disarmament, indebtedness, environmental protection

and social problems.

If the new world order is to govern the political, economic and social

international relations between States, all States must share, on an equal

footing, in its formulation so that it may become an equitable world order

that truly represents the joint will of the international community and thus

enable the human race to build a safe and happy world, for the present and

future generations.