Tajikistan, 2000

Let

me join in the congratulations addressed to Mr. Harri

Holkeri and to his country, Finland, on his election to

the lofty and responsible post of President of the fifty-

fifth session of the General Assembly. I wish him every

success in guiding the work of the Millennium

Assembly. I should like to take this opportunity also to

express our genuine gratitude and to pay due tribute to

Mr. Gurirab for his outstanding diplomatic abilities and

for the evident skill with which he guided the work of

the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

The further the passage of time separates us from

the Millennium Summit, the more profoundly will we

appreciate its historic outcome. Tajikistan welcomes

the recommitment by world leaders to the role of the

United Nations as the key mechanism for the collective

regulation of international relations.

We remain convinced that there is no alternative

to the United Nations. No one actor is capable of

dealing single-handedly with the new multifaceted

challenges, risks and threats to international security

and stability. Only through concerted and collective

action on the part of the entire international community

can we combat phenomena such as severe financial and

economic crises, regional conflicts, international

terrorism, organized crime and the illicit drug trade.

The positive results achieved by my country in

the implementation of the peace process in our nation

are further proof of the key role of the United Nations

in coordinating the efforts of States in the process of

resolving armed conflict.

Today, after seven years of confrontation, peace

prevails in Tajikistan. Following the first multiparty,

pluralistic elections in the country's history, held in

February 2000, Tajik society is living in a new kind of

environment and is laying down a sound foundation for

the sustainable democratic development of the country.

The considerable support of the international

community, which, under the auspices of the United

Nations, effectively promoted the advancement of the

peace process in Tajikistan, played a significant part in

the establishment of peace and stability in the country.

The Tajik people will always remember the United

Nations with gratitude and will always associate this

Organization with the return of peace, democracy and

conditions for sustainable development to our ancient

land.

On behalf of President Emomali Rakhmonov, I

take this opportunity to express our great appreciation

to the Security Council, the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, his special envoys and

representatives, and the leaders of the United Nations

teams and missions in Tajikistan for their enormous

contribution to the successful completion of the peace

process in my country. Our special appreciation goes to

all those States — about 30 — that sent their citizens to

Tajikistan as part of the United Nations Mission of

Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT). The Tajik people

will for ever keep in their memories the names of those

who gave their lives so that peace could return to our

country.

We extend our sincere gratitude to the Office of

the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund

(UNICEF), the United Nations Development

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Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Financial

Corporation. They have rendered, and continue to

render, every possible support to the people and

Government of Tajikistan in their efforts to overcome

the effects of the civil conflict and to rehabilitate the

country's economy.

At all stages of the peace process the Russian

Federation made a decisive contribution to its

progressive development. The Russian peacekeepers

and frontier guards who lost their lives serving security

and stability in Tajikistan and Russia will never be

forgotten by our peoples.

The guarantor States for the implementation of

the peace agreement — the Russian Federation, the

Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Uzbekistan,

the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan,

Turkmenistan, Pakistan and the Islamic State of

Afghanistan — rendered considerable support to the

United Nations in achieving the successful settlement

of the conflict. The joint efforts of the United Nations,

its specialized agencies, the Bretton Woods institutions,

neighbouring States, the United States, the European

Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Islamic

Conference (OIC), and of all those others who

sincerely desired to see a peaceful and stable

Tajikistan, contributed to the successful

implementation of the General Agreement on the

Establishment of Peace and National Accord in

Tajikistan, signed in Moscow on 27 June 1997.

We are fully aware that a huge job of post-

conflict peace-building awaits us. We hope that the

United Nations office in Dushanbe will continue to

operate effectively, rendering rehabilitation assistance,

first and foremost, in the social and economic spheres.

Much remains to be done, but what has already been

accomplished at this stage is of great significance for

the steady, peaceful development of Tajik society and

for the entire Central and Southern Asia region.

This is undoubtedly of paramount importance for

the United Nations, since it constitutes one of the

positive examples of successful activities by our

Organization in the maintenance of peace and conflict

resolution. We hope that the support for and assistance

to Tajikistan needed to reinforce the gains of the peace

process will be intensified. We count on the General

Assembly's adopting during its current session the

traditional resolution, normally adopted by consensus,

on humanitarian assistance to Tajikistan.

Large-scale humanitarian assistance is of

particular importance this year, because in the spring

and summer the whole of Tajikistan was affected by a

drought on a scale without precedent in the twentieth

century. The loss of grain crops on irrigated land

proved to be from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), about

3 million people — in other words, every second

citizen of Tajikistan — is inadequately fed. We greatly

appreciate the Secretary-General's appeal for food

assistance to the population of Tajikistan most affected

by the drought, and we are deeply grateful to the WFP

and all donor States that responded so promptly and

generously to this appeal.

Clearly, in the new century United Nations

activities in the humanitarian sphere, in which it has

already demonstrated its capabilities, will continue to

play an important role. We believe that it is necessary

to intensify the cooperation of Member States in this

area in order to increase the international capacity to

respond to natural and technological disasters. In our

view, this is one of the realistic directions for the

development of the Organization, which will allow all

to take advantage of the opportunities provided by

globalization. This is entirely achievable, once the

efforts and capacities of the United Nations and other

international economic and financial organizations are

united. It would provide a demonstration of the global

solidarity called for by the Secretary-General.

Achieving sustainable development and ensuring

the equitable consideration of the interests of both

present and future generations on a global scale is one

of the most serious challenges of the new century.

Today we are not far from that boundary beyond which

the processes of destruction of the natural mechanisms

regulating the environment and global changes become

irreversible. Our common objective is to meet the ever

increasing needs of human development in the

economic and social spheres, while not simply

preserving, but gradually restoring natural ecosystems

to conditions that will guarantee environmental

sustainability.

Much has been accomplished in this area over the

last decade. Agenda 21, adopted at the Rio de Janeiro

Conference, has become a fundamental document

defining the main area of activities of the international

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community on this topic. However, the dimensions of

the task faced by humanity require extra coordinated

efforts. Alongside the long-term problems, such as

climate change, the preservation of biodiversity, and

desertification, new ones are emerging, demanding

careful consideration and concerted action. One is the

problem of fresh water, a resource which is being

gradually depleted. Depletion of ground waters has

become a serious problem. According to some

forecasts, by 2050 the population of the planet will not

have an adequate water supply. The problem of

drinking water is multifaceted and is not confined to

purely economic issues.

In “We the peoples: the role of the United Nations

in the twenty-first century” the Secretary-General drew

attention to the fact that, in order to have a sustainable

future, it is absolutely essential that the international

community tackle the current fresh water problems.

Major concern about this question has been expressed

by many non-governmental organizations, as well as by

the private sector. It has already been discussed at

international conferences, including, at the ministerial

level, the Second World Water Forum held in The

Hague, the Netherlands last spring, and it will be

discussed at the forthcoming International Conference

on water problems to be held in Bonn, Germany. All

these steps, aimed at giving profound consideration to

the matter and elaborating proper coordinated action by

the international community, are precisely the purposes

served by the initiative put forward by our President a

year ago to proclaim 2003 the international year of

freshwater. We hope that the relevant resolution will be

adopted by consensus at this session. We would be well

advised to recall our relationship with the two atoms of

hydrogen and one of oxygen that, bound together in

nature, support our lives on earth.

While the twenty-first century may present new

trials for humanity, that which recently ended

challenged the international community with the urgent

necessity jointly to combat international terrorism, the

drug trade and organized crime. The situation in many

regions of the planet demands that the United Nations

mobilize even greater international efforts to counteract

these horrible phenomena more actively.

The situation in Afghanistan in particular

endangers regional and international security. The

inter-Afghan crisis has transformed that country into a

stronghold of international terrorism and made it the

world leader in drug production. The situation in

Afghanistan was recently the subject of a thorough

discussion at a meeting of the Group of 6+2, held at the

level of Foreign Ministers. Tajikistan is firmly

convinced that there can be no military solution to the

Afghan crisis; any victory by any party to the conflict

will be temporary and will not lead to the

establishment of peace and stability in that country.

Only the United Nations, in cooperation with the

Organization of the Islamic Conference, is capable of

untying the tight knot of the Afghan crisis. Tajikistan

fully approves of the activities of the United Nations

Special Mission to Afghanistan and its Head, Mr.

Vendrell. We express our hope that additional resolute

measures to be undertaken by the Security Council and

the entire international community will eventually

allow the fire of war that has raged in that country for

20 years to be extinguished. Otherwise, as we have

already seen, the terrorist and narcotic threats to

regional and global security emanating from

Afghanistan will continue to grow.

Our duty is to help the Afghan people to return to

a dignified and peaceful life and to erect a reliable

barrier to the heroin-fuelled aggression and the

cultivation of international terrorism encouraged by the

Taliban, which threaten not only the countries

bordering Afghanistan, but also those located far

beyond the region. We are convinced that it will

become possible to find a formula for peace and a way

out of the Afghan deadlock only through our joint

efforts and the leadership of the United Nations.

In order to continue playing a key role in world

affairs, the United Nations must continuously renew

itself. Much has already been done to that end thanks

to the important initiatives and effective actions of the

Secretary-General. However, a number of issues that

could have a real impact on the efficiency of the United

Nations in the twenty-first century — inter alia,

expanding the Security Council's membership — have

yet to be addressed. Tajikistan is in favour of

increasing the efficiency, balance and representation of

the Security Council by incorporating highly

industrialized countries, such as Japan and Germany,

and influential developing States into its membership.

We hope that this issue will be resolved with the

broadest possible support.

Each session of the General Assembly provides

us with a unique opportunity to develop a unified

approach and to coordinate our actions at the global

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level for the sake of a truly democratic, secure and

sustainable development of humanity. The Summit of

world leaders, unprecedented in the history of

mankind, has given our Organization a powerful

political impetus with which to enter the twenty-first

century. The Millennium Assembly should preserve

this momentum and use it rationally for the sake of

strengthening the community of nations and our

common future.