Turkmenistan, 1998

First of all,

permit me to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti, Minister for

Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, on his election to the post of

President of the General Assembly. I would also like to

address words of gratitude to Mr. Hennadiy Y. Udovenko

for the dynamic and competent manner in which he carried

out his duties as President of the previous session of the

General Assembly.

We have very attentively studied the report of the

Secretary-General on the work of the Organization and

have a very positive opinion of it. The quiet revolution

begun by the Secretary-General one year ago — the

institutional reform of the United Nations — has become an

irreversible process tied to the rapidly changing conditions

of our new era. One of the major problems confronting the

community of nations is how to better understand emerging

socio-economic forces and the modalities of globalization,

and how to channel them towards the fulfilment of our

requirements.

Acting within the framework of the United Nations,

Turkmenistan is expanding the scope of its responsibilities

within the world community of nations. I have the honour

to inform the Assembly that yesterday, here at United

Nations Headquarters, Turkmenistan signed the Kyoto

Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change. Furthermore, today, during my meeting

with the Secretary-General, I handed him the instrument

of Turkmenistan?s accession to the Convention on the

Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel,

signed by the President of Turkmenistan. Although we

know that accession by several countries more is still

lacking for the Convention?s entry into force,

Turkmenistan by its example would like to call on other

States Members of the Organization to join the

Convention, adding their voices in its support — or rather

in support of their citizens working for the United

Nations.

The Secretary-General?s proposal concerning real

partnerships between the United Nations and multilateral

regional organizations seems to be highly relevant,

because regional organizations are especially effective in

early warning and preventive diplomacy, as well as in

finding optimal ways to carry out globalization.

The proposal on the establishment of a special unit

to combat crime, terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking

and money-laundering is very timely. A recent wave of

terrorist acts around the world, including the bombings in

Tanzania and Kenya and the killing of Iranian diplomats

in Afghanistan, requires consolidation of efforts by the

world community and decisive action. Turkmenistan

resolutely fights against those negative phenomena and is

prepared to contribute to the implementation of special

United Nations programmes aimed at eradicating these

evils.

Turkmenistan welcomes the strengthening of the

framework mechanism for interaction among all

organizations of the United Nations system. I would like

to take this opportunity to express on behalf of the

Government of Turkmenistan our gratitude to the

missions of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP), the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF),

the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) and other United Nations agencies,

the positive results of whose work in Turkmenistan

cannot be overestimated. Turkmenistan also expresses its

gratitude to the donor countries supporting those

programmes in our country.

28

We are gravely concerned about the continuing armed

conflict in Afghanistan because it has a negative impact on

the stability of the region and on its economic development.

Its impact also bears on Turkmenistan, which has one of

the longest borders with Afghanistan, stretching for nearly

1,000 kilometres. Turkmenistan shares the opinion that

there is no alternative to a peaceful, negotiated settlement

in that country and that violence gives birth to violence and

will only lead the process to a dead end. That is why we in

Turkmenistan believe that the road to peace in that long-

suffering nation lies through political negotiations among all

parties to the conflict under the auspices of the United

Nations. Turkmenistan fully supports the efforts of the

United Nations, its Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and

his Special Envoy, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, and joint steps

undertaken within the framework of the 6 + 2 mechanism.

Turkmenistan?s President, Mr. Saparmurat Niyazov,

maintains constant contacts regarding this matter with the

Secretary-General and with the leaders of neighbouring

States. Turkmenistan will continue to cooperate closely with

the United Nations in this regard. Interaction among

Afghanistan?s neighbouring countries, the United Nations,

the Organization of the Islamic Conference and all the

parties concerned should lead to the termination of one of

the most protracted and violent conflicts of this century.

In view of the global changes that are taking place in

the sphere of international relations, Turkmenistan believes

that development of the Central Asian region objectively

deserves the attention of the world. The States of that

region have opened to the world a huge geopolitical and

geoeconomic potential, enormous natural wealth, and

geographical and transport opportunities. Turkmenistan is

vigorously seeking alternative routes for delivery of its

energy resources to international markets. In developing a

strategy for the implementation of pipeline construction

projects, we have proceeded and continue to proceed on the

basis of various options. Pipeline infrastructure based on a

variety of options will ensure an increased volume and

greater diversification of energy deliveries, and will enable

us to stabilize and guarantee their international distribution.

There is one more issue that I would like to dwell

upon in this context. It concerns inter-State pipeline routes.

The problem of international pipeline routes can well be

compared to that of international sea straits, which was one

of the most complex political and diplomatic challenges at

the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today

such straits ensure freedom of navigation, including for

landlocked States. Their international legal recognition is

called for by the economic and political interests of the

world community in developing mutual relations. The

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,

adopted in 1982, reaffirmed the importance of

maintaining freedom of navigation through straits and

passages in archipelago waters and the need to do so.

Freedom of navigation, which existed in the past as an

international custom, was legally codified as one of the

most important principles of international law.

In this context, of great interest are modern problems

relating to the transportation of energy resources to

international markets. It so happens that these enormous

resources are located far away from the world markets.

Usually it is landlocked nations that possess such

resources, and the choice of delivery routes and the

location of transnational pipelines has turned into a major

problem of our times. The resolution of this problem lies

at the centre of the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests

of the States that own the resources, the transit States and

the consumer countries.

In this respect, Turkmenistan promotes the initiative

of security guarantees and unimpeded transit of energy

resources along international pipelines. This initiative has

already been discussed with a number of State leaders, as

well as with the United Nations Secretary-General. We

advocate the establishment of an international legal

mechanism designed to protect the interests of the

producers, transit countries and the consumers. It is

necessary to fully preclude the possibility of pipelines

being used as a means of political pressure and economic

domination. The process of globalization in international

economic relations calls for the elaboration of an

international convention that will govern the regime of

inter-State pipelines and guarantee their functioning.

Turkmenistan regards this matter as one of the most

important challenges of the coming twenty-first century

and is prepared to sponsor a document on this matter in

the United Nations.

A change in the geopolitical situation has brought

about a new correlation of interests in the Caspian Sea

region, thus making it necessary to elaborate new

approaches for the determination of the status of the

Caspian Sea. The uncertainty that exists today with

respect to this issue hampers rational use of the enormous

potential of the Sea by the littoral States. A majority of

the Caspian Sea States today favour the option of dividing

the Caspian Sea into different sectors. Turkmenistan also

supports this approach, just as it had previously supported

the concept of condominium.

29

What is most important to us under either of the two

approaches is that the interests of all littoral States should

be fully taken into consideration and that cooperation in the

Caspian Sea region should be built on the basis of mutual

respect, equality and mutual benefit. The Caspian Sea

should be a sea of accord, and its wealth should be a

common heritage of all littoral States, with each of them

having a right to a corresponding national share of the sea.

Turkmenistan believes that the search for a new legal status

of the Caspian Sea, which would require all littoral States

to look for reasonable compromises and display readiness

to have an appropriate perception of new realities, should

be ensured by means of monitoring by the United Nations.

Today the process of establishing a new international

legal status of the Caspian Sea confronts a number of

difficulties fraught with very negative consequences for

regional stability. Under these conditions we consider that

United Nations involvement would be highly appropriate.

We are happy to see that today there is a growing

tendency towards restraint with respect to the attempts

aimed at associating extremism and other negative

phenomena with the world of Islam. The Muslim world is

multifaceted and diverse. It faces a great range of universal

and global problems of development. In this context, there

emerges an objective need for mutual understanding and

dialogue among various religious trends, a need for restraint

and tolerance. The President of the United States, the

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Prime

Minister of Turkey and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of

Germany and Russia have expressed very wise and

politically promising ideas and statements during the current

session. In this respect, we find of great interest the idea

voiced by the President of Iran, Mr. Khatami, on declaring

the year 2001 the year of dialogue between civilizations.

The point is that the resolution of today?s global challenges

is inconceivable without a meaningful dialogue, an

exchange of opinions and a search for ways to resolve the

most pressing problems.

It is already three years since Turkmenistan began

pursuing its policy as a State of permanent neutrality.

Turkmenistan?s neutrality is not a shell that protects it from

dangers and tribulations of the outside world. On the

contrary, it is a position of strength that allows us to

actively influence the situation in our region and the world

as a whole and to develop effective international

cooperation. We seek to maintain equal and equitable

relations with all nations, and our national interests are

pursued through economic openness and political

impartiality. Proceeding from this position, Turkmenistan

attaches great importance to the United Nations role as a

unique international institution in which all countries of

our planet have equal access to international debate and

the resolution of problems that concern them.

Turkmenistan believes that on the eve of the twenty-

first century the United Nations should acquire additional

powers and responsibilities, and strengthen its current

ones, by becoming a major factor in establishing a

climate of mutual respect and trust both in separate

regions and the world as a whole.

In conclusion, I would like to recall a proposal made

by the Secretary-General regarding the holding of the

General Assembly session in the year 2000 in the form of

the Millennium Assembly. That Assembly would give all

the Member States of the United Nations a unique

opportunity to take a look into the future, to ponder how

they perceive the United Nations of today and to

speculate on what kind of United Nations they will

support in the next century.