Ukraine, 1997

Mr. President, it is with pride

that I congratulate you, a representative of Ukraine, on your

election to the international community’s highest political

post. I am confident that you will use to the full your rich

political experience and internationally recognized

diplomatic skills, as well as your profound knowledge of

the United Nations system, to which you have devoted

more than 20 years of your life, to the benefit of mankind.

I wish also to address words of gratitude to

representatives of all United Nations Member States for

their support of the candidature of the Minister for Foreign

Affairs of Ukraine for the honourable and responsible

position of President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

second session. We interpret that support as a manifestation

of a high level of confidence in Ukraine’s foreign policy,

its peaceful initiatives and its commitment to the ideals of

the United Nations and to the objective of reviving and

strengthening the Organization. We regard it also as

recognition of Ukraine’s contribution to the maintenance

of international peace and security, to the process of

nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, to the

promotion of the noble principles of democracy in

international life and of respect for fundamental human

rights and freedoms.

Allow me also to pay a tribute to the President of

the General Assembly at its fifty-first session, Mr. Razali

Ismail, who made a notable contribution to the

Organization’s progress along the path of reform.

The recent history of the United Nations and the

history of the development of independent Ukraine have

much in common. The first common feature is that both

my State and the United Nations are now experiencing

the complicated process of internal reform. Profound,

comprehensive change is proving to be an extremely

difficult matter. But the choice is final and irreversible:

Ukraine has become a democratic State with a policy

aimed at ensuring the needs and rights of its citizens, and

at establishing a civil society. There is every reason to

conclude that during our six years of independence we

have laid the foundation of further State-building.

As early as next year we will certainly experience

gradual economic growth and the forging of a socially

oriented market economy in Ukraine. All the conditions

now exist for this to become reality, both internal — as

illustrated by the political stability in Ukraine — and

external.

Ukraine has consistently conducted, and is

determined to continue, a policy aimed at strengthening

security and stability throughout the world. I would recall

that last year we removed the last nuclear warhead from

our territory, thus transforming a nuclear-weapon State to

a non-nuclear-weapon State for the first time in history.

Ukraine thus demonstrated its good will, proved that

genuine nuclear disarmament is possible, and made a

substantive contribution to the achievement of the ideal of

a nuclear-weapon-free world in the twenty-first century.

No less significant is my country’s contribution to

radical positive changes in the Central and Eastern

European region, creating favourable conditions for a

new, more stable and more secure geopolitical situation

throughout the continent.

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Important steps in that direction included the basic

political treaties that Ukraine has signed with the Russian

Federation and with Romania, and the agreement with the

Republic of Belarus on State borders, the first of the kind

to be signed in the history of the newly independent States.

The signing by the Presidents of Ukraine and of

Poland of the joint statement on reconciliation and unity

was of exceptional significance for the improvement of the

situation in Central and Eastern Europe. We view that

document as exemplifying a balanced and unbiased

approach to the evaluation of complex pages of history, and

as a deliverance from the burden of the past for the sake of

the development of mutually beneficial cooperation now

and in the future.

The resolution of the problem of the division of the

Black Sea fleet has contributed to enhanced security in the

Black Sea region and throughout Europe.

Among the most recent of important events, I wish to

note the signing at Madrid of the Charter on Special

Partnership between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO). The establishment of a special

partnership with the alliance has tangibly strengthened

confidence in Europe and is now one of the important

elements in the establishment of a new system of European

security.

It is generally acknowledged that the future of the

European security architecture as an important element of

global security should be based on principles of

comprehensiveness, indivisibility and partnership, and, in

the long run, on collective rather than unilateral action. It

is in that context that Ukraine is developing active

cooperation with European and transatlantic security

structures.

An important place in Ukraine’s foreign policy

priorities belongs to developing mutually beneficial

relations with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin

America. Ukraine is also devoting special attention to the

Movement of Non-aligned Countries, which is one of the

influential factors in contemporary international relations.

Our observer status in that movement testifies to the fact

that Ukraine is today a non-bloc country.

All of this can be summarized in a single conclusion:

thanks to Ukraine’s persistent efforts, its borders are now

peaceful and it is open to partnership with neighbouring

countries. Our multifaceted foreign policy has promoted the

image of Ukraine as a reliable and predictable partner.

We have been guided by, and still abide by, the

well-known principle: think globally and act locally. I

believe that this approach — based, incidentally, on

fundamental provisions of the United Nations Charter —

will lay the foundation for future relationships among all

members of the world community.

The events on the European continent since the end

of the Cold War have persuasively shown that threats to

security on the continent will henceforth emanate not

from confrontation between military-political blocs, but

rather from regional and local conflicts. A good reminder

of this is the series of tragic events of recent years in the

Balkans, in the Transdniestr region, in the Caucasus and

elsewhere. At the same time, discussions on the future of

European security have so far focused mainly on the

issues of NATO and European Union enlargement, the

role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe and so forth. It is not my intention to minimize

the importance of these issues, but we are certain that all-

European stability will be unattainable without

strengthening regional security and establishing mutually

beneficial and good-neighbourly relations between

Ukraine and other nations.

It is to that end that European countries —

especially those of Central and Eastern Europe, among

them Ukraine — should exert the best of their efforts. It

was for this very reason that we proposed to hold in

Ukraine the 1999 summit meeting of the Baltic and Black

Sea States.

By the will of destiny, we are living at the threshold

of a new millennium, which has coincided with a turning

point in the development of mankind. The United

Nations — a unique instrument for the maintenance and

strengthening of international peace and security —

should be well prepared for the changes ahead and should

be ready to respond to the challenges of today and of the

twenty-first century.

It is difficult to overestimate the positive changes in

the world in which the United Nations has played a key

role. It is true that the Organization has not been able

completely to cure all social evils. However, it is equally

true that the United Nations has always sent a timely

signal regarding the emergence of new hazards and has

united the world community to address urgent global

problems.

The substantive outcome of these joint efforts relates

in particular to environmental protection in its global

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dimension: prohibiting chemical and bacteriological

weapons and reducing nuclear weapons, as well as

formulating a new concept and practice of peacekeeping;

ensuring human rights; and codifying international law on

non-renewable resources.

At the same time, we must admit that the United

Nations has not always been able adequately to respond to

a number of the problems it has faced. This makes it

necessary further to improve its structure and internal

organization and to increase the effectiveness of its work.

Unfortunately, we must take note of the fact that no

institution other than the United Nations so clearly confirms

the validity of Parkinson’s law, which states that the

expansion of bureaucracy has no limits. For that reason, I

believe that today no one has any doubts that changes in

the United Nations are urgent and are objectively required.

I hope that the current session will make a substantive

contribution to this important cause and that we will have

all due reason to refer to it as “the session of reforms”.

The well-known seventeenth-century Ukrainian

philosopher and educator Hryhoriy Skovoroda once said

that

“You do your best work and save yourself when you

firmly embark upon the road of common sense”.

This, in our view, is the path that the process of United

Nations reform should also take. Ukraine is actively

supporting measures aimed at bringing the structure and

tasks of the Organization in line with new realities.

It is from this perspective that we are now considering

a package of proposals by the Secretary-General aimed at

a wide-scale reorganization of the United Nations structure

and its programme activities. While these proposals may

not fully coincide with the interests of some countries or

regions, they have been elaborated on the basis of

compromise and, in fact, constitute the first real attempt to

stop marking time in the process of reforming the

Organization. Therefore we have to be pragmatic and

attempt to avoid drowning this issue in endless discussions

and appeals, as has happened repeatedly in the past.

We should begin without delay concrete work on the

proposals of the Secretary-General, without dividing the

package into separate components. Furthermore, we must

keep in mind that the implementation of these proposals,

following their final approval and endorsement by the

General Assembly, will be only the initial stage in the

process of the radical transformation of the United

Nations, which will have to embrace its most important

components, primarily the Security Council and the

budgetary and financial system.

In this context, equitable geographical representation

in the Security Council and the increase of its

membership take on special importance. It would not be

a mistake to say that this problem is considered by the

majority of Member States as a priority issue and that its

resolution, to a great extent, will determine the results and

the success of the reform of the Organization. In general,

Ukraine shares this point of view. But we also believe

that the overall process of the renewal and rebuilding both

of the United Nations structure and of its activities should

not be held hostage to the solving of one issue, albeit a

very important one.

The negotiations that took place within the

framework of the Open-ended Working Group on the

Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in

the Membership of the Security Council during the fifty-

first session of the General Assembly were, in our

opinion, useful and productive. The positions of many

Member States have shifted, moving towards achieving

compromise. We can realistically expect participants in

the negotiations to reach the general accord that is

necessary for the adoption of a decision, as required by

the relevant resolution of the General Assembly. I should

like to call on Member States to exert maximum efforts

to reach a consensus decision. The most important thing

now is to transcend nationally focused approaches by

taking into account the common interests of the

international community.

Concerning the enlargement of the Security Council,

I believe that the solution to the problem should be based

on the following general principles.

First, all the regional groups, including the Group of

Eastern European States, should enlarge their

representation in the Security Council; secondly, the

enlargement should not negatively affect the efficiency of

the work of the Security Council; and thirdly, the process

of enlargement should not be given a strict time limit,

although a decision on this issue should preferably be

taken in the near future.

The elaboration and practical implementation of an

overall concept of peacekeeping activities is an extremely

pressing issue that can be settled only within the

framework of the United Nations. Two years ago, at the

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commemorative meeting of the General Assembly on the

occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization, I

proposed gradually to re-orient United Nations

peacekeeping activities towards preventive diplomacy. The

experience of Blue Helmets operations in hot spots around

the globe in recent years has further convinced us of the

need to strengthen the preventive component.

In this context, we consider the system of United

Nations standby agreements to be promising. Ukraine,

striving to make a real contribution to the strengthening of

this mechanism, recently signed the relevant memorandum

of understanding with the United Nations.

Improving the efficiency of peacekeeping operations

is not an abstract notion for our country. Let us recall that

the first Ukrainian peacekeeping unit was deployed five

years ago to the United Nations peacekeeping force in the

former Yugoslavia. Since then Ukraine has participated in

more than 10 United Nations peacekeeping operations. In

addition, our military contingent has taken part in the

operations of the multinational stabilization force in Bosnia.

From this lofty rostrum, I reaffirm Ukraine’s readiness

to participate directly in a settlement of the Georgian-

Abkhaz conflict, to join the activities of the group of

countries known as Friends of the Secretary-General on

Georgia, and to dispatch its personnel to the United Nations

peacekeeping mission in that country.

Ukraine will also continue its efforts to bring about a

final settlement of the conflict in the Transdniestr, acting

together with Russia and with the participation of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as a

guarantor of the special status of the Transdniestr as an

integral part of the Republic of Moldova.

The nineteenth special session of the General

Assembly held earlier this year, which was devoted to

reviewing progress in the implementation of Agenda 21,

was a major international event. I know that many countries

have assessed its results rather critically since, in their

opinion, the session did not fully meet expectations. But it

did confirm the adherence of the overwhelming majority of

countries to the principles of sustainable development

declared in Rio, and it also provided the world community

with a number of constructive proposals with regard to a

further strengthening of global partnership in the field of

environment protection.

We must all remember the equal right of present and

future generations to a viable living environment. Our

shared obligation to them is to join our efforts for the

sake of the survival and development of human

civilization. That was the essence of Ukraine’s proposal

concerning the elaboration in future of an international

legal document that would serve as a reliable legal basis

for safe and sustainable development worldwide.

For Ukraine, environmental problems are not just

abstract theory. The Chernobyl nuclear-power plant

accident has been a real national tragedy for my country.

Every year up to 15 per cent of the State budget is spent

on compensating for the losses it has caused and on

ensuring social benefits for the people affected.

Ukraine made a political commitment to

decommission the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by the

end of the millennium and has made continuous efforts to

fulfil it. We expect other countries to meet their

commitments in this regard.

At the same time, the problem of Chernobyl cannot

be limited to the decommissioning of the nuclear power

plant. This accident unleashed a series of problems that

are global in nature and could scarcely be overcome alone

by even the most developed nations. Chernobyl today is

not the exclusive problem of Ukraine. In paying tribute to

the United Nations efforts aimed at eliminating the

consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear

power plant, I wish to emphasize that an overall solution

to this global problem is simply impossible without large-

scale international assistance.

At present, the United Nations is going through a

difficult but crucial moment of renewal. The same can be

said about Ukraine, which is more than ever before

conscious of its dependence on the world order and relies

on the support of the international community. That is

why the question of what form the world order will

assume in the future — to which this session is expected

to provide an answer — is of particular and, without

exaggeration, fateful importance to us.

The future of the world order, of the United Nations

and of every country, is our common future. Thus, while

deciding today on the fate of the United Nations, we

should be aware that we are also determining our own

destiny.