Argentina, 1999

We

are pleased that an important figure in Namibia's attainment

of independence has the responsibility of conducting this

session of the General Assembly.

I also wish to express my appreciation to the Foreign

Minister of Uruguay, Mr. Didier Opertti, for his skill in

presiding over the previous session of the General

Assembly.

After 10 years as President of Argentina, and with my

constitutional mandate about to end, I should like to share

with the Assembly the transformations that Argentina has

experienced during this time, in a world which has also

been transformed.

In the past 10 years we have experienced a change

of Copernican dimensions. It started with the recovery of

democracy. Since that time we have built a stable political

system based on the popular will and respect for the rule

of law. We have made respect for human rights a sacred

value. We are at peace with all our neighbours, with

which we have now undertaken a robust integration

process. We have put an end to proliferation policies and

have actively committed ourselves to peacekeeping

operations. We have developed an open and free

economy, worked to combat poverty and inequality of

opportunity and fought discrimination in all its forms. In

short, we have recovered and embraced the high values of

our culture, which are the essence of the Charter of the

United Nations and which we hope to bring with us into

the twenty-first century.

At the regional level, which is our natural sphere of

interest, we have solved all outstanding border and

demarcation issues with the Republic of Chile and thus

opened the way for fruitful integration. We have

established consultation and coordination mechanisms

with Brazil and Chile on security and defence issues. We

are convinced that security depends much more on

friendship and cooperation with our neighbours than on

what we spend on weapons. As one of the guarantors of

the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, we contributed to the peace

agreement between Peru and Ecuador. We are working

tirelessly for the consolidation of democracy and

development in our region.

In the field of disarmament and the non-proliferation

of weapons of mass destruction, we have taken the

following steps. On 28 November 1990 we signed the Foz

do Iguaçú Joint Declaration, which consolidated the

policy of nuclear transparency with Brazil, and since then

we have developed a common peaceful and non-

proliferation nuclear policy. Argentina acceded to the

Treaty of Tlatelolco, in 1994; the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in 1995; and the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, in 1998. We are

also members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and in

1993 Argentina joined the Missile Technology Control

Regime.

In the field of space activities, the National

Commission for Space Activities has worked with the

United States National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) on the SAC-B satellite mission, the

placement in orbit and operation of the SAC-A satellite

technology mission and the forthcoming launch of the SAC-

C satellite mission, Argentina's first Earth observation

satellite. We have also started some ambitious projects in

this field with Brazil, as well as with Canada, France,

Germany and the United Kingdom.

We have ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention,

and we are working on a monitoring mechanism for the

Biological Weapons Convention. In this context, Argentina

joined the Australian Group on 11 December 1992.

Argentina's self-restraint in the development of nuclear

weapons is recognized as an example by the international

community.

On 14 September this year Argentina ratified the

Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel

landmines.

At the Southern Cone Common Market

(MERCOSUR) summit in Ushuaia, Argentina, on 24 July

1998, MERCOSUR, Bolivia and Chile were declared a

zone of peace and a zone free of weapons of mass

destruction. A commitment was also made to declare the

area a zone free of anti-personnel landmines.

We believe that all States must renounce nuclear

weapons and give unequivocal guarantees that their nuclear

capability and most advanced technology are exclusively for

peaceful purposes.

Allow me once more to refer to the pending

sovereignty dispute concerning the Malvinas Islands. One

of the first measures we adopted upon taking office was to

re-establish diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom,

in February 1990. A new stage was thereby begun in which

the ties between the two countries were taken to their

highest level in history. This was reaffirmed by my recent

visit, as President, to the United Kingdom and that of His

Royal Highness Prince Charles to Argentina. Since then,

while reaffirming our sovereignty rights and motivated by

a spirit of reconciliation, we have worked harmoniously

with the United Kingdom on various matters relating to the

South Atlantic, such as the rebuilding of a climate of

mutual trust in the area, the preservation of live marine

resources, the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons,

the resumption of flights between the continent and the

Malvinas Islands, and the access of persons carrying

Argentine identity documents to the Malvinas Islands.

Argentina is a country that is proud of its cultural

diversity. Our Constitution establishes as a national goal

the recovery of the Malvinas Islands while guaranteeing

the strictest respect for the way of life of their inhabitants.

I am convinced that the conditions exist for Argentina and

the United Kingdom to begin without further delay a

dialogue towards a definitive solution of the sovereignty

dispute, thus fulfilling the numerous resolutions adopted

by the General Assembly and the Special Political and

Decolonization Committee.

Argentina is the sixth-largest troop contributor to the

Organization. At this time, we are involved in 10 of the

17 current operations, including those in Kosovo and East

Timor. We have also incorporated personnel from other

Latin American countries into our troops.

In Argentina, the defence and promotion of human

rights is a State policy. That is why we have actively

participated in the establishment of the International

Criminal Court, as a way to put an end to the culture of

impunity.

The numerous humanitarian missions in which

“White Helmets” have been deployed in South America,

Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the

Caucasus are a reflection of the success of this initiative,

which I put forward in 1993. Argentina agrees with the

Secretary-General that the “White Helmets” can provide

assistance, in close partnership with the Blue Helmets, in

conflict situations.

Argentina supports a world economy of open

markets. However, we see the re-emergence of hidden

forms of protectionism. This is why we call on all States,

in particular to the most developed ones, to take part in

the “millennium round”, with the goal of attaining an

open, multilateral system that excludes no sector of

economic activity.

As evidence of our concern regarding environmental

issues, in November 1998 Argentina hosted the fourth

meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,

which adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action. During

the fifth ministerial meeting of the Zone of Peace and

Cooperation of the South Atlantic, which was held in

Buenos Aires in October 1998, a Plan of Action was

adopted for the first time in order to carry out the

objectives of the Zone, which include the protection of

the environment and of living resources.

5

The international community must urgently prepare

contingency plans to face the year 2000 problem in such a

way that essential community services are not affected.

Since 1 January 1999, Argentina has been an elected

member of the Security Council. I would like briefly to

share some thoughts with the Assembly.

The responsibility of the Security Council in the

maintenance of peace cannot be irreplaceable, and its

authority must be strengthened.

The Council must work in cooperation with other

bodies of the United Nations system and with regional

organizations in order to carry out its tasks effectively.

We have a responsibility towards the men and women

who make up the Blue Helmets, as well as towards those

who perform humanitarian work in conflict situations. It is

our obligation to protect them. We call upon countries to

ratify the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and

Associated Personnel.

Concerning the reform of the Security Council,

Argentina supports the creation of a system of non-

discriminatory, open rotation. It would be unfair and

unrealistic, at the beginning of a new millennium, to

multiply the privileges and discriminatory practices that

came about only as a result of war in 1945. Therefore, no

new categories of membership should be introduced in

regions where those categories do not exist, especially if

tradition and history do not warrant it.

Finally, I am convinced that the United Nations is

called upon to play an even more relevant role in the

twenty-first century. Argentina, which is now to be among

the 15 main countries of the Organization, will participate

with the same conviction as always in the realization of the

noble objectives of the Charter.

Once again, I thank you, Sir, and all the Members of

the United Nations. After 10 years and six months, I bid

you farewell for the last time.