Bulgaria, 1995

Allow me first of all to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of

the fiftieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Your election is a clear recognition of the high esteem your

country justly enjoys as an important link between different

cultures and continents. This in turn has enabled Portugal

to become an active partner of those countries, like

Bulgaria, that are progressing towards democracy and a

market economy within a united Europe.

In today’s world of profound change the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations is of significance above

all as a vantage point from which to try to develop a

vision for the future.

Situated at the historical crossroads of nations and

civilizations, Bulgaria today is seeking both to contribute

to the successful redefinition of the United Nations role

in the world of tomorrow and to ensure its own national

security and wellbeing. The role of the United Nations

should be above all to build upon the enhanced capacity

of the Organization in three crucial spheres of its

activities, namely, conflict settlement and peace-keeping,

post-conflict peace-building, and the laying of durable

foundations for lasting peace.

Today we all recognize the emergence of a great

number of new challenges to peace and security marked

by extraordinary diversity and complexity. The conflict

still raging in the former Yugoslavia has been a traumatic

test of the key United Nations responsibility for conflict

settlement and peace-keeping. The disappointments in this

regard have been many and profound; yet we should all

face up to the simple truth that our Organization can be

only as effective as a guarantor of peace as we Member

countries wish and permit it to be.

Bulgaria has from the outset strictly adhered to

policies supporting a peaceful settlement under United

Nations auspices. Unilaterally, it has adopted and

consistently abided by the principle of non-interference in

the conflict. It has chosen not to become involved, either

directly or indirectly, in any type of military activities on

the territory of the former Yugoslavia, including

participation in United Nations peace-keeping. We have

called upon the other countries in the region to exercise the

same restraint. On the other hand, throughout the conflict

Bulgaria has supported every international initiative aimed

at achieving a peaceful, balanced, just and comprehensive

solution.

In keeping with its obligations under the United

Nations Charter and as a means of restarting negotiations,

Bulgaria has consistently implemented the international

sanctions regime. This step was taken on the basis of a

national consensus that, despite the heavy burden such

sanctions created for Bulgaria, it was our duty to implement

them as a dependable member of the international

community.

Yet Bulgaria has sustained debilitating losses as a

result of the sanctions. Over the past few years, we have

repeatedly drawn attention to this problem, both as it

concerns Bulgaria and as it concerns cooperation with other

affected States. The sanction-induced losses so far amount

to well over 25 per cent of Bulgaria’s estimated gross

domestic product for 1995. This has made Bulgaria by far

the country most seriously affected.

Bulgaria’s policies favouring a peaceful outcome have

helped to establish it as a stabilizing factor in a most deeply

troubled region of Europe. At the same time, we feel that

such recognition also contributes to enhancing the peace-

making potential of the United Nations itself. Positive

interaction between the policies of individual Member

States and the decisions and measures of the world

Organization is the decisive factor in enhancing the latter’s

key mission, that of helping to settle conflicts and keep the

peace.

However, Bulgaria’s experience also shows that in

order to discharge this mission successfully in the future the

United Nations needs carefully to rethink its main peace-

keeping instruments, such as economic sanctions and peace-

keeping missions.

In areas outside its immediate vicinity Bulgaria has in

recent years contributed ground forces and civilian and

police observers. In the operation in Cambodia, generally

considered a success, several young Bulgarians lost their

lives. We sympathize with other countries that have

sustained human losses in subsequent missions, including

the latest in the former Yugoslavia. We therefore strongly

support the view that there is a need to reform and improve

the ways in which such missions are planned and

executed, with priority given to enhancing the safety of

United Nations personnel.

Recently, mediation between parties to a given

conflict has been successfully utilized in the discharge of

United Nations conflict-settlement missions. In this

context, we welcome the agreement reached between

neighbouring Greece and the Republic of Macedonia as

a most important step towards lessening tensions in the

whole of southeastern Europe.

A further major contribution in this regard should be

active United Nations support for and collaboration in

bringing to a successful conclusion the present intensive

efforts to attain peace in Bosnia. Bulgaria welcomes the

United States peace initiative and the efforts to implement

it in close cooperation with the United Nations and the

countries in the Contact Group. This has opened up real

possibilities for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

Experience derived from the Yugoslav crisis

highlights the importance of another crucial United

Nations function, namely, post-conflict peace-building.

Today, it is obvious that although negotiations have not

yet achieved a final settlement there is a need to begin to

address the problems of post-conflict peace-building

without delay.

One set of such problems concerns the reduction of

the levels of armaments and armed forces. It is clear that

conflict settlement would be pointless were it not

accompanied by a set of actions designed to remove the

sources of real or potential security threats in the area.

Thus, in the arms-control field Bulgaria shares the

view that the establishment of a future harmonized arms-

control regime in Europe should combine measures of

both a pan-European and a regional character. Such

measures should be based on the understanding that

security must be indivisible and that any disproportionate

concentration of armaments, in particular when coupled

with a lack of control mechanisms, undermines security

and stability. Therefore, the establishment of a credible

system of arms control and confidence- and security-

building measures for the territory of the former

Yugoslavia, as part of and in line with the pan-European

regimes, must be an essential part of a comprehensive

post-war settlement. Relevant international bodies such as

the United Nations and the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should play a very

important role in this respect. The main objective should

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be to attain levels of armaments that will preclude once and

for all any temptation to use force.

The second set of peace-building measures concerns

post-conflict economic reconstruction and stabilization.

Important work has been done at the United Nations

in the past several years for developing an integrated

approach to successfully implementing reconstruction

programmes. Such an approach should encompass four

interrelated aspects: strategic issues of reconstruction, needs

and capabilities, post-conflict reconstruction framework and

mobilization of resources.

Today plans for reconstruction are being laid for parts

of the conflict area in the former Yugoslavia. Bulgaria is

particularly well placed to contribute to such plans. This is

so for a number of reasons: first, its long-standing

relationship with the countries in and around the conflict

area and its consistent policies in favour of a balanced and

durable political settlement; secondly, because of the

experience and know-how of Bulgarian companies with a

long record of practical work in the area; thirdly, acquired

knowledge and expertise in working with international

financial institutions in implementing programmes for

reconstruction and development. For all these reasons,

Bulgaria could be an important factor contributing to the

success of any reconstruction effort in the area.

The emerging pattern of structured coordination

between various organizations within and outside the United

Nations system provides guidelines and a very useful

example to follow. It encourages our own thinking as we

start exploring practical and institutional possibilities for

contributing to the concerted international efforts in this

respect.

At the same time, Bulgaria has every reason to expect

also to receive a part of the international post-conflict

assistance for the region. Effectively building the peace in

the region requires that neighbouring countries that bore the

brunt of sanctions and have sustained inordinate losses be

included on a priority basis in the list of recipients of

international assistance.

Bulgaria’s concerns over the subject of sanctions have

already become well known. We have formulated them in

extenso on several occasions. In fact, the international

community and, in particular, the General Assembly have

recognized the right and the need to include non-target third

countries in programmes for reconstruction and

development. At its two previous sessions, on Bulgarian

initiatives, the General Assembly adopted by consensus

two resolutions on this set of issues. This year again, my

delegation intends to submit a corresponding draft

resolution which I hope will receive universal support.

At this point, I cannot but underline the findings and

recommendations contained in the report (A/50/60) of the

Secretary-General entitled “Supplement to An Agenda for

Peace” and, in particular, his conclusion that the price of

sanctions implementation should be borne equally by all

Member States and not only by those who have had the

misfortune of being neighbours or important economic

partners of a sanctions target country. I would like to take

this opportunity to commend especially the efforts of His

Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali in this particularly

important field of United Nations activities.

It is our view that, as a result of work already done,

today there exists a significant scope of agreement on the

ways and means for overcoming the specific economic

problems confronting the affected States, as reflected in

part IV of resolution 47/120 and resolutions 48/210 and

49/21 A of the General Assembly. Bulgaria is

participating, and will continue to do so, in an effort to

help towards the successful completion of the discussion

on these issues in the United Nations.

Together with conflict settlement and post-conflict

peace-building, a third, parallel line of action should be

undertaken without delay. It should focus on laying

durable foundations for lasting peace through economic

and social development. The task of achieving durable

stability and security regarding peace and economic

development has always been of particular relevance in

South-Eastern Europe. It has become all the more so in

the light of evolving European integration.

In order to boost such development and lasting

stability, there is an urgent need for concerted efforts by

the international organizations and specialized agencies

within the United Nations system, coupled with broader

and more intensive cooperation at a regional level. It is

doubtless necessary to avoid overlapping and duplication.

Yet a mechanism must be put in place for effectively

coordinating programmes for early implementation of

achievable objectives.

The Ministerial Conference on environment for

Europe, which is going to be held in Sofia the last week

of this October, is a particularly apt example of this

approach. Another initiative along these lines is the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

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(OSCE) seminar on the role of trans-European

infrastructure for stability and cooperation in the Black Sea

region, which will also take place in Sofia, a month later.

It will be dealing with priority projects for developing

regional transport, telecommunications and energy

infrastructure as factors both for economic growth and for

lasting stability and peace in the area.

The above forums could provide valuable inputs for

the work undertaken within the European Union with the

aim of elaborating a comprehensive regional strategy for

South-Eastern Europe. Such a strategy could be based on

the approach embodied in the measures accompanying the

Pact on Stability in Europe, put forward at the time by the

Union. Cooperation at the subregional level may also prove

to be a factor of significant practical importance in this

context.

For its part, Bulgaria, in the course of the past several

months, has attempted to develop thinking and proposals

for regional stability, security and cooperation which could

interact with initiatives and programmes developed by

European and international institutions and major world

partners. It is our belief that developing the economic

dimensions of regional security will greatly favour the

overcoming of local tensions rooted in the past, as well as

the full-fledged implementation of the basic principles of

relations between States under the Helsinki Act and the

Paris Charter.

With a view to promoting such regional cooperation,

I would like to state from this lofty rostrum that Bulgaria

is ready to host a gathering of interested Central and South-

Eastern European States at the governmental level in the

course of 1996. Given careful preparation and the support

of the international community, such a high-level meeting

could become a major step towards lasting security and

stability in a historically much-troubled part of Europe.

The parameters of the new international system are

still taking shape today. What is positive is that in the days

of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations the

international community is looking for pragmatic and

responsible approaches to lend new meaning to the

Organization’s mission. The discussion of the possibilities

of and prospects for United Nations restructuring can draw

on the accumulated wealth of experience and take

advantage of the prevailing spirit of cooperation. Let us

make the best possible use of them and together venture

into the new century stronger, wiser and more united.