Bulgaria, 2007

It is a privilege and an

honour for me to address this audience and to represent

Bulgaria in its new status as a State member of the

European Union. Having subscribed to the statement

made by the Prime Minister of Portugal (see

), I would like to assure the Assembly that,

as part of the European family, my country is now even

more committed to the universal and normative role of

the United Nations in today’s globalized world.

I warmly congratulate you, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, on

your assumption of the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-second session. We are delighted

to see in the leadership of this body an outstanding

representative of a neighbouring State and of our

region, South-Eastern Europe. I reiterate that my

country fully supports the priorities you have outlined

for the work of this session. We wish you every success

in the months ahead.

Our gratitude goes to Her Excellency Sheikha

Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her leadership as

President of the sixty-first session. I also take this

opportunity to commend the dedicated and energetic

performance of the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon,

during his first nine months in office.

(spoke in French)

I would like to thank the President for having

chosen climate change as a central theme for our

debate. That world challenge calls upon all of us to

provide an immediate response based on shared but

differentiated responsibilities of Member countries. We

welcome the fact that the high-level event on climate

change held on 24 September has given considerable

impetus to future negotiations on a new international

agreement, which will benefit broadly from the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

and the Kyoto Protocol.

Global warming is exacerbating the serious

economic and social problems that developing

countries are facing. It also threatens the

implementation of development goals set by the

international community, including the Millennium

Development Goals. In that regard, we join other

countries in supporting the recent United Kingdom

initiative calling for urgent action to meet those goals.

Bulgaria is prepared to play its part in solidarity with

developing countries.

Unfortunately, the list of serious threats to our

common security is not short. Non-proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction, arms control and

disarmament continue to be at the forefront of the

international scene. Strengthening the regime of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to

make it truly universal remains one of the major

priorities of our time. It is regrettable that no progress

has been achieved on the pending question regarding

Iran’s nuclear programme.

Bulgaria reaffirms its support for the United

Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms. We are

firmly committed to the process towards adoption of an

international treaty on the arms trade in the near future.

My country unambiguously condemns terrorism

and rejects terrorist ideology in all its forms and

manifestations. Terrorism cannot be linked to any

specific culture or religion. The United Nations must

continue to play a central role in mobilizing the

international community to meet this challenge and to

meet the related challenge of radicalism and political

extremism.

In order to combat terrorism, we must first

address the fundamental problems of poverty and

underdevelopment, overcome prejudices and

stereotypes and promote tolerance in a world of great

diversity. That is why Bulgaria has joined the Group of

Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations, fully

supporting other complementary initiatives as well.

The situation in Iraq continues to be a source of

concern for the international community. This calls for

the commitment of the United Nations. Bulgaria is

participating in joint efforts to ensure that Iraq will be

able to achieve its vision of a safe, unified and

democratic State.

Afghanistan is another example where a powerful

need has been felt to see increased involvement of the

United Nations, along with NATO and the European

Union, to support the difficult national reconstruction

process.

Progress towards peace in the Middle East is of

primary importance for the international community.

Bulgaria welcomes the resumption of bilateral talks

between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert

and hopes that they will lead to a just and lasting

solution in accordance with the relevant resolutions of

the Security Council and the Quartet principles.

Lebanon too continues to require a strong commitment

on our part to secure its national unity, territorial

integrity, recovery and reconstruction.

Today, the role of the United Nations is no longer

solely to maintain peace, but to ensure that peace is

firmly rooted and sustainable. The Peacebuilding

Commission is now up and running. We believe that it

has great potential, and its position vis-a-vis the

principal organs of the United Nations must be

strengthened and better defined. We see the future of

the Commission as a modern multilateral instrument

for the long-term resolution of conflicts.

The institution-building process in the Human

Rights Council has led to a compromise. We believe

that this has led to opportunities for us to make the

Council an effective international tool to promote

human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.

Bulgaria fully shares the view that human life has

supreme value and invites Member States to support a

draft resolution on a moratorium on and abolition of

the death penalty.

For multilateralism to be effective, it must

involve strong partnership between the United Nations

and regional organizations. We heartily endorse the

growing interaction between the United Nations and

the European Union. The recently updated Joint

Declaration on United Nations-European Union

Cooperation in Crisis Management has provided a new

avenue for joint action. In addition, the United Nations

and the African Union are involved in an

unprecedented peace operation, the African Union-

United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, for

remedying the critical situation in Darfur. We also

welcome the pragmatic cooperation established

between the United Nations and NATO.

Various forms of regional and subregional

cooperation have always been the cornerstone of a

global system of collective security. Bulgaria is now

chairing two regional organizations: the Central

European Initiative and the South-East European

Cooperation Process. Regional cooperation in South-

East Europe has grown stronger and is gaining

momentum. The Stability Pact, which was launched at

the initiative of the European Union in 1999, has

provided important impetus. In accordance with the

concept of regional ownership, the key role today has

been assumed by the South-East European Cooperation

Process. Agreement on the creation of a regional

cooperation council secretariat has just been signed by

the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member

countries in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.

Bulgaria is now leading this process and will

spare no effort to strengthen the prospects for

European integration for the entire South-East

European region. Our priorities focus on cooperation in

sectors such as infrastructure, security, energy, the

environment, tourism, justice and domestic affairs.

The unresolved status of Kosovo has a negative

effect on security in the entire region. We regret that

the Security Council has not been able to adopt a new

resolution to replace resolution 1244 (1999) and thus to

confirm its backing for a negotiated solution on the

basis of the proposal of Special Envoy Ahtisaari.

Bulgaria steadily supports all efforts aimed at reaching,

as quickly as possible, a viable and legitimate solution

with respect to the status of Kosovo. Such a settlement

would guarantee regional peace and stability; it should

take into account the interests and the concerns of

neighbouring countries.

Thanks to the efforts deployed by the Contact

Group Troika, we now have perhaps the final chance to

find a negotiated solution. We hope that Belgrade and

Pristina will be able to take this opportunity to find a

compromise that can open the path to a new European

future. While these talks are under way, it is essential

to prevent any worsening of the situation. The

international community first and foremost the

United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe are working together with local institutions,

and they must continue to provide the necessary

instruments and the guarantees to preserve regional

stability.

Promoting democratization, stability, security and

cooperation is a major challenge in the Black Sea

region. Consistent efforts are required so that we can

arrive at a settlement of the of the frozen conflicts in

Transdniestria and in the southern Caucasus, which

continue to undermine stability and hamper regional

cooperation.

Bulgaria actively supports the formulation and

implementation of the Black Sea dimension in the

policy of good-neighbourliness with the European

Union. Major projects have been started in important

sectors such as transportation, energy, trade,

environment and border security. Stability and

predictability in this region are more important than

ever to ensure energy security in Europe and to ensure

the diversification and reliability of energy supplies to

the continent.

Bulgaria is firmly convinced that in order for the

United Nations to play its role effectively worldwide, it

must steadfastly pursue the radical reforms identified

at the 2005 World Summit. Progress was achieved at

the sixty-first session, but much remains to be done so

that the reforms meet the international community’s

hopes.

Despite the good-faith efforts of the mediators,

no tangible progress has been seen on a question that

has been discussed at length: reform of the Security

Council. My delegation supports the recommendation

to move this process forward to the negotiation phase,

with a view to reaching a broadly acceptable

compromise that would take account of equitable

geographic representation. It is obvious that reform of

the Council will not be an easy task. We will require

interim solutions at various stages over a certain period

of time. The first step, however, cannot be put off

indefinitely, because if we are unable to reform the

Security Council, then broad reform of the United

Nations will be incomplete.

A critical consideration of the implementation of

a number of pilot countries in the One United Nations

Initiative has revealed positive results. But consensus

has yet to emerge on how to further the process of

attaining system-wide coherence in the work of the

United Nations. We hope that the final outcome will

take the form of improved and increased development

assistance, which would go together with a United

Nations synergy in the concerned countries and the

competent structures.

In conclusion, we should recognize that progress

has been made in a number of reform areas. But we

have not yet achieved enough. Bulgaria expects that

the remaining tasks on the United Nations reform

agenda will be pursued energetically and without delay.

To that end we appeal to Member States to show more

flexibility on the decisions needed to ensure the

consistency of the reform process. It is in our common

interest to ensure that the sixty-second session is a

success. So let us work together and with goodwill to

make it happen.