Bulgaria, 2009

I am deeply honoured to

address this audience on behalf of the Republic of

Bulgaria. I would like to convey my delegation’s

congratulations to Mr. Ali Treki on his assumption of

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

fourth session, and wish him success in the months

ahead.

Our gratitude goes to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto

Brockmann for his leadership and guidance during the

previous session. Let me also thank Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon for his resolute efforts to promote the

United Nations and its values.

Bulgaria fully aligns itself with the statement

made by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Fredrik

Reinfeldt, on behalf of the European Union.

Furthermore, Bulgaria would like to express its

pleasure at the election of Ambassador Irina Bokova as

the new Director-General of UNESCO. We would like

to thank all Member States for the trust invested in our

candidate. Bulgaria takes great pride in having such a

high-level representative in the United Nations system

and would like to assure the Assembly that our

Government will continue to do everything it can to

foster the policies and ideals of UNESCO.

As a member of the European Union (EU),

Bulgaria is dedicated to the spirit of multilateralism

and therefore fully supports the efforts to strengthen

the United Nations capacity to deliver effective

international responses to global challenges.

The most pressing issues that require our

attention are undoubtedly the global economic and

financial crisis and the negative impact of climate

change. In this light, we particularly appreciate the

Secretary-General’s initiative to convene the United

Nations Summit on Climate Change on 22 September.

Furthermore, I would like to express our support for

the statement made by the President of France at this

general debate. We are indeed running out of time, and

if we want to reach an agreement in Copenhagen,

timely action is needed.

In the globalized world of the twenty-first

century, my country strongly reiterates its full

commitment to the principle of effective

multilateralism based on international law, the United

Nations Charter and the United Nations system, which

place the human being and human security, rights and

dignity at the very centre of international politics.

Bulgaria considers cooperation in South-East

Europe and the Black Sea region to be a priority of its

foreign policy. Situated at a particular geographic

crossroads, Bulgaria is in a unique position to assess

the areas’ pressing issues in their complexity. Together

with our partners in the EU and NATO, Bulgaria is

proactively cooperating with its immediate neighbours.

Bulgaria strongly affirms that regional

cooperation is an integral part of European integration

of the western Balkans. It contributes to the

strengthening of confidence, stability, security and the

affirmation of European standards in the region. To this

end, Bulgaria is committed to pursuing efforts aimed at

combating and preventing the use of hate speech likely

to create fears and tensions between groups from

different ethnic, national, religious or social

backgrounds.

We therefore call for full compliance with human

rights and fundamental freedoms in the western

Balkans. In this context, Bulgaria believes that the

building of a stable, peaceful, democratic and

multi-ethnic Kosovo, living in peace with its

31 09-52592

neighbours, is of primary importance to the security

architecture of the western Balkans and Europe as a

whole.

Bulgaria is particularly interested in the peaceful

long-term development of the Black Sea region.

Despite active cooperation among countries in the

region, much of its potential has so far not been

utilized sufficiently. In this light, it must be said that

the South Caucasus remains a region of concern for

Bulgaria. We call upon the parties involved to

overcome their differences and to engage in a dialogue

to ensure the peaceful and prosperous development of

the entire Caucasus.

Today, it is our task not only to respond to the

challenges, but also to embrace the opportunities that

the Black Sea region provides. Bulgaria believes that

the strong Eastern dimension of the European

Neighbourhood Policy addresses the needs and

priorities of all the partners. We see opportunities for

launching projects in important sectors, such as

transport, trade, energy, environmental protection and

border security. My country is one of the main

supporters of the Black Sea Synergy initiative, which

serves as an inclusive cooperation platform between

the European Union and the countries of the wider

Black Sea region. Bulgaria will endeavour to

contribute to the success of those policies, in particular

through its forthcoming chairmanship of the Black Sea

Economic Cooperation Organization.

Bulgaria would, furthermore, like to thank the

United States and our partners in the European Union

for the constructive part they have played in both the

Balkan and the Black Sea regions. We are grateful for

their counsel and support, and we very much look

forward to further deepening and intensifying our

cooperation.

The list of persistent grave risks and challenges to

global security is, regrettably, not a short one. We are

convinced of the need to step up efforts aimed at

achieving progress in the areas of international

disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, the need

for the full and universal implementation of the

Non-Proliferation Treaty regime remains of utmost

importance, and my country is dedicated to supporting

a successful outcome of the 2010 Non-Proliferation

Treaty Review Conference.

We are deeply concerned by the recent turn of

events regarding Iran’s nuclear dossier, and, in this

respect, we strongly appeal to the Iranian authorities to

comply with relevant resolutions of the Security

Council and to provide their full cooperation to the

International Atomic Energy Agency. Bulgaria hopes

that the forthcoming negotiations between Iran and the

five permanent members of the Security Council plus

Germany (P5+1), scheduled for the beginning of

October, will make it possible to renew the discussion

on the Iranian nuclear programme and pave the way for

a comprehensive solution before December this year.

Bulgaria confirms its position that further reform

of the main United Nations bodies is necessary. We

believe it is desirable to enhance the transparency and

effectiveness of the system. Furthermore, we need only

recall the enormous challenges facing Member States

and the international community in the twenty-first

century world to see the need to reform the United

Nations.

Reform of the Security Council should certainly

be a central element in any reform of the United

Nations. We would like to reiterate our position that

both categories of membership on the Council need to

be enlarged. Furthermore, we believe that the regional

Group of Eastern European States should be allocated

at least one additional non-permanent seat.

Bulgaria is well aware of the need to pursue

international diplomacy in order to overcome existing

conflicts. As a consequence, we welcome the positive

role that the European Union plays as a mediator in

numerous conflict areas around the world. One such

area is the Middle East. Bulgaria firmly supports the

efforts of the members of the Quartet in the Middle

East peace process and believes that re-establishing

direct dialogue between the Israeli and Palestinian

delegations is of fundamental importance. Bulgaria

firmly supports the position of the European Union in

this regard and underlines the fact that a

comprehensive and lasting peace can only be realized

if the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live

peacefully, side by side, each in its own sovereign State

and in mutual recognition.

Another area where the United Nations,

supported by the European Union, has an enormous

potential to be a force for peace and stability is in

Afghanistan. Bulgaria believes that, overall, a more

comprehensive and coordinated approach in

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Afghanistan is desirable. In this light, the Bulgarian

Government thanks the Swedish presidency of the

European Union for preparing a blue book listing all

European efforts in Afghanistan with the aim of

helping improve coordination on the ground.

Together with our European Union partners,

Bulgaria is strongly committed to the cause of human

rights. As such, Bulgaria will continue to clearly

condemn all such violations of human rights as torture,

slavery, sexual abuse and female genital mutilation.

Additionally, in this light, we support the call by the

Swedish presidency of the European Union for greater

empowerment of women and gender equality.

Furthermore, we appreciate the Secretary-General’s

report entitled “Implementation of the responsibility to

protect” of January 2009 (A/63/677) as an important

and timely document, and we state our firm interest in

further discussing and elaborating on the concept. We

hope that, with the recent adoption of resolution

63/308, this concept will be implemented.

In the course of the past year, the world has faced

multiple challenges related to the global economic and

financial crisis. This crisis has had a huge impact on

virtually all sectors of our economy. Bulgaria firmly

believes that we can only overcome the crisis through

the joint efforts of all relevant actors. We are all in the

same boat, and we must all ensure that the lessons of

our past mistakes are learned and remembered. To that

end, we call for further intensification of the

cooperation between developing and developed

countries. Additional support should be provided to

developing countries in order to avoid further

aggravation of global poverty and hunger. More

broadly, we are more concerned that the global

recession might lead to a decrease in the total level of

official development assistance. Greater attention

should therefore be paid to the conclusions put forward

in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005

and the Accra Agenda for Action of 2008. Furthermore,

while we are well aware of our financial constraints,

Bulgaria, as a country that only recently emerged from

the status of a recipient of foreign aid, is committed to

live up to its international responsibilities and is

determined to be a force for peace and stability.

It is true that the efforts of the United Nations for

peace, stability and development constitute an

impressive list of achievements. It is also true that a lot

more could and should be achieved this year and in the

years to come. At the end of the day, however, the

achievements of the United Nations depend on what

we, the Member States, are willing to do. We have a

shared responsibility for the future of our planet. Only

through open and honest cooperation can we be

successful in overcoming the challenges ahead.

So let us work together, demonstrate beyond any

doubt our goodwill, flexibility and commitment, and

make this sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly

a real success.