Chile, 2004

I

wish to express our satisfaction at seeing Mr. Ping

preside over this fifty-ninth session of the General

Assembly and we wish him a successful presidency.

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Ever since the signing of the Charter of San

Francisco, and before that during the time of the

League of Nations, Chile has been firmly committed to

the international community, to multilateral

cooperation and to the best values of peace, security,

development and human rights which this Organization

represents. Chile has been an active participant in the

international system because we believe that

governance at the global level is the logical extension

of the institutional order that each State has achieved

and can demonstrate in this global forum.

While in the last century our main task was to

establish rules of coexistence and conduct for the

international community, today, faced with the

challenges of the twenty-first century, that task, in our

opinion, has become more urgent and ineluctable.

What we have before us is a panorama of positive

opportunities, on the one hand, and of complex threats,

on the other.

For countries such as ours, integration into the

global community creates opportunities which a closed

society would preclude. We see integration into the

global community as providing possibilities for growth

and for creating space for our efforts, and we feel that

this is the inescapable destiny of all of us. Countries

need freedom, peace, security and respect for

international law; based on scrupulous respect for

treaties, we need to work towards the building of a

shared global order.

Stability can be achieved only through

governance under which all interests are represented.

Thus, voices are being raised in various countries in

order to state the obvious: no one can shape the world

that is emerging except through agreements and

negotiations. The complexity of the world emerging

before our eyes is too great to be handled in a

centralized or unipolar manner.

Of course, little will be achieved if, at the same

time, each country does not put its own house in order.

Without justice, solidarity and respect for human

rights, there can be no stable or genuinely beneficial

governance in our own societies in the medium term. I

therefore believe that it is the responsibility of each of

our societies to apply the principles of the United

Nations and to make them realities. We have an ethical

duty to be efficient and effective in the attainment of

those goals and ideals.

It is clear, however, that globalization also

includes negative aspects that can affect us all. Today,

we are afflicted by such public evils as terrorism and

organized crime; illicit trafficking in persons, arms and

drugs; and the money-laundering associated with those

activities.

Nothing is more counter to our principles than

terrorism, a virtual dark force of globalization.

Accordingly, here in the United Nations, Chile has

contributed through its efforts in chairing both the

Al Qaeda/Taliban Security Council sanctions

Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Committee, key

instruments of the international community for waging

this combat. Globalization also has negative spill-over

effects on the environment and exacerbates the

marginalization of millions of people in societies or

even continents who are unable to achieve integration

into the global economy and global society.

Faced with that reality of light and shadow,

countries like Chile have a stake in helping to improve

the positive aspects of globalization and to eliminate

its negative aspects. But how do we turn those aims

into reality? In our view, the best way to guide the

agenda of globalization is through multilateralism. It is

in the strengthening of multilateralism that each

country has a stake and a national task to fulfil.

As a non-permanent member of the Security

Council, Chile has assumed its responsibility to the

global community and has sought to act consistently

with our values and convictions. Last year, with regard

to Iraq, we said that only the United Nations could give

the necessary legitimacy for the use of force and for

addressing in an effective and unified manner the

threats to peace arising from that country. For that

reason, and in order to be consistent with our

commitment to multilateralism, we said yes to the

United Nations when the Security Council requested

the presence of a multinational interim force in Haiti.

We reacted in solidarity by dispatching to Haiti, in less

than 72 hours, a military force and humanitarian

assistance.

We have shown that our region is capable of

assuming the responsibilities required to ensure

international peace and security. Not since the period

of our national independence have forces from

different Latin American countries acted collectively

and independently of the great Powers in a mission to

maintain peace in one of our countries. Today in Haiti,

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the troops of a number of Latin American countries,

supplemented by the joint Spanish/Moroccan force, are

under the command of a Brazilian general and the

representative of the Secretary-General is a Chilean.

If we wish to strengthen multilateralism, reform

of the United Nations is becoming increasingly

necessary. Its ideals and founding purposes remain

valid, but, as a number of speakers have noted here, the

power structure upon which the Organization was built

at its inception corresponds to a world that is very

different from todayís world. Not only do we need to

expand the Security Council to make it more

democratic; comprehensive reform of the Organization

is also needed. In addition, the United Nations needs

specialization, not a proliferation of similar

institutions. It needs greater accountability and a more

transparent system of recruitment. It needs to derive

the maximum benefit from every last cent that it

spends. Many of our States are making those or similar

changes in their own public systems. The United

Nations can be better than we can in that area. It is a

challenge for the Organization and for each of our

States.

I had the opportunity to exchange ideas with

some members of the High-Level Panel on Threats,

Challenges and Change. That is why I am convinced

that the Panel will offer to the Secretary-General

recommendations aimed at strengthening two key

areas: first, generate a political commitment that

reaffirms the values of the Charter of the United

Nations; and, secondly, strengthen the system so that it

can face the challenges and opportunities of a world

that is more global than it was 60 years ago.

The world requires a larger and better United

Nations. We have unacceptable humanitarian crises,

such as that in Darfur, Sudan; a steady deterioration in

the outlook for peace in the Middle East; and terrorist

attacks, such as those in Beslan, Russia, and in front of

the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In the Security Council, Chile supported the

transfer of national sovereignty to the people of Iraq,

and we hope to see the elections scheduled for next

January. In the case of Afghanistan, United Nations

electoral assistance has been essential in the

preparations for the elections scheduled for the

beginning of October.

The world to which we aspire will be better and

reflect greater solidarity with the effective participation

of citizens. In that spirit, we will host in Chile next

year the Third Ministerial Conference of the

Community of Democracies.

Likewise, we are convinced that globalization

will be better only if civil society is recognized as one

of its principal actors. That consideration has been a

decisive factor in the Action against Hunger and

Poverty, which we ó together with the leaders of

Brazil, France and Spain and the Secretary-General ó

have promoted to effectively contribute to the

attainment of the Millennium Goals.

Yesterday's meeting presented us with a great

challenge: have specific answers within 12 months,

before the next General Assembly session. Some of the

actions proposed depend on governmental decisions;

others are the responsibility of multilateral

organizations and civil society ó particularly non-

governmental organizations, the business community,

trade unions and universities. We say clearly: it is time

to recognize that, in practical terms, the exclusive

monopoly of States or Governments in the international

sphere has ended; everyone is called upon to

participate.

The question is whether reform is possible. Why

would the powerful give up some of their power? Our

modest experience has shown us that one can negotiate

free trade, for example, with the worldís most

industrialized countries and reach agreements

beneficial to both sides. Today, trade agreements cover

two thirds of our exports, more than half of which are

already free from tariffs. That has not been a simple

matter; it requires time, preparation and patience. And

why not say this? It involves a degree of conflict with

the more developed countries. Trade agreements, in

and of themselves, do not provide solutions for a set of

issues that can be resolved only at the multilateral

level.

That is why we need to successfully conclude the

Doha round, because there, decisive issues are at stake

that we have not been able to resolve through bilateral

negotiation. There we must resolve the issue of anti-

dumping, the situation of subsidized agricultural and

textile products, complex issues such as those related

to intellectual property, and the question of how to deal

with pandemics by using generic or low-cost drugs.

Those issues are multilateral in nature. We must

therefore deal with them multilaterally, and in doing so

26

we must be strong - we, the countries that understand

that we are going to define more just trade rules.

It is in that area that common sense is of much

more help than dogmatism. One cannot ask others to

give up their fundamental interests, but neither can

anyone hope complacently for unfair results. That is

why integration into the global society is a stairway

with many steps. What is important is not to lose a

sense of progress ó progress towards trade that is free,

but fair; towards capital flows that are free, not

predatory; towards cultural expansion, not destruction

of what is local: our roots, what we are, our identities;

towards an exchange of ideas, not lockstep thinking ó

in short, towards pluralism, so that we all can be better.

I have tried to share with the Assembly the vision

and the responsibilities of a country of the South ó an

open country that is interdependent with the rest of the

world. Our modest experience has shown us that it is

imperative to strengthen multilateralism as the only

approach with the legitimacy necessary to ensure

inclusive globalization that reflects solidarity - as has

been said here, globalization with a human face.

In conclusion, todayís world requires a larger, not

a smaller, United Nations and more, not less,

multilateralism. Our experience tells us that we can

make a reality of our shared dream - the dream that

was dreamt 60 years ago in San Francisco, but that

now obliges us to meet the challenges of the twenty-

first century that is beginning.