Ecuador, 2000

At the outset, I wish to convey to the

President my congratulations on his election to lead

this session of the General Assembly. He represents a

country that shares with mine the ideals and principles

that favour peace, culture, human rights, solidarity and

understanding.

I hail the entrance of Tuvalu into our

Organization, and I congratulate the Minister for

Foreign Affairs of Namibia, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, on

the skilful and intelligent manner in which the

important work of the last session of the General

Assembly.

The political events that occurred in the world in

the last decade speeded up changes on the international

scene, ushering in new global structures and processes.

The disappearance of the ideological underpinnings of

the cold war produced profound transformations that

changed the geopolitical foundations that had prevailed

in the twentieth century.

The consolidation of large economic blocs and

the technological revolution have had a palpable

impact on the pace of economic and social change

throughout the world. The free market and the new

technologies have favoured competition and have

generated the transnational expansion of banking and

finance, which has fundamentally changed the way the

world economy works.

In this global context, countries are joining the

trends of globalization from very different levels of

development, and consequently, the opportunities and

the effects of these new processes turn out to be

extremely unequal. Technological, financial and

productive disparities have deepened between the

developing countries and the industrialized nations,

where most of this potential is concentrated.

Notwithstanding the efforts of countries to adapt to and

become integrated into a new international

environment, inequities have grown and social

problems have mushroomed in an environment of

deteriorating international cooperation.

The Millennium Summit, which opened this

session of the General Assembly, proved to be a

historic opportunity to consider in depth the challenges

inherent in the new global trends, which are generating

a new international order, with its risks and its

potential for peace and security, economic growth,

sustainable development and human security. It has

become clear in the light of these realities that no

country can remain on the sidelines or be insulated

from the major global changes, and that all States must

face the great challenge of working together to regulate

the new processes within a universal endeavour to

channel the process of development to secure the

benefits of globalization, while meeting the needs of

the peoples.

Within this context of international responsibility

as a priority, the United Nations has a dominant role to

play, as a universal forum for States to work together

for ideals and objectives common to all peoples and to

stimulate international cooperation for sustainable

development and poverty eradication.

In the new century, the Organization's potential in

world affairs must be fully used. Ecuador trusts in an

effective multilateral system whereby global norms for

the era of globalization are created in a democratic,

participatory and systematic manner. With that

objective, the Summit acknowledged the representative

nature of the United Nations in the fulfilment of its

essential goals, within the framework of the new global

processes and the challenges of the twenty-first

century.

The interdependence of international political and

economic problems becomes significant in this great

task, creating a complex mix of matters to be

considered on the international agenda of this global

institution, the United Nations, which, because of its

legitimacy, has the responsibility for adopting

coordinated policies and implementing guidelines that

ensure the efficiency and timeliness of this

Organization's response to events and phenomena

occurring in the world that directly affect international

security and stability.

I wish to reiterate my congratulations to the

Secretary-General on his valuable contribution to the

work of this Millennium Assembly through the

presentation of his analytical report on the role of the

United Nations in the twenty-first century. His thoughts

are extremely useful in considering the role and the

challenges of the United Nations in the years ahead.

I must also highlight the contribution of the Latin

American countries to the work of the Millennium

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Assembly through the adoption of the Cartagena

Declaration by the heads of State or Government of the

Rio Group, and the contribution of the South Summit

and the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, groups

of which Ecuador is a member.

Ecuador shares the view regarding the advantages

and opportunities relating to the United Nations

influencing the management of international public

affairs and cultivating the commitment of all actors to

approach the new global processes and structures from

the perspective of human development.

Globalization and poverty must be tackled with

the priority that their profound consequences for

human development require. The trends of

globalization today appear merely as an economic

process, dehumanized and lacking in social

dimensions. This process concerns itself with free

trade, competition and new information technologies,

without an approach that guarantees that it works for

people and that opportunities for progress and the

benefits of the process will be distributed worldwide,

to all countries.

Ecuador is experiencing one of the most acute

crises of its history. Its effects have had a grave impact

on State institutions and have led to instability in the

process of consolidating democracy. Domestic and

foreign factors combined in recent years have

contributed to aggravating the crisis through

macroeconomic imbalances that have severely battered

the economy and people of Ecuador. In this context of

enormous difficulties, the conditions Ecuador had

negotiated for its foreign debt became extremely

difficult to meet. Those factors, together with the

adjustment measures taken to confront the crisis, have

had a considerable impact on poverty.

This global forum must be aware of the enormous

difficulties imposed on highly indebted poor countries

both by disproportionate external debt servicing and by

the continuing obstacles to their export products, as

well as by the fluctuations in the international financial

system that work against national efforts to create

conditions of economic stability and sustainable

development. In meeting its goal of bringing about a

just and equitable international order, the General

Assembly should find means to reduce the external

debt of developing countries, including heavily

indebted medium-income countries affected by natural

disasters.

Ecuador has made great efforts to find a just and

lasting solution to the problem of the excessive burden

of foreign debt. Last August it took a first step in

renegotiating the Brady debt segment, and it concluded

its negotiations with the Paris Club last week. We trust

that understanding and above all fairness will mark the

continuation of this process so that a definitive solution

may be found for the problem of external debt, which

is crushing developing countries and hindering the

implementation of priority social programmes in the

areas of health, education and employment. The

restraining effect of debt is undoubtedly one of the

main obstacles in the fight to reduce poverty and attain

the goals set in this area by 2015.

It is necessary to have an economic and

institutional order that provides outlets to countries

with small economies, which are the most vulnerable

and likely to be affected by extreme crises.

Ecuador, committed to overall national

development, resolutely supports United Nations

activities implementing financial and technical

cooperation in support of countries' national efforts to

promote sustainable development in order to bring

about a better future for all peoples. The United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) plays a role

in that task as the main operational tool for the efforts

of the Organization in support of national plans and

priorities to alleviate poverty, contribute to democratic

governance and strengthen national capacities for the

benefit of human development. I appeal to the

international community to ensure that the Millennium

Assembly gives resolute political backing to UNDP as

the central instrument for the overall management of

development in the twenty-first century, and to ensure

that the Programme has the financial strength necessary

to fully enable it to carry out its operational activities.

The situation of international trade also deserves

our priority attention, as it has a direct influence on the

economic and social activities of nations. We call for

the elimination of trade barriers and obstacles, and

demand the application of norms that will make it

possible to carry out trade in an open, predictable and

equitable way. In accordance with our long-standing

tradition of integration, we support the strengthening of

the Andean Community and its increased international

outreach, in particular with regard to its relations with

the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR),

the European Union, Russia and the Pacific Basin and

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in the context of negotiations to create a free trade area

of the Americas.

Ecuador shares the international community's

concern over the continued degradation of natural

resources, the threats to the environment and the

inadequate compliance with the commitments made at

the 1992 Earth Summit on sustainable development.

Given its economic, social and environmental

implications, we should insist on the need to give

priority to sustainable development as a cross-cutting

factor in international relations, with regard both to

policies and cooperation. There is an imperative need

to incorporate appropriate environmental technologies

and to develop sustainable production patterns in order

to strengthen national scientific and technological

capabilities. The Government of Ecuador has

incorporated the concept of sustainable development

into its national legislation, promoted the adoption of

policies and action plans in that context and

strengthened its own environmental authority.

The phenomenon of drug trafficking, with its

global effects, is another matter for the international

community, as it respects neither borders nor nations

and poses widespread dangers to society. Drug

trafficking has developed a supranational system in

which no particular nation can be viewed as the root

cause of the problem. It is essential that we recognize

the principle of shared responsibility in coping with the

reality of this phenomenon, and that we take the

necessary international steps to resolve it. Abiding by

this universal commitment, which has already been

recognized in the 1988 Convention against Illegal

Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,

is fundamental in our fight against this global problem,

one of the challenges confronting humankind.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, peace,

security and disarmament constitute other priority

challenges that the United Nations will continue to

face. Ecuador advocates the peaceful resolution of

international disputes and condemns the threat and use

of force in relations between States, as we are

convinced that a system of peace and trust among

nations must be based on the peaceful resolution of

disputes and on specific disarmament measures in the

context of the purposes and principles of the Charter of

the United Nations and the norms of international law.

In its pursuit of the goals of peace and security,

the Security Council bears primary responsibility for

the maintenance and restoration of international peace.

Ecuador deems it a priority, in terms of the renewal of

the United Nations, to reform the Council's

composition and methods of work. The Council's

mission makes it vital that we correct the current

imbalances in the Council's composition, improve its

decision-making machinery and lend greater

transparency to its methods of work.

Another challenge for the United Nations

concerns the role and the strengthening of

peacekeeping operations. In recent years humankind

has witnessed the exacerbation of regional conflicts

and the negative consequences of war in various parts

of the globe. It is vital that joint action in the

framework of this world Organization be strengthened,

so that the use of force, when absolutely necessary, can

be applied in strict conformity with Chapter VII of the

Charter. In this way the United Nations will be able to

retain the international credibility it requires as the

legitimate forum for, and agent of, collective action to

promote international peace and security.

One of the pillars of democracy in any society is

strict respect for human rights, the defence and

protection of which are the responsibility not only of

each and every State but also of the international

community. The international community, therefore,

can no longer remain silent or indifferent; it must react,

in a legitimate manner, to the massive violations of the

rights of entire peoples that were perpetrated in the

final years of the past century, which are a source of

shame for humankind. Furthermore, it is totally

unacceptable for one or more States to seek to

represent the international community and to apply,

unilaterally and by force, a non-existent “right to

interference” on the basis of humanitarian

considerations.

In 1998 Ecuador promulgated a national human

rights plan with a broad and democratic perspective.

The plan, which takes an integrated approach to the

human being, was devised and prepared through a

nationwide consultative process, with the full

involvement of civil society and the public authorities.

In this context, the right to development constitutes a

legitimate aspiration that must be appropriately and

decisively spurred forward by the United Nations.

Ecuador, as a country that is acutely vulnerable to

a variety of natural disasters, accords particular

importance to the role of the United Nations system in

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the prevention, mitigation and reduction of the effects

of such disasters, among them the impact of the El

Niño phenomenon. In the quest to move forward with

research on this phenomenon — which in 1997 and

1998 affected not only the South Pacific region but

other areas of the world as well — the General

Assembly and the Economic and Social Council lent

their support to the establishment of an International

Centre for the Research of the El Niño Phenomenon, in

the city of Guayaqu'l, in Ecuador. I am pleased to

inform the Assembly that my Government, as host

country, has taken the steps necessary to proceed with

the establishment of that Centre in the next few

months, as it is convinced of the scientific contribution

that such a United Nations-sponsored instrument can

make to humankind.

Ecuador reaffirms its commitment to

multilateralism and to the ideals that inspired the

founding of the United Nations. The challenges of the

twenty-first century must be confronted by all

countries jointly and in a spirit of solidarity. The

Member States must see to it that this session of the

Assembly makes a historic contribution to a universal

endeavour to resolve global problems and to strengthen

collective security. The achievements of the United

Nations in this new century will hinge on a

constructive spirit of solidarity on the part of all peace-

loving nations.