El Salvador, 2004

It

is my great honour to represent the Salvadoran people

as I address the United Nations, the supreme global

forum, for the first time.

I wish to convey my sincerest congratulations to

you, Sir, on your election to coordinate the work of this

session. We also thank Mr. Julian Hunte for his

outstanding leadership of the last session of the

General Assembly.

To the Secretary-General, we reiterate our

admiration and our respect for his leadership in the

fulfilment of the purposes and principles of the United

Nations Charter at a time when the Organization is

confronting growing and complex global challenges

affecting international peace and security.

Internal and international conflicts, terrorism and

transnational organized crime, the persistence of

extreme poverty, environmental deterioration and

unresolved development problems are global in nature

and require a harmonizing centre that can support the

efforts of the international community to find shared

and consensual solutions in order to establish an

international order that responds to the needs and

aspirations of humankind.

That integrating centre must be the United

Nations. We therefore support the establishment of the

panel of eminent persons to make recommendations on

collective security and the strengthening of

multilateralism in order more effectively to confront

global challenges.

Irrational and criminal terrorist acts have

highlighted the need for us to unite in our efforts and

our determination, regardless of the differences that

may exist among States, to unify our views and adopt

collective action to find ways to confront the

phenomenon and its causes, in the framework of

respect for international law.

The delegation of El Salvador reaffirms its full

conviction that global terrorism is not an issue between

cultures or nations. From that perspective, the

Government of El Salvador has decided to respond to

the United Nations appeal by participating in the work

of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance in Iraq.

By its very nature, our presence in Iraq deserves

an additional explanation. We are not there for military

reasons. Ours is a considered response to the appeal

launched by this Organization for the international

community to help in the transition phase leading to

the full establishment of authority based on the free

will of the Iraqi people, with absolute respect for its

territorial integrity, its own culture and its

unquestionable right to define its own destiny.

El Salvador suffered a long internal war and

succeeded, with the support of the international

community and the United Nations, in achieving

lasting peace. We believe that the time has come to

make our testimony and accumulated experience, both

during the political negotiations for peace and the

peace-building phase, available to other peoples.

El Salvador reiterates its firm and resolute

support for peace-building and peacekeeping

operations, above all because we have enjoyed the

benefits of such an operation, but also, of course,

because of their positive results in various regions of

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the world. On the basis of that conviction, our country

has signed a memorandum of understanding with the

United Nations, the best evidence of El Salvador’s

commitment to such activities, which are so necessary

in today’s complex and unquiet world. We have

presented a list of resources that are available to the

world Organization as a basis for our participation in

future operations, in addition to those in which we are

already participating.

In that context, in order to demonstrate our spirit

of cooperation on these issues, I am pleased to

announce my Government’s interest in submitting its

candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the Security

Council so as to make our accumulated experience

available to this Organization.

Since the successful conclusion of our internal

conflict, El Salvador has focused its attention

resolutely on human development. The Government I

lead, by dint of a broad majority vote of the Salvadoran

people on 1 June, is one of openness and inclusion,

with a vision of national integration and service to the

interests and aspirations of our people. Such vital

questions as security, employment, the effective

improvement of basic services and the productivity of

our communities and regions are the top priorities of

our governing programme.

We are focusing on transforming national

education, on reshaping public health care, on

significantly strengthening the rule of law, on

combating crime in all its manifestations and at all

levels, on reactivating the economy and on making

Salvadoran society internationally competitive. Insofar

as we achieve greater progress domestically, we will be

competitive externally.

In addition, however, we are working on a social

plan geared towards reducing extreme poverty in the

next five years. To that end, we are undertaking a tax

reform that will increase tax collection and reduce

evasion, allowing us to obtain the additional funds

necessary to implementing our social plan. We shall

levy a special tax on tobacco, alcohol, weapons and

ammunition in order to promote a special health care

fund with which we will expand health assistance to

the rural areas of our country and undermine the black

market in those goods.

In the approximately 100 days that we have been

in office, we have undertaken important health reforms

by extending medical coverage to the age of 12 for the

children of workers who contribute to Salvadoran

social security and by granting emergency paediatric

services to almost 400,000 boys and girls.

We know that no Government effort will be

effective without the cooperation of all sectors in our

country. We are therefore launching a mechanism of

understanding with all our political and social forces.

In that context, we have established an employment

agreement that seeks solutions, together with private

enterprise, for strengthening the agriculture,

construction, tourism and micro-, small and medium-

sized business sectors, with the aim of generating more

jobs.

One of the best mechanisms for increasing our

development potential is investment in education. In

that awareness, we have launched the National

Education Plan 2021, which seeks to reinvigorate our

vision of the future of education through short-,

medium- and long-term programmes. We hope that our

national effort will also enjoy international

cooperation. That is why we were pleased by the

decision taken by the Government of Spain to provide

assistance for primary education.

The most urgent of the challenges confronting

Salvadoran society is that of providing security to our

citizens. In order to meet that need, we recently

established a rural police force, along with a

uncompromising plan to eradicate delinquency in

urban areas overrun by gangs. The plan also offers

special programmes for young people who wish to

abandon the path of crime.

El Salvador unreservedly shares the interests

expressed at the International Conference on Financing

for Development. We reiterate our dedication to

seeking alternative ways and means and renewed

commitments to making the fight on poverty more

effective — an objective that is interlinked with peace

and security in the modern world.

In that vein, we welcome the initiative of Brazil,

France, Chile and Spain confirming the need, in the

fight against hunger and poverty, for greater and more

effective efforts to place stability and global security

on a solid foundation. If we all apply our will and

commitment, we can develop new programmes and

identify innovative public policies that will allow us to

achieve the Millennium Goals.

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Throughout its history, El Salvador has been a

country of emigration. The flow of emigration was

intensified by the war, and today virtually one third of

our population lives abroad. Maintaining and

deepening links with the country of origin is one of the

main policies of our administration. Our national

reality requires us to integrate the views of Salvadorans

abroad with local expectations. The economic impact

of this phenomenon is decisive to our life as a nation,

but equally or even more important is the sociological

and cultural impact of the situation. The phenomenon

of transculturization experienced by our society is

changing El Salvador forever.

The contribution of migrants to their countries of

origin and to their host countries deserves special

attention from the international community, and

particularly from the specialized agencies of the United

Nations system. The transfer of remittances is a key

element in the mobilization of resources for the

eradication of poverty and the attainment of the

Millennium Goals. The reduction of the cost of

remittances should be a concern of the international

community. From that standpoint, I am pleased to

express our great interest in participating actively in

the high-level dialogue on international migration and

development, to be held in 2006.

We welcome the United States proposal to create

a fund for democracy. In the same vein, El Salvador

welcomes the General Assembly’s proclamation of

2005 as the International Year of Microcredit. The

proclamation can promote the strengthening of micro-,

small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent a

broad spectrum of the social fabric and help sustain

national progress.

In today’s world, globalization has put us all on

the map of international reality. It promotes the

dynamic of strategic alliances in trade and all other

fields, and makes it possible to build models for

development by comparing them with other

experiences. Gradually and in a balanced manner, we

have decided to strengthen our links of cooperation

with various developed countries. The prevailing

regionalization makes us all dependent on one another.

In the case of countries such as ours, the situation leads

us to nurture our energies and creativity, open markets,

promote financial flows, facilitate the transfer of

technology and encourage competitiveness. These are

major opportunities and challenges that we must all

accept.

While cooperation for development remains

fundamental, El Salvador reiterates the urgent need for

a system of multilateral trade that is open, fair, rule-

based, foreseeable and non-discriminatory, in

accordance with the objectives of the Millennium

Declaration.

In a world that is becoming increasingly

globalized and therefore increasingly interdependent,

economic phenomena affect us all in a chain reaction.

The current international energy situation has a

significant impact on the economies of our countries,

with a negative effect on the dynamics of growth and

progress. Thus, from this United Nations rostrum we

strongly urge that we explore, as an organized

community, not only short-term avenues for

overcoming the crises, but also structural remedies that

can help the most vulnerable countries, in particular. It

is contradictory to talk about combating poverty and

hunger while the consumer countries are paying such

high prices for petroleum.

The complex Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a

source of enormous concern to our country, given the

incessant violence, the lack of control over terrorist

groups and the ever-growing difficulty of returning to

dialogue and political understanding. Our country

reiterates, as it has done consistently, its support for

any effort and measure to open space for a negotiated

political solution that takes into account the legitimate

interests of the parties directly involved.

As for the Republic of China on Taiwan, that is a

case which the community of nations must examine in

the light of international realities. Resolution 2758

(XXVI) of 1971 did not resolve the issue of the

representation of the Taiwanese people in the United

Nations. That nation has developed politically,

economically and socially in an independent, free and

democratic way. It has its own institutions and

characteristics, just like any other State of the

international community. However, Taiwan’s situation

in the international community is exceptional, because

its absence from this forum is a denial of the exercise

of the rights that are recognized to other peoples and of

the universal and democratic nature of our

Organization. Our delegation therefore supports

consideration of the exceptional situation of the

population of the Republic of China on Taiwan and its

eventual participation in this forum and other

international organizations.

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Our Organization has played, is playing and will

continue to play a decisive role in maintaining the

world’s healthy balance. Reality is changing

constantly. Many things have been left behind and

many things await us. Institutions in all areas and at all

levels must evolve with the changing times. In that

vein, we associate ourselves with those who are

committed to the structural renewal of the United

Nations. We believe that such reform must encompass

the highest structures, including the Security Council.

Every year, the nations of the world, through their

representatives, attend this rendezvous with the destiny

of the world. We have the responsibility to do nothing

less than to build a better world for current and future

generations. Every word, every gesture and every

decision made or reached here must be aimed at that

lofty purpose. Only if we combine our efforts can a

new, safer, fairer, more peaceful and more sharing

reality emerge. Together with all the nations

represented here, El Salvador takes up the challenge of

joining in that concert of constructive wills, in the

confidence that the god of nations will illuminate and

encourage us so that we may fulfil his will for peace

and brotherhood in a world in which no one is left

behind.