El Salvador, 2005

I

wish to begin, Mr. President, by congratulating you on

your election to lead our work during this session. We

wish you full success during your presidency.

Likewise, our gratitude goes to His Excellency Mr Jean

Ping for his work during his mandate. We also extend

our heartfelt thanks to Secretary-General Kofi Annan

for his devotion as head of the Organization.

The anniversary we are now celebrating should

inspire an appreciation of the importance of dialogue

among all the nations represented here in achieving

collective well-being. Above all, we must recognize

the challenges ahead. We all know that our

Organization is passing through a crucial moment in its

existence. We can either strengthen it or weaken it. I

reaffirm the commitment of my Government to

participate significantly in pursuing the reform process,

in particular in substantive areas in which we have yet

to achieve agreement and which are essential for

successful reform of our Organization.

The historic process in El Salvador has shown

that lasting peace and democracy cannot exist without

development and respect for human rights. My

administration is doing everything possible to maintain

a humanistic form of government focusing on people

and their expectations and placing economic and social

development at the heart of our programmes.

As a developing country, however, we are

constrained by limited natural, technical and financial

resources. Sometimes, these limitations are increased

as the result of natural events and other external factors

such as the increase in oil prices which is truly

devastating to our economies.

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At last year’s General Assembly session, we

expressed the need to find solutions to the impact of oil

prices on economies. Since then, we have witnessed

with great concern that the prices of hydrocarbon

products, far from dropping or stabilizing, have

spiralled excessively as never before. This situation not

only seriously affects our development efforts because

of the high oil bills, which lead us to divert funds that

could be used for social programmes, but also has

become a serious threat to social and political stability

and human security, primarily in the least developed

and other developing countries.

In addition to those conditions and other factors

related to instability and price speculation, there is a

growing trend to exclude middle-low-income countries

from assistance and international cooperation, further

limiting the ability of those States to meet the

challenge of development and in particular of

achieving the Millennium Development Goals. We

firmly believe that the United Nations must discuss this

issue with due seriousness and responsibility in order

to find joint and supportive solutions that will help

mitigate the crisis we are facing.

I propose that the Department of Economic and

Social Affairs or the Economic Commission for Latin

America and the Caribbean carry out a study on the

impact of increased oil prices on achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals and on national

development efforts worldwide.

Although South-South cooperation has become a

valuable instrument that contributes to development, it

is also important to recognize that further use should

be made of North-South cooperation, in particular

through creation of the Global Development Alliance,

which will make it possible, through a mutually

beneficial approach, to achieve economic growth and

sustainable social well-being.

We feel that it is essential that as part of the

comprehensive reform of our Organization we promote

the strengthening and greater efficiency of funds and

programmes in the operational activities of the United

Nations system. Similarly, I would like to highlight the

importance of setting up a just and equitable

international trade system, based on predictable and

non-discriminatory regulations consistent with the

principles of free trade.

El Salvador is committed to achieving the

Millennium Development Goals that have been set for

2015, despite external factors that affect us and limit

our capacity to invest in development. With that vision

in mind, El Salvador has launched its Opportunities

programme aimed at improving the living conditions of

thousands of Salvadorian families. It contains five

basic components. The first is the Solidarity Network

programme to combat poverty and extreme poverty

head on, with a special role for Salvadorian women.

Through the Chair of the Commission on Women, we

are doing everything we can to ensure that protecting

the rights of women is on the agenda. We can confirm

that the participation of women in peace and

development has been essential for successfully

achieving our goals.

Secondly, the programme covers microcredit for

developing micro and small businesses; this will

promote the development of new sources of income

through self-employment.

Thirdly, the Health Solidarity Fund (FOSALUD)

provides for the establishment of a tax on tobacco,

alcohol and firearms. Those resources will be used to

expand medical services in public health units to 24

hours a day; here, we have seen excellent results.

Fourthly, the Presidential Youth Programme has

begun to include young people in the development

process.

Finally, our Get Connected programme is aimed

at creating a model for public education that makes

technology and information available to students.

It is with great hope that El Salvador is gradually

moving towards achieving most of the Millennium

Development Goals. For example, we reduced the

number of individuals living in extreme poverty by

18 percentage points between 1991 and 2004. The

percentages have gone from 33 per cent to 15 per cent,

which means we have reduced the figure by half. The

infant mortality rate for children under the age of one

has decreased significantly, from 45 per 1,000 live

births in 1991 to 25 per 1,000 in 2004: a reduction of

20 points. We need to strive for a further 10-point

reduction.

Participation of young people in economic and

social development is a priority. It is a source of energy

and creativity that can improve our society and put us

on the path to the future.

We also welcome the holding of the second phase

of the World Summit on the Information Society, to be

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held in Tunis in November 2005. We urge participants

to be active in agreeing on commitments, with specific

objectives that will help reduce the digital divide

separating countries. Like that of the first phase, held

in Geneva in 2003, the outcome of the 2005 Tunis

Summit on the Information Society should reflect deep

respect for freedom of expression as a pillar of

democracy in order to ensure that a free and

independent press continues to work unhindered

throughout the world, as expressed in article 19 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has become a serious

problem that crosses borders and does not respect

nationalities. The magnitude of the spread of this

epidemic has meant that we must concentrate on

prevention without forgetting treatment and support for

individuals living with this illness.

In El Salvador, we shall shortly host the third

Forum on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted

Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean, the

fourth Central American Congress on Sexually

Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS and the fourth

Central American Meeting of People Living with

HIV/AIDS in order to unite our efforts and exchange

experiences. We are hoping to have support from the

United Nations. We urge the entire international

community, in particular the donor countries, to

continue to provide their support to national efforts to

combat HIV/AIDS and to reduce the costs of the

medications that are available.

One of the matters that require greater interest

and attention is that of migration because of its

economic, social and cultural impact in countries of

origin, transit and destination.

This matter should be dealt with from a

multidimensional approach, one that would establish

guidelines for international, regional and subregional

cooperation, adopt and coordinate joint policies based

on the contribution of migrants to development, as well

as prevention efforts and action against illegal

immigration and the trade in human beings.

One matter of particular interest to El Salvador is

the scourge of national and transnational organized

crime. The phenomenon of gangs is closely connected

to a series of serious offences that gravely threaten the

security of individuals and their assets. It also has a

bearing on corruption; it reduces our people’s morale

and it has a negative impact on our development

efforts. We believe that one of the measures that ought

to be taken collectively to most effectively and

efficiently combat this scourge would be to strengthen

the capacity of the United Nations Office on Drugs and

Crime, and to enhance international cooperation.

We agree that the system to protect human rights

needs to be strengthened but it is necessary to establish

an objective mechanism that is transparent,

de-politicized and non-discriminatory.

El Salvador fully supports the strengthening of

the collective security system, with full respect for the

principles of the Charter and universally recognized

human rights. We recognize and appreciate the role

played by peacekeeping operations. We feel it is

important to continue considering the proposal of

establishing a strategic military and police reserve that

would allow for rapid deployment to deal with

hostilities stemming from conflicts, as well as to

maintain post-conflict peace and security.

We are satisfied with our contribution to

collective peace with our growing participation in

peacekeeping operations. In particular, we provide

troops from our national civil police as a result of

peace agreements worked out and signed with the

United Nations.

With regard to disarmament and nuclear

non-proliferation, El Salvador supports the efforts

aimed at reaching a global commitment to eliminate

weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, we

support Norway’s initiative to adopt a declaration on

disarmament and security.

As to the situation in the Middle East, we wish to

express our gratitude to the Government of Israel for

carrying out its disengagement plan, a unilateral

measure that will conclude with the total withdrawal of

the Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip. This is a show

of political will and the desire to put a lasting end to

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We believe that

continuing to adopt measures to generate mutual trust

will enable both parties to resume the peace process, as

set out in the road map. Similarly, we reiterate our

support for the right of the Palestinian people to

establish an independent State, as well as the right of

the Israeli people to live in peace and security, free

from any terrorist threat from radical groups outside

the law.

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With respect to the situation in Iraq, we trust that

all political forces will participate in setting up new

institutions for Iraq and that there will be an

understanding which will lead to the establishment of a

state of law based on representative democracy.

One of the pending items on the international

agenda that we must not disregard is the situation

related to Taiwan and its inclusion in the concert of

nations. We believe that the United Nations must look

into the question of Taiwan, because it is a reality that

we cannot ignore, since the representation of the

Taiwanese people internationally is a responsibility of

this Organization, in accordance with its universal

principles and purposes. Similarly, we hope that there

will be peaceful coexistence on both sides of the

Taiwan Strait.

I now wish to refer to the question of natural

disasters and the high level of vulnerability to which

all of our nations are exposed, as seen by the tragic

events that took place recently in various parts of the

world, and most recently in the United States. This

should lead us to rethink and reassess our commitments

and our decisions with respect to the environmental

situation in which we find ourselves. On behalf of the

Government and people of El Salvador, I wish to

express our most sincere condolences and our show of

solidarity to all families who lost loved ones and

valuables as a result of these phenomena, and we urge

the community of nations to pay greater attention to the

environment.

Finally, I simply wish to point out that our people

firmly believe and hope that the United Nations is and

will be an Organization that has legitimacy and the

capacity to contribute to the attainment of peace,

security, freedom, sustainable development and the

promotion of human rights. Our role as heads of State

and Government is to strengthen this belief and this

hope, showing that we can work together in a united

fashion to achieve concrete results for the well being of

our people throughout the world.