Guyana, 1997

For some time now the

United Nations has been engaged in a process of reform

and restructuring with the aim of improving its capacity

to address the many challenges which the world now

faces. It has been an arduous and time-consuming

exercise which, if truth be told, has diverted us, to

some degree, from our primary task of promoting

global peace and development. Yet the exercise is a

necessary one if we are in fact to enhance the

Organization's efficiency and effectiveness and to gear

it for service to the international community in the

coming years.

My delegation is confident that, under the able

leadership of the President, we will be able to make

progress in our endeavours. His wide diplomatic

experience, together with his intimate knowledge of the

14

Organization, will serve, I am sure, to orient and

accelerate our efforts. We congratulate him on his

unanimous election and vouchsafe to him our ready

cooperation to make this fifty-second session of the

General Assembly a significant turning point in the life

of the Organization.

To the President's distinguished predecessor,

Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia, we convey our

deep and sincere appreciation for the determination and

dynamism which he brought to bear on the work of the

last session. To his great credit, he laboured tirelessly to

find general agreement on the steps which must be taken

to revitalize the United Nations. His exemplary leadership

will no doubt inspire us to fulfil the task at hand without

undue delay.

I also wish to acknowledge with appreciation the

notable contribution which our Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, has made to the reform process since

taking office. In keeping with the promise made to the

Assembly, he has presented us with a set of interesting

proposals for the reshaping of the Organization for

service in the twenty-first century. This comprehensive

and constructive document requires our serious

consideration. I intend, therefore, in the time allocated to

me, to make a few comments which I trust, despite their

brief and preliminary nature, will provide an indication of

our thinking at the present time on the ways and means

by which the Organization can be reformed.

Let me first say that we share the vision which the

Secretary-General has set forth for the future role of the

United Nations. The Organization has proved its capacity

for preventing major wars and forging international

consensus on important aspects of international relations.

It is now poised to explore the many possibilities of

multilateralism. Increasingly, Member States, large and

small, are seeing it in their interest to cooperate with the

United Nations to maximize their ability to deal with

several international concerns. There is increasing

recourse to its machinery in order to deal with such

issues as development, the environment, disease, drug

trafficking and terrorism, to name just a few. Many of

the special agencies, such as the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations

Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations

Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and others

too numerous to mention, cater to the needs of the most

vulnerable sections of our population — the aged,

women, children and our indigenous peoples.

Built on the pillars of multilateralism, the United

Nations offers Member States a unique forum in which

they can come together for their common good. Its

grand design, elaborated some 50 years ago, remains by

and large a useful chart for promoting international

comity. It is important, therefore, as we plan for a new

era, that we hold fast to the founders' abiding vision

lest we be dashed against the rocks of isolation and left

to survive as best we can.

The effective translation of this vision into reality

requires strong and dynamic leadership. History has

shown that, much too often, our most worthwhile

aspirations have been left unfulfilled because of

inadequate political commitment and direction. States

often see the world only through the prism of narrow

self-interest and are blind to the virtues of concerted

action. However, the challenges of our times, when no

single nation, however rich and powerful, can hope to

be entirely self-reliant, require the highest level of

international cooperation. For it is only by unity of

purpose that we, the United Nations, can hope to

achieve the aspirations so loftily declared in the

Charter.

We are pleased to note that the Secretary-General,

as the Organization's chief administrative officer, has

demonstrated vision and leadership in outlining his

suggestions for reform. Of particular satisfaction to us

is the fact that in setting his priorities for the

Organization's future work he has accorded high

importance to its development activities. At a time

when financial support is weak, it is imperative that

appropriate strategies be developed to eradicate world

poverty and restore economic and social prosperity,

particularly in small developing countries.

We therefore welcome the Secretary-General's

intention to strengthen management capability within

the Secretariat to provide for full coordination of effort

and for forward planning. We recognize the need for

economy, but hope that this will not be to the detriment

of clear mandates of Member States and to the

fundamental nature of the Organization. It would be a

grave pity if, in reducing costs, the United Nations were

to be starved of substance.

We certainly approve of the idea initially

propounded by the Government of Japan, and

subsequently endorsed by the G-7 countries, calling for

administrative savings to be channelled into

development activities. This dividend, although

15

presumably limited in quantity, may be significant

enough to serve as a catalyst for financing the

development account that the Secretary-General proposes.

Like the rest of the world, we welcome the generous gift

of the Chairman of Turner Communications, who had

participated in the 1994 World Hearings on Development

and has now seen fit to come out in support of this

cause. One can only hope that such philanthropy will be

emulated by others in the private sector.

The recently concluded Agenda for Development,

together with the joint strategy for development of the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) and the Development Assistance Committee

(DAC), provides a basis for moving forward in the field

of economic and social cooperation. Both documents

accept the fact that while private investment flows have

an important role to play in development, they are,

because of their high selectivity and general

unpredictability, insufficient to guarantee the development

of small disadvantaged countries. For those countries —

and here I include my own — development assistance,

debt relief, capacity building and increased trade will

remain crucial to our progress.

At the macroeconomic level, we will continue to

look to the United Nations to play a more central role in

the concertation of development policies. The Secretary-

General has said,

“The promotion of economic and social

progress is one of the United Nations primary

objectives, enshrined in the Charter.” (A/51/950,

para. 68)

It cannot, consequently, be marginalized in the

development process. Instead, it must be its principal

generator.

Accordingly, both its structure and operation must

be such as to provide “a more integrated collaborative

approach”. (ibid., para. 72) Greater coordination of

development activities, both at Headquarters and at the

regional and local levels, is essential. As has been

suggested, the creation of a new development group and

a United Nations development-assistance framework

could possibly provide the necessary focus and direction.

We should be careful to ensure, however, that the

strengths of individual actors and agencies are not lost in

any merger.

We fully support the proposal for a closer and

more cooperative relationship with the World Bank and

other international financial institutions. Over time,

those bodies, although connected with the United

Nations, have moved away from their original mandates

and developed quite independently of the Organization.

It is time that those bodies concentrate on human

development as distinct from the means of

development. We should therefore seek to bring them

into line with the main organs of the United Nations.

To that end, we encourage the Secretary-General to

take whatever steps are needed to achieve that

harmonization of the development efforts. We will also

have to consider at some stage how to strengthen the

relationship of the World Trade Organization (WTO)

with the United Nations.

At the same time, we must complement these

efforts by giving to the Assembly and the Economic

and Social Council the direct and overarching

responsibility for leading the development enterprise. In

the past, those organs have been sadly left behind in the

development process. Although useful as forums for

dialogue and consensus building, they have failed to

engage the key players. We should therefore strive to

transform them so that they can provide a stronger

political impetus for development and ensure effective

global macroeconomic management.

We hope that from this debate will come a clear

indication of proposals and recommendations that are

considered desirable and feasible. There will be some,

of course, which, like the conversion of the Trusteeship

Council into a forum for dealing with issues such as the

global commons, will require further study. These

proposals may be explored in informal working sessions

of the Assembly and then taken up formally as a

package for approval and subsequent implementation.

With diligent cooperation on the part of all, there is no

reason why such reforms cannot be agreed upon early

in the new year.

Institutional tinkering alone, however, will not

guarantee development. The most important dynamic

remains the political will of States. The several

strategies that we have forged and the many

declarations we have issued over the years remain

largely unfulfilled. It is no wonder that poverty is today

the single most important threat to global peace and

security.

16

The reduction and eventual elimination of world

poverty is an imperative which the United Nations cannot

ignore. At the special mid-term review of the United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED), held in June of this year, we came close to

agreeing to achieve this target by the year 2015. This

year, at the Kyoto session of the Conference of the

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, and later, at the mid-term review of the

Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable

Development of Small Island Developing States, we will

have other opportunities for the further promotion of

sustainable development. We should not fail to take

advantage of these in our continuing efforts to create a

partnership for the benefit of all States.

For its part, my Government remains dedicated to

this end. In demonstration of our seriousness of purpose,

we have honoured the obligations that have been deemed

necessary to national development. As suggested by the

World Bank in its publication entitled Partnership for

Sustainable Growth, we have sought to promote

“global governance in all its aspects, including

ensuring the rule of law, improving efficiency and

accountability of the public sector and tackling

corruption as essential elements of a framework

within which economies can prosper.”

We have created a truly democratic society in which

development is a fundamental human right. The fruit of

our policies has been a constant annual growth rate of

over 6 per cent. Today, all sectors of our society,

including private enterprise and peoples' organizations,

are fully involved in the development process and are

fired by the optimistic confidence that, as a nation, we

will overcome the problems that currently beset us.

In a few weeks, our nation will conduct another

democratic election, open again to the scrutiny of

international observers. Out of this exercise will come a

fresh popular determination to continue along the path

leading to economic and social progress. To facilitate this

pursuit, the Government has prepared a national

development strategy based on a fully participatory

economy. Involved in its preparation were experts from

both the public and the private sectors, who have

prepared a draft text for wider public consultation and

approval. In our view, this provides a useful policy

framework which, by establishing needs and priorities,

can serve to mobilize assistance from the international

community, including donor Governments and

international development agencies.

However, as was clearly recognized by our late

President, Mr. Cheddi Jagan, the hopes and aspirations

of developing countries such as ours will not fully

materialize over the long term until the international

environment is made more congenial to our needs.

Accordingly, he continuously advocated in his lifetime

the creation of a new global human order premised on

sustainable economic development, equity and social

and ecological justice, and based on the creation of a

separate global development fund for assistance to both

the North and the South. This new North-South

partnership must be fashioned in a search for more

positive and innovative ways to cope with the vagaries

of globalization and liberalization, which are

marginalizing millions of people and even many

nations.

Guyana has openly embraced the 20/20 initiative

adopted at the World Summit for Social Development

as a means of sparking international cooperation for

development. In addition, we have called for agreement

on some forms of international taxation, which, like

national revenue at the country level, would provide the

funding necessary to promote global development. Thus

far, some developed countries have been reluctant to

contemplate such innovative means of resource

mobilization. But in circumstances of ever increasing

international obligations and decreasing development

assistance, where will the necessary financing come

from? The answer to this question is key to the future

of the United Nations, for unless the Organization is

endowed with predictable and adequate resources, it

will be incapable of satisfying the many requirements

placed upon it by Member States.

In my delegation's view, the time has come to deal

with this issue. The Economic and Social Council has

broached the question in recent high-level discussions,

but we are a long way from testing the feasibility of the

many ideas that have been advanced to find new and

additional ways of financing multilateralism. Initial

studies done by the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) and other development agencies

have revealed that some of the mechanisms proposed

are indeed feasible. Why, then, are some States

unwilling to entertain any meaningful discussion of

their introduction? Is it that they are afraid of losing

control of the United Nations? Or are they not serious

17

about their proclaimed adherence to the concept of the

interdependence of States?

Assuring the financial stability of this Organization

must be seen as essential not only to development but to

peace. Invariably, instability and conflict within and

among States are due in great measure to economic and

social instability leading to intense competition for

limited resources. An investment in development must

therefore be seen as an investment in preventive

diplomacy and in the building of peace.

Admittedly, these are costly tasks, but there can be

no doubt that the expenditure involved is much less than

that resulting from conflict. The international community

should therefore be prepared to adequately fund activities

in this field to enhance the prospects of their success.

Apart from financial support, there is also a need for

more competent supervision by the Security Council. No

reform of the United Nations will be complete without

reform of the Council, which is the organ primarily

responsible for the maintenance of international peace

and security. Unfortunately, despite the most intensive

search, we are yet to find general agreement on the basis

for restructuring that important body. We must persevere,

however, in the fulfilment of our mandate to devise a

more effective, open and representative Council fully

capable of performing the functions assigned to it under

the Charter.

Guyana, as a member of the Non-Aligned

Movement, believes that this aim can best be served by

an appropriate expansion in the non-permanent category.

However, in a spirit of compromise, we are prepared to

contemplate enlargement also in the permanent category,

providing a balance can be found between developed-

and developing-country representation and agreement

reached on the limitation of the use of the veto and on

the concept of periodic review. We are ready to continue

our work in this direction until a solution is found.

Meanwhile, we are happy to see the progress being

made towards the creation of an international criminal

court, which will be able to deal effectively with several

crimes against humanity.

Last, but by no means least, we wish to see in the

campaign for peace more active interest and participation

by this Assembly in the disarmament process, so that the

weapons of war may be converted into tools of

development. Although we have yet to see any significant

peace dividend from the ending of the cold war, we

believe that a reduction in arms expenditures on both

nuclear and conventional weapons can only benefit the

welfare of all peoples. The Assembly must therefore

encourage the Committee on Disarmament to intensify

its efforts in this field and must itself take whatever

action it deems necessary to prompt the conversion

from arms production to more peaceful pursuits.

Disarmament is too important an issue to be left to the

major military Powers. The international community as

a whole must therefore exert continuing pressure on the

process to achieve the desired results.

At the same time, we must intensify the

Organization's role in bringing peace to those countries

and regions of the world where conflict or the threat of

conflict persists. Upheavals in the Great Lakes region

of Africa and the tenuous situation in places such as

Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina still defy

resolution.

In the Middle East, the peace process seems to

have atrophied. The Palestinian problem and the Arab-

Israeli conflict continue to hamper the progress of that

entire area. In Cyprus, where tensions are restrained

only by the continued presence of United Nations

troops, the danger of violence is ever present. On the

Korean Peninsula, peaceful reunification is still an

elusive goal. The international community has no

choice but to do whatever it can to help the parties

involved in conflict everywhere to work peacefully

towards an amicable settlement of their particular

disputes.

The world wants peace and development. It also

wants the United Nations to help in the achievement of

these goals. Governments have a duty to heed these

sentiments and to increase their support of the

Organization.

The United Nations itself must in turn reach out to

benefit from the valuable reservoir of goodwill which

exists towards it among the peoples of the world.

Public information is key to securing widespread

support for its activities and to expanding its role in

international affairs. We therefore urge that the

dissemination capacity of the Department of Public

Information be enhanced in developed countries, where

awareness of the Organization's potential is less than it

should be.

18

As we approach the major milestone marking the

start of the third millennium, we must have a clear vision

of what we want the United Nations to be and of what

we want it to do. Only with such clarity can we be sure

that the reform process will result in a change for the

better. It is therefore my delegation's hope that this

general debate will engender a common sense of purpose

among its Members and a willingness on their part to

press forward in the revitalization of an Organization

which is so necessary to both our survival and our

development.