India, 2000

India congratulates Mr. Harri

Holkeri on his election as President of the first General

Assembly of this millennium. We are encouraged that

he intends to take the Millennium Declaration as the

mandate for the work of the Organization during his

presidency.

I take this opportunity to sincerely compliment

and to place on record our high appreciation of Foreign

Minister Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia for his

guidance of the General Assembly in the past year,

which included three special sessions and, of course,

meticulous preparations for and a successful

conclusion to the Millennium Summit.

I join India's voice to those of other delegations

in noting with appreciation the dedication with which

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has served the United

Nations at a critical point.

I am delighted on this occasion to warmly

welcome Tuvalu as the newest Member of the United

Nations.

Just 10 days ago, almost 150 heads of State and

Government assembled here for the Millennium

Summit. Their assembly in such large numbers was as

unique as was the occasion itself. The Millennium

Declaration that was then adopted encapsulates a

shared vision that the international community work

together in constructive cooperation to meet collective

challenges, within the framework of the United

Nations. It was in this spirit that my Prime Minister

spoke, as did many others, of the need for the United

Nations to truly reflect the world of the twenty-first

century, to make it an effective instrument to translate

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our vision into reality. The United Nations is the house

that we all share. We must strengthen it and ensure that

it is equal to our collective expectations and our joint

aspirations.

Peace, collective security and development

inspire the spirit of the United Nations. We enter the

twenty-first century with extraordinary collective

intellectual and technical capabilities. These are our

global tools for overcoming the challenges before us.

Peace and security for all is not just possible but is well

within our grasp. Stability and development are the

essential building blocks for the maintenance of peace

and security. Threats to peace can and do arise from

different sources. It is not just weapons of mass

destruction or an arms race that endanger peace, but

also dehumanizing poverty and lack of development.

We must act as confident nation States committed

to collective action and international cooperation, for

these are our means to provide wider effects of peace

and progress. We must reaffirm the principle of respect

for State sovereignty and non-interference in internal

affairs of countries. Thus, self-evidently, we must

abjure unilateral action. Whenever circumstances

warrant action by the Security Council, that action

must be firmly rooted in Charter provisions.

The Brahimi Panel's report contains a number of

proposals. We recommend that the General Assembly

examine this important report carefully and take

appropriate decisions to strengthen this vital United

Nations function of peacekeeping.

We support the Middle East peace process and

find the trend encouraging.

The historic summit between the Republic of

Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,

too, augurs well for peace in the Korean peninsula.

Disarmament — global nuclear disarmament in

particular — is essential to engender a greater sense of

security among Member States. India has been and will

continue to be in the forefront of efforts towards global

nuclear disarmament and genuine non-proliferation.

We welcome the recommendation of the Secretary-

General in his report to the Millennium Summit to

convene an international conference on eliminating

nuclear danger. We urge commencement of

negotiations on a nuclear-weapons convention to bring

about a nuclear-weapon-free world. India remains

ready to participate in agreed and irreversible steps,

such as de-alerting of nuclear forces, thus lowering

nuclear danger, through accidental use or otherwise, as

well as a global agreement on no-first-use and on non-

use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon

States.

The situation with regard to the entry into force

of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

(CTBT) and the lack of progress on a programme of

work at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva

show the importance of building a consensus, both

within and amongst nations, on issues that affect

national and international security. We are conscious

that 155 countries are at present signatories of the

CTBT. We reiterate to them our continuing

commitment that India does not wish to stand in the

way of entry into force of the CTBT. India volunteered

to observe, and continues to observe, a moratorium on

further explosive nuclear testing. This meets the basic

obligations of the CTBT. India also remains ready to

engage in meaningful negotiations in the Conference

on Disarmament, including on a global treaty to ban

the future production of fissile material for weapons

purposes.

The illicit transfer, manufacture and circulation of

small arms, particularly by States to non-State actors

and to terrorist groups, and their intrinsic linkage with

terrorism and narco-trafficking are matters of very deep

concern to the world community. When they are

combined with religious fanaticism and military

adventurism, a threat is posed to the global civilized

norms to which we strive to adhere. The international

community can no longer afford to permit these

purveyors of death, outrage and destruction to continue

to inflict untold suffering upon innocents. We look

forward to a successful outcome of the United Nations

Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and

Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, to be held next year.

Terrorism is the global menace of our age. For

some, it tends to replace ideology and policy. India has

been the object of State-sponsored, cross-border

terrorism in its most inhuman manifestations for more

than a decade. Even as the international community

works together to curb, control and stamp out the illicit

trade in small arms and light weapons, we need to

continually focus our attention on the users of such

weapons — the terrorists. Terrorism is an assault on

human decency, a violation of the basic precepts of

democracy and the very antithesis of what the United

Nations represents and stands for. Because its principal

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targets are the innocent, it is indeed the most flagrant

violation of basic human rights. It constitutes a crime

against humanity. It is also a threat to international

peace and security, especially when terrorists are

armed, financed and backed by Governments or their

agencies.

I urge all Members to work to strengthen the

international consensus and legal regimes against

terrorism. We have proposed the draft of a

comprehensive convention on international terrorism. I

urge all Members of the United Nations to give their

total support to this initiative.

Let me now dwell briefly on the instrument of our

choice to accomplish our global agenda: the United

Nations. There is but one United Nations; none

replicate it, nor can any replace it.

The membership of the United Nations has

increased manifold in the last half century, and today

stands at 189. Yet the Security Council continues to

have the same basic structure as in the colonized world

of 1945. The need for expansion of the membership of

the Security Council in both permanent and non-

permanent categories is self-evident. The impact of

actions of the Security Council is felt, with near total

exclusivity, by the developing countries. Yet they have

little influence in its decision-making. We have a

global consensus that the form taken by the Security

Council in the aftermath of the Second World War is

outmoded and that it must reflect the logic of an

enlarged membership. At the Millennium Summit more

than 150 States, at the highest level, endorsed the need

for a Council reformed in its representation. An

unrepresentative Security Council will lack the range

and depth of sensitivity, perceptiveness and

understanding of the realities that it will have to deal

with or the moral authority to take decisions. I reaffirm

India's willingness to take on the responsibilities of

permanent membership.

The General Assembly is the most important

organ of the United Nations. It is here that all States,

irrespective of considerations of strength, economy or

size, sit together as equals, embodying the democratic

principle of sovereign equality. There is a growing

feeling among Member States that the functioning and

role of the General Assembly has to be made more

effective. As the revolutions of the digital age reduce

distance to the click of a mouse, bringing us together

into a new global neighbourhood as never before in

history, and as forces of globalization inexorably lead

us to increasing interdependence, our canvas of

international cooperation and collective action has

rapidly expanded. It has also become vastly more

complex. The General Assembly has therefore to be

central in accepting this new responsibility, this new

challenge.

Even as we week to strengthen democratic

principles and practices in the United Nations, and

even as the spreading sweep of democracy casts aside

dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, we have

unfortunately witnessed some instances of regression

as well. Such acts move against the currents of our

times. The international community should oppose

these assaults on the spirit of our times and

uncompromisingly support and strengthen democratic

impulses, practices and norms. It should show its

solidarity with the people of such countries. The

Organization of African Unity and the Commonwealth

deserve our commendation for the steps they have

taken in this regard.

Developments in Fiji since 19 May this year have

caused us deep concern. We appreciate the action taken

by the Commonwealth after the overthrow of the

constitutionally elected democratic Government there.

We hope that Fiji will return immediately to the

constitutional base of 1997 and restore the rule by law

at the earliest opportunity by putting an end to racial

discrimination. This is in Fiji's own long-term interest.

We hope that the international community will exercise

its collective authority and influence to bring Fiji back

to the road of democracy and the rule of law.

It appears, sadly, that the world has forgotten

Afghanistan. The fratricidal conflict in that country

continues on account of the Taliban's pursuit of the

mirage of military success. It also continues because of

outside support, military and financial, to the Taliban.

This conflict and the Taliban's mediaeval obscurantist

ideologies continue to cause untold suffering to the

Afghan people. This adversely affects the peace and

security of the entire neighbourhood, from West to

Central Asia to South Asia. The negatives that emanate

from the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan, in

the shape of terrorism, drug trafficking and the flow of

arms, cause justifiable concern all over the world. The

Taliban and their mentor must heed the world's

demands and abandon the path of conflict. We stand for

a comprehensive settlement in Afghanistan that

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restores peace at the earliest and ensures the interests

and aspirations of all sections of that society.

We have consistently called upon the United

Nations to increase its development orientation and

engagement, which is a core responsibility. We

welcome and support the declaration of the Secretary-

General last week to the United Nations Development

Programme's ministerial meeting that deficit in

development will put in jeopardy all other goals of the

United Nations. To address the root causes of poverty

meaningfully, we need firm international commitments

to re-order and reshape international relations, in

consequence providing for equitable opportunities to

developing countries for resource earnings. Our call is

even more relevant in today's fast integrating world.

Developing countries and their people cannot

thrive on a diet of advice and goodwill alone. We

therefore hope that the forthcoming conference on

financing for development would endorse concrete

initiatives for mobilization of the required external

resources for development, whether from trade or

concessional flows, and treat this as a shared global

goal. In this context, it would be useful to establish the

difference that would be made if there was universal

adherence to the agreed official development

assistance(ODA) target of 0.7 per cent of Gross

National Product(GNP), within a specified time frame.

Nowhere is this more important than in the

continent of Africa. Africa's efforts need to be

adequately supported by the international community.

We believe that issues relating to the development of

African countries must remain at the forefront of the

work of the General Assembly.

The process of globalization, with revolutionary

leaps in communications and the great advance in

information technology and increased mobility of

capital, trade and technology, has produced new

potential for sustained economic growth. The benefits

of globalization have, however, not percolated to the

vast sections who live mired in poverty, without

shelter, in hunger and in deprivation. Globalization has

often been accompanied by enhanced poverty,

unemployment and consequent social disintegration.

This poses a major challenge. We have to determine an

inclusive concept of growth and development. We have

to strive for the uplifting of people in the largest sense,

and not simply in terms of sectoral advances. While

GDP growth rates and selective indicators may point to

growth in an economy, the elimination of poverty and

enhancement of the quality of life and creation of real

choices must be integral to the process of assessing the

success of development efforts.

In India, we have formulated development

strategies on the premise that economic and social

policies must subserve the primacy of the human being,

and in particular the poorest. Market forces and growth

alone are not the answer. Intervention to guarantee

social justice is crucial. Development based on uneven

rewards will not be supported by those who are not its

beneficiaries. It places great stress on the social fabric.

The fullest possible participation of the people in the

development process is the best guarantee for the

success of any growth strategy.

Many challenges lie ahead of us. Impediments to

sustained economic growth for developing countries

abound. Protectionist tendencies in developed

countries, a lack of political will to implement

commitments undertaken regarding development

finance and tardy alleviation of the debt burden of

developing countries aggravate the situation. Special

and differential treatment for developing countries

guaranteed under World Trade Organization (WTO)

provisions must be translated into operational reality.

Developed countries should not seek to restrict market

access to goods and services and free movement of

natural persons, especially at a time when developing

countries are being asked to open up their economies

and compete in the international economic domain.

Another challenge relates to reconciling the needs

of economic and industrial growth with the need for

preservation and protection of the environment. A safe

and healthy environment for our peoples is an

imperative. At the same time, all development cannot

be sacrificed at the absolutist altar of environmental

preservation. Sustainability of growth strategy and

environmental conservation cannot and should not

imply maintenance of poverty.

Developing countries have done commendable

work in the implementation of Agenda 21, in the

context of an exceptionally difficult global

environment. The promised resources from developed

countries have failed to materialize. The transfer of

technologies on preferential and concessional terms has

not been forthcoming. Indeed, impediments are placed

on technology transfer even on commercial terms. The

special session of the United Nations General

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Assembly on the review and appraisal of the

implementation of Agenda 21 in 2002 should

concentrate on finding solutions in addressing such

unfulfilled commitments and providing reality and

operational content to the declaration that “eradication

of poverty is the over-riding priority of developing

countries”.

Children and issues relating to them are a priority.

We hope that the special session of the General

Assembly next year will concentrate on the

implementation of the Declaration of the World

Summit on Children.

Advancement of the democratic spirit and

overcoming challenges to it, growth with equity,

economic development with social justice and, as the

prize that we seek, the creation of a world where

injustice and deprivation give way to fulfilment and

welfare for all are among the goals that we should set

for ourselves at the dawn of this new century. The

challenge is nothing less than collective enlightened

global ownership.

The General Assembly once again faces a heavy

and challenging agenda on this long road before us. Let

us wish ourselves success in our endeavours.