Kyrgyzstan, 1995

On behalf of the delegation of my country, I

would like to congratulate Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral on

his election to the lofty post of President of the fiftieth,

anniversary session of the United Nations General

Assembly. We would also like to express our deep gratitude

to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, who is at the head of our Organization at

this momentous time, for his tireless efforts to strengthen

peace and security around the world.

The fireworks commemorating victory in the Second

World War still resounded when our Organization was

coming into being, but the world had already been divided

by military and ideological confrontation. In the Soviet

Union, Ministries of Foreign Affairs were founded in each

of the republics and hastily staffed with diplomatic

personnel. However, the Soviet Union’s attempts to use its

republics to increase the number of votes in its bloc within

the newly formed international Organization were not

successful. Only three out of the 15 republics were accepted

as Members of the United Nations. Frozen by the years of

the cold war, we gained our independence without any

violence or bloodshed. Now, almost half a century later, we

have entered into the community of fully-fledged Members

of the United Nations.

Since then, the world has gone through dramatic

changes. Today we need the United Nations as never

before.

Through the United Nations, we, the post-socialist

countries, enter into the world and interact with countries

of the North and the South, the West and the East. Within

only four years of attaining independence, Kyrgyzstan has

become a Member of the United Nations and has joined the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

(OSCE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),

the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the

North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) and the

Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), as well as

many other international political and financial

organizations. The United Nations represents the main axis

of the foreign policy of our young country, and we will

work without respite to increase the effectiveness of our

Organization.

As small countries, we see in the United Nations a

guarantor of our independence, security and justice, based

on mutual respect for international law. The law is our

strongest argument in the family of the United Nations.

As countries with economies in transition and as

developing democracies, we receive extremely important

and urgent aid and support from the United Nations:

medicine, food and technical equipment. The Gramin

Bank is fighting rising poverty by giving the people

microloans. We are trying to build a civil society by

educating the non-governmental organizations, lawyers

and journalists. On 24 December 1995, open presidential

elections will take place in Kyrgyzstan, to which we

would like to invite observers from all over the world.

One of our most significant achievements during our

first years of independence, as our President, Askar

Akayev, has pointed out, is — in addition to our small

economic advances on the road to a free market — the

attainment of an inter-ethnic consensus, internal stability

and peace in our country.

Hidden tensions based on religious and ethnic

grounds erupted in Central Asia after the dissolution of

the Soviet Union, requiring the involvement of the United

Nations, the OSCE and the CIS. We commend the

mediating role of the United Nations, which led to a

cease-fire agreement and the beginning of a dialogue

between the sides in the inter-Tajik conflict. The five

countries of Central Asia, along with the Russian

Federation, are doing their best to launch the fifth round

of talks on the conflict in Tajikistan. These should lead to

a dialogue regarding fundamental issues pertaining to the

political future of the country.

Actions taken by the organs of the United Nations

system, the donor countries and international financial

institutions should range from humanitarian assistance to

long-term development programmes. This is true for both

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. I strongly support the proposal

by the Secretary of State of the United Kingdom,

Mr. Malcolm Rifkind, for the establishment within the

United Nations of special programmes for stabilization

and transition.

It is a sign of the times that, in the face of horrible

and prolonged conflicts, all the major countries, for the

first time in half a century, have joined together to build

and keep the peace.

Step by step, the knot in the Middle East is being

untied. We would like to congratulate Israel and Palestine

on the recent signing of an agreement on the West Bank,

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and we hope that both parties will have patience, courage

and success on this difficult road to peace. There are

promising hopes for a settlement to be reached that will end

the conflict in Bosnia. Kyrgyzstan welcomes the peace talks

based on the Washington Agreements on the creation of a

State based on the federal principle. We are convinced that

the time has come to focus the world’s attention on the

situation in Afghanistan. There can be no peace in Asia

without the settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.

It is impossible to be a mere spectator when the

flames of wars and conflicts scorch our borders and

decrease stability. Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

have announced their willingness to create a peace-keeping

unit under the auspices of the United Nations. We are

convinced of the need to have such United Nations

operational peace-keeping forces in reserve, so they can be

called upon in extreme situations.

There remains an undiscovered potential when it

comes to cooperation among the United Nations and the

OSCE, the United Nations and the CIS, and all of them

together when it comes to solving conflicts in post-Soviet

territory. It is not by competing but by cooperating that the

regional security institutions can stop the violence and

explosions. They can use a wide spectrum of preventive

measures, such as “planting” the culture of peace, bringing

the sides to the negotiating table and constant monitoring.

Border issues, the distribution of water and natural

resources, the rights of ethnic minorities: we in Central

Asia need international legal expertise in all these areas, as

well as the introduction of proven legal, political, socio-

economic norms and regulations.

Fully sharing the responsibility for peace and security

in our region, the newly independent States of Central Asia

are trying to do all they can to keep peace and order on the

land given to us by God. Kazakstan is working with

persistence to organize a conference on confidence-building

measures in Asia. Uzbekistan is working on the idea of a

standing seminar on the subject of regional security.

Turkmenistan declared its intention to become a neutral

State. During a meeting in May of this year at Lake

Issyk-Kul, representatives of the five countries, with the

support of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP), created a standing seminar on stable development

for Central Asia.

Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries

supported with great enthusiasm the unconditional and

indefinite extension of the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty

at the 1995 Conference on that Treaty. Along with

Uzbekistan, my country calls for establishing Central Asia

as a nuclear-weapon-free zone. It is our firm wish to

finalize work on the agreement on a comprehensive test-

ban treaty no later than 1996 and to make the moratorium

on nuclear testing universal and permanent.

Free economic and trade zones have become

efficient instruments in speeding up trade and

development among countries and continents. To make

the world a safer place, we need other types of zones: not

just non-nuclear but “non-conflict” zones. Central Asia

could become such a testing ground.

The lessons of the last decade require focused and

compassionate attention from the United Nations and the

world community in general on countries in transition

such as Kyrgyzstan. The United Nations and its

organizations — UNDP, the United Nations Children’s

Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund

(UNFPA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health

Organization (WHO) — although sometimes

overwhelmed by the unprecedented nature and scope of

problems such as those of refugees, natural disasters,

degradation of the environment, illegal drug trafficking

and the spread of AIDS, deserve a great deal of credit for

helping us to solve severe social problems in this difficult

transition period. It is not only professional office

managers who work there, but true implementators of

reforms. World forums of the United Nations — from

Cairo to Copenhagen, from Beijing to the Habitat II

Conference scheduled to be held in Istanbul — bind us

together in the United Nations in understanding the

magnitude of the social problems confronting humanity.

Implementing their decisions will require enthusiasm and

a huge concentration of effort. The most important thing

now is action — the political will of Member States to

go forward— effective international monitoring and

“glasnost”.

The participation of women in all these

transformations is of critical importance. The world in the

twenty-first century means equal rights for men and

women, for my son and my daughter, my daughter and

millions of other young girls and women in Central Asia,

to be married in accordance with their own choice and

desires, to have unrestricted access to education and

employment, to be elected to Parliament and to work at

all levels of government. It is for the sake of these goals

that I am tirelessly working today.

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We welcome the intention and determination of the

President for this session, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas

do Amaral of Portugal, personally to lead the activities of

a High-level Open-ended Working Group to report on the

subject of reform to the General Assembly at its fiftieth

session. We, the Member States of the United Nations,

expect not only thorough and precise reports, but seek

concrete, genuine reforms and changes.

Kyrgyzstan favours an enlargement of the Security

Council, while bearing in mind the need for appropriate

regional balance. Germany and Japan, in our view, deserve

to be elected to the Council as permanent members. Being

among the biggest contributors to the United Nations

budget, they are playing an ever-increasing role in

strengthening peace and promoting development and

democracy. It is also necessary to increase the number of

non-permanent Security Council members.

The world at the end of the twentieth century is as

complicated and multi-faceted as we are — peoples and

countries on six continents who are burdened with their

daily problems and worries, their dreams and concerns.

Modern means of communication and speed have

encouraged humankind to feel more united on an

unprotected Earth. It is likely that no one would have tried

to rule the world if it were a single voting district.

The United Nations, empowered by its 185 Member

States with a clear understanding of its responsibility, is

wisely and competently leading us to the new millennium.

My country is going forward consciously and confidently

under the United Nations banner with a hope for a better

future.