Latvia, 2003

I would like to begin

by extending Latvia’s heartfelt congratulations to

Mr. Julian Hunte on his appointment as President of the

United Nations General Assembly. Latvia highly values

his extensive experience and is confident that he will

succeed in his efforts to hasten the pace of reforms

within the Assembly. I am pleased that a broad

consensus on the main goals of these reforms was

achieved during the previous session, and I wish him

success in his responsible duties.

Three days ago, the people of Latvia made a

historical decision that will influence their country’s

course of development over the next foreseeable

decades, or even centuries. On 20 September 2003, the

people of Latvia decided, in a referendum, to join the

European Union. In voting for accession to this

influential body of free and democratic nations, my

country became the last of 10 candidate States to

confirm its commitment to a strong and united Europe

and to the extension of a growing family of secure and

prosperous nations.

It is our hope that this extended Union of 25

member States will serve not only to promote the

welfare of its citizens, but also to become an even more

significant contributor to international stability and

worldwide prosperity. The European Union is already

the world’s largest provider of development assistance

and Latvia looks forward to undertaking the

responsibilities and commitments that this entails. This

includes taking an active part in the formulation of

priorities to ensure that the assistance provided by the

European Union reaches those who need it most.

Latvia and her Baltic neighbours reappeared on

the international stage only twelve short years ago,

following half a century of totalitarian rule under Nazi

Germany and Soviet Russia. Our success story of

rebirth and renewal testifies to the fact that through

hard work and dedicated effort the re-establishment of

democratic societies and functioning market economies

can be realized within a relatively short period of time.

Many other nations in transition are now

undertaking similar paths of development and reform.

Latvia is already sharing its experiences with other

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developing countries, and will continue to do so in the

future.

Twelve years ago, when Latvia became a member

of the United Nations, the Soviet Union was in the

process of breaking up and the Cold War was coming

to an end. As the threat of a nuclear conflagration

between two mutually hostile superpowers receded,

new challenges to world security were coming to the

fore, and older ones were showing no sign of going

away.

Perhaps humanity’s greatest problem lies in its

propensity for violence, which manifests itself in all

levels of society, starting with the abusive individual in

the family household and ending in armed conflict in

the international arena. Even peaceful countries with

lengthy traditions of non-intervention and domestic

tranquillity are finding themselves faced with tragic

acts of senseless violence that include the beating and

killing of immigrants and political assassinations.

The unrest and turmoil in the Middle East, which

has lasted for well over five decades, shows no sign of

abating and can only come to an end once violence is

firmly forsaken as a means for obtaining political ends.

Latvia views the road map for peace, which foresees a

free and secure State of Israel living in peace alongside

an independent Palestinian State as the only feasible

means for ending the dangerous impasse that both sides

have now reached. The alternative is a continuing

escalation of bloodshed, a never-ending cycle of killing

and mounting mutual hostility.

Latvia is ready to promote the establishment of a

lasting peace in the region, under the auspices of both

the United Nations and the European Union. We

encourage the interested parties to do everything within

their means to de-escalate tensions and put the peace

process back on track.

The establishment of a genuine and lasting peace

between the Israelis and the Palestinians would also

have an additional benefit. It would remove the

Palestinian cause as an excuse for terrorists to justify

their actions of murder and destruction. As the events

of the last few years so poignantly reveal, terrorism and

arms proliferation have become two of the largest

threats to world security today.

Currently, the international community is deeply

divided about the ethics and feasibility of

implementing direct military action against

Governments that are deemed to support and sponsor

terrorism. In the case of Afghanistan and Iraq, where

undeniably repressive regimes were removed by force

through outside intervention, the military measures

undertaken by the United States and its allies will have

to be followed by comprehensive international efforts

to help those countries rebuild their societies and their

economies. I am certain that most of us would agree on

the need for reconstruction and security regardless of

our opinion about the foreign military presence in these

two countries.

Within the limited means at its disposal, Latvia

has sent humanitarian assistance and military medical

personnel to Afghanistan and has dispatched a military

contingent to help maintain order in post-war Iraq.

As we collectively seek to avoid a clash of

civilizations between different societies in the world,

so we must seek to reduce the growing discrepancies

between the rich and the poor. Poverty afflicts every

single member country of the United Nations. About

three billion people, or half the world’s population,

struggle to subsist on the equivalent of less than two

dollars a day. Seventy per cent of the world’s poorest

people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for

their subsistence. The Millennium Goal of reducing

poverty and of halving the proportion of people earning

less than one dollar a day can be achieved only by

improving the plight of poor farmers and creating

viable agricultural communities. Poor farmers in

developing countries cannot compete with products

subsidized by the treasuries of the world’s richest

countries.

At this month’s World Trade Organization (WTO)

Ministerial Conference in Cancún, Mexico, United

Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the WTO

member States to say no to trade policies that

aggravate poverty and to say yes to bold and sensible

steps that will revive the global economy and set the

new course for development.

Poverty also provides fertile ground for modern-

day slavery and the trafficking of humans, which

continues to occur in nearly all regions of the globe. At

the beginning of the twenty-first century, an estimated

27 million people are still being bought, sold, held

captive, brutalized and exploited for profit. Together

with non-governmental organizations that are working

to stop slavery, and through international organizations

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such as the United Nations, our Governments must

help those slaves break free from their chains.

We all live in a world where such deadly diseases

as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and, lately, SARS,

to name a few, know no borders. It is only through the

continued vigilance of our countries’ health officials

and through close international cooperation that we

will ever be able to keep those mortal dangers in check.

I hope that yesterday’s AIDS conference has

strengthened the resolve and confidence of participants

to overcome this great affliction.

The Government of Latvia is actively pursuing its

commitments under the Millennium Declaration to

attain the Millennium Development Goals. For

example, it has prepared a national action plan to

address the needs of children in consultation with local

authorities, non-governmental organizations and the

children themselves. In cooperation with the United

Nations Development Programme office in Riga, it has

also established a working group that is devoting

particular attention to the reduction of child mortality

and the improvement of mothers’ health.

During the twentieth century, mankind inflicted

more environmental damage on our planet than during

all of the previous centuries combined. If we do not

devote greater efforts to reducing environmental

pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, then

future generations stand to inherit a planet with

increasingly destructive climate change and with a

forest cover that is restricted to scattered nature

reserves. We must avoid reaching the stage at which

the Earth’s energy and food resources become

irreversibly depleted. People and Governments must be

willing to make difficult economic sacrifices for the

sake of a cleaner environment.

Since its foundation in 1945, the United Nations

has seen the number of its Member States increase

almost fourfold. It has seen European colonialism, the

Cold War and apartheid come to an end. It has

successfully brokered the cessation of hostilities in

Cyprus, East Timor and other countries. It has provided

trillions of dollars of development assistance to

numerous countries. Latvia believes that the United

Nations should remain the principal world body for the

mediation of international disputes and for the

formulation of universal rules of conduct that all abide

by.

However, the United Nations has also been

criticized for being slow, unwieldy and ineffectual.

Few would disagree that it has reached a point where

changes within its structure are required so that it can

effectively deal with the new challenges of the twenty-

first century. Let us recall that a working group on the

reform of the Security Council was created already ten

years ago, shortly after the collapse of the bipolar

world that had dominated international relations for

decades. At that time there were hopes that an

unprecedented degree of unity might be reached within

the United Nations community. For the moment,

however, it appears that any substantial changes within

the United Nations will have to await a renewed

climate of consensus, which is not likely to precede the

resolution of the crisis in the Middle East, the settling

of trade disputes and the establishment of greater unity

about agricultural subsidies, arms proliferation and

environmental issues.

Latvia firmly believes in the universal ideals that

this Organization embodies and is ready, within the

limited means at its disposal, to contribute to their

realization. The United Nations presents our 191

Member States with the unique opportunity to work

together for the benefit of humanity. Let us hope that

our efforts will be coordinated and constructive, so that

we may make the twenty-first century one of security,

peace, and continued development.