Moldova, 1995

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere

congratulations and best wishes for success to Mr. Freitas

do Amaral upon his election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its fiftieth session. We are

convinced that, with his profound knowledge of current

global problems and his open attitude to the realities of

international life, he will make a very important

contribution towards the achievement of the objectives of

this session.

At the same time, I should like to address my

sincere thanks to Mr. Amara Essy for his productive work

during his presidency of the General Assembly at its

forty-ninth session.

I should also like to convey to Mr. Boutros Boutros-

Ghali, the Secretary-General of our appreciation for his

efforts to improve the functioning of the United Nations

and to assure him of the full support of the Republic of

Moldova.

In this anniversary year, Moldova celebrates the

passage of four years since the proclamation of its

independence and three years since its admission to the

United Nations.

Over these years of complex structural changes, we

have preserved our aspiration of becoming a democratic

State with a market economy, despite the difficulties of

transition. Our country has already taken the first steps in

this direction by embarking irreversibly upon the path of

democracy.

It is worth mentioning that the process of democratic

transformation in Moldova has been supported and is

being supported by the international community and,

primarily, by the United Nations and its specialized

agencies. Therefore, I wish to express our gratitude to the

United Nations and its Member States for their substantial

support in the promotion of the ongoing reforms in our

country.

In this context, I should like to describe the main

developments which have taken place in our society this

year, as well as our most important present concerns.

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In its foreign policy, the Republic of Moldova, a

neutral State not involved in political-military alliances, is

developing mutually beneficial relations of friendship and

cooperation with all States. It also intends to extend its

bilateral links with neighbouring States, as well as with its

traditional partners.

In our domestic policy we have had two main

priorities: to develop and consolidate the legal and

institutional framework of a State of law and the smooth

functioning of institutions appropriate to a modern

democratic society on the one hand, and, on the other, to

ensure economic restructuring and the transition to a market

economy.

So far, our country has succeeded in setting up a

number of basic institutions for the rule of law. A modern

constitution that guarantees political pluralism, private

ownership and respect for fundamental human rights,

including rights for persons belonging to ethnic minorities,

has recently been adopted. Likewise, it assures the exercise

of political liberty, a fact that is proved by the existence of

numerous political parties and by the possibility of the free

expression of political opinions. The Parliament has drafted

and adopted a number of laws of major importance.

The progress achieved by our country in the process

of transition has been facilitated, to a certain extent, by

bilateral cooperation with other States and in the framework

of various international bodies. Among the positive effects

of this cooperation have been a quickening in the pace of

internal reforms and the process of integration into

European political and economic structures. In this respect,

a major event in the external relationships of the Republic

of Moldova has been its admission to the European

Council. This is both a recognition of the progress achieved

by our country on the way towards democratization and an

encouragement to further build up the rule of law and a

democratic society.

As for economic restructuring and the transition to a

market economy, I can state that a number of difficulties

are in the process of being overcome. This year new

measures have taken aim at halting the decline in industrial

output, which constitutes an important prerequisite for the

relaunching of economic growth. Through a new monetary

and fiscal policy, we have managed to reduce inflation and

stabilize the national currency. Moreover, it is worth

restating our willingness to continue our fruitful cooperation

in this field with the international financial institutions,

primarily the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the

World Bank.

At present we are engaged in a crucial stage of the

reform, particularly that dealing with wide-scale

privatization. My government is mostly concerned to

speed up privatization in the hope that this will spur

economic reform and encourage not only internal

investment, but also foreign capital and credits. In this

context, I should emphasize that the difficulties

encountered in carrying out economic reforms are linked,

to a great extent, to the shortage of financial, energy and

raw materials resources. The assistance we have received

so far from the international financial institutions and

from some developed countries has had a visible positive

impact. Nevertheless, substantial and sustained external

financial support is still needed for the creation of a

modern restructured economy.

That is why we are counting, in particular, on the

support of the European Union for securing the success of

our transition. Our efforts aiming at building a market

economy and integrating our country into the European

political and economic structures would be strongly

helped by its supportive signals and actions. The signing

of the agreement of partnership and cooperation with the

European Union towards the end of last year and the

recent signing of the Interim Commercial Agreement have

been major steps in this direction.

The difficult process of transition is being adversely

affected by the anti-constitutional actions undertaken by

a separatist regime which exerts temporary control over

eastern districts of the Republic of Moldova.

The Assembly may remember the armed conflict

which was unleashed in 1992 by the separatist movement,

with external support, in the east of Moldova. Although

this conflict ended, its consequences still persist. We

cannot but note the gross violations of the fundamental

human rights of the Moldovan population in this area.

Mention should also be made of the group of political

detainees, known as the “Ilascu group”, which was

illegally convicted and jailed by the anti-constitutional

authorities of the Transdniester three years ago, and is

still in prison.

Nor can we omit mention of the obstinate refusal of

the separatist leaders to allow the Moldovan parents and

children to use the Latin alphabet in the study of their

mother tongue. That is why the representatives of the

competent international organizations in the field of

human rights have noted a series of abuses and violations

of the rights of the Moldovan population living in the

eastern districts of the Republic.

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Although the situation of the Transdniester is no

longer in the forefront of international public opinion, it

should be noted that no acceptable solution has been

identified so far. Despite the reasonable compromises

proposed by the constitutional authorities, separatist

tendencies still persist. I should like to stress that the

political leaders of my country have repeatedly

demonstrated their willingness to solve this conflict

exclusively by peaceful means by negotiation, in conformity

with international law and in cooperation with international

organizations, primarily with the Organization for Security

and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as with Russia

and Ukraine in their capacity of mediators. In a spirit of

compromise, my Government also firmly believes in the

principle that any proposal or initiative to settle the conflict

must provide for the maintenance of the territorial integrity

of the Republic of Moldova and for its sovereignty over the

whole country. It was this spirit that led this year to the

solution of the conflict situation in the southern region of

Moldova, which is populated by over 100,000 Gagauz who

obtained, under the Constitution, the status of administrative

territorial autonomy.

As for the latest developments in the negotiations with

Tiraspol, I should mention that a certain amount of progress

has already been made, particularly in the matter of the re-

establishment of economic links between Transdniester and

the rest of the country.

At the same time, we believe that a political settlement

of the conflict in this area could be achieved through the

orderly and unconditional withdrawal of military troops of

the Russian Federation from the territory of our country, in

conformity with the Moldovan-Russian agreement and the

resolutions of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

In this regard, we are still concerned that, although the

Moldovan-Russian agreement was signed last year by the

Heads of Government of the Republic of Moldova and the

Russian Federation, in the presence of Presidents Mircea

Snegur and Boris Yeltsin, it has not yet been brought into

force by the Russian side. I take this opportunity to voice

our sincere hope that the competent authorities of the

Russian Federation will speed up the procedure for the

ratification of this document, in accordance with their

obligations. I must emphasize that any possible failure to

implement this important agreement might incur the risk of

destabilizing the situation in the eastern districts of

Moldova, as well as the real danger that a part of the

armaments of the Fourteenth Army will be seized by the

separatist forces of the Transdniester.

We hope that the competent authorities of the

Russian Federation will as soon as possible set up

effective machinery for the withdrawal of Russian troops

and armaments from Moldova, in accordance with the

bilateral agreement I have mentioned and the decisions

adopted by the OSCE Budapest Summit.

The jubilee year of the United Nations is not only an

anniversary but also an occasion for a lucid assessment of

the achievements and failures of the first 50 years of the

Organization’s existence. In this respect, I want to

emphasize that the United Nations has made an important

contribution in the search for and identification of

solutions to the numerous urgent problems at the global,

regional and national levels. Even if it has not managed

to prevent or eliminate regional or local conflicts, the

Organization has played an essential role in preventing

the outbreak of a world conflagration.

The evolution of international relations over the past

years has provided favourable conditions for redefining

the role of the United Nations and for adapting it better

to the new realities of international life in the context of

the next millennium. If this is to be achieved, there will

have to be a new vision, as well as a redefinition of

concrete machinery for achieving the fundamental

objectives of the Organization, as inscribed in the Charter.

Along the same lines, I should say that recent years

have been marked by the appearance of new concepts,

which could serve as a basis for the diversification of

machinery for action in various fields of United Nations

activity.

With regard to the maintenance of international

peace and security, there have been unprecedented

qualitative and quantitative changes. As is well known,

the peace-keeping operations currently being undertaken

on four continents, and their mandates, continue to

diversify — electoral and humanitarian activities, support

for institutional reconstruction, monitoring of the

observance of human rights, and so on. At the same time,

new methods of dealing with crises have been

proposed — for example, stand-by arrangements and

rapid-reaction forces. In this context, we expect that there

will be a considerable increase in the operational capacity

of the United Nations in the field of the maintenance of

peace, provided that Member States support the adoption

of these new proposals.

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We support unreservedly the importance the Secretary-

General, in his report “An Agenda for Peace”, attaches to

conflict-prevention machinery.

All these initiatives confirm the preoccupation of the

United Nations with regard to the adoption of a coherent

approach to problems of peace and security. At the same

time, noticeable attention is being paid to the study of

development topics. The particular interest of Member

States in the Agenda for Development confirms the

topicality of these problems and the need to revitalize the

world Organization in this area.

In this context, I should like to make the point that, in

view of the interdependence between peace and security, on

the one hand, and social and economic development, on the

other, it would be worthwhile for the United Nations to

create an integrated system for implementation of the

strategies and polices agreed upon by States. All United

Nations activities, including peace-keeping and social and

economic development programmes, should be

complementary. At the same time, the decisions of high-

level international conferences should find concrete

expression in the actions of States and of United Nations

agencies.

In our opinion, in the attainment of these aims it is

necessary to avoid excessive politization of certain specific

aspects of each field and, at the same time, find the areas

that are of interest to all Member States. The United

Nations system must, through its expertise and global

vision, ensure a climate of cooperation and mutual

confidence, without which there will be no solutions to the

problems of peace and development.

The Republic of Moldova, which is deeply committed

to the purposes and principles of the United Nations

Charter, is prepared to make its contribution and to support

the Organization’s efforts to adapt better to the fast and

profound changes in the modern world. We are fully aware

of the major role of the United Nations in consolidating the

positive trends of recent years in the international arena and

of the need to increase the effectiveness of its activities. We

therefore welcome the proposals aimed at enhancing that effectiveness.

Naturally, we ourselves are well aware that the

Organization cannot attain these objectives unless the

Member States put the necessary resources at its disposal.

That is why we pay special attention to this question and

try to do our utmost to fulfil our obligations. We consider

it necessary that the responsible United Nations structures

adopt adequate measures to avoid waste, to ensure better

use of the resources entrusted to it.

In this context, I want to refer to the problem of

contributions. I am obliged to point out that for four years

our country has carried the burden of a quota inequitably

calculated and set at too high a level in relation to its real

capacity to pay. The artificiality of this calculation is also

proved by the paradox that certain countries at a similar

level of development and with populations and territories

twice or three times larger than ours make contributions

smaller than or equal to that of the Republic of Moldova.

I imagine that some other recently independent States are

experiencing the same situation. This, together with the

costs of transition, could explain our current arrears. We

believe that this matter needs to be taken into account at

meetings of working groups of the General Assembly

when they examine the possibility of introducing penalties

against the countries that are in arrears.

In our view, the process of diversifying the relations

and the collaboration between States has enhanced the

development of regional and subregional cooperation. As

a matter of fact, the Charter itself puts particular emphasis

on the regional organizations. Documents laying the bases

for collaboration between the United Nations and regional

organizations in various fields have been drawn up and

adopted in recent years.

Several General Assembly resolutions relating to

cooperation between the United Nations, on the one hand,

and the OSCE, the League of Arab States and the

Organization of the Islamic Conference, on the other, are

relevant in this regard. At present such cooperation is

becoming increasingly diversified, covering new areas.

Some regional organizations have acquired new

competencies, including in the field of peace and security,

and have thereby become partners of the United Nations

in the settlement of some local conflicts. We hope that in

the near future recently created regional organizations and

groupings will be able to set up a cooperation framework

with the United Nations, similar to the one already

existing with other regional organizations. The Republic

of Moldova thinks this trend should be encouraged.

At the same time, we consider that any decision of

the United Nations to transfer various activities within its

sphere of competence to other international organizations,

especially in the maintenance of international peace and

security, implies major consequences for the security,

integrity and independence of States in the respective

regions. That is why the United Nations should continue

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to exercise its competence under Articles 34 and 35 of the

Charter, according to which the Security Council and the

General Assembly are the main organs for dealing with and

settling conflicts having regional implications.

In conclusion, I should like to express the hope that

the proceedings of the fiftieth anniversary session of the

General Assembly of the United Nations will be carried

out in an atmosphere of solidarity, of a realistic and

constructive approach to the complex issues confronting

the world at the end of this century. The delegation of the

Republic of Moldova is prepared to contribute, alongside

other Member States, to the fulfilment of the lofty goals

of the United Nations.

The meeting rose at 12.25 p.m.

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