Monaco, 2003

Let

me first congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the fifty-eighth session of the General

Assembly. Your election is welcome testimony of the

equal sovereignty of States, a principle to which the

delegation of the Principality of Monaco attaches

particular importance. I assure you and the members of

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the Bureau of our support for your high mission at the

service of the international community.

I also wish to congratulate the Secretary-General:

all are aware of his tireless efforts to promote with

courage and lucidity the ideals our Organization

embodies as it faces the challenges of our time. The

tragic circumstances surrounding the heinous attack

perpetrated in Baghdad last month call for us to pay

special tribute to all United Nations personnel and

salute with respect and sorrow the memory of those,

including Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello and his

companions, who by sacrificing their lives, have

demonstrated the strength and grandeur of commitment

to the values that only our Organization can

legitimately embody.

When it joined the United Nations ten years ago,

the Principality of Monaco pledged to fully abide by

the obligations incumbent on all Member States and to

participate, according to our means, in the promotion

of the values that bring us together. We are all the more

attached to that commitment because it is particularly

important for small States such as Monaco that all are

bound by the same rules in their international conduct

and that all enjoy equal dignity and the equal right to

respect.

Of course, there is a considerable and at times

glaring divergence between the ambitions we collectively

espouse and the actual situations we observe around us,

which unfortunately afflict so many among us.

Assuredly, it would be pointless to ignore the profound

differences that may exist between States in terms of

both their characteristics and their influence in

international affairs. But it is essential that we have a

place, a forum in which we are all compelled to judge our

actions and conduct by the principles that are supposed to

guide our actions and in which we are compelled to

examine our conscience — in short, a place where we, as

members of the international community, are held

accountable to the collective demands of that community.

That is why it is so important that we strive to

make the Organization more effective so that respect

for our principles and purposes prevails over the

seeming ease of self-justification and so that a

collective approach based on dialogue prevails over

unilateral action. As a question of principle and as a

result of reasoning, the Principality of Monaco

therefore supports all initiatives aimed at strengthening

our collective mechanisms, in particular those

undertaken by the Secretary-General pursuant to the

Millennium Declaration as presented at the opening of

the present session.

Accordingly, the Principality of Monaco attaches

particular importance to the effective implementation

of the General Assembly resolution on the follow-up to

outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and

summits in the economic and social fields. Indeed,

what purpose would be served by these enormous

gatherings in which all participants vie to demonstrate

their magnanimity and generosity if the resulting

commitments are not followed up on or lack the means

to monitor their implementation? The authority of the

United Nations and the confidence placed in it would

be diminished, even as the Organization has

considerably expanded the range of its activities in

order to effectively tackle the problems of our time,

acting from the global perspective of its own ongoing

responsibility to ensure peace, security and

development. Would civil society, which today is

present in all the debates that involve it, not feel

frustrated and seek to take the lead on its own terms,

creating an environment of confrontation?

While participating in the many activities pursued

within the Organization, a small country such as the

Principality of Monaco must reasonably assess the size

of the contribution it is able to make to the action of

the international community. Thus, we have focused

our efforts in the areas of sustainable development and

humanitarian action because we feel that our acquired

experience enables us, despite our human and material

limitations, to make a useful contribution since we can

count on very dynamic Monegasque non-governmental

organizations, which benefit from particularly generous

local support. I am happy to convey our appreciation to

those organizations.

Monaco’s priority areas are education, health, the

protection of children, development assistance and

environmental protection. Its activities have resulted in

numerous achievements in the field, particularly in

Africa, where our aid has doubled following the

adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development. Monaco has also achieved much in the

Mediterranean region. All Monaco’s initiatives are

complemented by our active participation in the forums

where those various situations are addressed.

The Principality of Monaco focuses on concrete

projects such as schools, occupational training centres,

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healthcare centres, investments in local communities to

promote economic activity in village communities

through micro-credit programmes. All those projects

are aimed at directly improving the living conditions of

their beneficiaries.

In the area of the environment, in which the

Principality has long distinguished itself, especially in

the protection of the marine environment since one of

Monaco’s sovereigns, Prince Albert I, helped found the

study of oceanography in the late nineteenth century.

Our experience has led to us being chosen to

participate in the next Governing Council of the United

Nations Environment Programme. The Principality of

Monaco has also been the source of many initiatives

related both to protecting its immediate environment,

the Mediterranean Sea, and to monitoring pollution and

preserving biodiversity elsewhere, with a long-term

perspective of support for sustainable development.

Resolutely committed to participating in the

efforts of the international community to rise to the

most recent challenges with which it has been

confronted, Monaco has ratified the twelve main

international instruments relating to terrorism, putting

into place appropriate administrative structures.

Furthermore, it is the first State to ratify the United

Nations Convention against Transnational Organized

Crime, which will enter into force in the next few days,

on 29 September. It is also preparing to host, next

month, the Fifth International Summit on Transnational

Crime, organized by the United Nations and the

Council of Europe, which will bring together

representatives of Governments and the private sector.

In the same spirit, the Principality works with all the

relevant institutions to fight drugs and human

trafficking and the illegal financial flows they engender

or sustain.

Need I also reaffirm the obvious commitment to

peace and security of a country as sensitive to its

environment as Monaco, even if, having no armed

forces, it is unable to participate in collective actions

under the flag of the United Nations? It is in the

humanitarian field that Monaco consistently makes its

contribution by assisting civilian populations, victims

of combat and the upheavals and atrocities that too

often today characterize armed conflicts, as can be seen

particularly in Africa. In a symbolic solidarity, the

Principality celebrates the International Day of Peace

on 21 September and associates itself with the Olympic

Truce, given Monaco’s involvement in the Olympic

movement as symbolized in the long-standing

participation of Crown Prince Albert in the International

Olympic Committee. We thus welcome the inclusion of a

new item on the agenda of this session, entitled

“International Year of Sport and Physical Education”,

whose goal is to highlight what has always been our

motivation, the outstanding role of sport in developing

relations between peoples by promoting mutual

understanding and intercultural dialogue, factors that

contribute to both peace and development.

As I conclude this statement, I hope I have

succeeded in communicating the profound attachment of

the Principality of Monaco to the world Organization that

it joined 10 years ago at His Serene Highness Prince

Rainier III’s initiative. He was convinced that his

country would thereby gain a most effective

international profile, protection in an uncertain world

and an opportunity to usefully demonstrate its

solidarity. Since Monaco is naturally open to the

outside world, it has easily found its place among you.

Our Principality is grateful for what the United

Nations has given it and is striving in return and to the

extent of its capacity to help the Organization achieve

its objectives with the conviction that what the

international community needs are reliable Member

States. And reliability is not a question of size but of

will. It is this will that inspires and guides us.