Mongolia, 1997

It gives me

pleasure to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Udovenko,

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on his unanimous

election to the presidency of the current session of the

General Assembly and to wish him success in the discharge

of his important responsibilities and duties. May I also

thank Mr. Razali, Permanent Representative of Malaysia,

the outgoing President, for his able stewardship and for the

initiatives he undertook during the past session.

The disintegration of the bipolar world structure and

the end of the cold war are creating favourable conditions

for realizing the goals and principles enshrined in the

United Nations Charter. Globalization — vigorous

economic integration and interdependence — is becoming

a prevailing tendency throughout the world. The

fundamental changes that international relations are

undergoing, as well as the new challenges and global

agendas, demand from the United Nations, its specialized

agencies and the Member States new visions and collective

efforts and actions commensurate to these realities. I wish

to underline that the overwhelming majority of the

international community recognizes these changes, is

adjusting accordingly and is contributing to this process. It

is hardly possible to visualize our common future if we do

not jointly solve the socio-economic problems and the

questions posed by underdevelopment, unemployment,

hunger, poverty, disease, crime natural disasters.

Mongolia stands for making the United Nations an

effective and efficient organization able to meet the

challenges of the new millennium — a political, economic

and legal instrument capable of safeguarding the interests

of all nations, especially the small ones, on the basis of

equality and justice.

United Nations reform has been a subject of

substantive debate in recent years. It is therefore natural

that the reform agenda, in particular the Secretary-

General’s report on a programme for reform, is at the

centre of attention at this session. Mongolia duly

commends the constructive efforts of the Secretary-

General to reform the United Nations and overcome its

present financial crisis. It thus welcomes the reform

programme he submitted to the General Assembly. We

believe that thorough consideration should be given to the

specific proposals, such as a reasonable reduction of the

staff of the Secretariat, allocation of the resulting savings

to acceleration of development, establishment of the post

of Deputy Secretary-General and creation of a United

Nations Development Group so as to improve

coordination and management. It is clear that United

Nations reform is not an event, but rather a process. We

share the view that it is a continuous process, the end

result of which should be measured by the increase in the

efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations.

Mongolia supports the view that the expansion of the

Security Council’s permanent and non-permanent

membership should provide equal regional representation

and that the Council’s activities should be democratized

and made more transparent. Despite the enlargement of

the Council membership, the overwhelming majority of

Member States will still not be directly represented.

Therefore, Mongolia’s proposal to institutionalize the

fuller participation of Member States in the Council

proceedings, including its formal meetings, is finding

increasing support within the Organization.

Mongolia appreciates and supports the Secretary-

General’s efforts to give priority to socio-economic

questions, to invigorate United Nations development

activities and enhance international cooperation for

development. To this end it is vital that the United

Nations and its specialized agencies and international

trade and financial institutions intensify their activities in

this area and better coordinate their interactions.

Today it is universally accepted that sustainable

development could be attained if it were approached in a

comprehensive manner, and that sustained economic

growth is closely linked with social development and

environmental protection. It is gratifying to note that the

Agenda for Development, adopted this year, has been

drawn up precisely in this spirit. We consider it an

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important document that defines the strategy of international

cooperation for development, and we believe that

implementation of its provisions is vitally important.

The special session of the General Assembly held last

June reviewed and assessed the implementation of the Rio

summit decisions and outlined future actions. Since Agenda

21, adopted five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, has not been

fully realized, the international community should accord

greater attention to its complete implementation.

Mongolia believes that implementing the important

decisions and recommendations of the summit conferences

held under United Nations auspices in the early 1990s is

crucial for consolidating the positive trends in world social

development and redoubling international cooperation for

poverty alleviation, human rights protection, food security,

the environment, advancement of women, protection of the

rights of the child and sustainable human settlement.

While fostering international cooperation for

development, it is important to accord high priority to

addressing the problems of the most disadvantaged

developing countries that have unfavourable locations,

severe climate and underdeveloped infrastructure.

Landlocked developing countries, handicapped by their

geographical location and remoteness from world markets,

face tremendous obstacles and hardships in their efforts for

development and advancement. Reality shows that these

countries risk becoming marginalized from the ongoing

globalization process in the world economy and

international trade. Therefore, it is imperative for the

international community to increase its support of and

cooperation with these countries, as envisaged in the

Agenda for Development.

It is gratifying to note that landlocked developing

countries are taking concrete steps to develop transit

transport cooperation with their transit neighbours. My

Government believes that the first-ever North-east Asia

Subregional Consultative Meeting on Transit

Transportation, held in Ulan Bator this year, has laid the

groundwork for the development of such regional

cooperation.

The notion of and criteria for defining international

peace and security are undergoing changes. With the

improvement of the international political climate, the

dangers posed by nuclear war and the arms race are

receding, while prospects for taking concrete steps on

practical disarmament are improving. The very concept of

security based primarily on the size of armed forces and

military alliances or associations has also been changing.

It now includes the level of development and progress,

wealth and the well-being of peoples, as well as the

extent to which human rights and fundamental freedoms

are insured. All this must find due reflection in United

Nations activities.

I am pleased to inform the General Assembly that

last July Mongolia ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-

Test-Ban Treaty. Given the paramount significance of the

Treaty, Mongolia believes that there is an urgent need to

have it enter into force as soon as possible, to implement

its provisions strictly and to make operational its

international verification system.

The international community must take specific

measures designed to act on the advisory opinion of the

International Court of Justice on the obligation to pursue

and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear

disarmament under strict and effective international

control.

The Government of Mongolia is pleased with the

entry into force of the Convention on the Prohibition of

the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of

Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. Its

ratification by the United States of America and a pledge

by the Russian Federation — these being the two major

Powers possessing substantial arsenals of these weapons

of mass destruction — to ratify that Convention are

important prerequisites for subsequent successful

enforcement.

In the past few years the trend to establish nuclear-

weapon-free zones has been gaining momentum.

Mongolia is pursuing a policy of maintaining the size of

its armed forces and its defence expenditures at the lowest

possible level and of ensuring its independence and

national security primarily by political and diplomatic

means. In 1992 Mongolia declared its territory a nuclear-

weapon-free zone, and it is now seeking to institutionalize

this status internationally. Within this framework, we

presented to the last session of the United Nations

Disarmament Commission a working paper on the basic

principles and elements of the concept of the single-State

nuclear-weapon-free zone. I take this opportunity to

express our firm support for the proposal to establish

nuclear-weapon-free zones in other regions, particularly

in Central Asia, and our readiness to work actively for

realizing this.

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It is regrettable that sources of tension and conflict

persist in some regions of the world. International peace

and security would be strengthened if the parties concerned

were to display political will and utmost restraint in

resolving their differences by negotiation and other peaceful

means.

Bearing in mind the importance of strengthening the

rule of law in international relations, the international

community declared the United Nations Decade of

International Law and has taken a series of related

measures. It is gratifying to note that on the initiative of

Mongolia, the current session is to consider the question of

drafting guiding principles for international negotiations.

Mongolia believes that the adoption of a document defining

guiding principles for international negotiations would not

only meet the purposes and principles of the Decade but

would also promote the definition of international criteria

for conducting international negotiations on the basis of

justice and the sovereign equality of States, irrespective of

their actual power.

Mongolia continues to support the convening in 1998

of a diplomatic conference on the establishment of the

international criminal court. We believe that the jurisdiction

of the court should cover, inter alia, crimes of aggression

and grave environmental crimes.

The Government of Mongolia is consistently pursuing

a policy of democratization, embracing a market economy

and opening up to the world. In the last year the new

Government has undertaken a series of very important

measures to accelerate political and economic reforms,

stabilize the country’s economy and ensure economic

growth. To cite an example, we have introduced a zero

per cent import tariff and accelerated the pace of

privatization. These are important steps to attract foreign

direct investment and expand trade with our major partners

and the world at large.

Full membership in the World Trade Organization

(WTO) early this year greatly contributed to the forward-

looking development of Mongolia. We seek to cooperate

constructively with WTO as the main multilateral trade-

rule-setting mechanism.

As part of our policy of actively joining global and

regional economic integration, Mongolia is striving to

pursue a policy aimed at strengthening peace and security

and developing cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. We are

focusing our attention on North-East Asia in particular and

are committed to increasing our cooperation with the

countries of the region, both on a bilateral and a

multilateral basis.

I should like to express our hope that Mongolia’s

interaction with the United Nations, its agencies and other

international organizations and our bilateral cooperation

with Member States will continue to play a valuable part

in overcoming underdevelopment, in dealing with the

hardships inherent in our transitional period and in

meeting pressing socio-economic challenges. In this

connection, I wish to express the gratitude of my

Government to the donor countries, the United Nations

and other international institutions for the support and

assistance they have given my country.

Mongolia has always viewed the United Nations as

an important instrument for safeguarding international

peace and security and for promoting social and economic

development, and has always supported it. We remain

committed to strengthening the United Nations and

enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness collectively

with all Member States.