Nicaragua, 2003

I

would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as

President of the fifty-eighth session of the General

Assembly. I would also like to take this opportunity to

acknowledge the fine work done by your predecessor,

Mr. Jan Kavan.

All of us were shocked by the terrorist attacks on

United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. In last

month’s attack the precious lives of several innocent

United Nations staff members were lost, including that

of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the High Commissioner for

Human Rights. The world must not be intimidated by

terrorism. The role of the United Nations as a guarantor

of collective security is irreplaceable. Global security

is the responsibility of all nations, just as we are all

equally bound by international law.

Nicaragua has come to the General Assembly to

make suggestions with regard to the building of a new

world order and to cooperate actively within the

multilateral system to combat, among other scourges,

terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, the illegal

trafficking in arms and persons, and transnational

crime, all of which are harmful to strengthening

democracy and the progress of the world.

That is why we have begun a new era in Central

America, in which the region will be more united than

ever before and serve as a model for democratic

security that includes an innovative strategy to

overcome both traditional challenges and modern

threats.

At the meeting of Central American Presidents

that took place in Guatemala on 17 July 2003, I made a

proposal for a programme for arms limitation and

control in Central America to achieve a reasonable

balance of forces and to foster stability, mutual trust

and transparency. The idea behind my Government’s

proposal is to establish the necessary controls to

achieve a reasonable balance in defence forces; to put

in place modern policies for regional defence and

public security while strengthening mechanisms for the

peaceful settlement of disputes. The Central American

Presidents meeting in Belize at the beginning of this

month enthusiastically approved that plan. I am also

pleased to inform the General Assembly that technical

teams have already begun to work to implement the

plan.

In the current situation, the subject of

international trafficking in small arms and light

weapons is equally worthy of our attention. Nicaragua

will soon be the site of a major project to achieve

progress in that area.

Drug trafficking is global threat that constitutes

an assault on democracy and its institutions and

imperils comprehensive human development. Due to

our privileged geographical position, international

organized crime is continuing to attempt to make

inroads into our region in order to make it a gateway

between producers and consumers of illicit substances.

We have cut off its advance in Nicaragua, a country

that enjoys high levels of domestic security. However,

it is essential that we strengthen the cooperation of all

international actors on the basis of shared

responsibility to prevent the expansion of organized

crime and increased drug use.

My country’s commitment to democratic security

is consistent with the struggle for peace and the

establishment of a just international order. A country

that has experienced war, like Nicaragua, is in a better

position to make a more effective contribution to

preventing war than countries that have not. We

Nicaraguans have suffered the horrors and the

aftermath of war. It is for that reason that Nicaragua

has the ability to make a contribution to the

maintenance of international peace and security.

It is also for that reason that I have come to

General Assembly, namely, to convey to the Assembly

the resolute desire and just aspirations of my

Government and people to be elected as a non-

permanent member of the Security Council for the

2006-2007 term. Our candidacy has garnered

increasingly strong support, which we hope to

strengthen decisively in the coming months.

The fight against corruption is an unrelenting

undertaking for my Government. We have achieved

major successes and are proud to know we have set an

example that is already being emulated by some of our

sisterly countries. I wish to express my gratitude for

the support of the international community, which

understood our desire to bring morality to public

administration. Corruption is the cause of many evils,

and it takes a huge toll on the economy, in addition to

undermining public and private institutions.

Nicaragua greatly appreciates efforts to develop a

United Nations convention against corruption. In that

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regard, we also welcome the progress made during the

sixth round of meetings in Vienna, which will provide

a solid foundation for the establishment of international

legal norms to help combat that scourge, thereby

strengthening political stability in our countries.

However, the fight against corruption in my country

also requires a strengthening of the judicial and

electoral systems.

Resistance to change makes it difficult to make

progress in those areas at the pace and scope required

to meet my country’s needs. I therefore recently

presented to Nicaragua’s political, economic and social

actors my proposal for a national development plan, in

order to obtain the input of all segments of Nicaraguan

society. That plan also specifies the actions to be taken

by every State entity in evaluating and modifying the

plan to achieve the country’s comprehensive

development.

Nicaragua needs foreign assistance. That

assistance should be coordinated in a manner that takes

into account national plans and strategies pertaining to

how assistance is utilized. The quality, effectiveness

and impact of such cooperation should be improved by

employing new ideas that lead to tangible results in the

area of sustainable development. Additional new

resources will also be necessary to fulfil the

Millennium Development Goals.

We appreciate the United Kingdom’s proposal for

an international financing facility as a way to increase

the flow of short-term resources by issuing negotiable

instruments backed by future assistance.

Cooperation in solidarity by the international

community has been particularly meaningful in the

area of mine clearance in my country, where substantial

progress has been made, thanks both to the fine work

of national and international institutions participating

in that humanitarian endeavour and the professionalism

of the our army’s sappers.

Nicaragua is also a thankful country. On several

occasions, we have received significant amounts of

humanitarian assistance from many countries. As a

token of our gratitude, we have made our small, but

full, contribution of humanitarian assistance to

neighbouring countries in need. We are now taking part

in the purely humanitarian mission involving mine

clearance and the provision of medical support for the

civilian population in Iraq.

However, international cooperation alone is not

enough to achieve economic development. We must

promote a more equitable international trade system

through the World Trade Organization. In other words,

what good is cooperation for productive development

when there are tariff and non-tariff restrictions on

trade? We want fair treatment. That is the issue, and we

hope the developed countries will support us in

bringing about a new trade relationship with

developing countries — such as Nicaragua. With fair

treatment and with markets for our products, we will

have a more competitive Central American market and

will attract greater investment in order to generate

more jobs at fair wages, reaping the benefits of the

region’s strategic geographic location.

The Central American integration process has

made much progress and has been one of the pillars of

my foreign policy. We have achieved our most notable

results in economic integration, and we have paved the

way for successful negotiation of free-trade treaties

with other countries and regions, such as the one we

are currently working out with the United States.

Nicaragua will insist on preferential treatment in our

negotiations because our economy is less developed,

very open and highly dependent on trade and external

financing. With greater development and wealth

generation, we will keep our citizens from migrating to

the North or to other countries.

Peace is still only a hope in some regions of the

world. Nicaragua advocates multilateral action to find

peaceful solutions in keeping with international law.

We are concerned at the escalation of the situation in

the Middle East and its consequences, which is why we

believe that the international community must

contribute, through the United Nations, to finding a

just and lasting peace in the region. My Government

supports an immediate resumption of the peace process

begun this year through the peace plan known as the

road map.

We confirm our commitment to strengthening the

universal vocation of the United Nations so that all

peoples of the world, without exception, can be fairly

represented in it. That is why I reaffirm before the

Assembly the importance of considering the desire of a

people with legitimate representation — the Republic

of China — to participate as a full-fledged member of

the United Nations.

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Nicaragua recognizes its responsibility in the

building of a new international order that is more

humane, more just and more secure. It has been our lot

to live through difficult times since that fateful day of

11 September. Let us be capable of building a different

world, so that future generations will not blame us for a

lack of consensus on humanity’s problems requiring

urgent action. Nicaragua is aware of that responsibility,

and therefore we pledge to work with other Member

States to defend multilateralism and to overcome

current security problems, remaining united in the

spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and in strict

adherence to and respect for international law.

May God bless the Assembly, may God bless the

United Nations, may God bless all peoples of the

world, and may God always bless Nicaragua.