Paraguay, 1993

This is the first occasion on which I have had the honour to

appear before this lofty international body to speak on behalf

of my country, Paraguay. I do so with the profound

satisfaction of representing a genuinely democratic

Government that has emerged from free elections, and as the

first civilian citizen who has held the presidency of the

Republic in 39 years.

I wish to congratulate you, President Insanally. Your

election, based on your solid professional knowledge and

your long political career, is a tribute to you personally and

to your country, Guyana, which you so worthily represent.

I am pleased to recall in this context that Paraguay, since it

entered the United Nations as a founding Member in 1945,

has always championed the right to the self-determination of

peoples and the independence of political communities

which, like Guyana, came to self-government in fulfilment

of the obligations imposed by the Charter of the United

Nations.

I welcome very warmly the new Members that have

just been admitted: the Czech Republic, the Republic of

Slovakia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

Eritrea, the Principality of Monaco, and Andorra. This

welcome is not simply a matter of protocol; it involves the

recognition of their respective Governments that I am

expressing on behalf of the Paraguayan Government.

A little more than a month ago I inaugurated my

Government with the firm resolve to strengthen our foreign

relations with all the members of the international

community, within the natural limitations set by domestic

financial circumstances and contingencies. I would now

venture to offer some thoughts for the consideration of the

General Assembly.

The new world order broke suddenly upon the world.

The bipolar structure of power has now ceased to exist, and

the change has taken place peacefully. Paraguay has

changed in the same way and with the same rhythm. Today

the Paraguayan people is the champion of its own destiny

and the will of the people prevails. We live in a condition

of respect for human rights, a market economy and State

reform. We have successfully and peacefully carried out

extraordinary reforms in the political, economic and social

fields without external assistance, relying solely on our

citizens’ faith and aspiration to live in peace, with justice

and freedom.

The Government of Paraguay respects freedom and

promotes justice; it is striving to widen the opportunities for

human development and well-being.

Economic activity, and in particular the market

economy, cannot exist in an institutional vacuum. On the

contrary, a security system must be established that ensures

the fiscal integrity of all persons, individual initiative and the

inviolability of private property, through a stable monetary

system and efficient public services.

The priority of the Paraguayan Government is to

guarantee this security, this stability and these services, so

that those who wish to work and produce can enjoy the

fruits of their labour and feel motivated to do their work

honestly and efficiently.

The Paraguayan people is now aware that it has

triumphed over its many vicissitudes. We have heard many

promises about the advent of the new man. We have

witnessed many tragedies and dashed hopes.

Today, we believe that the only path towards the great

triumphs of collective well-being is that of democracy and

freedom. The men and women of Paraguay wish to live in

their own way, respecting the law and prospering in

harmony and concord.

I would consider my activities of strengthening and

consolidating democracy incomplete if in future my

compatriots could not continue freely to form political

parties and to elect governments without coercion, if they

could not live in peace with their families and enjoy the

honest fruits of their work, if they could not live fruitful

lives and at the end of their days reflect proudly on their

successes and achievements.

But as we view the Paraguayan future, we must reflect

on a situation fraught with dramatic realities. We have

overcome a domestic political situation which for three

decades had been met with indifference, marginalization and,

ultimately, condemnation by the international community.

We endured that situation because of the labour the

ingenuity and the great sacrifice of the Paraguayan people.

Today we must consolidate our victory and institutionalize

democracy as the only possible choice.

We have run into two main obstacles to the attainment

of that objective: an increasing rate of population growth

and a lack of resources to finance our development with the

rapidity required by the rapid increase in our population and

the pressing need to raise the standard of living and the

well-being of all Paraguayans.

We believe that we must be able to count on the

cooperation of the industrialized countries in order to ensure

the continued primacy of the values we share with the

community of nations.

To accelerate our development we call for an extension

of the magnificent collaboration of the United Nations

system and its many institutions, such as the United Nations

Development Programme, which now has a new, dynamic

Administrator and in which the developing countries place

great hopes; the effective traditional programme of the

United Nations Children’s Fund, which champions the rights

of children and adolescents; and the United Nations Fund for

Population Activities, which plays a very important role in

regard to the crucial question of population.

We call also on the specialized agencies of the United

Nations system - each of which has in its field greatly

assisted in our countries’ development plans - to redouble

their efforts, increase their effectiveness by means of greater

creativity, and lower their expenditures by exercising greater

control.

This cooperation should go hand in hand with domestic

efforts to attract assistance on favourable terms and greater

flows of private foreign investment.

The financial institutions, especially the World Bank

and the Inter-American Development Bank, should speed up

their assistance by reducing their bureaucracies and should

provide the fullest possible support to developing countries’

projects and programmes. We recognize the great assistance

they have provided in the past, and we urge them to exceed

even their past achievements in order to ensure a better

future for all our countries. If the developing countries do

not receive such cooperation, the consequence will be, on the

one hand, a prosperous and democratic world with freedom

and an abundance of goods for all and, on the other, a world

corroded by ignorance, poverty and the enslavement of the

poor. It will be difficult for democracy to survive if poverty

persists.

Establishing economic progress with equity in Paraguay

means strengthening democracy. My greatest desire as Head

of State is to establish the democratic system once and for

all in my country.

In order to achieve that aim, my Government will act

very responsibly, ensuring that its administration does not

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 3

engage in irregularities, and it will be very strict in enforcing

the law. We wish to have the greatest possible transparency

in the whole of the governmental process, in both domestic

and international affairs.

We believe that the stability of democratic countries

lies, among other things, in the integrity of their civil

servants, in the independence of the judiciary, in individual

and collective security, and in the State’s efficiency in

promoting development. That is why my Government will

pursue and punish anyone who engages in corruption. In

that way we intend to eradicate corruption.

We have undertaken to fulfil these purposes in the

certainty that the international community will be prepared

to support us in so doing.

Nationalistic passions have flared up in many parts of

the world, challenging borders and jeopardizing international

coexistence. Age-old conflicts still seethe, as can be seen

from the terrible bloodshed, and havoc in former Yugoslavia.

The United Nations has set up more peace-keeping missions

in the last three years than it did in its first 45 years of

existence.

At the same time as we are witnessing these events

with distress and sorrow, we are rejoicing in the signing of

the statement of principles between the Government of Israel

and the Palestine Liberation Organization. This valuable

contribution to world peace is due to the courage and the

clear-sightedness of the leaders on both sides, who have

been able to overcome the burden of ancestral prejudice to

enter into a new harmonious relationship. We also applaud

the participation of countries as mediators in these

negotiations. They all deserve the world’s admiration.

My Government believes that, in compliance with the

San Francisco Charter, the Organization will accept as

Members all those States that fulfil the requirements set out

in the Charter.

We congratulate the United Nations on the tremendous

work that is being done in its peace missions. This

demonstrates not just that the Organization is alert to the

need to find a solution where any event may cause a breach

of the peace but also that, in doing so, it tries to realize the

hope of peace for suffering peoples, meeting their basic

needs and alleviating their difficulties.

The peace to which we aspire cannot come from sterile

immobility or from armed respite. It cannot be imposed. It

must be dynamic, sincere and generous and must be based

on the principles of solidarity between nations.

Let me refer to a contribution from my country,

reflected in our universal feeling of friendship. A few years

ago, in a small town called Pinasco, a doctor who was a

distinguished member of the community proposed that 30

July be designated as a day dedicated to friendship. This

idea spread throughout the Latin American continent and to

other regions of the world. For this reason I am pleased to

suggest that the United Nations adopt that date as the world

day of friendship.

Events are giving rise to a higher and higher level of

world and regional interdependence. With the Treaty on the

Integration of the Common Market in the Southern Cone,

known as MERCOSUR, we in the southern cone -

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - are seeking an

improvement in our economies.

The purpose of MERCOSUR is to harmonize

economies, to reach better and broader understandings with

other economic groups through the provision of mutual

facilities. We hope that the negotiations that have begun

with the European Economic Community, the future North

American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the AsiaPacific countries will bear fruit.

Paraguay gives its fullest support to the creation of this

Common Market of the South. We hope fervently that there

will be frank and full cooperation in all the negotiations

between the four countries involved. All our actions should

be really consistent with our aims. It is our sincere desire

that we may reach an understanding that is just and fair and

of benefit to everyone.

While dealing with economic affairs, I should like also

to express our desire and hope that full agreement will be

reached in the Uruguay Round negotiations. We hope that

the markets will open up increasingly. We wish to see trade

flowing more freely, without any tariff or other barriers and

without subsidies, which undermine the competitiveness of

our MERCOSUR products.

We fully support the principle of free trade. One

cannot hamper trade by protectionism while professing belief

in the principle of free trade.

I have just visited Bolivia, a sister country with which

we have signed joint agreements and I made an offer to its

Government that Paraguay would serve as a link for its entry

into MERCOSUR. I also requested that they themselves, in

their turn, shall serve as a link between MERCOSUR and

the Andean Pact. Through the system of MERCOSUR and

through the Andean Pact, we have established a fresh and,

4 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

we hope, promising arrangement. Today - 29 September -

we commemorate the battle of Boquerón, a symbol of the

valour of both peoples which we hope will be a landmark

for the future in our search for cooperation, understanding

and peace.

This new era represents a challenge in relations

between nations. In the process of the globalization of

economies, countries must avoid selfishness. They must

share their prosperity and technological advances in order to

ensure effective progress for all mankind. The European

Community, the NAFTA countries and the Asia-Pacific

countries should be a dynamic force in economic relations,

and should not set new limitations on world trade.

International coexistence requires that we seek to

establish mutually supportive understandings and agreements

that will strengthen the collective economy and, thus, every

country’s individual economy.

North America provides a very promising example of

this. Mexico, Canada and the United States are proposing

a zone of free trade between countries that have different

cultures, histories, languages and lifestyles. In spite of these

differences they have taken a praiseworthy decision to make

their economies complementary.

NAFTA represents an undertaking to ensure shared

prosperity through collective arrangements. As we enter a

new century, these three countries realize that economic

prosperity depends, as never before, on the opening of new

markets across the world and increasing the volume of world

trade. We hope that when this arrangement is established it

will be of great benefit to the whole of Latin America and

the Caribbean.

Economic development should not run counter to the

preservation and protection of the environment. Both

concepts are valid for everyone, irrespective of differences

in countries’ levels of economic development.

Environmental degradation will continue if we keep on

applying such ambiguous criteria as "environmental

conditionality". The great meeting on the environment held

at Rio in 1992, after very lengthy deliberations, points us in

the direction of "sustainable development" - development

that can be made compatible with protection of the

environment.

We need to fulfil the agreement that was reached at

Rio. We must not go back on the commitments undertaken

there. Neither should there be double standards - different

standards for industrialized and for developing countries.

The latter need the cooperation that was promised at that

memorable international meeting.

With regard to social problems on a world scale, drug

trafficking threatens the economic and political stability of

some countries. In this area too the United Nations should

take the lead in order to combat the scourge of drugs, with

all its disastrous consequences for young people and the

money laundering and terrorism that are its ramifications.

Paraguay is totally committed to the battle against drug

trafficking, the money laundering resulting from it and all

the other crimes that are associated with drugs. This

struggle requires total international cooperation if drug

trafficking is to be eliminated. It has to be recognized that

responsibility for this undertaking must be shared by

producers, consumers and also intermediaries.

The United Nations is preparing for a conference in

1995, which will be a special landmark in the whole of

international coexistence. I refer to the World Summit for

Social Development that will be held in Copenhagen. The

Government of Paraguay applauds this initiative and offers

its fullest cooperation at the preparation stage and in the

studies. We are also willing to take an active part in the

event itself.

Initiatives of this kind and the 1994 Cairo Conference

on Population and Development deserve our fullest support.

Although, as I have said, the issues to which I referred

earlier are of great significance to my country, I wish to

make the point that the raising of educational standards in

my country is my obsession. For this reason, we are trying

to improve human resources so that we may make use of the

new technology which we sorely lack.

Education is not simply a commitment on the part of

the State; it is a challenge shared by all the productive

sectors of the country. Technology may provide fresh

economic opportunities resulting in new sources of labour.

That is why Paraguay believes that the Bolívar

Programme is a good precedent for what can be done

between countries determined to face the future by sharing

technologies, innovations and industrial competitiveness.

We also hope that the industrialized countries, or those

that have achieved a high technological level, will show the

necessary will to promote the presence of their companies in

our countries, so that their capital and new technology can

accelerate progress in our developing countries.

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 5

We shall always stress the need for a more balanced

treatment of the social and economic issues on the

international agenda. Attention must not be given to socalled new global issues at the expense of the problems of

development, the struggle against poverty, the defeat of

ignorance, and the promotion of international cooperation.

After 48 years, men and institutions are able to concede

their mistakes and can strengthen their convictions in order

better to achieve their purposes. The United Nations has

demonstrated such abilities by renewing and adapting itself

to the demands of our changing world. Paraguay is in

favour of this and supports the necessary reforms to adapt

the Charter to the challenges of a new age. In this way will

the United Nations be able to live up to the high ideals and

hopes with which it was created.

To that purpose, it is vital that it redistribute functions

and responsibilities among its bodies, increase coordination

and streamline its processes. The United Nations should be

the forum for the genuine expression of the aspirations of all

Member States and the primary instrument for genuine and

peaceful understanding among all peoples of the world.

We must confront and settle the financial crisis which

weighs so heavily on our Organization. It is not logical to

assign it tasks without providing adequate means to carry

them out. Let us avoid being moved by political motives to

transform that inadequacy into administrative negligence and

financial paralysis. Let us do the opposite - let our

Organization be the great forum of the international scene.

Let it be renewed, better, more effective and more equitable.

With timely intervention, the United Nations has

brought lengthy conflicts to an end and achieved their

settlement. This praiseworthy work must be recognized and

if, in some cases, the success has not been great, that has

been due to struggles between different power centres. But

today we are all equally ready to work to achieve more

effective disarmament and to establish new international

standards for the use of nuclear energy to benefit mankind

and not to destroy it. We have made considerable progress

but there remains a long way to go before we have full and

complete security in this area. Paraguay will support a

disarmament policy as a commitment to the international

community.

We continue to believe and have always maintained that

the United Nations should assume leadership, with the

support of all Member States, in carrying out the necessary

changes to establish the rule of peace and the human

development to which we all aspire.

My country wishes to underscore the outstanding work

of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and to

express its appreciation for his activities aimed at making the

United Nations and its entire system more efficient.

Paraguay has faith in these positive solutions. We

pledge to uphold the legal principles of international

coexistence and appeal to the loftiest sentiments and the

highest sense of responsibility of all leaders of the world.

My country believes that this can be achieved and urges that

it be made a reality.

No more fratricidal wars. Let us all unite in the war

against underdevelopment, against unemployment, and

against ignorance, which is the worst of all slaveries.

Reiterating our commitment to full support for the

United Nations, we also reaffirm our resolute cooperation

with the international community and express our deepest

desire for peace, prosperity and development for all the

peoples of the world.

I should like to conclude with a message in my native

language, Guaraní:

"Ja johayjhú, ñaño pytyvó, icatú haguaicha ñasé

ténondé oñondivepá. Aguiyéveté."

This means: "Let us love one another, brothers. Let us help

each other to move forward together".