Romania, 1997

At the outset, I would like to extend to Mr.

Udovenko our most sincere congratulations on his

election to the high office of President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-second session, as a representative

both of a neighbourly and friendly country and of a

region that has significantly increased its presence in the

United Nations family in recent years. At such a decisive

moment for the future of our Organization, he has a

mandate of high responsibility and I offer him our full

support.

It is a great honour for me to address, for the first

time, this prestigious forum, with its wide participation

and global vocation, in my capacity as the representative

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of a coalition Government that arose 10 months ago in a

democratic transition of power. From the outset, I would

assure the Assembly that the new Romanian Government,

in its strategy of consolidating the rule of law and a free-

market economy, means to cooperate with and rely on the

United Nations and its specialized agencies. We are

interested in making the Organization capable of reacting

more rapidly and efficiently to the current needs of Member

States and to the new global challenges at this twilight of

the millennium.

A few weeks ago, the Romanian Government, with

support from the United Nations Development Programme,

convened in Bucharest the third International Conference of

New or Restored Democracies. The Conference focused on

the link between democracy and human centred

development, both as a subject and as the target of political

action, a theme of great interest that is currently enjoying

top priority on the United Nations agenda.

In my capacity as Acting President of the Conference,

I have the honour to submit to the Assembly’s attention the

document containing its proceedings and results.

Government representatives from 77 States and, for the first

time, non-governmental actors of civil societies, along with

14 international organizations, examined in a constructive

and positive manner the current status and future issues of

the process of consolidating their democratic systems and

adopted by consensus a review and a set of

recommendations, distributed as an official document of the

General Assembly at this session.

These recommendations spell out the need for good

governance and for broad participation by civil society in

the democratic exercise, as well as for strengthening

democratic institutions in order to face the challenges

generated by globalization, corruption and organized crime.

At the same time, Romania believes that it is of the utmost

importance to ensure the continuity of the Bucharest

Conference’s efforts and its practical consequences. That is

why, in keeping with the recommendations advanced in

Bucharest, we suggest that a follow-up mechanism be

established for the consolidation process of new or restored

democracies.

We plan to continue consultations with the Secretary-

General and with interested States and international

organizations on these themes and on the proposal to

convene a summit of the new or restored democracies in

the year 2000.

I am confident that the results of the Bucharest

Conference will act as points of reference in the debates

of the current session. We shall work for the adoption by

the General Assembly of a resolution reaffirming the

support of the United Nations system for the efforts of

Governments to consolidate the new or restored

democracies.

In line with the collective commitment we made at

the United Nations fiftieth anniversary ceremonies, we are

among those who believe that the strengthening of the

Organization’s capacity to respond adequately to the new

needs and challenges of the twenty-first century is of

highest priority. It is in the interests of our Organization

to achieve, even at this session, realistic and balanced

results, of mutual interest and the widest possible benefit,

to enhance its credibility and viability. We welcome the

Secretary-General’s report on a programme for reform

and we assure him of our confidence and support in

achieving its objectives.

We associate ourselves with the European Union’s

position. Indeed, reform should be not a cost-cutting

exercise, but rather a matter of strengthening the

Organization’s role as an active and efficient world

forum. Our objective is to make the United Nations more

efficient, more transparent, more responsible and, last but

not least, more credible.

We also believe that the dividends obtained through

better financial and personnel management — the so-

called “dividends of reform” — should be reallocated to

development activities for the developing countries. It is

in this spirit that the delegation of Romania will take part

in the reform process and cooperate with all interested

delegations in identifying solutions enabling the General

Assembly to reach a general agreement on a coherent and

constructive response to the Secretary-General’s

proposals.

We have the opportunity today to live in a world

awakened from the cold-war nightmare that divided us

irreconcilably into friends and enemies, a world of

communications and interaction in which closed societies

cannot survive. Increasing globalization should help us to

know each other better and bring us closer together to

build common projects. We are even invited to rethink

our global society, the relations among us and the

direction of our political actions. A new political

philosophy, the philosophy of partnership, asserts itself in

the context of relations between States, whereby what a

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country gains is added to and not deducted from its

partner’s benefit.

This philosophy was promoted in the last half century

in European and Euro-Atlantic structures, with

acknowledged positive results in the field of stability and

cooperation on the continent. This is also why Central and

Eastern European countries are naturally keen to integrate

themselves into such structures.

That is also the philosophy Romania uses as a basis in

developing a solidarity and cooperation policy at the

subregional, regional and international levels aimed at

consolidating and activating stability in its geographic

region and throughout the world. We have tried fully to

normalize relations with our neighbours, and we have

proposed trilateral cooperation plans to our partners in the

region. At the same time, we launched the idea of reviving

the traditional commercial routes to Northern Europe and

Central Asia. The same concept of building a network of

communication and mutually beneficial cooperation is the

basis for the development of economic cooperation in the

Black Sea region and for our involvement in the Central

European Initiative, the Central European Free Trade

Agreement, the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative

and so forth.

The participation of Romania in the United Nations

peacekeeping Mission in Angola, in the stabilization efforts

of operation Alba in Albania and in Bosnia and

Herzegovina, under the auspices of the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO), are testimony to our political

willingness to act as a stabilization factor. At the same

time, I would like to point out that Romania is ready to

increase its contribution to the Stabilization Force (SFOR)

in Bosnia and to contribute to other similar actions, such as

the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force

(UNPREDEP) in the former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia and other forces that remain necessary in that

area.

All these efforts to establish an environment of

confidence and cooperation that generates peace and

security in Central and South-East Europe, as well as in

some hot spots of the world, reveal not only a new

approach, but also a new stage that Romania is passing

through on its way from totalitarianism to democracy. In

the current “post-transition” phase, the results achieved in

the democratic processes and economic reform, which have

been recognized by the international community and

financial institutions, qualify Romania legitimately to play

a clearer and more active role in defining and designing

common projects of security and progress in the region

and in the world, including within the United Nations and

its specialized agencies.

I would like to make a few remarks on some other

important items on the agenda.

From the experience we have gained in our region

and in neighbouring regions — Central and South-East

Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus — it can be

concluded that poverty, the absence or weakness of

institutions that are characteristic of the modern

democratic State and distrust are among the causes of

crises and conflict situations. Specific steps by the United

Nations system and the entire international community are

required to eradicate poverty. They should be aimed at

supporting the countries of the region that are confronted

with this phenomenon so that they can increase their

production through the adequate use of their own specific

resources and economic capabilities. Hampering such a

process can have only negative consequences in the field

of security and stability.

With regard to strengthening institutions that are part

of a State based on the rule of law, it is necessary to

create, alongside rapid-reaction forces for peacekeeping,

a so-called civilian rapid-reaction force to support the

establishment of institutions capable of maintaining State

order and coherence in an open and free society.

Building up confidence involves dialogue and

communication, as well as the elimination of any form of

isolation. The United Nations should be efficiently

involved in the dismantlement of terrorist infrastructures

all over the world. At the same time, it is necessary to

give up rhetoric and spectacular gestures in favour of

direct negotiations between the interested parties, in a

quiet and discreet atmosphere.

We would like to point out the importance Romania

attaches to dialogue conducive to solutions negotiated by

the parties directly involved, be it in the Middle East,

Cyprus or the former Yugoslavia. It is our firm belief,

particularly since our latest political contacts in the

Middle East and in Bucharest, that the resumption of

negotiations between the interested parties, based on the

principles agreed in the Madrid and Oslo accords, is the

only way to achieve an equitable and lasting peace in the

region.

We welcome and support the recent United States

initiative, as well as the efforts of other countries, to

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unblock the peace process. We also welcome the direct

negotiations, under the auspices of the United Nations,

between the two communities of Cyprus with a view to an

equitable and lasting solution to the Cyprus issue, and we

express our willingness to take part in the peacekeeping

operation in that country.

As main guarantor of peace and international security,

the United Nations should play an active role in crisis

prevention and management, using preventive diplomacy

and, when necessary, peacekeeping operations. Romania

will support such United Nations actions and intends to

diversify its contribution by including civilian components

in its contributions.

In the field of arms control and disarmament, we

consider that the United Nations can and should set an

example of change in concept and approach that go beyond

the vestiges of the bloc mentality and lead to arms control

and disarmament solutions capable of ensuring global

security, with the existence of several centres of economic

and cultural power. We attach special importance to nuclear

non-proliferation issues, including the negotiation of a

treaty to ban the production of fissionable materials for

military purposes, the implementation of the Chemical

Weapons Convention, the United Nations Register of

Conventional arms and the processes aimed at banning anti-

personnel landmines.

The debates on economic and social issues should

create the foundations for the necessary relaunching of the

North-South dialogue on development, as such issues have

been largely ignored in the context of the political

developments subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet bloc

and the end of the cold war or on matters linked to the

expansion of NATO and the European Union. Our debates

will have to take into account the recent trends in world

economy — such as high rates of growth, far exceeding

those of gross world product achieved by world trade;

transportation; and the volume of direct investment and

international financial transactions — and the necessity of

ensuring a wider access of goods produced in developing

countries to the developed countries’ markets and enhanced

cooperation on third markets. All these elements call for a

conceptual reconsideration of the development process that

gives due attention to the social component and ensures the

participation of the main actors: Governments, private

sectors, transnational corporations and civil society. In this

respect, we suggest that thought be given to the idea of

setting up a social solidarity fund to help disadvantaged

persons and support the integration of unemployed and

marginalized persons into productive activities.

The Romanian economy has reached macroeconomic

stability, by decreasing the inflation rate and the

budgetary deficit, and started structural reform, in

particular in the agricultural sector. Consistent efforts are

being made to speed up privatization and attract foreign

investors. With all this going on, we are interested in

participating in a debate that can highlight measures

envisaged by Governments for what the Managing

Director of the International Monetary Fund recently

called “second generation reform”, which will focus on

microeconomics and social protection policies.

We believe that development assistance requires new

and increased mobilization from the international

community, and we favour enhanced coherence in the

country programmes undertaken by United Nations bodies

and funds, and more efficient use of resources allocated

for development.

In view of the new threats facing our societies and

institutions, we support measures aimed at strengthening

the capacity of the United Nations in international drug

control and the fight against corruption and organized

crime. We welcome the establishment in Vienna of a

single Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, as

well as the convening, in 1998, of a special session of the

General Assembly on drug control. Furthermore, we

propose consideration of the United Nations declaring an

international year for the fight against corruption and

organized crime. This major issue could also be the

subject of a special high-level segment of the General

Assembly. Our objective is to elaborate and put into

practice international cooperation instruments that enable

us to work together to protect ourselves and eradicate

these scourges.

We shall soon begin preparations for celebrating, in

1998, the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights. Let us take this opportunity to reaffirm

our firm commitment to the universality of all human

rights, whose promotion and protection should always

remain a priority for the United Nations. We support the

measures envisaged by the Secretary-General to

strengthen the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights and we welcome the

appointment of the former Irish President, Mrs. Mary

Robinson, as High Commissioner.

With regard to administrative and budgetary

questions, the Romanian delegation is in favour of the

Secretary-General's proposals for the regular budget for

the 1998-1999 biennium, with the understanding that the

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reductions will not affect the future capacity of the

Organization to fulfil its mandate. We support the efforts to

improve the Organization's financial situation and place it

on a sound and predictable footing. It is particularly

important that, through open and constructive negotiations,

we achieve feasible solutions with regard to the future

payments of arrears and a new scale of assessments for the

regular and peacekeeping budgets, thus reflecting the new

realities and real capacity to pay of each State.

Finally, I assure the Assembly, once again, of the full

cooperation of the Romanian delegation in our joint efforts

to strengthen and enhance the efficiency of the United

Nations.