Saudi Arabia, 1998

I am pleased to express my sincere congratulations

to Mr. Didier Opertti on his election to the presidency of

the General Assembly at its fifty-third session. As much as

his election reflects the esteem in which he personally is

held, it is also reflects our appreciation of the positive role

played by his country, Uruguay, in the international arena.

I am confident that his presidency will be an effective

factor in achieving the objectives to which the

international community today aspires.

I would like to take this opportunity to convey to

His Excellency Mr. Hennadiy Y. Udovenko, President of

the Assembly at its fifty-second session, our appreciation

and esteem for having conducted the Assembly?s work

effectively, wisely and objectively.

I am also pleased to express my appreciation and

esteem to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi

Annan, who is managing the affairs of the international

Organization with high competence and experience, and

who is making continuous efforts and persistent

endeavours to achieve peace and security in today?s

world, which continues to face many kinds of conflicts

and various forms of crises and challenges.

A hundred years ago this year, the late King Abdul

Aziz Bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud began the initial stages

of rebuilding and uniting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on

the principles of tolerant Islamic beliefs. In that process

of unification, the late King Abdul Aziz was also laying

the groundwork of a modern State which combines, on

the one hand, adherence to Islam as a belief, a system and

a way of life and, on the other hand, advanced forms of

development and modernization. Since then, the Kingdom

of Saudi Arabia, which adheres to the religion of Islam,

has played a significant international role, because it

follows a foreign policy which conforms to the

fundamental principles of the United Nations and with the

noble objectives for which the Charter was formulated.

These are in accordance with Islamic law in matters

pertaining to the conduct of relations between States. The

eternal message of Islam unites and does not divide,

establishes justice and does not inflict injustice, promotes

equality and does not discriminate. It urges everyone to

work and cooperate to propagate these sublime principles

and to achieve security, peace and prosperity for all

humanity.

Abiding by these principles, the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia, since its establishment, has continued to believe

in constructive dialogue and peaceful coexistence among

nations and peoples. It endeavours to cooperate and to

respect the principles of international law and

international legitimacy, it rejects violence and terrorism

in any shape or form, and it does not interfere in the

affairs of others or allow others to interfere in its own

affairs.

10

On the basis of the same principle, the Government of

the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin

Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, is intent on performing its role in the

international arena in such a way as to assist in creating the

most favourable conditions for realizing the aspirations of

the international community to security, peace, stability and

prosperity.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proud that it was one

of the original signatories of the San Francisco Charter,

which founded the United Nations, and it is proud also that

it constantly adheres to the principles and purposes of that

Charter. It also consistently endeavours to put these

principles and purposes into practice. On the basis of those

considerations, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reaffirms that

it earnestly supports the United Nations and its specialized

agencies, for it views the Organization as a viable

framework for cooperation among nations and peoples, an

important forum for dialogue and understanding, and an

effective means to settle disputes and defuse crises.

My Government wishes to emphasize a basic fact: the

ability of the Organization to play all its roles and to carry

out all those tasks depends on the political will to put those

Charter principles and provisions into practical effect.

In this regard, my Government is well aware of the

importance of modernizing the United Nations agencies to

enable them to play their required role, and on a level that

enables them to deal with the new developments in modern

international relations. The Security Council, which bears

primary responsibility for the maintenance of international

peace and security, remains the focus of the various reform

proposals that have been put forward. In this regard, my

country?s point of view has been based on a deep

conviction that any restructuring of the Security Council

must be aimed at improving the Council?s ability to

perform its role effectively, in accordance with the Charter,

and at making more active in implementing its resolutions

and in dealing with international crises. The Council must

also cooperate with the General Assembly in a manner that

achieves the required harmony and the desired objectivity.

As we seek greater cooperation, we have to look to

the lessons of history to identify the obstacles which the

United Nations has faced and which have hindered it from

enhancing the cooperation that has become a requirement

for peace, stability and growth. We have to hold the

countries which base their international relations on

principles that contradict the Charter basically responsible

for creating those obstacles, and to make use of the means

contained in the Charter to oppose such practices. Insistence

on violating the principles of the Charter and refusal to

comply with the resolutions of the General Assembly and

the Security Council signal a blatant challenge to the

Charter, which we must firmly confront in a manner that

is consistent with its provisions and purposes.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in line with its

objective of achieving peace, security and stability in the

Middle East, has supported the peace process from the

very beginning and participated as an observer in the

Madrid Conference. It has also participated actively in the

multilateral negotiations, and will continue to support the

peace process in its international activities and contacts.

In addition, the Arab countries, in conformity with

the conclusions of the Arab Summit held in Cairo in June

1996, have unanimously adopted a firm position

stipulating that peace is a strategic Arab option. This

affirms that there has been no Arab retreat from that firm

position.

What is regrettable, and a cause of grave concern, is

that, after a glimmer of hope for peace in the region and

after the optimistic feelings that peace was possible, the

peace process — which started in Madrid on the basis of

the principles of international legitimacy, United Nations

resolutions and the principle of land for peace — has

suffered repeated setbacks at the hands of the present

Israeli Government. This Government has endeavoured to

pursue policies that are based on retreating from the

principles of the peace process endorsed by the Madrid

Conference, as well as from the agreements signed with

the Palestinian National Authority, and it continues to

refuse to resume negotiations with Syria at the point that

had been reached previously.

In striving to destroy the peace process, the Israeli

Government has continued to build settlements on

Palestinian lands in order to alter their character and

create new realities. It is also adopting a policy of

Judaizing Holy Jerusalem by planting more settlements in

and around it, as well as annexing areas with Jewish

settlers and emptying Jerusalem of its Arab residents. It

also enacted a law to enlarge the municipality of Holy

Jerusalem to include neighbouring settlements so as to

preempt the negotiations on the final status of Holy Jerusalem.

These Israeli practices have resulted in aborting the

efforts of the international community to achieve a just

and comprehensive peace based on Security Council

resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and on the land-

for-peace principle. Such practices have led the peace

11

process down a dead-end road. What we perceive of the

behaviour of the present Israeli Government does not make

us optimistic about the possibility of achieving the peace

which the peoples of the region aspire to unless these

practices are met by firm measures to compel Israel to

completely implement its agreements with the Palestinians,

respect the principles on which the peace process was

founded and enter into serious negotiations with the

Palestinian Authority, with Syria and with Lebanon. We

urge the international community, and the United States of

America in particular, to continue making all possible

efforts to save the peace process and to act resolutely to

stop Israeli tampering with the most sensitive issue in the

peace process — Jerusalem, which should be dealt with on

the basis of its being the most important case in the Arab-

Israeli conflict. Adhering to the rules of international

legitimacy and fulfilling commitments is the best way to

achieve peace and security.

If the present Israeli Government is serious in its

efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinian side, all it has

to do is to affirm its adherence to the provisions of the

signed agreements and resume the negotiations on the

unresolved issues. If the Israeli Government intends to

achieve a state of mutual security with its neighbour, Syria,

the Syrian Government has spared no effort in declaring its

readiness to resume negotiations with Israel from the point

at which such negotiations had stopped. As for tension and

the cycle of violence in southern Lebanon, its end is

contingent upon immediate Israeli withdrawal from that part

of Lebanon and the western Bekaa valley in accordance

with Security Council resolution 425 (1978).

The position of the Government of the Custodian of

the Two Holy Mosques towards Iraq has two fundamental

bases: first, guaranteeing the comprehensive, total,

indivisible and non-selective compliance by the Iraqi

Government with the resolutions of international legitimacy;

and secondly, insuring the preservation of the independence,

sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Iraq, as well as

alleviating the sufferings of the Iraqi people.

Our feelings of pain and sorrow for the sufferings of

the brotherly Iraqi people, because of the hard conditions

which they endure, contribute to our insistence on Iraqi

compliance with all relevant international resolutions in

order to get the sanctions lifted. In this context, it is with

deep sadness that we received the news of the Iraqi

Government?s decision not to cooperate with the United

Nations Special Commission established by the Security

Council. This will result in the continuation of sanctions on

Iraq. We call upon the Iraqi Government to annul that

decision, and we stress that the quickest means for lifting

the sanctions is faithful and meticulous responsiveness, in

letter and spirit, to the requirements of the Security

Council resolutions. The Iraqi Government should stop

the policies of prevarication and delay aiming at impeding

the implementation of these resolutions, especially those

concerning the release of prisoners and detainees, the

return of property, commitment to a modality for

compensation and full cooperation with the efforts of the

United Nations Special Commission to eliminate weapons

of mass destruction.

Saudi Arabia and its sisters, the members of the Gulf

Cooperation Council, place great importance on the

bettering of relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We have been particularly pleased at the recent positive

indicators from the Iranian Government which could have

a positive impact on Iranian-Gulf relations and on the

climate of peace and stability in the region. In this

connection, we welcome the positive implications —

regarding both Gulf-Iranian relations and the issue of

armaments in the statement by President Mohammad

Khatami before the General Assembly last week. We look

forward to resolving the outstanding problems between

the two sides — foremost among which is the issue of the

three United Arab Emirates islands, Greater Tunb, Lesser

Tunb and Abu Musa — by peaceful means, in accordance

with the principles of international law, including the

option of referring the matter to the International Court of

Justice.

We also express our concern regarding the current

tension between Iran and Afghanistan. We call upon these

two countries to exercise restraint and resolve their

dispute by peaceful means.

The continuing fighting in Afghanistan during all

these years is a cause of sadness and sorrow. Saudi

Arabia has done all it could since the beginning of the

fighting to stop the bloodshed and to restore peace and

security to Afghanistan. We support the efforts of the

United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic

Conference to stop the fighting. At the same time, we

strongly deplore the manipulation of the present situation

of Afghanistan to make it a haven for the sheltering and

training of terrorists, which destabilizes security and

brings further suffering to the Afghani people.

Shortly after the Serbs terminated their aggression

against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they

ignited the flames of a new war, aiming this time at our

brothers in Kosovo. The Serb forces are daily committing

12

in Kosovo the same inhuman practices which they

perpetrated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including ethnic

cleansing, coerced deportation, terror and oppression in full

view of the whole world. It would be truly tragic if silence

in the face of these appalling actions was to continue over

this long duration. Therefore we call upon the international

community to shoulder its responsibilities by promptly

taking all requisite measures to put an end to these

practices.

Terrorism, which is striking every corner of the world

mercilessly and indiscriminately, has become a very serious

international phenomenon and requires an international

effort to combat it. The Government of Saudi Arabia has

regularly condemned terrorism and has joined its efforts to

other international efforts to confront it with all possible

effectiveness. We stress in particular that terrorism and

violence are universal phenomena rather than the

characteristics of a certain people, race or religion.

Precisely because of the comprehensiveness and

universality of terrorism, the only way to combat it is

through unified international action within the framework

of the United Nations, with a view to ensuring an end to

terrorism, saving the lives of the innocent and preserving

the independence and sovereignty of States. But combating

terrorism would also require international cooperation

against sheltering terrorist elements and groups and

preventing them from exploiting the territories and laws of

the States in whose territories they live in order to practice

their destructive activities, regardless of any pretexts.

The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir remains a threat

to peace and security in South Asia. We call for finding a

peaceful solution to this problem in accordance with the

relevant United Nations resolutions and for allowing the

people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise directly their

legitimate right to self-determination.

The Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy

Mosques pays maximum attention to the ongoing efforts to

eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East,

including the Arabian Gulf region. This is undertaken

through its support of the efforts of the League of Arab

States in accordance with the resolution adopted by the

League?s Council during its 101st session which called for

making this sensitive part of the world a zone free of all

weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, chemical and

biological.

We are greatly concerned by Israel?s refusal to accede

to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

(NPT). Israel thus keeps its nuclear programmes outside the

ambit of international inspection, which constitutes a

serious threat to the region?s security and stability. While

we completely reject the international community?s

double standard that allows Israel an exception from

nuclear disarmament efforts and thus encourages the arms

race, we also express our concern at the nuclear tests

carried out in South Asia, begun by India and followed by

Pakistan, in view of the dangers these tests present to the

security and peace of the region.

While believing there is urgent need to increase the

effectiveness of the NPT through the activation and

universalization of the system of guarantees of the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we also

consider it of the utmost importance to establish controls

and criteria that would assist in achieving the desired

progress in all fields of disarming weapons of mass

destruction, in conformity with General Assembly

resolution 1 (I) of 1946. In this context, we urge all States

that have not yet done so to take the necessary steps as

early as possible to accede to the NPT and place their

nuclear installations under the international safeguards

regime, thereby contributing to international peace and

security.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia considers

environmental issues and environmental protection of key

importance, to the degree that it has assigned to them a

prominent place in our domestic and foreign policies. We

believe that a decent life for mankind is directly

connected with environmental and climatic conditions.

Therefore, the Kingdom has effectively participated in all

relevant conferences, forums and international

organizations concerned with environmental protection. In

addition, we have become a party to several regional and

international agreements relevant to this issue.

We only hope that international efforts relating to

the problems of the environment will be characterized by

the necessary degree of balance and of objectivity, as

based on serious and rational studies and buttressed by

scientific facts that take into account the needs of

development in the developing world. In this regard, we

call upon all States to abide by Agenda 21. We also urge

the industrial States in particular to live up to their

obligations regarding the transfer of environmental

technology to developing countries.

The emerging forces of globalization and their

seemingly rampant nature which cause geographic,

political and sovereignty barriers to recede, force upon us

the need to tame and channel these energies. Therefore,

13

we are now called upon more than at any other time before

not to confront this phenomenon, but to act cohesively in

its formulation, in conformity with our religious beliefs, our

cultural and civilizational values, and in the interests of our

peoples. This should also be accomplished in a manner that

would accord with the diversity and pluralism of social and

political systems that have prevailed after the bipolarism of

the cold war. The objective would be to build a balanced

world based on mutual interest, reciprocity of advantages

and equality of opportunity to live free from fear, secure

from hunger and poverty. It would be a world in which

principles of justice, prosperity and peace predominate.

It is important to stress, in this regard, that the

principles of free world economies and open markets are

not an end in themselves. They are but a means to growing

the economies through the increase and expansion of

exports. The developing countries cannot attain these

objectives without greater flexibility in the varying

opportunities afforded to them in the form of human

resources, infrastructure, and financial, administrative and

procedural regulations. Consequently, the developing

countries are required more than ever before to intensify

their internal development efforts in order to be integrated

in the international economy. This calls for closer

cooperation in international fora in order to deal with the

issues of development and to draft a considered and

comprehensive agenda that fulfils the ambitions and

aspirations of the peoples of developing countries within the

framework of the new economic order.

In this context, we cannot ignore the important role

that needs to be played by the developed countries, who

must fulfil their international commitments to the

developing and less developed countries either by direct or

indirect aid as well as through cancellation and rescheduling

of foreign debt. Developed countries must also allow free

and easy access to their markets for the exports of

developing countries and must refrain from adopting unjust

trade measures that impede the flow of such exports to their

markets.

In this regard, it must be noted that the Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia has been very keen on contributing, within the

limits of its means, to the development of developing

countries, whether at the bilateral or multilateral levels.

Because of its desire to participate in the efforts to achieve

a better future for the international economy, Saudi Arabia

has applied for membership in the World Trade

Organization. God willing, and with the support of friendly

countries, we hope to finalize the accession procedures as

soon as possible.

The issues just mentioned, with their political,

economic, security and social dimensions, confirm the

need for our Organization to assume its role in the

maintenance of international peace and security and to

realize the aspirations of all peoples to live in security

and enjoy stability and prosperity. Our firm belief in the

role that the United Nations can play in dealing with

crises, as well as our efforts to avoid the horrors of war

and to prepare for international cooperation, make us

more determined than ever to support this Organization

and emphasize its constructive role. The United Nations

must have a larger role in dealing with crises before they

occur by exercising preventive diplomacy in order to

maintain stability and preserve international peace and

security. We have great hopes that the Organization will

continue its march towards these goals with strong steps

and firm determination.

I cannot find more suitable words to end my

statement than this verse from the Holy Quran:

“Work, soon Allah will observe your work, and His

Messenger, and the Believers.” (The Holy Quran,

IX:105)