Slovakia, 1994

I should like to congratulate

Mr. Essy of Côte d’Ivoire on his election to the post of

President of the General Assembly of the United Nations

at its forty-ninth session. I wish him much success in this

highly responsible mission.

At the same time, I should like to thank Mr. Essy’s

predecessor as President, His Excellency Ambassador

Insanally, for his great personal contribution to the

success of the last session of the General Assembly.

I also avail myself of this opportunity to express

deep appreciation of all the work and effort of the

Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, as the head of the United Nations.

Allow me to open my statement with a personal

remark. During the past few years we have witnessed

dynamic changes in world politics. The dynamism of

development in international life is reflected in my

personal life. In the course of the past four years I have

represented two States as their Ambassador to the United

Nations. Today I am honoured and proud to represent

one of them - my native country, Slovakia - as its

Minister of Foreign Affairs. The fact that the Permanent

Representative to the United Nations was nominated as

the Minister of Foreign Affairs of his country is yet

another manifestation of the respect that the United

Nations enjoys in Slovakia.

The fact that my country, less than two years after

its admission to membership of the United Nations,

became a full-fledged component of the community of

nations is confirmation of the credibility of our foreign

policy, which is based on respect for international law and

for principles of democratic coexistence among nations.

It is also a result of the implementation of our foreign-

policy principles, which originate from the hierarchy of

values of Slovak society. These values are characterized

by respect for democracy, human rights and a free-market

economy.

It is evident that Slovakia, as a small country in the

geopolitically sensitive central European region, must

have a transparent and clearly defined orientation in its

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foreign policy. We therefore aim our activities at European

integrationist trends and strive to join the stable, democratic

and prosperous countries. Joining the European Union and

participating actively in the elaboration of an efficient

model of European security are among the main priorities

of Slovak foreign policy.

Our international contacts are, of course, much wider

and are of a more multilateral character. We are interested

in the best possible relations with neighbouring countries.

I am glad to state that we have recently managed to fulfil

this aim successfully. We believe that subregional

arrangements, such as Visegrad 4 or the central European

initiative, also help to strengthen the stability of the whole

region. Close contacts with western European countries -

and these are being strengthened in respect of economic,

political and security matters - also contribute to the

fulfilment of this objective.

At the global level, the priority of the Slovak

Republic, which is part of the European region, is the

maintenance of solid transatlantic relations through the

development of intensive cooperation with the United States

of America and Canada, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

Further, we consider the development of cooperation with

our eastern neighbours - Ukraine, the Russian Federation

and other countries - as being especially important.

Regardless of the fact that Slovakia is a small central

European country, we strive to maintain and further develop

good relations and cooperation with the countries of Asia,

Africa, Latin America and the Pacific region.

Our tasks and goals are very demanding, and their

fulfilment depends on sufficient support from the public

and on the consensus of the major political parties. I am

glad to state that in Slovakia there is wide public and

political agreement on the principal issues of our foreign

policy. This is a positive signal for foreign countries,

which can count on Slovakia as a reliable partner.

As I indicated at the beginning of my statement,

today’s world is defined by dynamic changes that are due

to the growing multipolarity of international relations.

Many important events that occurred in the last year

advanced the international community towards achievement

of the goals of the United Nations - to guarantee the

peaceful coexistence of nations - but there have also been

events that cannot fill us with optimism.

One positive event has been the peace process in the

Middle East. Slovakia has supported this process from the

very beginning with the aim of reaching a comprehensive

and final peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The conclusion of agreements between the State of Israel

and the Palestine Liberation Organization on the provision

of limited autonomy in the zone of the Gaza Strip and

Jericho, and the Jordan-Israeli declaration on terminating

the state of war, as well as on measures to settle mutual

relations, justified once more the peace efforts of the

parties involved, as well as those of the international

community, which is convinced that peace can be restored

in this region.

We also welcome the democratization of South

African society demonstrated by the elections in April of

this year. Though South Africa is far from Slovakia, we

put special emphasis on the continuation of this

development. The visit of the President of the Slovak

Republic to South Africa for the inauguration of President

Mandela is evidence of this.

On the other hand, even these positive examples will

not help us in successfully ending conflicts in other parts

of the world. We are deeply concerned over the

continuing conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina that is

taking place some 300 kilometres from our borders.

Slovakia is among the countries that yearn for an end to

the continuing tragedy in that country. We wish to

underline the superiority of a political solution to a

military one, which by definition cannot eliminate the

antagonism between the opposing sides.

The Slovak Republic, as a user of nuclear energy for

peaceful purposes, is a State without nuclear weapons.

We therefore support a speedy signing of the

comprehensive test-ban treaty. We wish to emphasize

that such a treaty should apply to all tests without

exception and for an indefinite period, including tests for

peaceful purposes. Sustaining the moratorium on nuclear

tests by all members of the nuclear club is considered by

Slovakia to be the main precondition for concluding such

a treaty, and at the same time, it is a clear sign of the real

intentions of the nuclear club members.

We consider next year’s Review Conference of the

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to be closely linked to the

nuclear-test ban. The NPT has been playing an important

role in the history of humanity, and has managed to stop

the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We support

unequivocally the unconditional and indefinite extension

of the NPT.

The Slovak Republic appreciates the steps

undertaken at the United Nations in the sphere of

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transparency in armaments, whether conventional or

chemical and biological. We welcome the first positive

universal step regarding conventional weapons: the

establishment of the Register of Conventional Arms.

The verification level of the existing multilateral

treaties is in most cases either inadequate or incomplete.

Many of the multilateral treaties on arms control do not

contain verification clauses - and if they do contain such

clauses, they do not make full use of verification, as in the

case of the NPT. I believe that the Convention on the

Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling

and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction

will be a test case for a new type of multilateral treaty on

disarmament. The ratification of this agreement is among

the top priorities in the agenda of our Parliament.

I can assure the Assembly that Slovakia is fulfilling

responsibly and in a timely manner the obligations

concerning confidence building, security, control of

armaments and disarmament that have been undertaken at

universal and regional negotiating forums. We firmly

support all disarmament activities; hence we are well aware

of the important role of the Conference on Disarmament in

this field. I would like to confirm the permanent interest of

the Slovak Republic in resolving the issue of its

membership in the Conference, since the former

Czechoslovak federation was a founding member of the

Conference. It is truly a paradox that a country in which

arms production decreased to 9 per cent of its 1989 level is

not yet a member of the Conference.

We are aware of the need to improve existing

organizational structures and strengthen cooperation

between the United Nations and the Conference on Security

and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) as a regional

arrangement in the sense of Chapter VIII of the United

Nations Charter. The CSCE continues to adapt to the new

realities. Slovakia, however, is of the opinion that the basic

character of the CSCE should not change. It should remain

a wide political forum and its basic principle - the adoption

of decisions by consensus - should be maintained.

Peace-keeping operations are currently at a level that

is perhaps the highest that the international community can

provide and sustain. They drain our financial resources,

while not even sparing human lives. The original

enthusiasm for peace-keeping operations has gradually

cooled down with the knowledge that there are many

obstacles that the United Nations cannot overcome. The

tragic situation in Rwanda, where even the presence of

United Nations forces could not avert a civil war and

massacres, is a clear example. The United Nations peace-

keeping operation on the territory of the former

Yugoslavia has also encountered serious problems. The

Slovak Republic has a contingent of 600 soldiers in the

United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) -

members of the engineering unit who among their

military tasks provide highly specialized expert work and

assistance in restoring that country, which has suffered so

much tribulation. Along with their efforts in the

maintenance of peace, they have undertaken the

dangerous task of removing mines from the country.

Slovakia strongly supports President Clinton’s appeal

in his statement before the General Assembly on Monday

for the conclusion of an agreement that would reduce the

number and availability of anti-personnel land-mines. I

would like to mention that Slovakia, in accordance with

resolution 48/75 K, has already implemented, on 17 April

1994, a moratorium on the export of anti-personnel land-

mines for an indefinite period.

In connection with United Nations efforts to resolve

several problems that have arisen in the field of peace-

keeping operations, the Slovak Republic welcomes the

decision to establish stand-by forces that can be

dispatched on short notice and under the command of the

United Nations. We have declared our interest in

contributing to these units with engineers of the Slovak

Army. Such units need highly specialized and thorough

preparation and training designed for specific purposes.

My country is in the process of building such a training

centre and has already used it to train more than 1,200

members of United Nations peace-keeping forces since

May of this year.

Experience has shown that the traditional type of

peace-keeping operation is no longer sufficient. If a

peace-keeping operation is to succeed it should contain a

humanitarian element. Slovakia is of the opinion that in

any operation under United Nations auspices and with

United Nations coordination it is necessary to respect the

principle of the priority of United Nations command.

In connection with the increased number of attacks

against United Nations personnel, the Slovak Republic

appreciates the Assembly’s decision at its forty-eighth

session to elaborate an international convention dealing

with the safety and security of United Nations and

associated personnel. The next step the United Nations

should consider is providing proper armament and other

matériel for members of peace-keeping missions so that

they might be able to react more appropriately to

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changing conditions and if necessary be able to defend

themselves.

The Slovak Republic respects human rights and

welcomes all international initiatives which could bring

results in this sphere. We highly appreciate the

commencement of the activities of the High Commissioner

for Human Rights. We believe that this post will be an

active United Nations instrument to guarantee the protection

of human rights, especially where they are most flagrantly

violated. At the beginning of 1994 we opened the Slovak

National Centre for Human Rights in Bratislava. In this

connection, I wish to express our gratitude to the

Netherlands for its assistance in establishing this institution.

The gravity of the problem of refugees continues to

increase. I express the hope that the United Nations will

not underestimate this problem and that the Office of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will no

longer have to fight financial problems in future.

The Slovak Republic supports the reform of the United

Nations. It considers the revitalization and restructuring of

the Security Council to be one of the crucial issues. We

hope that the solution adopted will increase the efficiency

of the Security Council and will contribute to the overall

strengthening of the United Nations. We are of the opinion

that new permanent members of the Security Council must

have a global responsibility and be able to meet the ensuing

financial obligations.

When the mandate of the Security Council is fulfilled

and sanctions are implemented, more attention should be

paid to possible adverse impacts on third countries. We are

convinced that effective mechanisms of assistance to

affected third countries should be seriously considered and

established as soon as possible.

Slovakia encounters many problems connected with

the transformation of society. It is crucial to solve the

economic and social issues of a transition process

unprecedented in scale and method. The United Nations,

with its organs and specialized agencies, has an

irreplaceable role in assisting their solution.

I should now like to give some facts on the economic

situation of the Slovak Republic. Now that the first, basic

steps of transformation have been taken, the main goal of

the Slovak economy is to create permanent macroeconomic

stability and conditions for substantial economic growth in

the years to come. My country, with 5.3 million

inhabitants and with exports about 50 per cent of gross

domestic product, can be considered a small, open

economy. The Slovak Government is concentrating on

speeding up those reforms which should result in the

quick transformation of ownership relations.

Considerable progress has been made in macroeconomic

stabilization in the first six months of 1994. Real gross

domestic product has increased by 4.4 per cent. The

State budget deficit represents only 3.8 per cent of gross

domestic product, and is considered a positive indicator.

Thanks to cooperation with, and assistance from, the

International Monetary Fund, the foreign currency

reserves of the Central Bank have increased. These data

are considered to be the first sign of economic revival.

Economic cooperation and, within its framework,

international assistance are prerequisites for further

development of economies in transition. United Nations

organs and specialized agencies cooperate intensively with

my Government. Thanks to this cooperation, the

economic situation is substantially better than had been

anticipated, and the Slovak Republic has become an

accepted international partner in economic cooperation.

The Slovak Republic welcomes the increased

attention by, and efforts of, the United Nations aimed at

bringing the issues of development and economic

cooperation to the foreground. We hope that the agenda

for development will initiate concrete steps in this sphere.

We particularly appreciate the efforts of the United

Nations in helping to resolve problems and difficulties

encountered by the countries transforming their

economies, and we are of the opinion that within the

United Nations framework there are more opportunities to

facilitate and speed up the integration of these economies

into the world economy.

In the past decade the number of least developed

countries has increased horrendously. This results in an

urgent appeal to all mankind, but especially the

industrially developed countries. However, at the same

time we cannot avoid the primary responsibility of the

least developed countries for their own destiny. The

Slovak Republic offers assistance, within its own means

and possibilities, especially through the participation of

Slovak experts in development programmes - for

example, in education and health care. Slovakia is

prepared to engage in organizational work for the

International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, 1996.

I should also like to emphasize the importance of the

recently concluded International Conference on Population

and Development, held in Cairo. The fact that it

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succeeded in reaching an agreement and adopting the Final

Document is a signal that the international community is

aware of its responsibility for global issues of humanity,

and that international conferences and discussions are the

only right battlefield for the solution of problems, no matter

how sensitive and complicated they may be.

As can be seen from the facts I have set out, Slovakia,

as one of the youngest Members of the United Nations,

wishes not only to "take", but also intends to be actively

involved in United Nations programmes, and has the

capabilities. My country has much to offer developing

countries. Slovak experts, with their know-how and

experience, are prepared actively to participate in United

Nations development programmes. Slovak products and

technologies tested under demanding conditions could

contribute to the efficiency of these development

programmes. In the sphere of the development of human

resources, Slovakia, with a long tradition in this field, offers

a variety of courses at universities.

My country has a difficult task to carry out:

transformation of the economy. The United Nations also

has a difficult task; that of adapting itself to the new

realities and adjusting its structure and activities

accordingly. I wish to assure the Assembly that the Slovak

Republic is prepared to do its utmost to carry out the first

task and to participate actively in the activities of the

United Nations.

I wish to conclude my statement by wishing much

success to this year’s session of the General Assembly.