Slovenia, 1996

Please allow me to

congratulate the President and his country, Malaysia, on

his election to the presidency of the fifty-first session of

the General Assembly. We hold his many contributions to

the work of the United Nations in very high regard and

we are convinced that his wisdom will guide this session

of the General Assembly to a successful completion.

I also take advantage of this occasion to thank

Professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal for his

wise and dignified leadership of the General Assembly at

its jubilee fiftieth session.

The first half-century of the United Nations has

elapsed and the General Assembly is meeting at a time of

great opportunities. Seldom has the United Nations

enjoyed such a high level of freedom from friction in the

relations among the major Powers of the world.

Moreover, our time is also one of profound and promising

change. Never before has the world been better equipped

to seize the opportunities of economic and technological

development for the benefit of all. The democratic

transformation which has taken place in large parts of the

world has substantially improved the quality of life and

added important opportunities for a large part of the

world’s population.

However, very serious problems persist. Poverty and

social disintegration, environmental degradation and new

forms of threat to international peace and security are

serious dangers to our common future. The fact that our

world is no longer threatened by cold war rivalries offers

little consolation if we think of the dangers which cast

their shadows on our path towards the future. The unique

opportunities of our time can be forfeited.

Never before has the time been so precious and the

need for effective global action so clear. The United

Nations must be able to adjust so as to become more

effective and more successful in addressing the challenges

at hand. The essence of the principal task before the

United Nations today can be captured in two words:

adjustment and modernization. The compelling need to

adjust and modernize the Organization should be guiding

its activities, in particular those aiming at its reform.

However, the United Nations experience of the

reform efforts of the past year has not been entirely

satisfactory. The progress of various working groups of

11

the General Assembly has been slow, a fact to be noted

with concern. The present session of the General Assembly

and its general debate should provide fresh incentives and

energize the process of reform, which should proceed in a

coherent and balanced manner.

The process of downsizing the Secretariat, while being

welcome and necessary, should become part of a wider

change characterized by a clear definition of the priorities

of the United Nations and by an adequate allocation of its

human and material resources. Greater discipline must be

achieved in the financing of the United Nations. This

should be accompanied by a new, more balanced scale of

assessments. Furthermore, innovative forms of financing

should be devised, in particular in such domains as the

protection of environment and sustainable development.

Last but not least, there is, in several parts of the United

Nations, a need for structural change. The necessary

expansion and reform of the Security Council — which

includes reasonable enlargement — is a case in point. It is

obvious that the efforts at reform should go hand in hand

with the implementation of the basic tasks of the United

Nations.

The preservation of international peace and security is

the principal objective of the United Nations. One of the

areas of implementation of this objective that is constantly

gaining importance is cooperation between the United

Nations and regional organizations in the common efforts

for world peace. We see possibilities in different parts of

the world for the creation of durable security arrangements

based on regional organizations and their cooperation with

the United Nations.

We shall continue to support the efforts for

coordination and cooperation between the United Nations

and regional organizations through such methods as

increased consultation, diplomatic support, mutual

operational support and joint operations, in accordance with

Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations.

In Europe, the role of such regional organizations as

the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe is constantly growing. We welcome and support the

growing complementarity and cooperation between these

organizations and the United Nations.

Disarmament continues to be among the most

important areas in which the role of the United Nations is

fundamental. It can be said that, in recent years, the United

Nations has solidified its leading and coordinating role in

this area. The agreement on the non-proliferation of

nuclear weapons achieved last year and the conclusion of

the Chemical Weapons Convention are witness to that.

Slovenia welcomes the adoption of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which

we signed yesterday. Slovenia took an active approach

from the very beginning to the CTBT negotiations. We

deeply believe that only strict implementation of the

Treaty can contribute to a safer world in the future.

The interaction between the Conference on

Disarmament and the relevant United Nations bodies has

intensified. We should strive to improve further the

disarmament machinery. In this context, we note with

regret that the project of expansion of the membership of

the Conference on Disarmament remains incomplete. We

continue to believe that all States willing and able to

contribute to international disarmament efforts should be

enabled to participate in the Conference on Disarmament

as full members. Slovenia wishes to be and is capable of

being among the members of the Conference.

Slovenia also supports activities of the international

community needed to limit and eventually eliminate the

use of inhumane and excessively injurious weapons —

including anti-personnel landmines — and is ready to take

an active part in these efforts.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the process of return to

normality has started. Less than a year ago, Slovenia

joined all the members of the international community in

expressing appreciation to the United States of America

and all others involved in the preparation of the Dayton

Agreement.

After many years of tragically futile exercises, the

moment has come for a decisive step towards real peace

in Bosnia and in the Balkans. The military action of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization gave credibility to the

written word and created conditions for a comprehensive

effort to rebuild Bosnia and Herzegovina economically,

politically and socially. In Slovenia, we welcomed the

holding of the presidential and parliamentarian elections

which took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 days ago

as a positive step forward and as a substantial

contribution to peace and stability in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. Within the framework of post-conflict

management of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina,

there is a growing need to ensure economic reconstruction

and provide adequate economic aid. Slovenia is actively

participating in the international efforts for the economic

12

reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina and still hosts

many Bosnian refugees.

Slovenia is a young country that obtained United

Nations membership in May 1992. Over the past five years

of independence, Slovenia achieved positive results in the

process of political and economic transformation. Growing

cooperation with its neighbours and in the region enabled

Slovenia to reach a high degree of economic and political

stability. We strongly believe that such a policy is to be

observed as a contribution to the sustainable stability of the

region.

After a successful transformation, Slovenia is now

ready to take its share of responsibility not only for

regional arrangements, but also for international peace and

stability. That is why Slovenia seeks to become a Security

Council member for the 1998-1999 term: to participate

actively in the Council’s central role in developing an

effective system of global security at a time when the

Security Council faces significant challenges to international

peace and security. We firmly believe that Slovenia is able

to meet all expectations and to work with other member

States so as to make a full contribution to fulfilling the

demanding tasks of the Security Council.