Tajikistan, 1999

First of all,

permit me to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to your

important post as President of the General Assembly. We

are convinced that thanks to your wisdom and experience

you will successfully guide the deliberations of this

important forum.

Over the past century mankind has made

unprecedented strides in its overall progress. It has

demonstrated with unprecedented force the creative genius

and potential of the human mind. But at the same time,

unfortunately, it has highlighted inherent human failings

that are the root causes of tremendous social and political

upheavals, the further exacerbation of global problems

and the emergence of new challenges.

One of the most significant achievements of the

twentieth century is the founding of the United Nations,

with its indispensable legal framework and mechanisms

giving it the tools to organize collective action on the part

of States in order to counter current and future threats.

Tajikistan would like to see the strengthening of the

United Nations and of its Security Council, as the body

responsible for the maintenance of international peace and

security.

It is extremely timely and useful, on the threshold of

the twenty-first century, to rethink philosophically the

lessons we have learned in order to define the principal

parameters of a future world order and to develop a

programme of action to put them into practice.

We see many valuable and mutually enriching ideas

in such initiatives as the convening in the year 2000, at

the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, and the

millennium summit; the proposal by Russia to elaborate

a concept of peace in the twenty-first century; the idea of

Iran of a dialogue between civilizations; and the plans of

a number of States regarding a culture of peace and other

initiatives.

Tajikistan, for its part, intends to continue

contributing, insofar as it is able, to this intellectual

endeavour aimed at encouraging all States to join their

efforts and concentrate on the main areas of international

cooperation.

Having won their independence eight years ago, the

people of Tajikistan have made their choice in favour of

democracy. Although our movement towards the reform of

the political system and market transformations in the social

and political sphere has been seriously tested, despite all

odds we have risen to the challenge. Today we can state

firmly that we will not veer from the road we have chosen

of building a democratic, law-abiding and secular society in

Tajikistan.

The most recent proof of this are the results of a

popular referendum on amendments to the Constitution of

the Republic of Tajikistan, held on 26 September last,

which have demonstrated growing support for efforts of the

Government to establish lasting peace and accord in our

country and, on that basis, to build up further civil society

and to form stable democratic institutions.

Many States have needed hundreds of years to reach

today’s level of democracy. Tajikistan, like other new or

restored democracies, will have to cover that distance

within a shorter period of time while gradually tackling

difficult and complex tasks in the civil, political, economic,

social and cultural areas. It is clear that this will require

timely, adequate and coordinated support from the United

Nations, and we look forward to such support.

I wish to note with great satisfaction that the

transitional period provided for in the General Agreement

on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in

Tajikistan has entered its final stretch. Thus the way

towards further strengthening of the fundamentals of

peaceful democratic development has now been opened up.

In this context of critical importance, we are looking

forward in the next few months to presidential and

parliamentary elections in Tajikistan, which we hope will

be successful with the necessary assistance from the United

Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe.

Now more than ever before, the peace process in

Tajikistan needs active support, particularly material and

financial assistance from the international community. We

hope to see remedied very soon the situation wherein donor

States allocated only a small percentage of funds pledged

in response to the appeal made this year by the Secretary-

General of the United Nations for humanitarian assistance

to Tajikistan. We would like also to express the hope that

at the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly, as in

previous years, full support will be forthcoming for the

draft resolution on granting international assistance for

post-conflict projects in Tajikistan.

The Government of Tajikistan, despite great

difficulties, has consistently been implementing a

programme of economic reforms in order to create an

effective market economy. Step by step, an appropriate

legal framework is being set up to provide a favourable

environment for the development of small and

medium-sized businesses, for foreign investments and for

the promotion of market institutions, including in the

areas of finance and banking.

The efforts of our Government are being supported

by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and

a number of other influential and authoritative

international financial and economic institutions and

agencies. At this new stage of development resulting from

the transformation in our economic and political systems,

we in Tajikistan are counting on the international

community to provide as much support and assistance as

it can.

The disparity in the value placed on human life and

tragedy depending on whether one is in Europe or

elsewhere is cause for profound regret. If a hotbed of

tension flares up in Europe, it is contained and eliminated

on the double. And this is wonderful. However, it is

particularly hard for us to bear given the large-scale

conflicts that have been spilling blood in Asia for

decades. And is Afghanistan really not a European

problem — Afghanistan, whose drugs are destroying the

lives of hundreds of thousands of unfortunates, including

in Europe? Afghanistan is not just Asia’s pain and

tragedy. It is Europe’s, too.

We are extremely perturbed by the continuing intra-

Afghan conflict. The international community must take

all necessary steps to restore peace in Afghanistan as

quickly as possible. It is unthinkable that the 20-year civil

war that has already wreaked such irreparable losses on

the long-suffering Afghan people should turn into a new

100-year war and continue into the third millennium.

We are deeply convinced that the only way to put an

end to the long-drawn-out bloodshed in Afghanistan is

through a political settlement to the conflict which would

have as its cornerstone the formation of a broad-based

Government that reflects and protects the interests of all

political, ethnic and religious groups and strata of Afghan

society.

We are sure that the main thrust in any settlement to

the conflict in Afghanistan should be towards strengthening

the leading role of the United Nations as the key mediator

between the parties in restoring peace and achieving

national reconciliation: the efforts of other international

organizations, and of States, should complement and

reinforce the work of the United Nations; they should not

be undertaken in isolation from it, much less run counter to

it.

In the context of strengthening the central role played

by the United Nations in coordinating international efforts

with regard to Afghanistan, the “six plus two” group of

friends and neighbours must redouble its efforts. We

believe that the Security Council should once again very

seriously review the situation in and around Afghanistan

and that it should take action, including imposing sanctions

against those who are violating Security Council and

General Assembly resolutions.

Engulfed in the flames of conflict, Afghanistan is the

source of the many dangers, destabilizing the situation in

Tajikistan, the whole of Central Asia and far beyond. In the

countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States,

active bilateral and multilateral cooperation is under way on

countering the penetration from Afghanistan, and the

proliferation in our region, of militant Taliban ideology,

weapons, crime, terrorism and various forms of extremism.

I wish in particular to stress the seriousness of the

drug problem. Specifically, the protracted war in

Afghanistan has turned that country into one of the world’s

main drug centres. The Taliban movement has chosen an

extremely dangerous course in turning the territory under its

control into a gigantic drug production and distribution

factory and warehouse. Also, despite appeals from the

international community, this factory of death continues to

increase its output.

In this context, I should like to remind the Assembly

of the proposal I put forward at the twentieth special

session of the General Assembly in June 1998 (A/5-

20/PV.2) to create a “cordon sanitaire” around Afghanistan

that would put a covering force along the drug routes out

of that country. This idea was conceived because, given the

current social and economic conditions in our country, it is

no simple matter for Tajikistan to guard its 1,500-kilometre

frontier with Afghanistan reliably. There is also a trend

towards using Tajikistan not only as a transit route for

drugs but also as a reprocessing station, and even towards

expanding the market with Tajik consumers, all part of

the plans of international criminal groups to destabilize

the situation in our country. Still, the bulk of the drugs

finding their way into our territory is still destined for

transshipment to other countries, primarily European ones

through Russia and the Transcaucasus. In this sense, the

Tajik-Afghan border is the first line of defence for many

other States, and the joint efforts of Tajik and Russian

border guards to plug the leaks in it are serving the

interests of a substantial part of the international

community.

We note with satisfaction that our appeal has not

gone unheeded and that over the past year there has been

a breakthrough in Tajikistan’s cooperation with the

relevant United Nations agencies, in particular the United

Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP),

whose leadership’s support for the measures taken by the

Government of Tajikistan to combat drug trafficking is

becoming ever more active.

Under the agreements and projects reached and

developed between the Government of Tajikistan and

UNDCP, a number of specific activities are planned to

increase the anti-drug capabilities of law enforcement

agencies and the military, in particular those operating in

areas adjoining the Tajik-Afghan border. An anti-drug

agency reporting directly to the President of the Republic

has been established. Cooperation between Tajikistan and

UNDCP is a shining example of how efforts can be

combined in order to fight shoulder to shoulder against

one of the most terrible human evils. We are open to this

kind of cooperation with all interested States, international

organizations and institutions.

The world has recently been witness to brazen acts

by international terrorists who are increasingly operating

under the banners of political extremism and religious

fanaticism. Tajikistan shares the view that the fight

against terrorism is one of the most pressing problems

facing mankind today. Suffice it to mention the situation

in Afghanistan, which confirms that narco-dollars are

helping create an environment favourable to terrorism.

We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations

and deem it necessary to coordinate the actions of the

entire world community to eradicate this scourge at the

global, regional and national levels. We think it would be

useful to convene, under United Nations auspices, a year-

2000 conference to decide on joint organized world action

to combat terrorism; this will be discussed at the fifty-

fourth session of the General Assembly.

3

Tajikistan has consistently supported United Nations

efforts in the sphere of environmental protection. We

appreciate the growing United Nations attention to the

serious ecological problems facing our country and other

States of Central Asia. We hope that the approach of the

year 2000, which the United Nations has declared the

International Year of Mountains, will help mobilize the

international community’s potential to help preserve

biodiversity and natural mountain ecological systems. This

is of particular importance to Tajikistan as a predominantly

mountainous country.

We note with satisfaction that the leadership of the

Secretariat, in particular Under-Secretary-General Sergio

Vieira de Mello, is showing increasing interest in

cooperation with our country to ward off the threat of a

major natural disaster in the Central Asian region related to

the problem of lake Sarez.

In this context, we believe it is time to focus world

attention on the question of fresh water in all its aspects.

Therefore, Tajikistan has proposed that 2003 be declared

the International Year of Water. This initiative is prompted

by the menacing deterioration of a situation in which

millions of people lack access to clean water. It is well

known that because of water pollution half of the world’s

population lives in unsanitary conditions; more than 5

million people a year die, and more than 3 billion become

ill. As the population increases, the likelihood of “water

wars” between States for sources of fresh water grows ever

greater. Issues of water and other challenges of the new age

are thus directly linked to problems of security in the

context of interdependence.

In addition to its humanitarian aspects, the problem of

water has other dimensions, in particular economic and

ecological ones. Water is our common heritage, and it is

necessary to ensure that all States share in the responsibility

to preserve it for the benefit of future generations.

Constructive global cooperation could become a worthy

political dimension of the twenty-first century, and could

guarantee that this will never acquire a military aspect.

We hope that the international community will respond

favourably to our initiative on the resolution of water

problems, which are of crucial importance not only for

Tajikistan, which is rich in water resources, but also for the

majority of other States Members of the United Nations.

It is vital to repair broken links and to create a new

model for relations, particularly in the area of transport and

communication. Addressing that key task will to a large

extent determine the development in the next millennium

of all Central Asian States that lack an outlet to the sea;

these include Tajikistan.

My people has drawn new strength from peace and

stability. The construction of a railroad, industrial

enterprises and social infrastructure is now under way

along the ancient historic Great Silk Road, which runs

through the territory of Tajikistan. This year we are

completing construction of a transboundary route that will

give us access to the sea. That is our contribution to

restoring direct communication among individuals and

peoples along an ancient route that in the Middle Ages

served as a bridge between East and West and that made

possible dialogue among civilizations.

We expect that in the near future goods will flow

along this route in both directions. This will undoubtedly

foster better mutual understanding among all peoples of

the East and the West, and also will have a positive effect

on strengthening regional security and cooperation among

neighbouring countries in Central Asia.

Experience has shown that turning to one’s own

roots is always a powerful means of spiritual therapy,

especially for those who have overcome the tragedy of a

fratricidal war and are entering a period of active post-

conflict reconstruction. Now we are at the stage of

renewal and of building a new democratic society, and we

look back once more at our long history. At a time when,

with active support from the United Nations, the process

of national reconciliation is nearing its objective, our

country is celebrating the 1,100th anniversary of the

founding of the State of the Samanids, which marked the

birth of Tajik statehood. We express our appreciation to

the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization and to all the States and international

organizations that responded to our appeal and have

supported efforts to undertake international activities

devoted to this momentous anniversary.

The age of the Samanids was not only a time of an

unprecedented flourishing of science, culture and

philosophy and of the emergence of Tajik statehood. It

was also the time of the birth and blossoming of the

mediaeval humanism that so enriched world civilization.

Allow me to express the hope that in the third

millennium, now so close, the humanistic ideals will

illuminate for the world community the arduous road to

universal peace, sustainable development and peaceful

construction.