General Assembly Session 49 meeting 61

The President

The Assembly will first hear an address by the President of Ukraine.

The President

On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations the President of Ukraine, His Excellency Mr. Leonid Kuchma, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

President Kuchma (Ukraine)

Mr. President, I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to cordially congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly. We share the high evaluation of your balanced and, at the same time, dynamic leadership of the work of the forty-ninth session which has already resulted in a number of constructive decisions on a wide range of fundamental issues of world development now confronting the United Nations.

In speaking today from this lofty rostrum I would especially like to emphasize the vital significance of the multidimensional issue of development which actually embodies the driving idea of world civilization.

Indeed, an attempt to formulate a viable agenda for development is at present the highest priority not only for Ukraine but perhaps for all other States Members of the United Nations. The basic objectives that 50 years ago united the founding Members -- Ukraine among them -- of this unique international forum must constantly be enriched with new common tasks taking into account the radical changes in the historical situation we have recently witnessed. Among such tasks, as we understand them in Ukraine, is ensuring lasting peace and political stability through social and economic reforms and development in the interests of people.

The history of mankind testifies that peace and development, democratization and the humanization of the world community are integral components of the general global process.

Peace and stability are impossible without development, as they cannot exist in societies whose nature provides for violence and disrespect for fundamental human rights. It therefore follows that democracy which is declared but not supported by development is doomed to failure. The inability to ensure the development of a society in all its dimensions inevitably provokes disillusionment in the ideals of democracy and ruins social stability.

In turn, development in the absence of democracy, as history has proved, is of a temporary and limited nature, and in practice it results in the reduction of basic social and economic guarantees primarily for developing countries and peoples. In the end, this is fraught with a loss of stimuli to move forward and creates the conditions for stagnation.

In this context, the ideas expressed in the Secretary-General's report are the cementing factor for the cornerstone of restructuring the main direction of United Nations activities as stated in previous fundamental documents -- "An Agenda for Peace" and "The Disarmament Agenda of the International Community in 1994 and Beyond".

The nature of the realities of the contemporary world allow us to assert with confidence that the maintenance of international peace and security and the ensuring of sustainable development of all members of the international community are two equivalent aspects of the proud mission of the United Nations. In this regard, discussion as to our Organization's priorities seem somewhat academic.

Developing this idea in a practical way, I would say that resources expended for assistance towards development and those for activities in the field of maintaining and securing peace in no way compete with each other. The allocation of funds for development today is a preventive measure which allows for the considerable reduction of expenses for possible effective surgical intervention and emergency actions for maintaining peace in the future. In a similar way, peace-keeping activities will undoubtedly contribute to the prevention of the escalation of existing conflicts, which will make available additional resources for development.

An old truth asserts that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is why more efforts need to be made to increase the effectiveness of United Nations preventive diplomacy.

While giving due appreciation to the efforts of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, as well as of the Security Council in this field, I would like to call on them for more intensive application of such methods of preventive diplomacy as fact-finding missions, good offices and goodwill missions, and the sending of special representatives of the Secretary-General to the areas of tension and potential conflicts. In this respect, in our opinion, the proposal to establish a permanently active institution of international mediators which would include the most prominent political and State figures representing countries of all continents, deserves support. Such an institution could also be assigned the function of monitoring democratic elections, which is of special importance at the stage of post-conflict peace-building.

Ukraine has not only declared its adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter but has also proved with practical actions its ability to bear its burden of responsibility as a member of the international community. This concerns the issue of peace-keeping operations as well. Ukrainian military observers took part in the relevant arrangements in Transnistria. Since July 1992, almost from the very start of the Yugoslav conflict, a Ukrainian contingent has taken part in the United Nations operation in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are ready for a further activation and extension of our participation in United Nations peace-keeping arrangements, and we support Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's approach to this problem. At the same time, Ukraine is also ready to join in the search for new forms of conflict-prevention activities.

One of the important links between peace and development is the process of arms control and disarmament. The reduction of armaments and armed forces and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, unequivocally promote a decrease in the level of military threat, thus creating favourable external conditions for the existence and development of all members of the international community.

Ukraine attaches special importance to participation in this process. It has become the first country in the world to voluntarily completely renounce nuclear weapons. It is assiduously meeting the international commitments it has undertaken and is removing the powerful arsenal of this most dangerous type of weapons of mass destruction from its territory.

However, during the entire period following Ukraine's achievement of independence, the international community has concentrated its attention primarily on one question: whether Ukraine will become a no-nuclear State or take another option -- that of appropriating the nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union as a reliable means of deterrence.

An abstract answer to that question was too simple: to eliminate the weapons and forget about the matter. But we in Ukraine had many other questions, including the following: how to ensure Ukraine's security; by whom and at what expense the nuclear weapons would be eliminated; how to compensate for the labour and material invested by the Ukrainian people in the production of these weapons; and what would be the fate of the thousands of servicemen who maintained these weapons, as well as the families of those servicemen. I emphasize this because we needed time, as well as the understanding, tact and patience of the international community, in order to find answers to those questions. Ukraine has recently demonstrated to the whole world that it adheres to its commitments and has also shown consistency and reason in paving the way to non-nuclear status.

This issue was finally solved very recently. On 16 November 1994 the Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada -- its Parliament -- approved the decision to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). With this step Ukraine has reconfirmed that it is a responsible member of the international community and that it takes into equal account the interests of its own security and the imperatives of security for all.

In taking this historic decision the Parliament of Ukraine was counting on an appropriate response from the world community to our State's voluntary renunciation of nuclear weapons, something that had never been done before in the history of mankind. Let me remind the Assembly that from the very beginning Ukraine hoped that in response to its initiative to eliminate the nuclear weapons deployed on its territory it would receive adequate support and assistance in meeting its real expenditures for the elimination of these weapons, as well as guarantees of its security from the nuclear States and appropriate compensation for the cost of the nuclear materials contained in the weapons.

Today there is every reason to assert that, in spite of all its economic and political difficulties, Ukraine is acting consistently and, what is most important, in the interests of all mankind. I regret to have to say from this rostrum, however, that our policy has met with no adequate response. So far Ukraine has not obtained the necessary compensation for tactical nuclear warheads already withdrawn, while assistance under the Nunn-Lugar Act is being rendered very slowly and, on the whole, does not meet the terms established. There are still other problems connected with the provision of political security guarantees. This, by the way, is not the only case in which agreements reached have not been properly implemented by our partners.

All of this makes the positions of Ukraine, as a young independent State, politically sound. However, we would like to make sure that those States that linked the provision of real assistance with our accession to the NPT will maintain the same position and be ready today, not tomorrow, to do their part and to turn declared promises into real support for the large-scale market reforms that I intend to promote vigorously, making use of all the means available to Ukraine's executive branch. When addressing the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 16 November this year and speaking in favour of Ukraine's accession to the NPT, I was definitely counting on our partners' keeping their word.

It is time for everyone finally to realize that sustainable development is not only necessary for maintaining the existing security systems at the global, regional and national levels, but is also an objective condition for the existence and development of our entire civilization. The issues of development, in all their dimensions, are especially important for Ukraine.

A whole complex of negative factors, both objective and subjective, has led to Ukraine's now finding itself at a critical stage of its development. The formation of a genuinely independent State and the transition to a democratic society under the rule of law has been impeded by a difficult economic crisis, the aggravation of which is causing a decline in the population's standard of living. We see the only possible way out of this situation in a radical restructuring of the whole economic mechanism and the successive implementation of market reforms in all spheres of production.

Awareness of the critical nature of the current socio-economic situation in the State has become the determining factor for accelerating, together with experts of the International Monetary Fund, the elaboration of the programme to overcome the crisis and achieve macroeconomic stabilization in Ukraine. The programme of reforms envisages, first of all, liberalization of trade and price policies, privatization of State enterprises through the appropriate comprehensive programme, development of the market economy's legal basis and provision of financial stability by means of budget-deficit reduction and the implementation of a strict and balanced credit and monetary policy.

In recent years Ukraine has been criticized for the slow pace of its reforms. This is the argument that was used for the failure to give it substantial external assistance. To a certain extent such criticism was fair. At present, radical economic reform is one of the main priorities in the activities of the President and Government of Ukraine. There is no alternative to such a course.

Ukraine faces a difficult task, not only in overcoming the economic crisis but also in establishing itself as a civilized, democratic European State that is able to provide for the well-being of its people at an appropriate level and to perform its role as one of the guarantors of stability in the region. We cannot fail to realize that, without moral, political, financial and economic assistance from the international community, this cardinal problem is virtually incapable of solution. The vital interests of both Ukraine and the other States Members of the United Nations depend on its being solved.

The development and strengthening of Ukraine as a politically sovereign and economically powerful State is one of the factors that are essential to the preservation of peace and stability on the European continent and in the world at large -- important prerequisites of conflict-free development. These realities are gradually being realized in the world, as is demonstrated by the forums held in Naples, Madrid, Washington and Winnipeg.

I must not fail to emphasize that in Winnipeg, Canada, the developed States of the world and the leading financial institutions came together, for the first time in history at a special forum rather than in a general context, to discuss the development problems of a specific country and the potential for assistance. This is an indication of historic changes that have taken place in the international situation and of the search for new, effective responses to the challenges of the time. We hope that the outcome of this meeting will have a significant effect on the progress of reforms, not only in Ukraine but also in other post-Communist countries.

In our activities in the international arena, particularly in the United Nations, we proceed on the basis of the fact that the emergence of a new category of States -- those with economies in transition -- is an objective reality following the end of the cold war and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Our experience proves that transformation in the group of countries that I have mentioned will be a time-consuming process and will require considerable effort. In this context, we welcome the fact that the problems of the transition period are gradually being firmly established in the comprehensive activities of the United Nations and its specialized agencies. Ukraine is determined to proceed along the road of further intensification of the cooperation in this area. Thus, we stand for the drafting, at this session of the General Assembly, of more effective and more specific recommendations concerning the integration of countries in transition into the international economic system.

An integrated international economy based on the principles of market democracy should be a global outcome of the implementation of transformation processes. It is difficult to imagine democratic systems functioning normally without complying with civilized regulations governing external trade.

It is no coincidence that the whole world took such an interest in the debates at the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). For the first time in the context of regional and collective efforts, the great Powers took account of the interests of small and less-developed countries. The negotiations ended with the signing of the Agreement, but it will not be implemented in the immediate future.

Ukraine regards the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a development of great importance, and it intends to take steps to join the GATT/WTO system, which we hope will contribute to the development of open, transparent trade and will create additional opportunities to improve the access of export products of countries in a state of transition, including Ukraine, to the world market.

Ukraine is ready to take an active part in the implementation of economic and technical programmes at regional and subregional levels within the framework of the United Nations specialized agencies. We expect that the economic programmes of the United Nations will be oriented more towards States with economies in transition. Furthermore, this group of States has a significant economic infrastructure and considerable scientific and technical potential. If the programmes and projects of the United Nations are implemented in these countries they may have the most immediate positive results. On the other hand, the integration of States in transition into the world economy would promote the expansion of sources of finance for programmes, including those in the developing countries.

I should like to put forward some ideas regarding the challenges that the United Nations faces -- ideas whose implementation would more effectively promote sustainable development in the States Members of the Organization.

In our opinion, the first concrete contribution to this end would be the implementation of Article 65 of the United Nations Charter, under which the Economic and Social Council may submit to the Security Council periodic reports on the socio-economic situation in those regions that pose a potential threat to international peace and security. We believe that this would considerably enhance the preventive role of the United Nations.

Changes that the United Nations is currently undergoing have a direct link with the budgetary and financial implications of the Organization's activities. Without radical reforms in this field, it will hardly be possible to conquer its complicated financial situation. The principle of capacity to pay -- a principle that is widely proclaimed -- should be implemented fully in a practical manner, both in determining Member States' assessments in respect of the regular budget and in apportioning the cost of financing United Nations peace-keeping activities. It is now vital that a political decision be taken with regard to these issues.

We cannot ignore the fact that current conflicts arising in various regions of the world have negative political and socio-economic consequences, not only for the countries directly involved but also for neighbouring States.

A specific example is the fact that we are suffering excessive financial losses as a result of our adherence, in good faith, to the United Nations sanctions regime against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Traditional markets have been lost; economic links with Yugoslav partners have been broken; the transportation of goods by one of Europe's principal waterways -- the Danube -- has practically been stopped. As a result of the enforcement of sanctions, the economy of Ukraine is losing billions. This is an enormous extra burden for an economy that is in a state of crisis. That is why we again call upon the world community to do everything it can to provide effective assistance to those States that are suffering as a result of their observance of the sanctions. In this regard, we shall do our best to ensure that the General Assembly's recommendations to international monetary and financial institutions will not continue to be mere words on paper.

Finally, I want to refer to the problem of Chernobyl, which has long been known to everybody. Recently, the word "Chernobyl" has again acquired broad international resonance. This is due partly to the recent decision of the Ukrainian Parliament to continue operating the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant. Account had to be taken not only of the difficult economic situation of our State but also of a number of other circumstances. The first of these is the fact that the thermal power engineering capacity of Ukraine is incapable of compensating for the shut-down of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

A constructive solution to these problems is possible only through the modernization of the entire power complex of Ukraine, the realization of which is so far beyond our abilities without extensive international support. We think that the issues related to the Chernobyl nuclear power units and their closing should be regarded not as local measures, but as the implementation of the integrated international programme on the Chernobyl disaster and on eliminating its consequences, since Chernobyl, according to ecologists and philosophers, is a problem of global dimensions. In this matter, we are relying on the support of the United Nations.

Next year, the United Nations will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. I should like to recall the principal idea of the anniversary celebration "We the peoples of the United Nations ... united for a better world." For each of us, a better world means sustainable development for all nations, which can be achieved only by the joint efforts of all States through consolidating the principles of equal partnership and mutual respect.

In this connection, we suggest that the possibility be considered of adopting, in the context of the United Nations fiftieth anniversary, a document entitled "Partnership for development". In this document, we propose in particular to call upon all States, both large and small, to set aside suspicion, mistrust and conflicting claims in the name of sustainable economic development in order to manifest solidarity in the cause of strengthening international security, justice and equality, and to declare the importance of developing real partnership and equal relations in all spheres of international life. Ukraine is ready to put its signature to such an important document.

The President

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the President of Ukraine for the statement he has just made.

The President

The General Assembly will now hold, under agenda item 92, "Agenda for development", and pursuant to its resolution 48/166 of 21 December 1993, the first of the special plenary meetings at a high level to consider ways of promoting and giving political impetus to an agenda for development.

Members will recall that at its 30th plenary meeting, held on 13 October 1994, the Assembly decided that this agenda item would be considered in special plenary meetings at a high level, and that subsequent negotiations on this item would take place in the Second Committee.

The report of the Secretary-General on an agenda for development has been circulated in document A/49/665. Also in this connection, the Assembly has before it a Note by the President of the General Assembly contained in document A/49/320.

The importance of the debate on the agenda for development, which opens today with the special plenary meetings on this subject, is well known to all. During my inaugural statement, when I undertook my functions as President of the General Assembly, I said that

"the solidarity and cooperation on which the Charter is based must inspire our actions" (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 1st meeting, p. 3).

I also regretted the spread of poverty and the aggravation of the phenomena of exclusion and social injustice, which are not only morally unacceptable but also constitute a growing threat to peace and security.

I noted, finally, that the United Nations, despite certain limitations, remained an irreplaceable institution that could work simultaneously for the implementation of the two interdependent objectives of the building of peace and the pursuit of sustainable development at a global level.

The international economic order has experienced profound changes during the 50 years that have elapsed since the adoption of the Charter and the establishment of the principal elements of the United Nations system. The considerable and ever-growing gaps which we observe between levels of development, both within and between countries, give rise to a widely felt sense of disappointment concerning the capacity of the system to meet the needs of a world undergoing rapid change.

However, as I have often emphasized, this judgement should be somewhat softened, since there are many examples of the United Nations and the bodies of the system demonstrating their readiness to adapt, to innovate and to promote change.

But before opening the discussion, and in order to place it in its proper context, I should like briefly to recall the various stages of our thinking on the drafting of the Agenda for Development.

First, it should be noted that, through its resolution 47/181 of 22 December 1992, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit to it, in consultation with Member States, a report on an agenda for development. The Secretary-General submitted a first report on an agenda for development in document A/48/935 of 6 May 1994. This excellent report coherently highlights the five dimensions of development: peace as the foundation for development; the economy as the engine of progress; the environment as the basis for sustainability; social justice as a pillar of society; and democracy as good governance. The report also indicates the need to establish a new framework of international cooperation for development that is stronger and more consistent, in order to enhance the effectiveness of United Nations development activities.

Secondly, the General Assembly in its resolution 48/166 invited its President to promote broad-based discussions and an exchange of views on an agenda for development, on the basis of the report of the Secretary-General on the subject. In implementing this resolution, my predecessor, Ambassador Insanally, skilfully led the World Hearings on Development, whose high quality are acknowledged by everyone. The note by the President of the General Assembly, published in document A/49/320 of 22 August 1994, reports on these World Hearings.

The Hearings had the merit of identifying a number of pivotal issues requiring urgent answers, in particular development financing; the difficulties related to international trade; the tragedy of Africa, and especially the paralysing burden of its foreign debt; and, lastly, the link between peace and development. The World Hearings reached the conclusion that it was necessary to transform both the formulation of global development problems and the system of international cooperation for development.

Thirdly, it should be recalled that the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council engaged in an in-depth analysis of the Agenda for Development last July during its consideration of the Secretary-General's report on this subject, in document A/48/935.

Fourthly, in paragraph 5 of resolution 48/166, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit his recommendations to follow up the consideration of his report at the various levels mentioned. In his last report on the Agenda for Development, in document A/49/665, the Secretary-General submits his recommendations, which are based on the following three objectives: revitalizing international development cooperation, establishing an effective multilateral development system, and ensuring more efficient and effective United Nations development activities.

As to the revitalizing of international cooperation for development, there is a need for action both on national development policies and in the international context. On the national level, the improvement of countries' macroeconomic performance and the well-being of their people must be reaffirmed as a national priority. The aim of development must be anchored in sustainability and implemented within the framework of a solid partnership between public authorities, the private sector and civilian society. On the international level, extremely relevant comments were made; I focused attention on three of them in particular.

First, I fully share the feeling that such external macroeconomic parameters as access to external markets, debt management, direct investment, capital flows and access to technology must promote the objectives of development. In this context, I believe that the problem of foreign debt should be considered in a new light, taking due account of the real situation of the debtor countries. Similarly, I understand perfectly well that Africa, which is still one of the five priorities for United Nations action, and the least-developed countries must be the subjects of a more concrete and effective commitment on the part of the international community. The specific case of the economies in transition in the former Soviet Union should be properly addressed.

The second element of interest to me concerns the link between disarmament and development, which has gained particular urgency in this post-cold-war period. That is why I feel that the idea of holding world hearings on the link between disarmament and development is highly relevant.

The third point within the international context which I regard as central is that a genuine consensus platform for development is now gradually being built around an ongoing series of United Nations conferences and summits. This new international dynamic, which was marked by the success of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development and will be enhanced by the Copenhagen World Summit on Social Development in March 1995 and the 1995 Beijing Conference on women and development, is in my view a propitious factor for launching a new North-South dialogue in which the requirements of interdependence will be specifically reflected in the framework of a more rational partnership. In this regard, I cannot but endorse the idea of convening within the General Assembly an international conference on development financing, which could be organized in close cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions.

Concerning the establishment of an effective multilateral development system, I feel that the recommendations aimed at strengthening the General Assembly's role both in identifying critical questions on the promotion of an integrated concept of economic and social development and in mobilizing the international community to give concrete form to these objectives are essential for the drafting of a new framework for cooperation for development. Similarly, the reforms planned for the Economic and Social Council will help it better to support multilateral action for economic and social development.

Thirdly, and finally, as to measures to ensure more efficient and effective United Nations development activities, there is simply a need to give a more concrete content to the original mandate of the United Nations in the economic and social spheres. Indeed, it should be pointed out that the mission and responsibilities of the United Nations in the area of development flow directly from the Charter and that the experience acquired over the 50 years of its existence should serve to remind us that the United Nations can be a real force for peace only if it is also a real force for development. It is therefore indispensable today to restore development activities to the centre of United Nations activities.

The discussion being held today during the consideration of the Agenda for Development should take into account the various elements I have raised here. Moreover, our discussion should be facilitated by the fact that consensus is beginning to emerge on the priorities and dimensions of development. It seems to be recognized that this consensus should be expressed in a new framework for international cooperation.

Finally, I should like to note that a new impetus has been given to the efforts made within the framework of these major international conferences to relaunch international dialogue on development and strengthen the United Nations role in this area. This impetus must be maintained, and it is up to the Member States represented in our General Assembly to give the necessary political directions.

The time has therefore come to move from theory to action, and from compiling and analysing reports to formulating action-oriented policies and seeking a sustainable consensus. Today's debate should mark the dawn of a new phase in the process of drawing up an Agenda for Development.

On the basis of the wealth of information and proposals in the reports of the Secretary-General, the Hearings held by Ambassador Insanally, the debates in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and our recent general debate, we must begin to define policies -- international and national -- and institutional measures to help us advance towards our two fundamental goals: placing development at the top of international priorities and giving the United Nations the role of the driving force for economic and social progress, as intended by the authors of the Charter.

The end of this part of the session is approaching. Although drafting an Agenda for Development must in all probability continue next year, we should begin the process at the speed demanded by the gravity of the problems to be resolved and by the outstanding prospects before us.

I should like to propose that the list of speakers in the debate on this item be closed today at noon.

The President

I therefore request those representatives wishing to participate in the debate to inscribe their names on the list as soon as possible.

Mr. Lamamra (Algeria) --> -->

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