Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is quite clear that the new
millennium is bringing us not just global changes: it marks a watershed in the life of
humanity.
There is no question that
globalization is the dominant and irreversible trend of our time. Today, however, there is
also no question that globalization, which is shaping the contours of the new world order
and clearly represents a manifestation of progress, can also have quite a few negative
implications for many, if not most, states.
There is a number of factors at play
here and a chief among them is a stark inequality between states of the world community.
It manifest itself even in the words we use on a daily basis to reflect the varying degree
of this inequality. Thus we speak of rich and poor states, developed and economically
backward countries, nations endowed with a resource potential and those who have already
exhausted it and so on.
Inequality also manifests itself in
the pattern of resource consumption. Developed countries that, as is known, account for 20
percent of the world's population, consume 80 percent of global resources. There is also a
widely-known forecast to the effect that, given the current pace of development, the
global economy over the next few decades can provide employment for only 20 percent of the
world's able-bodied population. This is only one global challenge of the new millennium,
and it is by no means the only one.
If only a small group of highly
developed countries stands to reap the fruits and benefits of globalization, this will
inevitably lead to confrontation, conflicts and social upheavals that would be much more
devastating than the ones the human civilization experienced last century and the
centuries before that. If the United Nations fails to address this problem, if it does not
adequately meet these challenges, it may cease its existence, having exhausted its
potential, as did the League of Nations on the eve of second world war. The peoples of the
world are looking up to their leaders with hopes that they will find the best ways to
address global problems.
In this context, I believe that both
the United Nations and the national Governments must make mutual commitments. First, each
country should clearly and with a sense of responsibility define its position with respect
to globalization processes in order to envision and, as far as possible, neutralize their
possible negative manifestations. Second, as part of its work to moderninize its activity,
the United Nations could undertake, as a priority task, to develop a model of
globalization that would integrate, to the fullest degree, the interests of all, so to
speak, marginalized countries. At the same time, it should more adequately address the
concerns of most people in the developed countries, since the disparity among their
population will inevitably continue to grow.
This model should also incorporate
measures to enhance the effectiveness of existing security systems and to develop new ones
that would meet the demands of our time. It is no secret that, despite some major
accomplishments, the United Nations has not always been successful in addressing the
challenges of maintaining peace and security. In this regard, along with enhancing the
peace-making potential of the United Nations and, first and foremost, of its Security
Council, it could be a very promising endeavor to utilize the potential of regional
security systems and to promote cooperation with them.
There is no doubt that such
arrangements as OCSE or the Conference on Interaction Confidence-Building Measures in
Asia, which is already taking concrete shape, or the Shanghai 5, could in many function
quite efficiently.
Active involvement of regional
security systems in the processes of maintaining stability and security could also help
take the edge off the problem of humanitarian intervention. With their assistance and the
support of the Security Council, many conflicts can be resolved without gross interference
into the internal affairs of sovereign states.
A pressing need to develop such
approaches is demonstrated, among other things, by the processes currently under way in
Asia. Afghanistan has become one of the sore spots of the world. More than twenty years
after the intervention of the Soviet troops, the longsuffering people of this country
continue to experience all the horrors of war. The instability and poverty in this country
have turned its territory into a breeding ground for extremism and international
terrorism, spreading not only in Central Asia but throughout the world. Afghanistan
produces up to three thousand tons of raw opium annually which is then processed and
shipped to Europe and the United States.
At their recent meeting in Bishkek,
the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan discussed this problem
and called on the United Nations and the world community to provide their countries
assistance in normalizing this situation. We believe it is necessary to convene a special
meeting of, the Security Council devoted to the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia
to develop practical measure to stabilize the situation.
The threat of nuclear proliferation
could also be included in its agenda, since a strong confrontation has developed among
some nuclear-weapons states. A number of countries of the region are at the threshold of
acquiring these weapons. After the disintegration of the US SP, Kazakhstan inherited a
huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. Our country has set a precedent by a voluntarily renouncing this
arsenal. That is why today we again call on all nuclear-weapon states to take concrete
steps to eliminate nuclear arms.
As an improvement of the activity of
the United Nations in the era of globalization, we believe it would be advisable to
promote within its structure such institutions which, on the basis of a global analysis of
the situation, could provide early warning about emerging conflicts, formulate
recommendations for early intervention and prevent military solutions to conflicts while
effectively promoting preventive diplomacy and humanitarian actions. Such institutions
could become an irreplaceable tool for addressing social and economic problems that are
the source of instability.
Ladies and
Gentlemen:
In late 1943, at the Teheran
Conference, where the question of the future world order was first discussed, a great
American, President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, addressed the
participants in the Conference with these words:
"We have differing customs and philosophies and ways of life ... But we have proved here in
Teheran that the varying ideals of our nations can come together in a harmonious whole,
moving unitedily for the common good of ourselves and of the world".
I believe that this statement is
relevant for us too, as we stand on the threshold of the 21st century, a century of dramatic changes, a century
of globalization which, we all hope, will bring common good to humanity as a whole.
The world has become a global and
interdependent place where global partnership should become an overriding principle.
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