REPUBLIC of MOLDOVA

Madame President,

Allow me, at the outset, to extend to you, as well as to Mr. Sam Nujoma, sincere wishes of success in the activity you are carrying out in the capacity of co-chairpersons of the UN Millennium Summit. At the same time, I would like to express to Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, our consideration and support for His Excellency's efforts directed to the revitalisation and strengthening of the role of the UN.

Madame President,

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Distinguished heads of state and government,

Today, at the intersection of centuries and millenniums, it is natural to cast a critical glance over the past, in order to have a clearer lookout for the future. The truth is that many things have changed for the better during last years. The world has become more homogeneous. The feeling of inferiority, by which destinies of many nations have been marked, is disappearing now. At the moment the United Nations were founded, two thirds of its present members were not independent states yet. More than that, in Eastern Europe, of what the Republic of Moldova is a part, the number of countries has doubled. In the same time, we have to recognise that the process of detente is accompanied by the proliferation of the local conflicts, and the poverty has reached huge proportions. In these conditions, besides the efforts, which every state has to make apart, only a strong Organisation of the United Nations would be able to offer us equal chances of development, by diminishing the gap between prosperity and poverty by encouraging the new democratic processes. In this line, there is a need for a deeper definition and more rigorous observation of the conduct rules on the international level, where the United Nations has to play a central role.

One of the main objectives of the UN in the new millennium will be a more efficient management of the information and high technologies achievements, in order to maintain them in the framework of the civilisation development. In the conditions of the environmental deterioration, significant climate changes and proliferation of industrial disasters, as well as the existence of the nuclear threat, the anxiety of the people about future is justified. In this connection, it is necessary to adopt and to implement with strictness the guarantee measures of the nuclear security system in order to decrease the number of the more and more sophisticated arsenals, being guided by the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems.

Madame President,

The adjustment of the UN to the new realities corresponds entirely to our common interests. However, we have to recognise that, although the accomplishment of these objectives will request efforts from every member state, the major role is to be played, as before, by the big states. Albert Einstein used to say that powerful states need no ambassadors, their force speaks for themselves. As for small states, it matters how they express themselves. Being realistic, we realise that the security of XXI century will depend of how the big states will succeed in understanding and in cooperating with each other and of the degree of harmonisation of their interests. At the same time, we wish all these to take place in the conditions of respect for small states' legitimate interests.

There is no doubt, that, as the UN Secretary-General has mentioned in the Millennium Report, all members of the international community should take advantage of the globalisation opportunities. For this purpose we have to find the corresponding modalities to mobilise all the societies, governments and the international financial resources. Only in this way it is possible to build a stable and prosperous world, no matter from what cardinal angle looked at.

Madame President,

The Republic of Moldova reaffirms its support for the further development of the reform process of the UN, in particular of the UN Security Council, by its moderate increase of the number of permanent and non-permanent members and ensuring a better representation of the member states, developed, as well as the developing ones.

Our country welcomes the process of revitalisation and improvement of the General Assembly's efficiency and supports the idea of restoring the central role of the Assembly as a debating and main representative body of the United Nations. As a result of this restructuring all the states will be able to equally express themselves.

The Republic of Moldova, a small state confronting the transition problems, whose territorial integrity is threatened by the conflict in the Eastern regions, caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, facing difficulties as a sequence of a series of natural calamities that happened this year, sees in the United Nations a hope, a support and a guarantee of the development of every country.

Today, the UN faces a new era, where imagination and creativity have to match with a well-tempered optimism and an authentic pragmatism. Those 188 member states of the UN, which presently grant personality and substance to the organisation, possess undoubtedly the material and intellectual resources as well as the political will, necessary for the achievement of certain projects serving the general interests of the mankind. The Republic of Moldova supports the provisions of the Final Declaration of the Summit and joins the international community in its wish to create a better, peaceful and prosperous world.

Thank you.