44th Session
20th Plenary Meeting, 5th October, 1989

Speech by Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao

My delegation warmly welcomes the assumption by Ambassador Garba of the stewardship of
the forty-fourth session of the General Assembly. He is an eminent personality and
distinguished representative of a country with which we have the friendliest of relations. We
are confident that, with his well-known diplomatic skill and experience, the deliberations of
this session of the Assembly will be both fruitful and purposive.

I should like to pay tribute to my friend Mr. Dante Caputo for the outstanding leadership he
provided for the forty-third session of the Assembly.

1989 has been a year of consolidation of the much-enhanced role of the United Nations in
international affairs. The Organization has had its peace-keeping or observation teams in
almost all the troubled regions of the world, and everywhere they have been creditably
discharging their functions. The critical contribution of the United Nations peace-keeping in
the world was recognized by the well-merited award last year of the Nobel Peace Prize to the
United Nations peace-keeping forces.

We admire the sure touch, assurance and promptness with which the Secretary- General, Mr.
Perez de Cuellar, has been discharging the onerous and growing responsibilities now being
entrusted to the United Nations. In this he has displayed quiet competence and a remarkable
insight in to the Organization's great potentialities as well as its limitations.

The Secretary-General referred in his report to "the renewal of confidence in multilateralism"
(A/44/1, p. 3). Today multilateralism is no longer an ideal; it has become a necessity. Its
ultimate validity has been driven home by the threat posed to human survival by the
nuclear-arms race, the degradation of the environment and other non- military threats to
security, such as poverty, underdevelopment, over-population and inequality, both within and
among nations.

Multilateralism today has to deal with a new generation of problems. We have to cope with
the rapid changes in the pattern of production, consumption and trade brought about by the
technological revolution. We have to give direction to the new integrationist trends in the
world economy, with a view to optimising their benefits. We have to evolve new rules,
regulations and regimes to cope with new problems and opportunities in the fields of trade,
manufactures, services, environment and science and technology.

The United Nations, as a linchpin of this multilateralism, must be strengthened. This is the only
organization which is global in scope, universal in membership and mandated by a treaty in the
form of the Charter. India welcomes the renewed confidence in the United Nations on the part
of the major Powers.

Renewal of confidence in multilateralism cannot be partial or selective; it has to be total and
all-embracing. It is unfortunate that, whereas the United Nations is now able to assert its
rightful role in the political field, it is still not regarded by the major economic Powers as an
appropriate forum for serious negotiations on economic issues. My delegation sincerely hopes
that this imbalance will soon be redressed. The ongoing process of the formulation of an
international development strategy for the 1990s and the forthcoming special session of the
General Assembly devoted to international economic co-operation provide an excellent
opportunity for it.

On the United Nations lies the onerous responsibility of bringing to the Namibian people their
long-awaited independence, for which they have undergone so much suffering and made such
heroic sacrifices. The process is well under way. The United Nations Transition Assistance
Group, under the guidance of the Secretary-General, has so far done a creditable job under
trying conditions. However, the path to Namibian independence is still strewn with many
obstacles. To ensure the conduct of free and fair elections, great vigilance and caution need to
be exercised, particularly by the Security Council. The lacunae and distortions in the election
process should be identified and speedily removed. After the elections the Constituent
Assembly should have the sovereign and unfettered right to frame the country's Constitution.
The United Nations must ensure that there is no set-back to the process now under way and that
the outcome of the elections truly reflects the wishes, hopes and aspirations of the Namibian
people.

While Namibia's independence will signify the end of the South African regime's illegal
occupation of that country, the citadel of apartheid in South Africa itself will still remain
intact. Claims are being made that the racial atmosphere in South Africa is undergoing change.
The world is, however, watching carefully to see the quality, extent and pace of the change that
the South African regime is willing to bring about. Apartheid cannot be reformed; it has to be
totally dismantled. There is no half-way house to restoring human dignity and protecting human
rights. The South African regime must demonstrate its willingness to negotiate unconditionally
with the genuine representatives of the people of South Africa. In order to create a suitable
climate for negotiation, it should release Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, lift
restrictions on political organisations and end the state of emergency. It must also show a
desire to deal with the front-line States without intimidation and on the basis of equality and
the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

The forty-third session of the General Assembly closed on a note of optimism on the
Palestinian question. The bold and courageous initiative of President Arafat and the initiation
of the United States-Palestine Liberation Organization dialogue had created a positive climate.
However, the situation still remains deadlocked. The intifadah, the unarmed Palestinian
struggle, continues amidst increasing repression.

There can be no durable peace in West Asia without a just and comprehensive settlement,
based on the realization by the Palestinian people of their inalienable right to
self-determination and the recognition of the rights of all States in the region, including
Palestine and Israel, to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders.
We are convinced that for this purpose the United Nations-sponsored International Peace
Conference needs to be convened urgently.

The long civil strife in Lebanon has fractured the country's constitutional, political and
economic framework. The success of the latest effort of the high-level Committee of the Arab
League in bringing about a cease-fire is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. We hope that the
current political dialogue will lead to national reconciliation and that peace and stability will
soon return to Lebanon.

Two months ago the Conference convened in Paris raised hopes for the future of Cambodia.
Significant progress was made at the Conference on many elements of the overall package.
However, differences persisted among the Cambodian factions on some of the basic issues,
resulting in the Conference's ending without making any breakthrough. The completion of the
withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops from Cambodia is a major, positive development. For
further progress now it is necessary to adopt a balanced approach that takes into account the
reality prevailing in Cambodia and the security and other interests of the countries of the
region, and that provides for the cessation of all foreign interference and intervention in the
internal affairs of Cambodia, so that the people of Cambodia can exercise their right to
determine their own destiny. It is equally important to ensure at all costs that Cambodia is
prevented from becoming once again the victim of the universally condemned genocidal
policies and practices of the Pol Pot regime. The danger of the recurrence of fighting in
Cambodia, of which the first signs are already visible, must be arrested. For this purpose,
there is an imperative need for the cessation of arms supplies to all Cambodian factions.

India is concerned at the blood-bath in Afghanistan, which has continued even after the Soviet
Union completed the withdrawal of its troops on schedule. We call once again upon all parties
to observe strictly and implement the Geneva accords in letter and spirit, to give up the futile
search for a military solution and to come to the negotiating table for a political solution.
Those who are trying to resolve the question by military means are only prolonging the agony
of the people of Afghanistan. President Naiibullah recently made a series of far-reaching
proposals for national reconciliation which in our opinion deserve serious consideration.

India has maintained traditionally close relations with both Iran and Iraq. We are therefore
dismayed at the lack of progress in translating the cease-fire agreed upon last year between the
two countries into a durable peace. My delegation supports the Secretary-General in his
efforts to secure the implementation of Security Council resolution 598 (1987) and help
resolve the vexatious issues between the two countries.

We are encouraged by the optimistic note struck by the Secretary-General regarding the
prospects for resolving the long-standing problem in Cyprus on the basis of the sovereignty,
unity and territorial integrity of that country.We urge him to redouble his efforts so as to take
full advantage of the present propitious climate.

We are happy at the prospect of peace in Central America and the role the United Nations has
been called upon to play in that process. The leaders of five Central American countries and
the parties directly involved in the problems besetting Central America deserve our
compliments for their statesmanship and foresight. We wish them success in implementing the
Esquipulas process and the Tela agreement in their collective bid to restore peace.

In the Korean peninsula, which unhappily remains divided, there is an overwhelming sentiment
in favour of peace, reconciliation and dialogue. India supports all efforts aimed at the peaceful
reunification of Korea. In conformity with the principle of universality, India supports the
aspirations of the Korean people to contribute actively towards the realization of the purposes
and principles of the United Nations through representation in this world body.

The international community should oppose racial discrimination wherever it is practiced. In
Fiji efforts to institutionalise racial discrimination are continuing with hardly any resistance
from the international community. The report of the Constitution Inquiry Advisory Committee
does very little to eliminate the racially discriminatory character of the draft constitution. As
the Foreign Minister of New Zealand has pointed out, the Committee has failed to question the
serious departure from fundamental democratic principles". We hope better sense will prevail
before it is too late.

In Myanmar, the situation remains unstable as a result of the continuing repression of the
democratic aspirations of the people. We sincerely hope the Burmese authorities will respond
to the urging of their people for freedom and democracy and work with them to bring the
present tensions to an end.

The recent breakthrough on some crucial aspects of the negotiations in the framework of the
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) has come as a welcome relief and has brightened
hopes of an early conclusion of the negotiations. It is essential that the agreement be clinched
without further loss of momentum.

In the meantime, the arms race moves apace without any sign of a let-up. Nuclear- weapons
testing goes on unchecked, and so does the search for new systems and technologies and the
modernisation of existing weapon systems. The continued testing of nuclear particle beams,
stealth bombers, smart weapons and new missiles is hardly going to inspire confidence in the
world at large, much less among the interlocutors themselves. Those developments tend to
confirm our basic apprehensions regarding the qualitative arms race, as clearly referred to by
the Secretary-General in his report. Hence India's proposal for monitoring scientific and
technological developments which have a bearing on international security.

There can be no meaningful progress either in nuclear disarmament or in achieving nuclear
non-proliferation in the true sense of the term unless the doctrines of nuclear deterrence which
underpin the present nuclear-arms race are discarded. In our view, that is at the root of the
present dithering.

It was in view of those considerations that at the third special session of the General Assembly
devoted to disarmament Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi presented India's action plan for the
total elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2010. I call once again upon all countries,
particularly the nuclear-weapon States, to initiate the necessary multilateral negotiations with
the overall aim of moving towards a nuclear-weapon-free and non-violent world.

For the past several years, the international community has been pressing for a comprehensive
chemical-weapons convention. The agreement recently reached between the United States and
the Soviet Union, and the statements made last week in this Assembly by President Bush and
Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, will no doubt facilitate an early conclusion of such a
convention. We hope that all outstanding issues will be resolved and a chemical-weapons
convention signed during 1990.

With the positive prospect of disarmament there is now a real opportunity to release resources
from the military sector for development purposes. Even if such resources are utilized for
development in the countries involved in the process of disarmament, it-will bring some
benefit to the world economy. However, a conscious effort must be made to ensure that part of
those resources go where they are most needed: to the developing countries. Appropriate
institutional arrangements should be made within the United Nations for giving concrete shape
to the link between disarmament and development so that the present opportunities are
harnessed in the direction of global peace and security.

In recent years the world has witnessed a cancerous growth of terrorism at all levels. India
supports all measures that would discourage terrorist acts, particularly the taking of innocent
men and women as hostages. The recent international awareness against this menace must be
translated into concrete actions to curb terrorism.

Since the General Assembly last met there has been an encouraging expansion in world trade
and output. However, the external environment for the development of developing countries
continues to remain unfavourable. Official development assistance has been stagnating in real
terms well below the internationally-agreed target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product.
Other financial flows, particularly commercial flows, virtually dried up in the latter half of the
1980s. Commodity prices, in real terms, remained at the lowest levels reached in the past 50
years.

Protectionism continues to constrain developing countries in their efforts to increase their
exports. Decisions on global economic issues that affect developing countries continue to be
taken in forums which exclude them.

Many developing countries are carrying out structural adjustments in their economies, as part
of their effort to interact more closely with the mainstream of the world economy. This task
can be performed in the context of a much more open, co- operative and growing world
economy. The major challenge is to work out a package of policies which should ensure the
return of the world economy to higher growth conditions shared by all groups of countries.

It is essential for this purpose to revitalize the north-south dialogue on the basis of mutuality of
interest. Hence the Presidents of Egypt, Venezuela and Senegal and the Prime Minister of India
took the initiative, in Paris in July this year, to call for the commencement of a process of
summit-level consultations among developed and developing countries on global economic
and environmental issues. Some major industrialized countries, such as France and Canada,
have already responded positively to this initiative. We hope for a positive response from
others.

The debt problem is shackling the growth of the heavily indebted countries. A welcome
development in this regard is that various plans have been mooted and in a few cases, notably
Mexico, elaborate packages involving cancellation or reduction of debts, have been
negotiated. However, the level of resources required for these plans to make a real dent on the
problems of indebtedness, while putting their economies back on the path of growth, are not
forthcoming. And the conditionalities attached are far too onerous.

The debt problem threatens to engulf even those developing countries which, despite severe
difficulties, have so far managed their debts and balance-of-payments accounts well. In most
of these countries, the debt-gross national product ratio has increased rapidly. This has
coincided with a decline in real terms in concessional flows of resources which has pushed
these countries towards higher commercial borrowings. This, in turn, has aggravated their
already serious debt-servicing burden. Any comprehensive solution to the debt problem
should include a set of anticipatory measures to prevent this category of developing countries
from falling into the debt trap, by increasing the flow of development finance, particularly
concessional resources, to them.

The Uruguay Round of trade negotiations provides an excellent opportunity to the international
community to address itself to the asymmetries and distortions in the international trading
system and to take measures for preserving and strengthening it. We are, however, concerned
over the emerging imbalances in the negotiations because of the inadequate priority being
given to the areas of special interest to developing countries and the growing pressures on
these countries to undertake new obligations. In the new areas, the developmental,
technological and public-interest needs of the developing countries should be taken fully into
consideration. High priority should be given to the removal of barriers to the transfer of
technology to these countries, and to the elimination of restrictive business practices followed
by transnational corporations. Specific measures should be provided for the promotion of
service industries of importance to developing countries.

There is, unfortunately, a tendency in some major industrialised countries to force their will on
trading partners and to adopt unilateral coercive means to penetrate their markets in the name
of liberalisation. Such measures are unjust and irrational. They are hardly conducive to the
success of a major multilateral undertaking like the Uruguay Round.

The new centres of economic power are becoming the focal points for regional integration
efforts. But we are concerned that this new economic regionalism may lead to the vivisection
of the world economic system. Answers to our present-day complex economic problems do
not lie in the narrow havens of regionally integrated markets but in a larger harbour of truly
multilateral exchanges and interactions.

Collective self-reliance through south-south co-operation constitutes a principal plank of the
platform of the non-aligned and other developing countries. Unfortunately, progress in this
field has so far lagged behind expectations. A more determined effort backed by political will
at the highest level is required. We look forward to the recommendations of the South
Commission on this important subject.

Drug abuse and illicit trafficking in drugs have become the scourge of the present- day world.
Hardly any country is immune from it. It is imperative, consequently, that the entire
international community co-operate in the urgent task of combating this menace. In this
connection, I welcome the proposal made by the distinguished President of Colombia calling
for a special session of the General Assembly to deal with the drug problem.

Environmental issues have recently surged to the forefront of international concern. This is one
of the major items on the General Assembly's agenda and, as we prepare for the world
conference on environment and development proposed to be held in 1992, India strongly
supports a comprehensive multilateral approach to solving the environmental problems.

Environmental issues are closely related to development and they cannot be viewed in
isolation. In the first World Conference on Environment and Development held in Stockholm
in 1972, the then Prime Minister of India, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, had driven home the crucial
link between economic development and the protection of the environment by characterising
poverty as the greatest pollutant.

Here in the General Assembly, environment has been an area of consensus, a unifying concern.
We hope it will remain so. This can happen only if the legitimate concerns of the developing
countries are addressed adequately in any global endeavour to tackle environmental problems.
International measures to deal with these problems should not attempt to freeze development
and progress at the present unequal level.

Since the process of development in developed countries has led to the present environmental
predicament, these countries have the major responsibility for taking corrective action, apart
from the fact that they have also the wherewithal, both financial and technological, for this.
Unfortunately, the tendency recently has been to rely on regulatory measures which do not fully
take into account the existing asymmetries in the level of industrialisation and modernisation of
the developed and developing countries. From the point of view of the developing countries,
supportive measures that enable them to protect the environment without compromising their
development needs and priorities are of greater importance.

Turning to the practical aspect of the question, the proposal of the Prime Minister of India,
Shri Rajiv Gandhi, made at the Ninth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned countries held in
Belgrade in September, for the creation of a Planet Protection Fund (PPF),has received wide
attention and support.

We are particularly encouraged by the support extended to the PPF by President Vassiliou of
Cyprus and by Prime Minister Brundtland of Norway. The proposal envisages a fund to which
all countries, developed and developing, will contribute, except the least developed countries.
The fund will be used to protect the environment by developing and purchasing
conservation-compatible technologies in critical areas that can then be brought into the public
domain for the benefit of both developed and developing countries. In our view, the creation
of such a Fund is a sine qua non for arriving at a global compact for combatting environmental
degradation. I hope the General Assembly will be able to lend its support to that proposal.

As I speak here in my capacity as representative of India, my mind inevitably goes to a date
next month, 14 November. It was on that day, 100 years ago, in 1889, that a great Indian was
born. His name was Jawaharlal Nehru. He was born in riches, but sacrificed his all to join the
struggle for India's freedom. In 1947, when India became free, the mantle of leading
independent India fell upon him. Having seen the atrocities and indignities heaped upon man
by man, having imbibed the lesson of truth and non-violence from his mentor Mahatma Gandhi,
he emerged with a vision for India and for the world that was different from conventional
wisdom. He spoke of the superiority of moral force over military force. He spoke of
non-alignment against bloc politics. He spoke of one world even as the world itself was being
pulled as under.

In the beginning, his was a lone voice. But soon, his association with Tito' Nasser and many
other leaders led to the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement. Today, a vast majority of the
nations of the world are members of the Movement, and those who are outside it recognise it
as a major force in world politics and seek to associate themselves with it. Jawaharlal Nehru
brought to the Non-Aligned Movement the age- old message of peace-a precious heritage of
all the great civilisations of the world. It was that message of peace that resounded at the ninth
Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which happened to coincide with the centenary of
Nehru's birth. Let me conclude with the message of peace that Nehru gave to the Assembly 33
years ago. He said:

"I have no doubt that all the peoples of the world are passionately desirous of peace. I doubt if
there are any people anywhere who desire war. Certainly the common man all over the world
desires peace passionately. If that is so, why should we not follow the path of peace? Why
should we be led away by fears, apprehensions, hatred and violence?"

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