Statement of the Sultanate of Oman
Before
The Fifty-First Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Delivered by
H.E. Yousef bin Alawi Abdullah
Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs

At the outset and on behalf of my delegation, allow me to congratulate Ambassador Razali on his election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-first session. Oman has long enjoyed close friendly relations with his country, Malaysia, and we are confident that given his leadership and vast diplomatic experience our deliberations will reach a meaningful and successful conclusion, to which end we shall cooperate in every way.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay special tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, the representative of the fraternal country of Portugal, for the exemplary manner in which he steered the work of the previous session.

We also wish to convey our sincere thanks and appreciation for the unwavering support of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. He has enhanced and reinvigorated the role of the United Nations in all areas of interest, in spite of the problems and obstacles faced by the international Organization as a result of its recent financial crisis.

Our celebration last year of the fiftieth anniversary, the Nations golden jubilee, offered us a unique opportunity to review and contemplate the tremendous and substantial achievements of this body over the past five decades, during which this international Organization has made vigorous efforts to save the international community from the scourge of war and to alleviate the sufferings of vulnerable peoples throughout the world. We are fully confident of the United Nations capability to discharge the responsibilities entrusted to it in future by the international community.

Although the world widely considers the Middle East to be a region of great significance, a comprehensive peace has not yet been achieved there. The international community witnessed an important breakthrough with the convening of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference aimed at reaching a comprehensive and peaceful solution to this issue. Since then, concerted and positive steps have been taken to achieve that long-awaited objective, such as the signing of many agreements and conventions between the main parties to the conflict, particularly on the Palestinian-Israeli and Jordanian-Israeli tracks. Such steps have made the peace process in the Middle East more deep-rooted and irrevocable.

All these attempts have been made through the courageous and strenuous efforts of the concerned parties in the Middle East, with the help of international support and assistance. My country's contribution has included support and encouragement of these steps through its contacts with the concerned parties at the bilateral and multilateral levels of the peace negotiations, notably the agreement to establish commercial ties with Israel and other accords with the Palestinian Authority, as well as the agreement reached by the group of founder countries to establish a Middle East research centre for water desalination.

Because of the procrastination and hesitation of the newly elected Government of Israel fully to implement all previous agreements, the peace process in the Middle East requires, now more than ever before, the support of the international community.

The peace process in the Middle East is a mutual responsibility of and full partnership between the Arab countries and Israel. In a partnership, every party must reap the fruits of peace or bear the risks and losses. Proceeding from this understanding, all parties must be treated on an equal footing. Furthermore, my country sees no justification for Israel's continued blockading of the Palestinian cities, both from the humanitarian point of view and because it undermines all relations between the Palestinian people and their Israeli counterparts, as was recently seen in the bloody confrontations that occurred in Al-Quds following the opening of a tunnel by the Israeli Government at an Islamic holy site. Moreover, the expansion of hostilities at the expense of the peace negotiations will serve no one but the enemies of peace and the supporters of confrontation and animosity.

Given such unacceptable measures, my country's efforts to promote the principles of confidence-building and mutual cooperation in this area will be hampered and delayed. We call upon the Government of Israel to close the tunnel. At the same time, we hope that the summit to be hosted today by President Clinton in Washington will be successful.

My country calls upon Israel to assume its primary responsibility for revitalizing the peace process by resuming the peace negotiations and taking credible steps towards the tangible and practical implementation of all agreements reached in this regard. It also hopes that the progress achieved at the Madrid Peace Conference will have a positive impact on all tracks, including the Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli tracks. We believe that it is high time for the concerned parties to capitalize on the lessons of the past and work together in order to restore the momentum of peace and achieve a comprehensive settlement of this issue. In order to preserve the momentum of the peace process, my country will stand ready to extend every possible assistance and to take positive steps to enhance the peace process in the Middle East.

My country expresses its satisfaction with the situation in Iraq in the aftermath of the recent events and developments in the north of the country, which raised tensions and nearly destabilized the region again. We call upon all concerned parties to abide by international law and to focus on the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions on Iraq, as well as to resume and activate the negotiations between the conflicting parties, in order to maintain the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.

On the other hand, we welcome the memorandum of understanding signed between Iraq and the United Nations, allowing Iraq to implement resolution 986 (1995). In our view, if implemented, that resolution will help alleviate the suffering of the brotherly people of Iraq. While drawing the international community's attention to the irrelevant linkage between the implementation of the aforementioned resolution and recent events in northern Iraq, and to the humanitarian appeals inside the country, we call on Iraq to cooperate fully with the United Nations in a manner that guarantees the effective and swift implementation of this resolution. Iraq is also requested to cooperate with the United Nations in implementing other international resolutions on the release of Kuwaiti detainees and properties and the nationals of other countries detained in Iraq, in the hope that Iraq's full compliance and further cooperation with the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq will pave the way for the possible lifting of the international embargo and the restoration of peace and stability in the region.

With regard to the question of disarmament, the United Nations has played an important role in diffusing the threat of weapons of mass destruction and promoting an equitable balance between the regional Powers. My country has participated in the Commission on Disarmament's meetings on regional security as part of an international effort to reactivate peace negotiations in the Middle East. While actively supporting the Commission, the Sultanate of Oman would point out that such efforts alone cannot guarantee equitable security in the region if they are not paired with other effective and practical measures to eliminate weapons of mass destruction there and to promote comprehensive and unconditional acceptance of international monitoring and inspection of all activities related to this matter.

The Sultanate of Oman was also among the first countries to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and the first country in the Middle East to ratify it. This is a clear indication of my country's distinctive role in enhancing security and stability in the region and throughout the world. Similarly, it is a great honour for me to announce to this international forum the Sultanate's decision to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), in the hope that other countries that have not yet done so will follow the same course before the end of the year so as to ensure the Treaty's universality and to secure a world free of all weapons of mass destruction in which all mankind can live in peace, love and prosperity. My country, like many others, voted in favour of this Treaty and, while we salute all who contributed to this major achievement, we call on the United Nations not to stop here, but to continue its efforts to free the world once and for all from all nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. We call upon the nuclear weapon States in particular to implement time-bound programmes in order to achieve this noble objective as soon as possible.

We would like to express our deep concern and regret vis?à?vis terrorist acts that target the lives of innocent people - including children, women and the elderly - and violate their legitimate right to live in peace and prosperity. The international community should take immediate and collective action to combat this phenomenon. We support all sincere and faithful efforts to convene an international conference to address and eliminate this problem and related aspects and to ensure that the perpetrators of such terrorist acts do not go unprosecuted and are brought to justice.

The Dayton Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed a year ago, has proved to be the optimal solution for putting an end to that tragic four-year war, which killed, wounded or displaced many Bosnians. My country welcomes this historic Agreement and made every possible effort as a Security Council member and at regional and international forums to put an end to the suffering of the Bosnian people and the atrocities committed against them and to restore security, stability and prosperity to all the peoples of the Balkans. We hope that the results of the elections held recently in Bosnia will pave the way for a better and prosperous future in which the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina can live in peace, tranquillity and cooperation.

Effective participation in international and regional conferences on environmental issues is one of the ways in which the Sultanate of Oman is helping to improve and coordinate its environmental policies. My country has played an active role in many of these conferences and has hosted some as a contribution to increasing public awareness at the national, regional and international levels. We are fully convinced that, through concerted efforts, the international community can preserve the environment and the world's ecosystems. We emphasize the need for all countries to participate effectively in the international agreements and conventions aimed at conserving the ecological system, preventing environmental degradation, enhancing international scientific exchange and creating an international information network.

In Oman, we focus consistently on the development of human resources, the improvement of our technical and vocational education, the encouragement of the private sector and economic diversification. Our fifth development plan, initiated at the beginning of this year, has several objectives, including the improvement of technical and vocational education in Oman, the encouragement of the private sector and economic diversification and the establishment of an economic balance conducive to foreign investment. We have also updated our tax systems in accordance with an equation that would establish a level playing field for foreign investments. A financial centre has recently been established in Muscat to deal with the activities of foreign trade and investments in Oman. The commercial and regional economic groups have had a major impact on international efforts to expand the range of mutual economic interests and influence the free flow of trade and investment throughout the world. In this context, my country has participated with its sister countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in exploring every possible means to promote and expand free trade and investment among these countries or between any other international groups.

My country has also participated actively in founding a new economic group of the littoral States of the Indian Ocean, including several African countries, to trigger commercial activity among these countries, develop economic cooperation and maximize opportunities for the present and future investment and exploitation of their natural and human resources in the best interests of their peoples. We are confident that the establishment of such a new economic group, which embraces many countries with deep-rooted historic and cultural ties, will ultimately enhance cooperation between its member states and affect other economic factors, such as raw materials, human resources and energy.

Here I would like to talk about Africa. A number of African countries are still suffering from the aftermath of the cold war, which resulted in internal political turmoil and crisis, leading to a decline in gross national products. Africa's role is indispensable. We have to help it assume its natural place on the international scene. We therefore call upon the United Nations and the international community to continue to extend assistance to Africa through further cooperation with all its regional organizations.

Technological progress has greatly speeded communications between countries and economic advancement. My country welcomes the outcome of the summit of industrial countries held last June in Lyon, France, at which these countries reaffirmed their solidarity with the international community's efforts to solve the problems and reduce the burdens associated with globalization. Similarly, the developing countries should benefit from the outcome of the Uruguay Round.

The developing countries are pushing to adopt market-economy policies and undertaking further structural economic reforms in support of free trade and investment. They are also looking forward to the capital flows and technology transfers that can help strengthen their economic and social development, improve the quality of their productivity and upgrade their services. This in turn will enable these countries to increase their development, widen their markets and enhance the international competitiveness of developing countries, creating a more independent world in which stability and prosperity will prevail.

My Government has already requested full membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). We have been following its work for a year now. Our accession to WTO membership would be a big step for us. It would enhance our development, promote our services and upgrade our productivity standards to the fullest level possible. To that end, we must guarantee a reasonable balance between our national interests and regional and international benefits. In this context, the Sultanate of Oman, as a developing country, has been looking forward to receiving the global support and assistance which, under the generalized system of preferences, the international community extends to developing countries to help them address the challenges posed by economic reforms and structural adjustment. In both the short and long terms, the international community should continue to enhance this system.

As can be seen in its national legislation and norms, such as the national law of commercial signs and the patenting system, which governs new inventions within the countries of the GCC, Oman has played a commendable role in protecting intellectual property. Furthermore, a law to protect copyrights and publications has been enacted in the general context of updating and improving the legislation and norms of trade and investment in Oman. Given Oman's support of the principles embodied in the new global trend to protect intellectual property rights and its desire fully to participate and cooperate in this regard, my Government has decided to accede to the World Intellectual Property Organization.

As we approach the twenty-first century, we are prompted by hope to continue to work and cooperate collectively in maintaining international peace and security to enhance life for the current and future generations. Such an objective cannot be achieved without the firm commitment of the international community to reviewing and adopting clear economic guidelines for an urgent and serious approach to the establishment of a permanent, effective economic mechanism to deal with this matter for the benefit of all of mankind. The United Nations should assume the primary responsibility of addressing these great challenges and discharge in an effective manner the global duties entrusted to it by the international community.

We appreciate the complexity of the task of reforming the United Nations and its organs, but we also believe that it can be accomplished through the establishment of dynamic and cost-effective mechanisms for achieving selected goals and meeting the urgent needs of future development plans.

We support the Secretary-General's medium-term proposals for an objective strategy for the programmes of the future work of the United Nations. In this connection, we express our concern regarding the deterioration of the financial situation of the United Nations. We urge Member States to fulfil their financial obligations and thus enable the United Nations to carry out its functions effectively. We would also emphasize the responsibility of the Security Council - its permanent members in particular - to their financial commitments to peacekeeping operations, in coordination with the various regional and international bodies of the United Nations, which collectively endeavour to secure appropriate solutions to international conflicts. We call on the international community to accelerate its efforts to review and reform the administrative organs of the United Nations in a manner that conforms to the global aspirations and expectations of the forthcoming century.