PERMANENT MISSION OF THR REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN TO THE UNITED NATIONS

ADDRESS

BY

His Excellency Mr. Emomali Rakhmonov

President of the Republic of Tajikistan

To the 54th Session of the

United Nations General Assembly

General Debate

New York, October 1, 1999

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Distinguished Mr. President,

Engulfed by flames of conflict, Afghanistan is a source of many threats destabilizing situation in Tajikistan, the entire Central Asia and far beyond.

Countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States foster active bilateral and multilateral cooperation in stopping incursions from Afghanistan and proliferation in our region of militant ideology of Taliban, arms, crime, terrorism and various forms of extremism.

I wish to particularly emphasize the seriousness of drug problem.

The protracted war in Afghanistan, in particular, has turned this country into one of the main drug centers in the world.

The Taliban movement has chosen a dangerous path having turned the territory under its control into a gigantic drug producing and distribution factory. Defying the appeals of the international community this "factory of death" continues to increase its capacities.

Allow me to remind in this connection my proposal on creation of "security cordon" around Afghanistan to stop the flow of drugs from this country, put forward at the 20-th special session of the General Assembly in June 1998.

This idea was born out of concern that Tajikistan under prevailing social and economic conditions in the country is ill-equipped to reliably secure its

1 500 km-long border with Afghanistan.

There is also a tendency to use Tajikistan not only as a transit route for drugs but also a reprocessing station and even consumer market for local residents, which is part of plans of international crime groupings to destabilize situation in our country. However, a greater part of drugs finding its way to our territory is still destined for transshipment to other countries, primarily - through Russia and Transcaucasia - to European countries.

In that sense Tajik-Afghan border is a first frontier line of many other States, and joint efforts of Tajik and Russian border guards to secure this border are in the interests of a substantial part of the world community.

We note with satisfaction that our appeal has not been unheeded and that the past year has seen a breakthrough in cooperation of Afghanistan with relevant UN agencies, in particular the UN International Drug Control Programme whose

leadership has even more vigorously supported measures to combat drug trafficking taken by the government of Tajikistan.

In accordance with agreements between the government of Tajikistan and the above UN Program and designed projects, a number of specific activities are planned to increase anti-drug capacities of law enforcement and military structures of our

country, in particular those operating in the area along the Tajik-Afghan border.

The anti-drug agency reporting directly to the President of the Republic of Tajikistan has been established.

Cooperation between Tajikistan and the UN Drug Control Program is a good example of joining efforts in order to collectively fight against one of the most horrible human scourges.

Recently world has witnessed brazen actions of international terrorists who increasingly act under the banners of political extremism and religious fanaticism.

Tajikistan shares the view that fight against terrorism is one of the most pressing problems facing mankind today. Suffice it to mention the situation in Afghanistan that confirms that "drug dollars" contribute to creating favorable environment for terrorism.

We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and deem it necessary to coordinate actions of the entire world community for eradication of this scourge at global, regional and national levels. We consider useful an idea

of convening under the auspices of the UN in the year 2000 of a conference to elaborate joint organized actions of the world community to combat terrorism, an item that will be discussed at the 54-th session of the General Assembly.

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