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Subject: UN  ASSEMBLY PLENARY -- TAKE 5
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Date: 10 Oct 89 17:27:19 GMT
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UN  ASSEMBLY PLENARY -- TAKE 5

     Posting Date: 10/09/89        Copyright UNITEX Communications, 1989
     UNITEX Network, USA           ISSN: 1043-7932

     V.A. KRAVETS, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Ukraine, said
     the wheel of history could not be reversed.  "Inviolability of
     the post-war borders constituted the foundation of peaceful
     relations in Europe."  He shared that clear and unambiguous
     position with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal
     Republic of Germany, Hans-Dietrich Genscher.  The time had come
     for specific actions that would allow activation of the
     mechanism of political and legal restraint, as well as the
     peace-making potential of non-military components of security.
     The United Nations should play a major role in that. He
     supported the call for early consideration by the Geneva
     Conference on Disarmament of the problem of a comprehensive
     nuclear-test ban.  The proposals to extend the 1963 Treaty to
     underground tests was a possible way of addressing that
     problem.  A mutual Soviet-United States moratorium on all
     nuclear tests could serve as a prelude to a verifiable
     comprehensive nuclear-test-ban agreement.

     Should the arms race extend to outer space, he continued,
     international security would be undermined unpredictably, and
     the threat of global catastrophe would increase immeasurably.
     Outer space must remain peaceful and open for international
     co-operation in exploring it for the benefit of all nations.

     There should be no areas closed to disarmament talks, he said. A
     comprehensive approach to solving disarmament problems appeared
     to be most productive.  The socialist countries, members of the
     Warsaw Treaty Organization, saw the Vienna negotiations'
     immediate goal as establishing in a first-stage agreement common
     ceilings, equal for both alliances, on the aggregate numbers of
     troops and amounts of main types of armaments in Europe. New
     levels would be considerably lower than the current lowest levels
     of either side.  Drastic reductions of armed forces and
     conventional armaments in Europe in the next few years, coupled
     with a phased reduction and, eventually, elimination of tactical
     nuclear weapons would serve as an effective means of reducing
     the risk of war.

     He favoured extending confidence-building, observation and
     limitation measures to cover all kinds of military activities,
     including those of navies and air forces.  No types of armed
     forces or armaments should be exempted from the negotiating
     process.  To ensure international security, an effective
     verification regime was necessary.  It should embrace all aspects
     of the disarmament process, leading to the establishment of a
     comprehensive disarmament verification system.  The United
     Nations should make a substantial contribution to its
     elaboration.  The Security Council should seek to ensure
     security at the lowest possible levels of armament in individual
     States which would be sufficient for defence and insufficient
     for offence.

     He emphasized the importance of the United Nations in developing
     a global strategy for channelling resources released from
     armaments towards social and economic development.  Disarmament
     should become a complementary resource for raising peoples'
     living standards and give them tangible benefits.  The

     international public should also exert still more vigorous
     efforts in the context of the World Campaign for Disarmament.

     Continuing, Mr. KRAVETS said the world needed a policy that would
     take into account realities of the nuclear age to make headway
     in attaining a political settlement of existing crises.  "We
     need a new thinking that would have us view the world not in the
     light of confrontation and a 'balance of forces', but in the
     light of a 'balance of interests'."

     He was appreciative of the United Nations' contribution to
     drafting and concluding the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan.  The
     Organization should continue to play a major role in ending the
     bloodshed and attaining political solutions to Afghanistan's
     affairs.  The situation around Afghanistan could be best settled
     through an international conference to be attended by
     Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India, China, the United States, the
     Soviet Union and the country that was serving as Chairman of the
     Non-Aligned Movement.  It would be convened to reach agreements
     ending supplies of weapons to the warring parties and
     guaranteeing Afghanistan's status as a demilitarized and neutral
     State, friendly towards its neighbours.  The provisions would be
     included in the country's new constitution.  Such an approach was
     fully in keeping with the imperative and spirit of the times.

 * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)


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