Statement by

His Excellency Dr. Javad ZARIF

Deputy-Minister for Foreign Affairs of

the Islamic Republic of Iran

before the

Twentieth Annual Meeting of Ministers for

Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 and China

New York, September 27, 1996

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I would like to congratulate you for the excellent manner in which you and your delegation have been carrying out the important task of coordinating the Group of 77 since the beginning of 1996.

My congratulations also go to the distinguished delegation of Tanzania for its election to the chairmanship of this Group during the course of the next year.

Mr. Chairman,

Interdependency and globalization are two features of the world economy which create both challenges and opportunities for sustained economic growth and sustainable development, particularly that of developing countries. Under these circumstances, the international community has shown its recognition of the urgent need for the creation of a favorable and conducive international economic and financial environment, a positive investment climate and an open, rule-based, equitable, secure, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable multilateral trading system through the adoption of various resolutions and agreements at all levels.

Against this background, it is of particular importance that states should comply fully with international law and, in particular, the Charter of the United Nations. Actually, such considerations prompted the General Assembly to declare the period 1990-1999 as the United Nations decade of international law. But, despite the emergence of a new international environment, certain states regrettably continue to apply unilateral actions, including the continued promulgation and application of laws and regulations whose extraterritorial impact severely affect the sovereignty of other States and the legitimate interests of their peoples.

Several resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty, and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States exemplify those concerns.

In addition, consideration of this important issue by all recent major international conferences indicates that this matter is multi-dimensional and affects all aspects of the development of the targeted countries, particularly in social and economic fields.

In this connection, the futile attempt by the United States for generalizing its domestic laws and regulations beyond its territory and encouraging and even threatening the others to undertake similar measures aiming at crushing the legitimate authority and sovereignty of an independent nation clearly runs counter to the fundamentals of international law which are the basis of all existing international agreements, including the principles establishing the World Trade Organization.

The international community, particularly the developing countries should resist against and refrain from such actions which not only do not help international cooperation for elimination of their exhausting problems but also because of some illusive reasons and only for the promotion of selfish interests of one power inhibit them from establishing constructive relations based on the principles of humanity and international law.

Exercising such illegal and (select: illogical - oppressive - outlaw) behavior in international relations, exacerbate current non-acceptable international economic environment which is in addition combined with protectionism and unilateralism. Furthermore, this attitude will result in insecurity and anarchy which replace peace, security and cooperation. Furthermore, such irresponsible manifestations have irreparable effects on people and industrial, economic and social development of targeted countries, including increasing poverty and reducing their financial resources.

We echo the call by the Ministerial Declaration upon certain developed countries to immediately eliminate all forms of coercive economic measures with negative extraterritorial impacts on the development of developing countries which undermine the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law and freedom of trade and investment. Taking such stances by the Group of 77 and China vis-a-vis the imposition of lawlessness actions against the interests of the members of the Group certainly strengthen the solidarity among us. In the same token, we strongly condemn the recent inhuman acts of Israel in occupied territories which is contrary to related UN resolutions and completely deprive the Palestinian people from their right to development.

Mr. Chairman,

The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the idea spelled out in the declaration regarding the need for defining mid-term and long-term strategies to further mobilize collective strength of our Group on various international development issues. I would like to take this opportunity to renew my last year's call for the convening of ministerial meetings, once every five years, to devise strategies on new and emerging issues concerning developmental needs of developing countries.

We attach particular importance to all efforts for boosting and advancing South-South cooperation. We also believe that a large proportion of potentials in the South still remain unexplored. Ways and means for promoting cooperation among and between us should continuously be examined at all levels. The Islamic Republic of Iran appreciates the offer made by the Government of Costa Rica to host, in January 1997, a South-South Conference on Finance, Trade and Investment and sees it as a valuable contribution to identifying innovative strategies for accelerating the pace of economic and financial cooperation among developing countries. We committed ourselves to fully cooperate with the Government of Costa Rica for a successful Conference.

Regarding the negotiations on the Agenda for Development, we have been witness of reluctancy on the part of our partners in the developed world to take adequately into account the legitimate and logical position and concerns of the developing countries. From our perspective, it is necessary that we have an agenda for development as soon as possible, but at the same time, we should have an assessment on whether our concerns and interests are taken care of.

As far as the question of UN reform is concerned, the need for a more efficient and effective UN is an undeniable fact. However, the overall objective of any restructuring and revitalization should be to place the issue of development on the top of the agenda of the United Nations.

I thank you.