A/38/PV.106 General Assembly

It is my duty to draw the attention of members to the sad news of the death of Adam Malik of Indonesia, which occurred on 5 September 1984. 2. Adam Malik, who was President of the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly, in 1971, as well as former Vice-President and Minister for Foreign Affairs of his country, played a prominent role in the Organiza- tion and made a major contibution towards the achieve- ment of the objectives set out in the Charter. 3. On behalf of the General Assembly, I should like to convey to the members of the family of Adam Malik and to the Government and the people of Indonesia our deep- est and most heartfelt condolences. 4. I now invite representatives to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of Adam Malik. The members ofthe Assembly, observed a minute of silence. 5. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I call on the representative of Indonesia. 6. Mr. ALATAS (Indonesia): On behalf of my Govern- ment and my delegation, as well as on my own behalf, I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to you, Sir, for your warm words of sympathy in commemorating the passing of Adam Malik, former Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia. 7. I should also like to seize this opportunity to express my profound appreciation to all those delegations and to any colleagues who, both at meetings of the Organiza- tion and in person, have conveyed their condolences to us on this sad occasion. 8. The untimely death of Bung-or Brother-Adam MaIik, as he was fondly known in my country, is indeed an irreparable loss to the Government and people of Indonesia. 9. Through a lifetime of selfless and inspired service to his country he has left an indelible mark on the history of Indonesia. His outstanding record as revolutionary freedom-fighter, pioneering journalist, statesman, diplo- mat and, above all, champion of the rights of the com- mon people, will be forever etched on the memory of our grateful nation. 10. In recognition of Adam Malik's contributions in furthering international understanding, as well as of his commitment to the ideals and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, he was elected President of the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly in 1971. He attached special importance to the strengthening of the Organization, as he saw it as mankind's best hope yet of transforming its yearnings for global peace and equi- table prosperity into reality. Monday, 17 September 1984, at 3.45 p.m. NEW YORK 11. It will indeed be my privilege, Mr. President, to convey the expressions of sympathy to the Government and people of Indonesia, as well as to the bereaved fam- ily, who will no doubt find them a source of consolation and strength.

Before taking up the items on our agenda, I should like to draw the attention of the General Assembly to docu- ment A/38/822/Add.l, which contains a letter dated 17 September 1984, addressed to me by the Secretary- General, informing me that since the issuance of his last communication, dated 26 June 1984 [A/38/822], Equa- torial Guinea, Grenada and Mauritania have made the necessary payments to reduce their arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations. May I take it that the General Assembly duly takes note of this information? It was so decided.

I wish to draw members' attention to the fact that there are still five items on the agenda of the current session. The first of those is item 38. Members will recall that at the beginning of the thirty-eighth session of the Gen- eral Assembly I took the initiative of holding unofficial consultations on the launching of global negotiations, to which we are committed under resolution 34/138, approved by the General Assembly by consensus on 14 December 1979. 14. At the last meeting at the resumed current session, on 26 June, I reported to the Assembly on the progress, which had been achieved in the consultations, including the exploratory process which began in October last year and culminated successfully in February this year in the preparation of a summary record. I also reported to the Assembly on the consultations which Mr. Sahnoun, of Algeria, had held subsequently on my behalf, and I referred to the relevant documents which the Secretar- iat had transmitted to Governments at the request of Mr. Sahnoun. I reported in particular that the exploratory process had been characterized at all times by a climate of mutual understanding and good will. Many ideas had been clarified, as had important questions regarding the nature and range of the two-phase approach and its link with other questions. I said that the exploratory process had concluded with agreement that the summary record

I should like to offer a fr.w brief thoughts on the matter that I have just put to the Assembly. 19. Our path has been arduous and difficult, but we have never deviated from our goal of creating the condi- tions in which the international community can find ways and means to reactivate the stalled North-South dialogue. However, efforts made so far have not yielded concrete results, in spite of the valuable contributions made by the Group of 77 and a number of delegations which agree that global negotiations might take place in two phases. 20. As a man from the South, from a Latin American developing country, I continue to harbour the hope shared by millions of men, women and chilC:ren of the third world, that the launching of global negotiations will lead to ways and means of raising to a decent level the living standards of peasants, workers, students, mothers and children in wide regions of the world. 21. No one can deny that global negotiations and a con- structive, appropriate North-South dialogue would open doors, inject new capital into industry and help put an end to the debilitating unemployment afflicting our pop- ulations. We could produce more and sell more if we could get a fair price, and thus pay our foreign debt in an honourable way, not forced by oppressive economic measures imposed by a body which is considered to be a part of the United Nations system. 22. Efforts to obtain a favourable reaction to global negotiations from our partners to the north must be con- tinued, for the economic crisis is not over for the devel- oping countries. The prices of raw materials, in general, are still at the lowest levels in history. Protectionist measures which are applied outside the rules of the inter- national trade system continue to hamper the access of exports from the developing countries to markets in thp. industrialized countries. Capital flows on concesSiOnalj terms have been practically frozen, which has brought about an extremely difficult situation in the poorest countries and has greatly exacerbated the economic crisis

In connection with this item, representatives will recall that on 23 September 1983 [3rd meeting], the Assembly decided to include this item in the agenda of the thirty- eighth session. May I take it that it is now the Assembly's wish to defer its consideration and to include in the draft agenda of the thirty-ninth session the item entitled "Observance of the Quincentenary of the Discovery of America"? It was so decided (decision 38/457).

Representatives will recall that on 23 September 1983 [4th meeting] the Assembly also decided to include this item in the agenda of the current session but deferred a decision on its allocation to an appropriate time in the future.

In this connection, I have received a letter from the represent- ative of Cyprus requesting that the item entitled" Imple- mentation of the resolutions of the United Nations" be included in the draft provisional agenda for the thirty- ninth session. If I hear no objection, I shall take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to do so. It was so decided (decision 38/459).

The Assembly decided on 23 September 1983 [3rd meet- ing] to include this item in the agenda of the present session. I suggest that it would appear desirable to refer consideration of this item to the thirty-ninth session of the General Assembly. 73. Mr. RAJAIE-KHORASSANI (Islamic Republic of Iran): I must sincerely thank the President of the General Assembly at this last meeting for calling on me to bring up a very brief point regarding this item, which is going to be transferred to the agenda of the next session of the General Assembly. 74. This item was introduced by the delegation of Iraq and we had no objection to it. On the contrary, we thought it would be quite useful for the General Assembly to listen to both sides, both viewpoints, and the sometimes oppos- ing arguments and accusations of both sides. We stilI have no objection to its being referred to the next session of the General Assembly. 75. However, there is a more important and more relevant issue now at hand owing to further developments regarding the war. Probably many members of the Gen- eral Assembly, and better than anybody else the Secre- tary-General, who is present here, know very well that an appeal was made to both countries by the Secretary- General in which he tried to persuade both parties to refrain from the use of chemical warfare against each other. My country, which has never used chemical war- fare or had any intention of doing so, welcomed the appeal and responded to the Secretary-General's request immediately and positively. So far, according to our understanding, no response has been made by the other party to the appeal of the Secreta.:y-General. We earnestly request the General Assembly to encourage the other party to commit itself to refraining from the use of chem- ical warfare and to respond positively to the appeal of the Secretary-General. 76. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): May I take it that the Assembly wishes to refer considera- tion of the item entitled''Consequences of the prolonga- tion of the armed conflict between Iran and Iraq" to the thirty-ninth session? Minute of silent prayer or meditation

We are now at the end of the thirty-eighth session of the General Assembly. I invite representatives to stand and observe a minute of silent prayer or meditation. The members of the Assembly observed a minute of silence. The meeting rose at 4.45 p.m. NOTE I See A/39/323, annex H.