Former president of Slovenia delivers speech at Lanting Forum on Global Security Initiative

(ECNS) -- Former president of Slovenia Danilo Türk delivered a speech Tuesday at the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative.

The following is the full text of the speech.  

Mr. Moderator,

Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor, as well as my personal pleasure to address you at this important gathering – the Lanting Forum devoted to the Global Security Initiative.

We are all honored by presence of the Foreign Minister Qing Gang. Mr Minister, I wish you all success in your work at your new and highly important position.

Our meeting is taking place less than a year after President Xi Jinping launched his much-needed and very welcome Global Security Initiative.

We meet at a moment of great complexity. This is a time of serious security problems and, yes, the time of rising tensions directly affecting global peace and security.

Threats to international peace and security – both traditional, including the use of military force, and non-traditional - continue to persist. The mentality of cold war is taking hold in much of the West, affecting global security and making international communication more difficult and less productive.

As a result, there is a serious danger of misunderstandings. “The cognitive dissonance” continues to grow, and with it grows the danger of the self-fulfilling prophecies suggesting the inevitability of armed conflicts in the future.

The disturbing realities of our time call upon all the peoples of the world and all states to rededicate themselves to peace and peaceful cooperation. This recommitment is needed to ensure the survival and progress of humankind. Urgent political and diplomatic activities are called for to reduce tensions, to enable a constructive dialogue and to find solutions for global security.

This is the time when the wisdom of the Global Security Initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in April last year is particularly important. The Global Security Initiative offers a strong conceptual framework for global security dialogue and cooperation.

It rightly emphasizes the centrality of respect for sovereignty, integrity and dignity of all states and non - use of force and non-interference in internal affairs of states, the essential values of global importance enshrined in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

United Nations remains the best existing hope for the future of the humankind. All states should behave in accordance with the United Nations Charter. No individual state and no group of states should engage in strengthening their security at the expense of other states. All states should pursue dialogue with other states based on the principle of mutual respect. No state, not even the most powerful one, can succeed basing itself on self-interest alone. Unilateralism, self-righteousness and imposition are not the way of building a better world. Only cooperation based on the respect of others and of the legitimate interest of others - and of international law in general - promises a way forward.

It is essential that such a way forward is chosen now, when the world is facing unprecedented global challenges, including the ones resulting from an ever-intensified global warming.

Great powers of today hold special responsibilities. They have to recommit themselves to the principle that nuclear war cannot be won and therefore must never be fought. Moreover, they have to demonstrate their respect of each other and preparedness and will to work together. They have to make every effort to reduce the dangers of misunderstanding and miscalculation in matters of peace and security – and in all other politically important matters.

For all these reasons, the world needs an intensified, respectful and honest discussion on international peace and security. The Global Security Initiative of President Xi offers a most welcome platform for such a discussion.

Importantly, this discussion must not be limited to states alone. It must include the academia, business communities, civil society actors and all people of goodwill.

This is the reason why our meeting today is so important.

I wish Lanting Forum all success.