UNITED
NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Opening
Remarks by the President at the Debate
on “Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit”
19 November 2001
Before inviting representatives of the Member States to speak on this agenda item, I wish to draw your attention briefly to its background. As we all know, last year’s historic Millennium Summit produced the Millennium Declaration, and as a follow-up, the General Assembly adopted resolution 55/162, which requested the Secretary-General, among others, to prepare a long-term “road map” towards the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. The Secretary-General’s road map is before us, contained in the document I mentioned earlier.
In this regard, I
would like to thank the Secretary-General and his Special Advisor Mr.
Michael Doyle for preparing this comprehensive report in good time for
our consideration. I believe that the road map provides us with not only
a useful survey of ongoing activities of the United Nations but also a
solid foundation and benchmark on which we can proceed with the implementation
of the Millennium Declaration in the coming years.
As this session of the General Assembly is the first one after the Millennium
Assembly of last year, the task before us requires our renewed sense of
responsibility particularly in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
We need to maintain the political will and momentum of the Millennium
Summit and take a comprehensive and balanced approach in carrying out
and following up the Declaration.
The Millennium Declaration
has set out the future direction for the United Nations in the new era
and covers the whole spectrum of areas where our Organization is playing
a role for the sake of peace and prosperity of mankind. Thus, its implementation
can be effective only through participation by and cooperation among
all actors of international relations including States, the United Nations
system, intergovernmental organizations, international organizations,
regional organizations, and also civil society. In this sense, I would
like to remind the distinguished representatives of Member States of the
great expectations for our debate today held by many observers all over
the world as well as by ourselves within the United Nations. On that note,
I now wish to invite the speakers on the list to take the floor.