Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen –and Happy New Year!

We start the year with anxiety –anxiety over the prospect of war in Iraq, over nuclear proliferation in the Korean peninsula, and over what seems like violence without end in the Middle East. Even Côte d'Ivoire, which used to be one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa, is now caught in the downward spiral of conflict.

The threat of global terror hangs over all of us. We don't where or when it will strike next.

And these are only the crises in the headlines!

The worldwide AIDS epidemic will claim many more lives this year than even a war in Iraq would, and will then go on claiming more and more lives in 2004 and 2005. In southern Africa and the Horn of Africa, as many as thirty million people face the threat of starvation this year. And poverty everywhere is condemning mothers and infants to premature deaths, sending them to bed hungry, denying them clean drinking water, keeping them away from school.

Meanwhile, climate change is already here. It is one of the reasons why we have so many storms, floods and droughts, causing more and more humanitarian emergencies and tragedies.

And yet, I am still an optimist.

Today's threats are not the first we have faced. What's more, I believe in the last ten years or so we have been learning how to cope with them better.

It took too long, but the war in Bosnia was brought to an end. Kosovo is now being rebuilt; East Timor is independent; the horror in Sierra Leone was stopped; Ethiopia and Eritrea stopped their war, too.

Looking ahead, we can see that we are within striking distance of reuniting Cyprus, ending the long civil war in Sudan, and pacifying the Democratic Republic of the Congo –the battleground of what some have called Africa's first world war.

Nations working together can make a difference. Nations upholding the rule of law can advance the cause of a fairer world.

So that is the basis of my hope as we move into 2003.

I remain convinced that peace is possible –in Iraq, in Korea, and even between Israel and Palestine –if states work together on all these problems, with patience and firmness.

And I am convinced that terror can be defeated, too –if the 191 Member States of the United Nations pull together to deny terrorists refuge and cut off their funding.

Before taking your questions, let me mention two other issues that are of particular concern to me at the moment.

I already referred to the threat of famine in Africa. As you know, it is particularly acute in southern Africa. At the heart of the problem is the crisis in Zimbabwe –a country which used to be the region's bread-basket, but is now wracked by hunger and HIV/AIDS. This tragic situation is caused partly by the forces of nature, and partly by mismanagement. We could debate endlessly which of them made the greater contribution. But the challenge now is for all Zimbabweans to work together and with each other, and with the international community, to find solutions before it is too late.

The second is Venezuela. For the past 20 years, Latin America has been embracing democracy and turning its back on autocratic forms of government. I hope those who seek to bring about change in Venezuela will respect this achievement, and stick to democratic, constitutional means, in keeping with the principles of human rights and justice.

Let me conclude by saying that we should not see this as an age of threats, but as one of many new opportunities. Ours is the first generation that can defeat poverty –if we put our minds to it, and if we hold our leaders to the pledges they made here at the Millennium Summit.

Yes, the world is a messy place. But the instruments are there to deal with these problems, and foremost amongst them is the United Nations itself.

Thank you very much. I will now take your questions.