SECRETARY-GENERAL"S REMARKS ON PRESENTATION OF GIFT FROM JAPAN

Press Release
SG/SM/7547

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REMARKS ON PRESENTATION OF GIFT FROM JAPAN

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at Headquarters today on the presentation of a gift -- The Peace Bell Garden -- from Japan:

I am delighted to be with you today in this wonderful sanctuary dedicated to the cause of peace. Just over a week ago, I had the good fortune to get a sneak preview: we stood in this haven as we rang the Peace Bell to mark the opening of the General Assembly -- just as we do every year to make our commitment to the ideal of world peace heard far and wide.

This year, the ceremony had a double meaning, for we were also ringing in the Millennium Summit and, I hope, a new millennium of peace. And thanks to the people and Government of Japan, this exquisitely designed garden gave the ringing of the bell double resonance.

How striking that this Peace Bell Garden should be located just on the other side of the window from the Hiroshima statue bearing the eternal scars from a nuclear bomb 55 years ago. How right, and indeed necessary, that it should give us the space and time to reflect on those scars.

And how apt that today in this garden, we will be planting new seeds of peace in the form of an apricot tree. I hope that in the years to come, our tree will bear fruits of friendship to inspire succeeding generations in all nations. And I hope that as we in the United Nations go about our daily work, we will pause often in this garden and let its serenity guide us in the service of peace. On behalf of the United Nations, thank you, Japan. Hontoni Arigato Gozaimashita. [Hon-TOH-NEE Ah-REE-gah-to Go-ZAI-MAH-shita -- thank you very much.]

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