South Africa, 2002

I would like to join in thanking

the outgoing President of the General Assembly for the

diligent manner in which he managed the affairs of the

Assembly. I would also like to congratulate you,

Mr. President, for taking over the leadership of the

Assembly at its fifty-seventh session. We hope that you

will have a successful tenure in your stewardship of

this important body.

Allow us to also welcome Switzerland and East

Timor to membership of the United Nations.

Two years ago, the world's political leaders met

at this place and, through the historic United Nations

Millennium Declaration, reaffirmed our faith in the

United Nations Organization and its Charter as

indispensable foundations of a more peaceful,

prosperous and just world. That an unprecedented

number of heads of State and Government had gathered

at the United Nations to make that commitment to

cooperation among the peoples of the world — to

peace, prosperity and justice throughout our

universe — gave hope to the billions throughout the

world who know the painful meaning of oppression by

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another, of war and violent conflict, of poverty and

injustice.

None of those who spoke from this podium knew

that a year after they had pledged to use their energies

and talents to provide a meaningful life for all, peace in

this country and the rest of the world would be brutally

challenged by the murderous terrorist attack of 11

September. We meet a day after the anniversary of that

fateful 11 September. We have a collective duty to

reaffirm our united resolve to create a world free of the

fear of terrorism. We have a common task to ensure

that this Organization truly lives up to its obligations to

do all the things that make for peace. We have a solemn

obligation to give real meaning to the message of hope

we proclaimed in the Millennium Declaration. It may

be that future generations will say that if we have

learned anything at all from the horrendous events of

11 September, it is that the General Assembly should

dedicate its efforts to the accomplishment of these

tasks.

In keeping with that perspective, we have come to

the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly to

report that the peoples of Africa have risen to those

challenges by forming the African Union. Our Union is

based on the principles enshrined in the Charter of the

United Nations. It results from the transformation of

the Organization of African Unity, which championed

the cause of the unity and independence of Africa for

nearly 40 years. The African Union is Africa's

practical and determined response to its past and

present, in favour of peace and stability, democracy

and human rights, cooperation, development,

prosperity and human dignity. Its programme for the

socio-economic revitalization of our continent is the

New Partnership for Africa's Development, which must

help us to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment

throughout Africa and, within the context of the

African Union, end Africa's humiliation as an object of

charity.

Clearly, the objectives of the African Union and

the programme enunciated in the New Partnership

essentially, and of necessity, seek to advance the aims

contained in the Millennium Development Goals.

Naturally, the United Nations — as an Organization

seized of the task to address the critical issues of peace,

human rights and poverty eradication within the

framework of sustainable development — will forever

be central to the success of the African Union and the

accomplishment of the goals of the New Partnership

for Africa's Development. Accordingly, on behalf of

the united peoples of Africa, we are honoured and

privileged to commend to this Organization both the

African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's

Development. We are convinced that with the support

of the United Nations, we will transform this into an

African century.

We are happy that there are encouraging peace

processes in Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic

of the Congo and the Sudan, with the Comoros already

having held successful elections. We are particularly

pleased because these positive developments will

create the possibility for millions of our fellow

Africans to reaffirm the sanctity of human life and

security and to engage in the important tasks of

rebuilding their countries to bring about a better life for

all.

As part of our commitment to wage a sustained

struggle to realize the long-deferred hopes of the

peoples of Africa, we have agreed to the establishment

of various institutions, including a peer-review

mechanism, which must help us ensure that we honour

our commitments to democracy, human rights and good

governance. I am confident that the United Nations will

work closely with the African Union and that this

premier Organization of the peoples of the world will

use its vast and invaluable experience to ensure that the

African Union delivers on the important and pressing

duty of achieving sustainable development in each and

every country on our continent.

Together, the agencies of the United Nations and

the organs of the African Union must give priority to

such matters as human resources development and

capacity-building, modernizing Africa's economy,

dealing decisively with the intolerable debt burden,

ensuring access of our products to the markets of the

developed world, spreading the emancipation and

empowerment of women, combating communicable

and other diseases — including AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis — and fighting against environmental

degradation.

At the end of August and the beginning of this

month, the people of South Africa and Africa were

honoured to host the World Summit for Sustainable

Development. A number of far-reaching decisions were

taken at that important Summit to ensure that we will

bequeath to the next generations a better, humane and

equitable world based on what we agree are the

11

inseparable pillars of sustainable development:

economic development, social development and

environmental protection. Delegates from around the

world enshrined the decisions they took in the

Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the

Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development

to ensure that the billions of people who have placed

their fate on our collective shoulders have a concrete

programme of action to realize the goals contained in

Agenda 21 and other documents adopted by the world

community of nations during the last 10 years.

The Johannesburg Summit confronted the stark

reality that billions of people across the world are poor,

and it boldly confirmed the need for us to collaborate

for a shared human prosperity through sustainable

development. We agree that this goal can be achieved

because we are inspired by the knowledge that the

resources needed exist within the global community.

Indeed, Member States have already committed

themselves to make available the means necessary for

the implementation of our plans, especially finance,

technology and capacity-building.

It is critically important that we implement

everything we agreed, acting with the necessary sense

of urgency. Again, this we will do together, under the

leadership of the United Nations, while we continue to

strengthen the multilateral system of global governance

as the only viable international response to all our

challenges. Fundamentally, this is the only credible

response to the challenge of globalization and the need

to enhance human solidarity to meet our common

needs.

It has been our privilege to chair the Non-Aligned

Movement for the past four years. During that time, the

Movement has ensured constant dialogue between the

countries of the North and South, which has advanced

the commonality of interest between States, confirming

the view that the future of all humanity is interlinked.

We are pleased that the views of the Movement have

helped to inform the advance towards a better life for

all, to which we have all committed ourselves by word

and deed.

In February next year, Malaysia will assume the

responsibility of guiding our Movement as it responds

to the changed and changing global environment. I am

certain that this will add new strength to the Non-

Aligned Movement in the interests of all humanity,

especially the poor of the world. As before, the Non-

Aligned Movement is committed to the peaceful

resolution of all conflicts, including those pertaining to

Palestine and Israel, as well as Iraq, in keeping with the

resolutions of the United Nations. These are urgent

tasks to which the Organization must respond.

In conclusion, let me recall that two years ago in

the Millennium Declaration more than 150 heads of

State or Government resolved that “we believe that the

central challenge we face today is to ensure that

globalization becomes a positive force for all the

world's people” (resolution 55/2, para. 5). Through

both our global and our regional programmes we can

and must ensure that globalization indeed becomes a

valuable process which will bring about sustainable

development and prosperity for all.

From this fifty-seventh session of the General

Assembly must surely issue the unequivocal message

that the peoples of the world are united in their resolve

to sustain the message of hope by advancing the goals

of peace, of democracy, of prosperity and of

sustainable development.