FIFTY YEARS PROVES UNITED NATIONS ESSENTIAL TO WORLD'S FUTURE, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL AT HEADS OF STATE LUNCHEON

Following is the text of the toast delivered by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the luncheon for heads of State and government held at Headquarters on 22 October:

I am grateful to heads of State and government for coming here to mark the first fifty years of the United Nations. The United Nations deserves the honour you show it by your presence. This is because the United Nations is the Organization that works for tomorrow.

We are proud of our first fifty years. We have done a lot. We have learned a lot. The record of the past half century is clear. While others were called to deal with the problems of the present, the United Nations proved able to forecast -- and address -- the problems of the future.

The United Nations looked into the future and saw that decolonization must be a universal objective. Here in this room are the representatives of that success. The United Nations looked into the future and saw that the poorest peoples must have a voice. The United Nations has become that voice. The United Nations looked into the future and saw that the environment and economic development must be considered together if both are to be sustained.

The United Nations looked into the future and saw that the advancement of women is essential to human progress on every front. The United Nations looked into the future and saw that the yearning of peoples for democracy must take place in the context of democratization of the international system itself. Fifty years of experience prove that the United Nations is the essential world Organization of the future.

What is our vision of the second half century? It is a vision: of a world where conflicts will often be prevented before they must be countered by force of arms; of a world where material progress will go forward without excluding those now living on the margins of survival; of a world where human dignity and freedom can flourish, where no one is excluded by race, religion, class or gender; of a world where nature is allowed to renew itself, so that it may continue to provide for its human inhabitants.

This is our vision. But of one thing we can be sure. The problems of the next fifty years will be more difficult than those of the past fifty years. The record of the United Nations shows that it can foresee problems. It can forecast solutions. It cannot always be successful. But it will be essential. Of that there can be no doubt.

The world cannot afford to let this institution disappear. It will be crucial to the better life we hope for. Let us combine our efforts. Let us, in good will and with all our hearts, enable the United Nations to serve the world of the future.

* *** *