SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT AT TREE-PLANTING CEREMONY MARKING FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION
Press Release
SG/SM/5868
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT AT TREE-PLANTING CEREMONY MARKING FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION
19960110 ADVANCE TEXT Following is the text of a statement to be delivered by Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at a tree-planting ceremony on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the first session of the United Nations General Assembly, in London:I do not need to dwell upon the symbolism of a tree. It has been a part of the song and legend of every human society. It has played a role in the history and economy of every nation. Trees are sustained by that very earth that sustains man. In turn, their roots give strength and mooring to that soil. They give shade to man from the extremes in nature's elements, and give protection to the environment itself.
So too is it with the sapling that the peoples of the world planted 50 years ago. For the United Nations is about expectations and aspirations in their most basic and truest sense. Through our common effort, these can be realized just as surely as the tree that will from this tiny sapling grow.
The soil of the United Kingdom has nurtured a nobility of ideas, of faith, of human dignity. Its sons and daughters have died in its cause. This is a moment of remembrance and of reaffirmation, of pride and of promise. I am honoured to have been a part of it.
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