SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS 'GROUP OF 77' HAS RESPONSIBILITY OF MAKING UN MORE RESPONSIVE TO TODAY'S NEEDS

Press Release
SG/SM/5881

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS 'GROUP OF 77' HAS RESPONSIBILITY OF MAKING UN MORE RESPONSIVE TO TODAY'S NEEDS

Following is the text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's statement delivered today at the meeting of the "Group of 77" developing countries:

The Group of 77 is at the center of the work for world progress and justice. I am happy to be here among so many old and beloved friends.

Last year we met to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the birth of non-alignment. I congratulate Ambassador Felipe Mabilangan of the Philippines on his chairmanship during the past year. You successfully guided the Group through a heavy and important agenda. The movement has emerged from its anniversary year with new vigour and sense of purpose.

Today, as we open a new year, we open as well a bright new chapter for the future of the Group of 77. I congratulate Ambassador Fernando Berrocal Soto of Costa Rica, on his election as Chairman of the Group of 77. Your election is a tribute to you personally, and to the commitment of your country to the principles of international cooperation and solidarity for peace and development. Dr. Fernando Naranjo Villalobos, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, is with us today. We warmly welcome you, Excellency.

For more than three decades, the Group of 77 has pursued the cause of economic development of developing countries. The Group has led the way in the establishment of norms, standards and goals for international cooperation for development.

Today, we are intensifying this effort. The challenge of development in all its dimensions includes environmental sustainability, social equity and democratization.

In the past few years, the United Nations has enabled people from all over the world to join together in a series of world conferences. Key aspects of global change and development have been the focus.

These conferences are the central pillars of an effort to forge a new global consensus -- economic, social and political. They are making a contribution to human progress. They are giving millions of people new hope for the future.

Key elements of a new global understanding have begun to emerge:

Economic growth is fundamental. It is the engine that drives household and government consumption, private and public capital formation, and progress for health, welfare and security.

Investing in people is essential to progress on any front. Development is for people. Their well-being is the aim, and the measure of success.

A strong and vibrant civil society is essential if the achievements of development are to be maintained and shared by all.

Active attention to social justice is crucial, so that fragmentation and disintegration do not tear the fabric of human relations from within.

Respect for the environment is indispensable. Social and economic needs must not undermine long-term resource availability or the viability of the eco-systems on which our world depends.

Democratization is the key to long-term peace and the driving force for progress on all fronts.

Peace, development, democratization -- these are the great tasks of our era. These are the tasks entrusted by history to the United Nations. These are the foundation for hope in our common future.

The Group of 77 must serve as a catalyst for progress. You represent the majority of the United Nations. You have a major stake in the success of this agenda. You have the responsibility of making the United Nations more responsive to today's needs. You can make every effort more effective in meeting the challenges of tomorrow.

As we approach the end of this cycle of conferences which have set a new course for development cooperation, the role of the Group of 77 will be critical. We need you to ensure that there is proper integration, and active follow-up to these conferences. The forthcoming Habitat II Conference in Istanbul should be seen as an opportunity to carry these goals forward.

Last year, the United Nations celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Among world leaders, and world citizens, there was a reaffirmation of the importance of the United Nations. There were strong words of support.

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There is a new and far-reaching understanding that the United Nations is not one of the luxuries of international life. The United Nations is:

-- Calling for action to bring development to all nations;

-- Directly supporting economic development efforts everywhere;

-- Saving children from starvation and disease;

-- Providing food, clothing and shelter for refugees;

-- Delivering humanitarian relief to devastated areas;

-- Countering the new international threats of crimes, drugs, disease;

-- Defending human rights in individual cases as well as through international commitments;

-- Advising, training, monitoring and institution-building in countries seeking to democratize; and

-- Maintaining cease-fires, preventing conflicts from erupting, peacemaking between adversaries and peace-building in devastated countries.

The United Nations is the only machinery we have for collective cooperation among all nations. It is the only global tool for promoting peace and security. It is the only universal mechanism for protecting human rights. It is the only shared framework for strengthening international law. It is the only world-wide institution for furthering development.

I hope that the reform process now under way in the Organization will be approached in this spirit. Organizational reforms must be built on the emerging consensus on the role of the United Nations which has resulted from recent global conferences. Reform must provide the United Nations with the means and improved structures it requires to meet the needs of the membership in a vastly changed, and rapidly evolving, international environment.

The United Nations needs more than just the support of the Group of 77 and China. It needs your full commitment. We need your commitment as a group. We need your commitment as individual Member States. This is your United Nations.

For me personally, there is nothing I take greater pride in than my long work and association with the great world movement which you here today represent. I pledge to you that I will never cease my commitment to the Group of 77 and China. And I will work tirelessly with you to make your United Nations better, stronger and ever-more able to conquer the challenges of the twenty-first century.

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