NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS KOFI ANNAN OF GHANA, ACCEPTING WITH 'HUMILITY' NOMINATION AS SECRETARY-GENERAL, SAYS 'I AM EAGER TO BEGIN'

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS KOFI ANNAN OF GHANA, ACCEPTING WITH 'HUMILITY' NOMINATION AS SECRETARY-GENERAL, SAYS 'I AM EAGER TO BEGIN'

The following statement was issued today by the Under-Secretary General for Peace-keeping Operations, Kofi Annan, following the formal recommendation by the Security Council that he be appointed United Nations Secretary-General:

I accept with humility, and also with determination, my nomination by the Security Council to become the seventh United Nations Secretary-General. With humility, because after 30 years with the Organization I remain deeply aware of the loftiness of its goals. And with determination, because knowing well its strengths and its limitations, I am convinced of its vast potential for serving humanity. I am eager to begin.

My highest priority will be to work with all Member States to redefine the objectives of the Organization in the post-cold-war world. It is time to agree on what the United Nations can and must do, and what it cannot do. These choices will require consensus and cooperation amongst all Member States. Their collective will, their combined resources, their vision of what we will strive to achieve together, will determine the effectiveness of the United Nations in the years ahead.

Equally important, the dedicated staff members of the United Nations around the world are its greatest asset. I shall make every effort to sustain their morale, motivation and performance at the highest level.

In January, we must embark upon a time for healing -- to restore confidence between governments and this institution in order to help replenish its financial strength and its political and moral authority, to rebuild its sense of common purpose, and to maintain trust and co-operation among the peoples of the world, whom this Organization was designed to help.

If the General Assembly acts favourably on the recommendation of the Security Council, I shall dedicate myself to pursuing these objectives, to which I have devoted most of my life, with vigour and full commitment.

(See Press Release BIO/3051 issued today for biographical information.)

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