'I AM WITH YOU IN YOUR COMMITMENT TO DEVELOPMENT', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA IN MESSAGE TO SOUTH-SOUTH CONFERENCE
Press Release
SG/SM/6144
'I AM WITH YOU IN YOUR COMMITMENT TO DEVELOPMENT', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA IN MESSAGE TO SOUTH-SOUTH CONFERENCE
19970114 Following is the text of the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the South-South Conference on Trade, Investment, Finance and Industrialization (San Jose, Costa Rica, 13-15 January), sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, as delivered on his behalf by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, James Gustave Speth:Only commitments already made for my first two weeks in office keep me from being with you. It is customary to say that I am with you in spirit, but it is far more than that.
I am with you in your commitment to development. The highest priority of most Member States and most people today is development, and that means that we must strengthen the United Nations as a powerful force for development cooperation.
I am with you in your commitment to ensuring that South-South cooperation is not only enhanced but becomes a source of growing solidarity and strength in ensuring that the developing countries benefit, rather than suffer, from economic globalization.
I am with you in your recognition that we must forge a fundamentally new partnership with civil society. We must reach for a new synthesis between private initiative and the public good, which encourages entrepreneurship and market approaches together with social and environmental responsibility.
And I am with you and counting on you, the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, to help us build a new United Nations. Global challenges require global solutions, and together we must build a United Nations more capable of providing genuine leadership and substantial assistance in meeting the challenges of today and the next century.
In conclusion, let me commend the Group of 77 and China for your leadership in sponsoring this path-breaking event. I join with you in thanking Costa Rica for being an excellent host. I await your conclusions and will be guided by them.
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