SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS CHILE HAS DONE MUCH TO FACILITATE WORK OF UNITED NATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Press Release
SG/SM/6382
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS CHILE HAS DONE MUCH TO FACILITATE WORK OF UNITED NATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
19971105 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement on receiving the Orden al Merito de Chile en el Grado de Gran Cruz in Santiago today:Let me express my deepest gratitude for the honour that the people and Government of Chile have bestowed upon me today. It is a privilege which I will always treasure.
I also want to thank you for the generous reception I have enjoyed in your country. I could not have wished for a warmer welcome.
Chile has been an active and committed Member of the United Nations for decades. As host country to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), you have done much to facilitate the work of the United Nations in the region. You have made the people in the Commission feel at home here -- so much so that I am told nobody who joins the team at ECLAC ever wants to leave.
The progress of Chile as a nation has been followed closely by the Member States of the United Nations. You have been held up as a model of transition to a stable and pluralistic society.
Mr. Foreign Minister, let me express my heartfelt wishes for your country's continued prosperity and progress. I look upon this order as a symbol that further cements the solid and long-standing relationship between the United Nations and the people of this nation.
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