SECRETARY-GENERAL'S TRIP TO ORLANDO: 18-19 OCTOBER 1998
Press Release
SG/T/2152
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S TRIP TO ORLANDO: 18-19 OCTOBER 1998
19981106 Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Orlando on the afternoon of 18 October, where he participated in an international festival organized at Epcot Center. After being introduced by the President of Walt Disney Attractions, Judson Green, he extended a special greeting to the young International Fellows present in the audience, who represented the 11 countries making up Epcot's "mini-United Nations".The Secretary-General spoke of the power of communications, when "hooked up" with beliefs. "But if communications bind us together as human beings," he said, "there is another bond that holds us together as humanity. It is the web of human values."
Referring to Mickey Mouse's global career as Emissary of Goodwill, the Secretary-General said, "let us give Mickey a new message to take around the world. Issues before the United Nations, such as the environment, drugs, disease, sustainable development, are issues that cut across all frontiers. They are problems without passports; to address them we need blueprints without borders." (For text of the Secretary-General's comments see Press Release SG/SM/6758 of 19 October.) He then announced an agreement between the United Nations and Disney to relocate to Epcot Center the United Nations Pavilion on the Oceans now at the World Expo in Lisbon, Portugal, as part of the Epcot Millenium Village planned to open a year from now.
The Secretary-General was the featured guest at an evening reception at Epcot, and later was briefed on plans for the Millenium Village, where the United Nations pavilion will be located, by Terry Dobson, Senior Concept Designer, and Ms. Robin Chapman, Director of Creative Development.
On the morning of Monday, 19 October, the Secretary-General addressed the Annual Convention of the American Association of Magazine Publishers and Editors at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Orlando. He spoke on globalization, noting that "markets never exist in a political and social vacuum," and adding that "markets must serve a broader purpose." The Secretary-General stated, "Maybe over decades the market will gradually expand, embracing a larger and larger proportion of humankind. But millions
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who are alive now will be dead before that process touches them. That is not only a terrible tragedy. It is a terrible waste of human talent and resources." The Secretary-General cited two qualities he said he never found lacking in his American friends -- "indignation at the spectacle of human misery and waste" and the "can do" spirit. He appealed to the United States to "play its due part in the effort" and to provide "the leadership we saw in the days when the United Nations was founded." (See Press Release SG/SM/6759 of 19 October.)
The Secretary-General left Orlando on the night of 19 October for Tokyo, where he was to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development II.
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