SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES BANGLADESH EXAMPLE TO DEVELOPING WORLD CEREMONY MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF BANGLADESH ADMISSION TO UN

Press Release
SG/SM/7140

SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES BANGLADESH EXAMPLE TO DEVELOPING WORLD CEREMONY MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF BANGLADESH ADMISSION TO UN

Following is the text of the remarks of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the ceremony marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bangladesh admission to the United Nations:

Bangladesh was a relative late-comer to the family of States, after a difficult, not to say traumatic birth. No one can forget, Madam Prime Minister, the heroic role that your late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, played in those events. It is therefore all the more fitting that you should be here, as Prime Minister, for this ceremony -- and it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to United Nations Headquarters.

I must also thank you for the beautiful gift you have brought with you.

It reminds us that, even if Bangladesh is a relatively young State, Bengal is a very old centre of human civilization. The monastery, whose wall this graceful lotus once adorned, was an important centre of learning when Europe, for example, was still in its "Dark Ages". The gift is a rich addition to the United Nations' collection of beautiful objects, and we are deeply grateful for it.

Madam Prime Minister,

The first decades of your country's statehood have not been easy.

Many of the world's poorest people live in Bangladesh, and that very fact renders them more vulnerable to natural disasters, of which - alas! - you seem to get far more than your fair share. Not surprisingly, then, Bangladesh has had occasion to call on the solidarity of the international community. The United Nations is proud to have answered that call, starting even before independence with what was then the East Pakistan Relief Operation (UNEPRO).

But even more, the United Nations is grateful for the contribution Bangladesh has made to so many aspects of its work, from peacekeeping to service on the Economic and Social Council and a leading role in the group of Least Developed Countries.

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And we admire greatly the example you are giving to the whole developing world. Your efforts are showing that development is not only a matter of per capita gross domestic product.

Increasingly, you have put the emphasis where it belongs: on education, on democracy, on human rights and on enabling the poorest people to take control of their own lives. You have led the world in the development of micro-credit, and thereby have empowered women at the grassroots, as well as at the top, of your society -- something which undoubtedly helps to explain your equally impressive success in population policy.

In short, Madam Prime Minister, Bangladesh is the kind of member every international organization should wish to have. I hope that in the next twenty-five years your efforts, and those of your people, will be rewarded with the peace and prosperity you so richly deserve.

Meanwhile, in the name of the United Nations, let me say again: Thank you very much!

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