Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annanis a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world." He is the founder and the Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as being the chairman of The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela...
NationalityGhanaian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth8 April 1938
CityKumasi, Ghana
CountryGhana
We received some resources, but need much, much more to be able to help the people,
We have started contingency planning to be ready if and when the decision is taken for us to go in.
We have started a new year with a singular chance to prove that our humanity is intact and well -- a chance to prove that when calamity strikes, we are equal to the task,
We can wait until everything is perfect but how much time will that take? One year, two years, three years? Will the population accept this even though they haven't had a chance to vote for 40 years?
We must resolve, even more firmly, to build nations within which people of different communities can coexist, and enjoy equal rights,
We must redouble our efforts in working toward a world free of nuclear dangers, and ultimately, of nuclear weapons,
We must now turn to the next stages in the reform process,
we must now strengthen the global norm against the use or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
We must not promise too much or raise expectations higher than are justified by the will of governments to act, but we must do whatever we can to raise the standards of international behavior and responsibility. I think we can only hope to succeed in that if we have a very clear idea of what was wrong up to now.
We have a lot of issues on the agenda to discuss and I'm looking forward to the meeting. We will of course discuss the Iranian issue, the situation in Iraq, the Middle East... I would not be surprised if the issue of the cartoons comes up.
Over eight years, we developed very good relations with President Clinton and Vice President Gore, and I look forward to developing the same relations with President-elect Bush,
Our systems have not kept pace with the operational demands being placed on us. This is an opportunity which may not occur again until another generation has passed.
Reform is a process, not an event and we are going to continue after the summit
reflecting our mutual commitment to a stable, prosperous and equitable world.