UN General Assembly
1998

Yet we still have a daunting debit side. Conflicts still rage in many parts of the world. Poverty, inequality and underdevelopment still remain the order of the day for 90 per cent of the worldâs population. The AIDS pandemic threatens to reverse the socio-economic gains made in most of our countries over the years. The ongoing financial crisis which engulfed South-East Asia and now threatens the entire world reminds us that current efforts at a new architecture both for controlling the free flow of money and ushering in a new discipline in the financial institutions should be brought about without delay. We have to confront and reduce world poverty with determination at a time when some within the Organization itself are still resisting the democratic changes that are necessary for enhancing the image and authority of the Organization and making it effective in addressing these problems. Zimbabwe believes that the time for change is here and now and that Member States have a moral obligation to muster the political will to make those changes.