UN General Assembly
1988

The Geneva Accords on Afghanistan would have been unthinkable without this new climate of co-operation and flexibility. We earnestly hope that they will be fully implemented. We welcome with relief the cease-fire agreement of 20 August 1988 between Iran and Iraq, secured in the context of the implementation of Security Council resolution 598 (1987). We are confident that the direct negotiations initiated under the auspices of the Secretary-General will lead to a comprehensive, just, honourable and durable resolution of this tragic conflict, whatever the temporary setbacks. The wind of change blows throughout the world from South-East Asia to southern Africa, Western Sahara and Chad, bringing with it promises of hope for peace and security. We look forward to the moment when we can embrace within our member ship an independent Namibia. We are painfully aware that antagonism and threats to peace still persist. The world is replete with conventional and nuclear weapons. Nuclear tests are still being conducted, the prohibition of chemical and biological weapons still eludes us whilst the demilitarization of outer space is still hotly contested.