UN General Assembly
1999

Let me begin, Sir, by congratulating you on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly, and to voice my full confidence that the work of this session, under your leadership, will be crowned with success. I wish also to express my great appreciation of the way in which your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, guided the work of the fifty-third session. I take this opportunity also to welcome the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga to the great United Nations family, and to convey to them our best wishes for the future. I am pleased to say that this year has been marked by genuinely positive developments for Albania in the political, social and economic spheres. Albania has made progress in strengthening its democratic institutions and its civil society, in achieving respect for human rights and freedoms, and in enhancing public order and the rule of law. As a new democracy, Albania is tireless in its efforts to strengthen and consolidate its institutional structures. There has been tangible progress in bringing about the