UN General Assembly
1999

Allow me first of all to congratulate Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Namibia, for having been elected President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. At the same time, I would like to express my appreciation of and respect for the President of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, Mr. Didier Opertti, for the results achieved during his presidency. Let me also express my deep respect for Secretary- General Kofi Annan, for his excellent leadership of the Organization. I wish to assure him that the Republic of Macedonia is ready to continue to closely cooperate with him. The Republic of Macedonia welcomes the admission of the new Members — the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga — and wishes them success in their contribution to United Nations activities, and at the same time expresses its 41 readiness to establish diplomatic relations with them. Also, I hope that we shall continue the process of establishing diplomatic relations between the Republic of Macedonia —