UN General Assembly
2002

﻿Let me first extend my congratulations and a warm welcome to Switzerland, a neighbouring country of Liechtenstein, on its membership in the United Nations. Switzerland has for centuries lived the ideals of the United Nations as a place where peoples of different ethnic backgrounds, languages, cultures and religions have peacefully lived together and have founded a nation based on democratic principles and the rule of law. Now its people have chosen to join the United Nations. We look forward to Switzerland's contribution, its expertise and experience in the challenging work of this Organization. Together with the admission of East Timor a few days from now, this brings the United Nations even closer to being what it was intended to be, a truly universal family of nations. In the past year, the United Nations has again convened a number of meetings at the highest level, with the best intentions and the most ambitious agendas. Those included the special session on children, the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. All these meetings