UN General Assembly
1994

My delegation welcomes the election of Ambassador Amara Essy as President of the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly with a genuine feeling of great pride and satisfaction; he is not only our neighbour in the West African subregion, but a seasoned diplomat. He is certainly no stranger here, having served his great country, Côte d’Ivoire, as Permanent Representative at the United Nations for many years. We in the Gambia hold him in high esteem for his constructive and positive contributions to problems of common concern, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. I have no doubt that those qualities, for which he is well known, will contribute immensely to the successful conclusion of our deliberations. I should 13 therefore like to congratulate him warmly on his assumption of office and to assure him of the full support of my delegation in carrying out his important mandate. Let me also take this opportunity to pay tribute to Ambassador Insanally for the excellent manner in which he performed his duties during his tenure of office last year.