UN General Assembly
1986

The highlight of the past year was, without question, the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on decolonization, which provided the international community with reason for some optimism and hope. The anniversary session appropriately focused the heightened attention of the world on our Organization, as representatives of Member States at the highest level converged to rededicate themselves to the purposes and principles of the Charter and to the strengthening of the United Nations for a better world. Since that historic event, the special session of the General Assembly, convened to address the critical economic situation in Africa, has dramatically demonstrated what can be achieved through the multilateral approach. It sharpened world-wide awareness of the awesome dimensions of the prolonged crisis. It also succeeded in injecting new urgency in addressing its underlying root causes and placed the firm support of the international community behind the African Priority program for Economic Recovery.