UN General Assembly
2002

ushered in a new century with the highest of expectations for the successful implementation of the millennium development goals, which we had just adopted. We were resolved to work with renewed vigour to eradicate poverty and hunger, fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS and disease, raise the level of human development and bring an end to debilitating economic and social injustices. Tragically, the events 29 of 11 September 2001 eclipsed our millennium vision and brutally reshaped the global agenda. In the intervening year, we have been forced to re-examine our traditional notions of security and to come to terms with the reality of our growing political and economic interdependence. For no single nation can hope to have all the answers to the complex issues that confront us and no lasting solutions are possible except through collective effort. If nothing else, the lessons of 11 September have served to reinforce the value of multilateralism. For the past several years, Barbados has argued for a redefinition of the concept of security to embrace the new and non-traditional threats that have the