UN General Assembly
2001

﻿It is for me a signal honour to take the floor today before the Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. On behalf of my delegation, I wish at the outset to express my sincere congratulations to Mr. Han Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea on his well-deserved election to the presidency of this body of the United Nations. We believe that his vast experience, his dynamism and his competence guarantee the success of our work at this session. He can count on my delegation to be fully available to him. We will spare no effort to facilitate his work so that his noble mission can be carried out to the fullest. Allow me next to pay sincere tribute to Mr. Harri Holkeri for the way he acquitted himself in his term of office leading the work at our last session. We all appreciated his many talents as a statesman and seasoned diplomat, which in large measure contributed to bringing the work of that session to a successful conclusion. I should like, finally, to avail myself of this