UN General Assembly
1973

﻿Mr. President, I wish to begin by expressing the gratification of the Government of Brazil and my own at your election to preside over the twenty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Your vast diplomatic experience and the brilliant services you have always rendered to your country, to the inter-American system and to the international community assure us that our work during this session will be guided by your proven lucidity and political acumen. As a Brazilian, I recognize among your attributes the outstanding values of the noble people of Ecuador, a country which has always been linked to Brazil through friendship, mutual respect and a co-operation which we are today expanding more than ever; as a Latin American, I am aware that your personal attributes are highly representative of the long lineage of statesmen and internationalists who have built up the cultural and political heritage of our continent.