UN General Assembly
1989

We welcome the recent initiatives being taken to bring peace and stability to Central America. As I said earlier, the twentieth century could be looked upon as the century of world wars. The creation of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, clearly manifested man's desire not merely for lasting peace, but also for social and economic benefits for all mankind. And while with all our hearts we sincerely desire permanent and secure peace, ironically, this noble objective has continued to elude us. It has been argued that the possession of arsenals of nuclear weapons has created a regime of peace based on a balance of nuclear power. But the build-up of nuclear weapons only takes us closer to the edge of the holocaust. It is therefore important that the dialogue, discussions and active reduction of nuclear weapons should continue.