UN General Assembly
1976

Mr. President, I am very pleased indeed to have this opportunity to congratulate Ambassador Amerasinghe on his election as President of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. I am confident that as an eminent representative of friendly and non-aligned Sri Lanka, he will, with his vast experience and dedication to the United Nations, greatly contribute to the successful work of this session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. 265. I welcome the admission of the Republic of Seychelles to the United Nations, which constitutes a further step towards the realization of the principle of universality. 266. The present session is being held in a crucial period characterized by an irreversible process of democratization of international relations. No nation is any longer willing to let others take decisions bearing on its fate, nor to reconcile itself to anyone's monopoly of decision-making concerning major issues affecting the international community. The peoples of the world are no longer satisfied with merely identifying and defining problems, but demand their substantive solution as well.