UN General Assembly
1993

concert with others where the ends are genuinely collective. But, needless to say, it does so in complete sovereignty. Exercising freedom of judgement and choice, France refuses to follow the orthodoxy of the moment or to succumb to pressures resulting from relative material strengths. The second principle, shared by many in this Hall, is a commitment to our fundamental interests. Like every other State in this Organization, France has its own strategic, commercial and cultural interests which it seeks to preserve. While we are open to negotiation and to the mutual concessions it implies, we cannot be made to give up anything we consider to be an essential element of our security, our prosperity or our culture. The third principle is devotion to law and justice. Beyond its own interests, France aspires to help ensure that certain fundamental principles first inspired by France, among others, triumph throughout the world: the right of peoples to self-determination and security, human rights and the right to development. Finally, one last aspect of our diplomacy, in the service