UN General Assembly
1998

I congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of the General Assembly, a sure guarantee of the success of the fifty-third session. At the same time, I wish to thank your predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, for his fine job in handling the difficult issues that arose last year. On the broader issues facing the General Assembly in the year to come, Italy associates itself with and supports the statement made on Tuesday by the Foreign Minister of Austria on behalf of the European Union. Fewer than 10 years have gone by since the euphoric days that surrounded the fall of the Berlin Wall. As our decade began, “a new world order” was on everyone’s lips. Many believed that we were at the threshold of a new age of stability, freedom and prosperity. In the ensuing years, we have indeed witnessed rapid growth in the world economy, but we have also seen an outbreak of new forms of nationalism, ethnic hostilities and acts of aggression. Our peoples have grown apprehensive about the future