UN General Assembly
1999

commitment to the ideals of this great Organization. Recognizing the frailties of our collective performance to date, and the critical importance of finding workable solutions for the future, I call on all Member States to take the opportunities offered by the millennium summit to enter into open and constructive dialogue and step into the next millennium with an unequivocal recommitment to the visionary principles enshrined in the Charter. It is nine years since I first addressed this body in 1991 as the Foreign Minister of New Zealand. For the United Nations, and particularly the Security Council, it has been a tumultuous period. After the cold war the number of problems multiplied; the world's expectations of what the United Nations could deliver were raised above the possible; and the solutions demanded required determination, resolve, tact, understanding and imagination. The demands on the United Nations will not lessen, but each year must see a better performance than in the past. However, as this may well be the last statement I make to this body, I want to thank all United