UN General Assembly
2004

dampen our natural competitive spirit, but to direct it towards positive achievement. But the rules have to be determined by common agreement. Their legitimacy is derived from the shared values that bind participants together. They have to evolve, along with our evolving sense of what is fair and proper. They cannot be imposed. If they are imposed, what we have will not be the Olympics but the gladiatorial pits of the Roman Colosseum. At the most fundamental level, discussions and debates in the United Nations and WTO are really about the values that bind us together as human beings. As the world grows smaller, our sense of interdependence grows. As we interact more, we discover that we are more similar than we think. So many problems like global warming, epidemics and terrorism can only be overcome if we work together. So many new opportunities can only be fully exploited if we combine our efforts. Yes, we have become closer. We celebrated together when for the first time the human genome was mapped a