UN General Assembly
1999

It is perhaps not exaggerated optimism or expectation on my part when I say that we consider this to be an essential and vital step towards consecrating the sound concept of globalization, as we see it and as it must be in the twenty-first century. We believe that globalization must be a comprehensive mechanism in the 5 service of the general welfare of all nations and peoples. If its benefits are confined to certain States and societies, to the exclusion of others, it will fail to achieve its objectives. On this basis, we believe that globalization should be the means by which we promote cooperation, interaction and openness among the peoples and societies of the world. We can thus steer globalization away from the pitfalls of narrow exploitation and short-term profit and towards a universal scope whose benefits and returns reach everyone. It is here that we feel that a new and extremely vital role will emerge for the United Nations in the twenty-first century — a role in which the Organization will assume