Page 33 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

Yet it has to be acknowledged that, in the past year or two, Genevan circles
have become somewhat pessimistic about the future of international Geneva.
Because of the financial difficulties with which international organizations are
faced, their zero-growth budgets, the halt to the establishment of new bodies
and the restructuring and economy measures being carried out within the
United Nations system, a climate of uncertainty now hangs over the future of
international Geneva. I wish to reassure you. These reforms in the UN aim at
increasing the efficiency, productivity and responsiveness of the Organization
in the present new conditions They will of course affect Geneva, one of the
most important pillars of the UN system as a whole. The process of reform,
however, is continuing one: it will be carried out therefore possibly until the
target date of 1995: the 50th Anniversary of the UN.

Of course, there is increasingly keen competition among the big cities to
be the site of any new United Nations body that is to be established. While the
text of the Convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons was negotiated
and adopted in Geneva, in the context of the Conference on Disarmament,
after years of highly technical negotiations, the organ responsible for monitor-
ing the implementation of that Convention is to be established in The Hague,
in the Netherlands. Other cities, like Vienna, in Austria, and Bonn, in Germany,
offer particularly favorable conditions for housing international bodies. In my
opinion, this competition is a clear expression of the interest taken by countries
in the activities of the United Nations and their desire to be closely associated
with them. I can assure that the UN activities in Vienna and possibly in Bonn
will be not at the expense of Geneva, which role will continue to grow.

Mr. President,

When the League of Nations was inaugurated in your city, the President of
the Geneva Council of State addressed the population of the city on 29 April
1919. Referring to both the bright prospects opening up before Geneva and the
heavy responsibilities in store for it, he called on its inhabitants to welcome its
illustrious guests in the League of Nations and thus to perform a service for
mankind. More than 70 years later it is gratifying to note that his words did not
fall on deaf ears.

In the area covered by the Canton of Geneva - 246 sq. kilometres - there
are no fewer than 146 permanent missions to the United Nations; 2 observer
missions for non­member States (Switzerland, Holy See); 3 observers for in-
ter­regional organizations (European Community, League of Arab States,

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