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                           Cooperation in Action:
               The Trademark of Geneva International


                                     STATEMENT
                            BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
           DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
                ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT BY THE MEMBERS OF
                     THE FOREIGN POLICY COMMISSION OF THE
                              SWISS FOREIGN MINISTRY

               Palais des Nations, Room VIII, 3rd floor, Door 6, 28 February 2000



          Your Excellencies,
          Ladies and Gentlemen,

          I           t is an honor and pleasure for me to welcome you to the Palais
                      des Nations. In my capacity as Director-General of the UN Of-
                      fice at Geneva, I have been very much involved in the dialogue
          with  parliamentarians, including the Swiss. This  dialogue  is  of  particular im-
          portance  to  me.  In  this  time of global transformation, when  the process  of
          democratization  is  spreading  all  over  the  world,  you,  parliamentarians,  repre-
          sent  an  important  link  between  the  State  and  civil  society  and  between  the
          State  and  the  international  community  while  providing  an  extraordinary
          network  of  contacts  and  high  degree  of  democratic  legitimacy.  At  the  same
          time, we at the UN, provide Member States  with  a  framework  for  dealing
          with the  current global changes.

              Through our common aims and methodology, which is often referred to as
          parliamentary diplomacy, we are on the same side.

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