Page 441 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

peaceful, more prosperous and more just world. Geneva as a major center of
the UN norm-setting and operations will play an important role in the
implementation of the Millennium Assembly decisions. As the United Nations
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, underscores, the vital need is to make the
Summit's promise a reality and to turn the UN into a more effective
instrument.

Our experience at UNOG shows that the best way to handle the global
challenge is through piloting change, anticipating problems by monitoring the
work in progress, ensuring swiftness in evolution coupled with an overall vision
of political and diplomatic parameters. In this context, the introduction of new
management tools, which better define goals and assess results, contributes to
improving daily performance and the implementation of programme activities.

The presence in Geneva of the WTO, the ILO and other UN agencies and
programs involved in sustainable development activities as well as the envi-
ronmental NGO network, puts the city at the crossroad of development and
the environment and thus opens a good perspective for further consolidation
of the social and economic dimension of sustainable development.

With its unique Corps of Ambassadors on Disarmament, Geneva is a
natural place for intensifying UN arms regulation and disarmament efforts.
Next year in addition to the work of the Conference on Disarmament, five
disarmament-related international conferences are being envisaged. Increased
cooperation and coordination between the UN and the Swiss national
institutions brings great benefits for all. The UN is very much satisfied that its
efforts are currently well supplemented by the work of the Geneva Center for
Security Policy, the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining
and the Center for the Democratic Control of the Military.

It seems to me that Geneva involvement in security matters in conjunction
with its tradition of humanitarianism make it possible for Geneva to become
the international capital of human security. As you are well aware, the notion of
human security includes the security of individual human beings, not only from
war and violence, but also from hunger, disease and environmental degrada-
tion.

The unique experience of the international organizations producing
correct, accurate methodical and specific information on global issues, together
with the strong ethical tradition which forms the basis for the decision making,

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