An age-old dream....

The United Nations expresses the age-old dream of universal cooperation. We are here to renew this dream. The blueprint for the world Organization was drawn here in San Francisco 50 years ago. The Charter created here is more than a document of history; it is the foundation stone of international relations.

For five decades, the United Nations has permitted nations to join together to deal with challenges that no single nation can resolve. Universal membership offers a forum for expressing universal ideals. Through the United Nations, the world has enshrined the ideal of sovereign independence - to accommodate the emergence of new States and to secure the dignity of their peoples. Fifty-one Member States ratified the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. Since then, millions of the world's citizens won the right to determine their destiny as independent nations. Today, the United Nations comprises 185 Member States. Decolonization utterly changed the international landscape, and could have led to chaos. But through the United Nations, the framework of international relations survived - and was strengthened by - this profound transformation.

At the United Nations, peoples took their first steps as States on the international stage. Within the United Nations, they could assume their rightful place and gain recognition as legitimate members of the world community.

Through the United Nations, the world has embraced the ideals of peace and security - to preserve the integrity of States and to project the lives of their peoples. The concept of peacekeeping is not explicit in the Charter, but the Charter proved flexible enough to respond when the need for such missions arose. Peace-keeping is a manifestation of the world's capacity to work together. For both troop-contributing countries and the lands that they serve, United Nations peace operations reinforce the ideal of international solidarity in the face of conflict. Peace-keeping operations have proven their practical importance. They can monitor compliance with the terms of an agreement. They can give combatants the time and encouragement to pursue lasting peace. They can provide humanitarian relief. And, in the context of new forms of conflict, they can help to reconstruct entire societies.

Through the United Nations, the world has pledged itself to the ideal of development - to advance the prosperity of States and the welfare of their peoples. Working through the United Nations, the world's peoples have framed a vision for global development. They have forged a consensus about the rights that belong to all humanity.

Through the United Nations, strategies have been devised to realize this vision. An understanding of the common interest between North and South has grown. The advancement of women as the key to nearly every issue of development is becoming understood. Ways to approach the complex new problems of the planet are urgently being found.

Five decades are a brief moment in history. Yet, since 1945. a new reality of global cooperation has taken shape, based on the Charter that was framed here in San Francisco. Today, the world is accepting the ideals of democracy. Democratization can balance the individual's need for identity with the need for a workable international system: it can help to prevent conflict; it is vital for development. The United Nations is helping States express the ideal of democracy, and find practical ways of attaining it. We are the custodians of the dream of global cooperation. We will not let it perish. As long as people seek national identities; as long as people seek protection from aggression; and as long as people yearn for a better world for their children, the United Nations will endure, and it will succeed.