Building upon the vision.

Samuel Rudolph Insanally of Guyana, President of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly, has served as his country's Permanent Representative to the UN since 1987.

Born in Georgetown on 23 June 1936, Mr. Insanally has had an extensive diplomatic career, spanning 27 years, during which he has contributed to Guyana's increased participation in various regional and international forums.

As Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Insanally led his country's delegation to two General Assembly sessions and also functioned as an Assembly Vice-President. He was Vice-President of the Council for Namibia and Vice-President of the Assembly's special session devoted to international economic cooperation, in particular to the revitalization of economic growth and development in developing countries, held in April 1990. He also has attended high-level meetings of international organizations, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community, and the 1981 North-South Summit in Cancun, Mexico.

From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Insanally was head of the Political Division in Guyana's Ministry, of Foreign Affairs. During that time, he was also High Commissioner to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean, and Ambassador (non-resident) to Colombia. He was Permanent Representative to the European Economic Community from 1978 to 1981 and concurrently Ambassador to Belgium and, on a non-resident basis, to Sweden, Norway and Austria.

From 1972 to 1978, Mr. Insanally served as Ambassador to Venezuela, with concurrent accreditation to Peru and Ecuador, and participated in the work of various regional organizations. As Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in 1972, he was active in the negotiation of the International Development Strategy for the Second UN Development Decade. In 1970, he was Guyana's Charge d'Affaires to Venezuela. From 1966 to 1969, he served as Counsellor at his country's Embassy to the United states.

Mr. Insanally has written and lectured widely on the subject of diplomacy and international relations.

Early answers

Speaking before delegates on the opening day of the Assembly's forty-eighth session on 21 September, Mr. Insanally called for "early answers" to the diverse questions which "bedevil international politics".

In the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere, he said, " ~ethnic cleaning' - an unacceptable euphemism for genocide and the acquisition of territory by force - is on the rampage, wreaking havoc with remarkable impunity. The most virulent forms of nationalism foster secession and bloody civil wars. Where will it all end?

"Where do we draw the line between self-determination and sovereignty, between secession and the respect for territorial integrity? These are questions which now bedevil international politics and to which we, the United Nations, must find early answers if we are to cope with change.

"Poor States cannot prosper because the odds are clearly stacked against them. The international environment in which they must operate is not conducive to their success. Because of protectionist measures, many are effectively precluded from any significant participation in the world trading system.

"At the same time, the poor, low-and middle-income nations are over-burdened by debt and denied the financial assistance which they need to escape from their prison of poverty. Poverty and social distress, however, are not confined to the developing world.

"Even in the richest industrial societies, the problems of crime, disease, homelessness and an ever disintegrating social fabric have taken hold."