Annan urges French-speaking parliamentarians to cooperate more closely with the UN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan commended efforts by international French-speaking parliamentarians to resolve global conflicts and urged them to cooperate more closely with the United Nations in the area of electoral assistance and the promotion of democracy.

"Peace and development cannot subsist for long without democracy and good governance. Parliamentarians throughout the world are particularly well placed to influence those issues, which are of serious concern to the international community," Mr. Annan said in a message to the four-day International Assembly of French-Speaking Parliamentarians (OIF), which ended yesterday in Niamey, Niger.

The Secretary-General said OIF, which brings together the elected representatives of countries using French as a common language, shares with the UN many fundamental values and goals. Both organizations are founded on the principles of diversity, dialogue and multilateralism, and they seek to bring nations together, prevent conflicts, sow the seeds of democracy and promote development, he said.

"In many areas of the world, and in Africa in particular, OIF is working to restore constitutional order, to strengthen the rule of law and to prepare the ground for the holding of free and fair elections," Mr. Annan noted. "At a time when, regrettably, many member States of OIF are affected by war, the work of your Assembly takes on even greater importance."