International community needs to heal divisions, says Annan

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today the international community needs to heal its divisions and engage in a constructive debate about how to build a collective system of security, forge global partnership for development, and promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world.

"Events over the past few years, in particular those related to terrorism and the war in Iraq, have upset the consensus behind the Millennium Declaration," said Mr. Annan in a message delivered by his adviser Giandomenico Picco to the Fifth World Summit of Nobel Laureates, which started today in Rome.

Describing the Millennium Declaration as "a landmark document," the Secretary-General said it captured the aspirations of the international community for a world united by common values, striving to achieve peace through collective security, and decent standards of living for every man, woman and child through a global partnership for development.

Mr. Annan said the Millennium Development Goals had helped galvanize global action against critical challenges, such as massive poverty, disease and environmental degradation, but noted that so far results have been uneven. "There is no time to lose if we are to reach the Goals by the target date of 2015," he said. "That is where global partnership becomes crucial."

Referring to the September 2005 five-year review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration by world leaders, the Secretary General said: "I expect this rendezvous to encourage governments to take decision between now and then."

Expecting that a high-level panel of experts on Threats, Challenges and Change would submit its report in the next few weeks, Mr. Annan hoped that Member States would respond with "with vision, good will and courage."

"Change and renewal are of course constant processes in a living institution," he said. "But I see next year's high-level event as more than that. I see it as a rare opportunity to come up with collective answers that have come so starkly into focus over past few years - such as global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the great global challenges of poverty, hunger and disease."