Annan pays tribute to late US President Ford for supporting UN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today paid tribute to the late former United States President Gerald Ford for his statesmanship and support for the United Nations.

“President Ford will be remembered for the leadership, calm resolve and broad experience he brought to the presidency during a particularly difficult period,” Mr. Annan said in a statement released by his spokesman.

The thirty-eighth President of the United States, who died yesterday at the age of 93, “will also be remembered for his support for the United Nations and the 1975 Helsinki process, which reaffirmed human rights as a legitimate value in world affairs,” the spokesman said, extending condolences to the family of the former President, especially his widow, Betty Ford, and to the Government and People of the United States.