UN Must Be Centre Of Multilateral Action, Annan Says
No country can protect itself from threats - ranging from the AIDS pandemic to global warming to the spread of radical
ideologies - by turning itself into an impregnable military fortress, according to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, who reminded nations of the need in today's world to work together in dealing with such issues.
"For good or ill, we live in an age of interdependence, and we must manage it collectively," Mr. Annan said in a message
delivered yesterday in Rome by Olara Otunnu, his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, to mark the
second Interdependence Day.
Although the United Nations is a far from perfect organization, it is the locus of international legitimacy and must the
vital centre of multilateral action, he stressed, noting also his appointment of a blue-ribbon panel to generate a
shared analysis of current threats - including global terrorism - and a set of recommendations on how to face them.
"I will be calling on the nations of the world to respond to those recommendations with vision and a sense of
responsibility and solidarity," he said.
The event in Rome was to bring together the Italian Speaker of the House, Pier Ferdinando Casini, former Governor Howard
Dean, former President of Slovenia Milan Kucan, Polish Solidarity leader Adam Michnik, former Mayor of Palermo Leoluca
Orlando, former French Prime Minister and European Parliamentarian Michel Rocard and many others.
Among the civic leaders that were also invited were former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, former Russian President
Mikhail Gorbachev and European Commission President Romano Prodi.
The first Interdependence Day was marked last year in Philadelphia, site of the United States Declaration of
Independence in 1776.