The upcoming General Assembly gives us the chance to reinvigorate that common purpose and refine the UNs ability to meet the challenges of a changed world. President Bush, Secretary Powell and the U.S. Mission to the UN are committed to making this years General Assembly a success, and we look forward to working with your government to that end. I would like to take this opportunity to outline for you our principal goals for this session.

That was the U.S. Delegation’s opening for their “goals and intentions” brief to the United Nations last year.

Good call, kids. I’ve provided some highlights.

Re-energizing international counter-terrorism efforts

Keeping UN discussion of the Middle East constructive, not divisive

Supporting the New Partnership for development, especially with Africa

Working for a more efficient and effective UN
Now this actually looks interesting

We look forward to the Secretary-Generals UN reform plan, which we hope will help make the UN leaner and more effective. During consideration of the revised 2002-3 UN budget, as well as the outline for the 2004-5 biennium, we will continue to stress the need for budget discipline. The budget will need to include a clear order of priorities, and identify programs and activities for elimination. Our goal is not cost cutting for cost-cuttings sake, but to direct UN resources away from obsolete, inefficient programs towards higher priorities.

Promoting human rights and democracy

We hope you will join us in seeking strong, accurate human rights resolutions on Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Cambodia, and Burma. We will also seek to co-sponsor resolutions promoting democracy, the rights of women, children, religious minorities, and other issues.

Other Issues

At this years General Assembly, the Sixth Committee will consider a proposal to ban human reproductive cloning. We do not think this goes far enough and would favor a complete ban on human cloning for any purpose. We hope that you will join us in calling for a total ban.

Sincerely,

John D. Negroponte