Remarks by H.E. Mr. Zenon Rossides — Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations

I am happy for the occasion to express my high appreciation for the highly valuable services the Secretary- General, Dr. Waldheim, has rendered and is rendering to the Organisation. His dedicated faith in the United Nations has given to the Office of the Secretary-General a new high in global and relentless action. He certainly strengthened world faith in the Organisation by his positive stand on matters of grave consequence and historic significance. The best assets for a Secretary-General are adherence to principle and objectivity, both of which he fully possesses.

His approach to universal problems and world development as appears in the Introduction to his Annual Report to the United Nations in the years 1976 and 1977 contains the essence of his philosophy: That the future of the United Nations and the international community depends upon an imaginative approach to international and world problems, all of which, in their progressive solution, call for strict adherence to the dictates of the Charter, contained in its relevant provisions under Chapter 7 for international security and legal order through restoring the long overdue authority and effectiveness of the Security Council. This is the mind of the Secretary-General, as expressed in the aforesaid introductions of his annual report on the work of the Organisation. And this, on the whole, is the voice of the Secretary-General, to which general support must be given so that it may be duly heeded. For it concerns the main purpose and effective usefulness of the United Nations for the good of mankind, which he serves with devotion and unflagging zeal.