PERMANENT MISSION OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
TO THE UNITED NATIONS

771 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, NEW YORK, NY 10017

ADDRESS BY
HIS MAJESTY PADUKA SERI BAGINDA
SULTAN HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH
MU'IZZADDIN WADDAULAH IBNI AL-MARHUM
SULTAN HAJI OMAR'ALI
SAIFUDDIEN SA'ADUL KHAIRI
WADDIEN, SULTAN AND YANG
DI-PERTUAN OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
AT THE UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM SUMMIT

8 SEPTEMBER 2000 

Summit Presidents, Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Secretary-General.

Sixteen years ago, I had the honour of addressing this assembly for the first time when my country was admitted to the United Nations.

It was a different period of world history. The Cold War then divided the world along ideological lines and the threat of a nuclear holocaust was real. The smaller developing countries were particularly vulnerable. They were used as pawns in the global chess game.

Brunei Darussalam was one such country. We were determined not to be drawn in.

In the United Nations, we found shelter and assurance. It provided a forum where all member states' sovereignty would be respected, and where all nations, large and small, would have an equal voice and one vote. The UN Charter gave small nations like my own, a sense of hope and security.

For the last sixteen years, Brunei Darussalam has participated in the UN as a full member of the international community of nations. We have strongly supported the UN's role in international affairs. We have done what we could to promote the principles and processes of the UN Charter.

Despite our small size, we have provided equipment and participated in UN peace-keeping operations.

We are committed to continuing this within the limits of our resources.

The post-Cold War era has brought new challenges. Globalisation, the result of the revolution in information technology, will break down traditional barriers and borders. Dynamic and powerful forces are at work that will increase economic cooperation and accelerate growth and development. This can lead to improving quality of life, higher standards of living and greater opportunities for all. The benefits are great.

But there are downsides to globalisation. With increased movement across borders, transnational crime and terrorism have become serious problems.

The disparity between North and South continues to grow as the poorer nations struggle to keep pace with the first world. Globalisation could lead to the marginalisation of the developing and less developed countries if they do not adjust themselves to maximise its benefits.

There can be no going back to the past. As we begin the 21^st century, we should examine and address the negative effects of globalisation.

These are challenges that go beyond the ability of individual governments to tackle.

In the 21st century, the United Nations' role is crucial as the conscience of the world to balance the interests of the successful and the less successful nations in the New Economies of globalisation. It is a conscience that needs to moderate the results of the winner-takes-all paradigm of free-market competition.

Brunei Darussalam faces many of the same challenges as the developing nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America. To meet them, a country needs to adapt and respond quickly to an uncertain and constantly changing external environment. To do this, its most important resource - its people - needs to be equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to give it a fighting chance.

I would therefore stress the crucial importance of programmes on health and education. They play a crucial role in helping the development of many of the poorer and less developed countries. By investing in the future of the people of these countries, we will lay the solid foundation upon which these countries' futures can be constructed.

We should do so not merely out of a sense of moral obligation. The survival and progress of the less developed members of the international community is in our best interest.

As globalisation makes our world ever more interdependent, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate ourselves from events that occur beyond our immediate regions. There are few matters that are local problems anymore.

This point was brought home in 1997 by the far-reaching effects of the financial crisis that swept through Southeast Asia.

We cannot have a world in which the Knowledge-based Economies are racing along the information highway while the less developed countries are lagging behind and struggling with disease, famine and poverty. The best way to ensure a stable international order is to provide developing and less developed countries with knowledge and opportunities for economic, social and technological advancement.

This will require renewed commitment from all members of the UN. It would entail a far greater responsibility than we have taken on thus far. This can be achieved if we all come together in a concerted effort. I therefore appeal to all members of the international community to accept this responsibility.

As we begin a new century and a new millennium, let us make every effort to achieve global peace, freedom, tolerance and prosperity in our time.

We must allow the United Nations to concentrate its energies on the world as we would all like to see it.

This, I believe, would be the greatest tribute we could offer you, Secretary General, and all those who had served the United Nations in the last half century.

Co-Presidents, Mr. Secretary-General, Fellow Members,

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to address you, and to share some of my thoughts on the direction and future of our organisation.

Thank you..