My pride is for the wisdom and far-sightedness of the founders of the United Nations, who actually laid the foundation of a new world order. Challeng… - Leonid Kuchma

One of the important links between peace and development is the process of arms control and disarmament. The reduction of armaments and armed forces and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, unequivocally promote a decrease in the level of military threat, thus creating favourable external conditions for the existence and development of all members of the international community.

With the era of great ideological confrontation behind us, mankind has managed to decrease the threat of self-destruction by nuclear conflagration and to establish sufficiently reliable mechanisms of international security.

The United Nations was established by people who realized that nations, peoples and States are interdependent and complementary components of a single entity called humanity. The presence of an unprecedented number of world leaders here today is convincing evidence of their support for the United Nations at this crucial stage of its development. The most important task for the United Nations today is to define itself under these new conditions and to follow the road indicated by the real circumstances of our existence. To do this would constitute a source of strength, longevity and moral health for the United Nations.