Building upon the vision.

• Position: Foreign relations commitments of new United Nations General Assembly President Samuel Rudolph Insanally; includes related article on new General Assembly committees

Samuel Rudolph Insanally of Guyana, President of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly, has served as his country's Permanent Representative to the UN since 1987.

Born in Georgetown on 23 June 1936, Mr. Insanally has had an extensive diplomatic career, spanning 27 years, during which he has contributed to Guyana's increased participation in various regional and international forums.

As Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Insanally led his country's delegation to two General Assembly sessions and also functioned as an Assembly Vice-President. He was Vice-President of the Council for Namibia and Vice-President of the Assembly's special session devoted to international economic cooperation, in particular to the revitalization of economic growth and development in developing countries, held in April 1990. He also has attended high-level meetings of international organizations, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community, and the 1981 North-South Summit in Cancun, Mexico.

From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Insanally was head of the Political Division in Guyana's Ministry, of Foreign Affairs. During that time, he was also High Commissioner to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean, and Ambassador (non-resident) to Colombia. He was Permanent Representative to the European Economic Community from 1978 to 1981 and concurrently Ambassador to Belgium and, on a non-resident basis, to Sweden, Norway and Austria.

From 1972 to 1978, Mr. Insanally served as Ambassador to Venezuela, with concurrent accreditation to Peru and Ecuador, and participated in the work of various regional organizations. As Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in 1972, he was active in the negotiation of the International Development Strategy for the Second UN Development Decade. In 1970, he was Guyana's Charge d'Affaires to Venezuela. From 1966 to 1969, he served as Counsellor at his country's Embassy to the United states.

Mr. Insanally has written and lectured widely on the...