The Chronicle Interview: Ambassador Hennadiy Udovenko.

On major challenges of today's world and the fifty-second session of the General Assembly.

The global agenda has never been so pressing and so complex.

Every day, the international community, in particular the United Nations, has to deal with civil wars, secessions, partitions, ethnic conflicts and tribal clashes. The poison of inter-ethnic and religious intolerance has increasingly afflicted States and even the whole regions, giving rise to a dangerous corrosion of the emerging post-confrontational system of international relations.

Notwithstanding the past efforts, the gap between the developed and developing countries remains unacceptably wide. The specific problems of countries with economies in transition with respect to their twofold transition to democratic societies and market economies should also be responded and duly treated. In addition, the accelerating globalization and inter-dependence of the world economy call for policy designed to ensure the maximization of the benefits from, and the minimization of, negative effects of these trends for all countries.

Our task is to understand the new world of tomorrow, to recognize new requirements and responsibilities, and to relate them in our work for a stable peace, development and democracy. Therefore, a great number of items included in the agenda of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly reflect the challenges facing this Organization and, hence, all of its Member States.

As the world enters the new century, the primary responsibility of the Assembly President, as I see it, is to contribute to achieving greater unity of purposes, coherence of efforts by Member States in the decision-making process and responsiveness agility on the part of the General Assembly to complex issues and changing needs of the world community.

It is my understanding that the Assembly President must not only adequately execute his duties, but also encourage Member States to live up to their obligations and responsibilities, and to take the decisions which he believes would benefit the interests of the international community.

As a person who can be proud of many years of involvement in the UN activities, I can state with all confidence that many of the ordinary people continue to believe in the United Nations and its potential.

Has the life of ordinary people become more safe after the General Assembly approved the text of the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty and its signing by 144 States? Definitely.

Or let us take, for example, the role of the General Assembly in addressing the Palestinian problem or the Middle East peace process, or its support of the new or restored democracies. The role of the Assembly could be hardly overestimated in addressing the issues of eradicating poverty, bridging the gap between the rich and poor nations, or in promoting the sustainable and environmentally safe livelihood.

On overcoming underdevelopment and achieving growth in the poorest nations of the world.

I believe that today it is obviously impossible to offer the universal recipe for the solution of this problem. To invent such a recipe means to take humanity out of social and economic disorder, in fact to elaborate the formula of happiness--the task considered by French philosopher Charles Fourrier as far back as the eighteenth century, to have the same significance as the discovery of the New World by Columbus.

However, this does not mean that the problem of underdevelopment cannot be solved at all. The experience of many developing countries, which made significant progress in economic development and eradication of poverty, testifies to the fact that "the path to the temple" does exist.

In this regard, I would also like to note with satisfaction the successful elaboration of Agenda for Development. Based on consensus reached on global international fore daring the recent years, this document outlines basic priorities for the efforts to be made at national and international levels towards overcoming underdevelopment and providing sustainable development with a focus on an individual. A positive feature of this document is the definition of the role and specific tasks of the bodies and agencies of the United Nations system in the promotion of solving the problem on a global scale.

On the priorities in United Nations reform.

The most difficult negotiations in the framework of the UN reform are still ahead of us. Among them, the achievement of the agreement on the expansion of the Security Council membership and the restoration of the financial solvency of the United Nations. It would be, therefore...