Passage 2 Thank you, Prime Minister, for

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Passage 2 Thank you, Prime Minister, for that remarkable introduction. You have very lucidly provided the context for what I am about to say this morning. It’s a great honor to be invited to speak in this historic setting. The fact that you want to hear from the Secretary-General of the United Nations at this time, and that Prime Minister Tony Blair himself suggested this public exchange of ideas suggests to me that both you and he are conscious of the remarkable moment in world history that we have reached.// Indeed, today we face threats to world order and world peace of a kind and a scale that we have not seen since the height of the Cold War. But if we can agree on ways to respond effectively to those threats, we also have a unique opportunity to build a world that will be safer, fairer and freer, for all its inhabitants. I think you glimpsed that opportunity during the G7 finance ministers’ meeting here in London last week, with its welcome emphasis on measures to attack world poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.// What kind of threats do I have in mind The most obvious are terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Many experts tell us the question is not whether, but how soon, the two will be combined -- and we see, for example, a "dirty bomb" detonated in central London, or some other major capital. The loss of life would be shocking, but as nothing to the social and economic effects. Disruption would be felt not only here but around the world. // Millions in Asia, Africa and Latin America would lose their livelihoods, because of the impact on the world economy. People in those parts of the world already face many other, more immediate threats -- hunger, disease, environmental degradation, corrupt and oppressive government, civil and ethnic conflict -- threats to which the poor are always more vulnerable than the rich. Africa, my own continent, has the worst problems of all. The hopes of many African countries have been blighted by HIV/AIDS, which is devastating the most productive age-groups and the best educated social groups, slashing life expectancy, threatening to reverse decades of economic development.// I said two years ago that this might be the most decisive moment for the international system since the United Nations was founded in 1945. I still believe that. We are living through a time of danger, but also of great opportunity. The question is, will governments muster the will to seize that opportunity, and decide on a package of reforms offering protection against threats of both kinds -- from terrorism and WMD to poverty, hunger and disease. By tackling them all at once we can make sure that no one -- North or South, rich or poor--will feel left out, and that everyone will feel an interest in implementing the whole package. //