South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki - moon has just been inaugurated as UN Secretary -General , the second Asian to hold the post. I sincerely extend my best wishes for his success , and hope that under his leadership UN- centered efforts to promote global peace will advance with great vigor. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first of a long series of Korean diplomatic delegations to Japan, which has been recognized by the two countries as a profoundly significant milestone in their relations. Japan and South Korea have agreed on a new program whereby cities in both countries send youth delegations to reach other..Combined with the ongoing youth exchanges between China and Japan, it is anticipated this will nurture friendship among the young generations of China, Korea and Japan.. It is the solemn responsibility of both countries and of the bilateral relations in the new era to contribute constructively to the peace , stability, and development of Asia and the world. The spirit expressed here is deeply consonant with the vision for the future of China and Japan upon which Premier Zhou Enlai and Daisaku Ikeda occurred when they met over thirty years ago. It is now thirty - five years since the normalization of Sino- Japanese diplomatic relations, and the time has come to ensure that the progress made thus far is secure and irreversible. To this end we must continue to promote cooperation and exchange in a variety of areas and build relations of trust that will serve as the immovable foundations of peace and coexistence in East Asia Envisioning a United States of Africa (2001) Africa , along with Asia ,a region of crucial importance to world peace. Since the end of the Cold War, regional and internal conflicts have broken out in various parts of Africa, ravaging peoples lives and livelihoods. According to one survey, in the eleven years since the end of the Cold War, there have been 108 armed conflicts that have each claimed more than one thousand lives. The majority of these tragic conflicts have occurred in Asia and Africa. As a result of prolonged conflict situations , a growing number of Africans live as refugees, as many as 6.2 million as of January 2000 according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) Food shortages and famine are often the tragic by- products of conflict. The State of Food and Agriculture 2000 published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that nineteen African countries suffer from famine whose primary cause this armed conflict. And there has been a much more dramatic increase in such cases than for those where famine is provoked by natural disaster From 2011 Peace Proposal, Creating and Sustaining a Century of Life Challenges for a New Era Wallensteen, Peter and Margaret Sollenberg, 1998, Armed Conflict, 1989-98 , Journal of Peace Research September 1, vol.36. No.5 .London Thousand Oaks , California and New Delhi , Sage Publications ,P. 593 UNHCR ( United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) FAO ( Food and Agriculture Organization) A UN Living Up To Its Mission ■
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:49:18 +0000