SG/SM/9169
25 February 2004

Secretary-General Welcomes Report of World Commission on Social Dimensions of Globalization

NEW YORK, 24 February (UN Headquarters) -- The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General welcomes the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which was launched in London today.  He hopes the international community will pay close attention to the Commission's findings and recommendations on one of the most important issues of our time -- the need to ensure that people throughout the world, and especially the poor, can benefit from globalization and have a voice wherever decisions about it are taken.  The Commission's 26 members include outstanding authorities on politics, economics and development from many countries, who have been working for two years to produce this report, chaired by the Presidents of Finland and the United Republic of Tanzania.  The Secretary-General congratulates the International Labour Organization and its Director-General, Juan Somavia, on taking this important initiative and seeing it through.

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