Mr. AL SAHAF (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic) Allow me to begin by extending to you, Sir, my sincere congratulations on your election as President of the General Assembly at its forty eighth session.

I would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely congratulate the Under Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs, Mr. Nobuyasu Abe, for his important contributions to various disarmament and security issues.

Mr. Abdallah (Tunisia) (spoke in Arabic) It is my distinct pleasure to express to you and to your friendly country, the Kingdom of Sweden, my most sincere congratulations on your election to the presidency at this sixtieth session of the General Assembly and to wish you every success in your mission.

Congratulations to you, Mickey.

Noriko, I believe congratulations are in order

My compliments on your nephew's engagement.

The Acting President (spoke in Spanish) Lastly, I would like to sincerely congratulate all women on the occasion of International Women's Day, especially my colleagues, the members of delegations and all women working in the Secretariat and other United Nations bodies.

Doutreval, I owe you my warmest thanks.

A brilliant scheme, Captain. My congratulations.

Allow me, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. I should also like to reaffirm my delegation's willingness to support all your efforts to vitalize the Conference's work.

Mr. Filali (Morocco) (interpretation from Arabic) I am pleased to extend to you, Sir, my sincere congratulations on your election to the presidency of the forty ninth session of the General Assembly and to express to you my great delight at seeing you, a distinguished friend from a sisterly country, conducting the work of this session.

Think it over, Mike, while I go congratulate your boy.

Normally, a pat on the back and other displays of congratulations would have accompanied this new appointment.

It extend my sincere congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Jan Eliasson.

Our deepest condolences go to the families of those who have lost loved ones.

This anniversary is no time for complacency or self congratulation.

To the people and the Government of Bangladesh and to the United Nations family, our most sincere condolences.

In that spirit, I thank the President very much for convening today's meeting.

We extend sincere condolences to the Government of Uruguay and to the family of this esteemed jurist.

I offer my heartfelt condolences to all who have been touched by the loss of those two remarkable persons.

We mourn the loss of those who have perished, and we extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims.

His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters.

The PRESIDENT On behalf of the General Assembly, I most warmly and sincerely congratulate all the recipients of these awards.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I offer our deepest sympathy to the Governments and the peoples of the three countries and to the families and friends of those killed, injured or missing.

I should also like to take this opportunity to welcome the States which have recently acceded to the membership of the Organization and to extend to them the congratulations of the Mauritanian delegation.

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would not send the usual letters of congratulation.

Souvenir items marking the Year have been developed with the United Nations Sales Section and UNICEF Greetings Card Operations.

He congratulated the Fund for the way in which it had convinced these organizations to take population into account in their programmes.

The Government of Barbados is to be congratulated for the excellent arrangements made for the Conference and for the care taken of delegations attending the meeting.

I would be failing in my duty if, in conclusion, I did not extend words of felicitation to the Special Committee against Apartheid.

It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of the members of the Council, I congratulate the Republic of Moldova on this happy and historic occasion.

President John F. Kennedy later said of him, The Civil Rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor.

Our delegation warmly congratulates new UNCLOS States parties and believes that the current trend of broadening the membership of the Convention will continue.

In that report and in my introduction, Vice President Taha and Mr. Garang were congratulated on that great achievement.

In these challenging times, Sir, your unanimous election as President of the General Assembly at its forty ninth session merits compliments.

I wish to conclude by congratulating the President of the General Assembly, the Ambassador of Guyana, Mr. Samuel Insanally, an outstanding representative of my region.

Libya should be congratulated on tapping underground water to irrigate its desert. (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty sixth Session, Plenary Meetings, 7th meeting, p. 91)

Ms. Gueddana (Tunisia) (interpretation from Arabic) I am grateful for this opportunity to address the Assembly.

But Singh certainly did not fool any of the terrorists, some of whom may have read his self congratulation as a challenge for them to act.

Soon we hope to be able to congratulate other countries that will become parties in the coming year, establishing a new record for the number of ratifications.

Allow me also wholeheartedly to congratulate the Secretary General on his comprehensive and very enlightening report (S 2005 740) on the matter.

The South African people deserve to be congratulated and supported in their ceaseless effort to attain freedom and to lay the foundations for the reconstruction of their economic and social institutions.

The Non Aligned Movement is to be congratulated for having taken this initiative this year we hope it will gain the support of the Assembly.

I wish in particular to express, on behalf of my Government, our sincere thanks to all those countries that have expressed their support for a permanent seat for Japan.

May I also extend our thanks and appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Stoyan Ganev for the skilful and efficient manner in which he conducted the work of the previous session.