INTRODUCTION
Mrs. Ramos and I are delighted to welcome you all at the start of the new year. We ask you to convey to your heads of state and heads of government — and to your governments and peoples — our sincere best wishes and those of my government and the Filipino people for a happy, prosperous and peaceful 1995.

As we embark on yet another year, we join the rest of the international community in looking back to 1994 with general satisfaction and thus in looking forward to the new year with great hope.
CHOOSING THE ROAD TO PEACE
In the year just past, much of the world, with wisdom and goodwill, chose the road to peace over the way to war, the path of conciliation over that of conflict.

The people of Israel and the Palestinian people, together with others in the region, at last found it in their hearts to work together for peace and reconciliation and for their common prosperity.

The guns fell silent in Northern Ireland, and the quiet work for peace began. South Africa found peace with itself under a freely-elected, democratic and multi-racial government.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference, meeting at the summit, raised its potent voice in condemnation of terrorism.

The United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea arrived at an understanding that eased tensions in the Korean Peninsula and re-kindled hopes for enduring peace among the Korean people. The fledgling government of Cambodia withstood a serious challenge to its existence.

In most of the world, the forces of democracy continued their forward march. The democratically elected government was restored in Haiti. In many countries, some of them newly emerged from tyrannies, leadership changed hands through free and peaceful elections.

Market forces, too, continued to be on the ascendant as the peaceful, non-violent organizing element in the economies of nations and of the world.

An overwhelming number of countries ratified or were on the verge of ratifying the UR-GATT accord, leading to the establishment of the World Trade Organization at the beginning of this year.

The ASEAN Regional Forum started life as a forum for discussing regional security. China and the countries of Southeast Asia continued to affirm their commitment to a peaceful and cooperative approach to the issue of the South China Sea.

The whole of East Asia achieved a higher level of stability and calm.

The countries of Asia and the Pacific, meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, pledged to endeavor to free trade and investments among themselves by the year 2020. The ASEAN member-countries, individually and collectively, accelerated progress toward an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and steadily opened up their economies to the world. So did many other countries, notably in the Americas, India, China and Vietnam.

To be sure, elsewhere in the world, the forces of inhumanity had not been obliterated. In parts of Africa — most tragically in Rwanda — ethnic and religious conflicts ravaged entire nations and killed millions of the innocent. So did they in parts of Europe, particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION
Nevertheless, the world found in 1994 greater hope for enduring peace and steady progress than it had in a long, long time.

We in the Philippines were emphatically part of this hopeful trend and, indeed, made our modest contribution to it.

Our policies of economic liberalization, deregulation and privatization, the end of our energy shortage, the steady upgrading of vital infrastructure, and the return of peace and stability to our land resulted in a GNP growth rate of five and a half percent in 1994. And our exports grew by more than 20 percent.

The incidence of index crimes of all categories — such as murder, robbery, etc. — except for one category — (kidnapping) –declined during the year. We intend to bring an end to violent dissidence and drastically bring down the level of crime in the country.

Our conciliation talks with disaffected elements made substantial progress, even as those who insisted on the path of violence, particularly in some isolated communities in Mindanao, resorted to criminality and terroristic acts.

We did all we had to do with full respect for human rights and with firm adherence to the processes and spirit of democracy.

We remained steadfast in our commitment to open our economy to the rest of the world, bringing down economic barriers, unilaterally and within the framework of GATT and AFTA. We ratified the GATT Accord. We opened up many new sectors to open competition, including foreign companies and the banking industry.
REACHING OUT TO THE WORLD
We reached out to the world’s markets and to economic partners around the globe. We strengthened our relations and fortified our friendship with our neighbors and others in the world, with I myself visiting Vietnam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Western Europe, making contact with their leaders, their business sectors, their Filipino communities, and their peoples.

We joined hands with our immediate neighbors in ASEAN, forming a special growth area (EAGA) among our border regions which would facilitate the flow of goods and people and create economies of scale for investors to profit from.

In our region, we hope to see the ASEAN Regional Forum develop concrete measures for building confidence and preventing conflict, encourage the process of security consultation to flourish, and work out a code of conduct for the behavior of nations in the area.

With our neighbors, we envision all ten nations of Southeast Asia, in the not-so-distant future, coming together in one community.

As we approach the APEC meetings in Osaka this year and in manila next year, we will drive to ensure that APEC moves ahead on its pledge to achieve free trade and investments. The Philippines, for its part, will continue to reach out to economic partners, old and new. I look forward to visiting some of them this year. This month, we will have the privilege of hosting his holiness the pope. His is also a pastoral visit to his flock and to the youth of the world. We look forward to receiving other leaders during the rest of the year.
THE UNITED NATIONS
In October 1995, mankind celebrates the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. This milestone should provide the international community with the opportunity to find creative ways to deal with new challenges.

The capacity of the United Nations for keeping the peace and promoting “social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom” must be enhanced, and as chairman of the Group of 77, the Philippines will do its part to help in this regard. The Philippines will also be active in bringing about the necessary reforms in the United Nations, including those pertaining to the Security Council.

This year, too, should be a time for intensifying the focus of world attention on the potential of the United Nations for redressing the social problems common to humanity regardless of national boundaries. Foremost among these are the problems of women, of children, of the disabled, of minority peoples; that is to say, those concerns that involve the condition of common people with regard to their common humanity.

In particular, the Philippines has a special concern for the protection and welfare of migrant workers, wherever they come from, wherever they toil. Certainly, we will do our best for our numerous Filipino workers overseas, who contribute so much to the welfare of other countries and peoples. We will act on their behalf by ourselves, and also in cooperation with the countries which host them, and within the international community, which has a genuine responsibility for them.

With the progress and firmer stability which we are confident of achieving, we in the Philippines will fulfill our responsibilities in the affairs of the world and contribute our share to the peace and prosperity of mankind. In doing so, we shall be strengthening our bonds with the rest of the international community.

In this, we are deeply grateful for your cooperation as representatives of the world’s governments.

With this thought in mind, I ask you all to join me in a toast to the heads of state and heads of government that you represent and for lasting peace in the world.

Mabuhay!