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Let us choose to unite the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations.

Kofi Annan

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Kofi Annan
Age: 80 †
Born: 1938
Born: April 8
Died: 2018
Died: August 18
Diplomat
Economist
Politician
Coomassie
Kofi Atta Annan
Annan
Kofi A. Annan
Challenges
Forces
Creative
Ideals
Disadvantaged
Future
Inspire
Unite
Force
Private
Reconcile
Power
Universal
Entrepreneurship
Needs
Authority
Provoking
Generations
Requirements
Choose
Markets

More quotes by Kofi Annan

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The world has lost a visionary leader, a courageous voice for justice, and a clear moral compass. By showing us that the path to freedom and human dignity lies in love, wisdom and compassion for one another, Nelson Mandela stands as an inspiration to us all.
Kofi Annan
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I think the generational change is going to be so important for Africa that we really should encourage and push it as much as we can, because some of these younger men and women, who are men and women of their times, and are also connected to the rest of the world, wouldn't even know how to behave in the way some of the old leaders do.
Kofi Annan
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We have seen recently, almost every major head of state goes to India and says, we believe India should be in the Council. They go back home and do nothing about it. But this cannot be sustained for long. If they want to keep the UN as a global forum where they discuss incidents and take some meaningful decisions, they should [reform].
Kofi Annan
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Neutrality is a tough call for the weaker ones.
Kofi Annan
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Education is the great equalizer of our time. It gives hope to the hopeless and creates chances for those without.
Kofi Annan
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Sometimes in peacekeeping operations you show force in order not to use force - people realise that there's a pushback and there's a solid force there that's not going to be pushed around, that sometimes helps.
Kofi Annan
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We at the U.N. have to take some of the blame, because we have not lowered expectations creating the impression we are here to save people, even when we have very limited resources.
Kofi Annan
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On this International Day of Peace, let us all honor those who have suffered from violence. Let us hold in our hearts the ideal of peace.
Kofi Annan
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Let us work in partnerships between rich and poor to improve the opportunities of all human beings to build better lives.
Kofi Annan
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Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.
Kofi Annan
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The reality is that no group of countries has any grounds for complacency about its own human rights performance and no group of countries does itself justice by automatically slipping into the victim mode . . . .
Kofi Annan
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Globalization is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility.
Kofi Annan
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Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace
Kofi Annan
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I am often asked what can people do to become a good global citizen? I reply that it begins in your own community.
Kofi Annan
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In a world of plenty, continued suffering is a terrible stain on our conscience. It is inexcusable that we not strive, with every resource at our disposal, to eliminate suffering.
Kofi Annan
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The future of peace and prosperity that we seek for all the world's peoples needs a foundation of tolerance, security, equality and justice.
Kofi Annan
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When the US withdrew their troops from Somalia, I recall making a comment that [in] the way the peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Somalia, the impression had been given that the easiest way to unravel a peacekeeping operation is to kill a few soldiers.
Kofi Annan
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Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
Kofi Annan
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To build a more healthy, peaceful and equitable world the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys.
Kofi Annan
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One has to have the strength of character to say the time has come to move on... unless you are a king.
Kofi Annan