any unwarranted accusations against china and we call upon other countries to also observe the purposes of the un charter and not to interfere in other country's internal affairs china was one of those permanent members of the security council says it wants to so far it wants the iran deal to survive it says it's the only way to stop iran getting a nuclear weapon the response to president trumps attacks on iran is coming now from the iranian president hassan rouhani who's about to give this news conference all right james you're right so we are awaiting in a few moments for hassan rouhani the iranian president to start that press conference from new york but on the issue of iran james then at that meeting at the u.n. security council apologies dames we will now cross over to the iranian president let's listen in to what he has to say. their meetings in their speech is.

supporting jay superiors an achievement. yet. this min meant. to state. and this action as being alone as being left alone. withdrawal of the united states from just appearing. has not been a reach their countries of the world. this was a. mistake this is considered a political mistake by those countries today and that's. a meeting of the united nations security council which was. all goes by mr trump as. usual way. initially their decision was the session was going to be about iran but then it was. it faced

disagreement but members of the security council and then they had to take back what they had said initially and. then it was focusing on non proliferation. and today's meeting of the security council. it was very evident that the united states that's only. the countries of the spall there i think and i think national security council they supported your superior. rickly or indirectly. their right of the united states action was. inappropriate and improper action in my meeting to rig sixteen leaders of the world countries one of the discussions was about j.c.b.

usa. two points were emphasized upon why all of them one was. the significance of j c p or a relation to relations of countries and then the issue of nonproliferation of stability and security and the success of the policy. also. their dissatisfaction. from. withdrawal of the estate was emphasized up on and then the second point was supporting iran decision to stay within just a. why isn't this initiative why. you're on. that. in fact this was

a decision. which was able to make stomp either successful or make him fail this was our decision to. donate to states and they. make made them for failure. the pressures that are being exerted on the wrong by the i state this doesn't mean that we don't have any problems as a result of these approaches but they iranian nation has always being. patient. united. and situations that have been more even more severe than the consequences and we have been able to. successfully. undergo those pressures. some other the topics that we. were discussing in. meetings with

their four plus one. leaders. the. important point was that other five countries are word decisive in supporting just the pure. and to make sure that their role is implemented in the proper way the. actions that are going to be taken by the united states in order to. put pressure on iran at least those approaches are supposed to be. many more. the statement that was issued. meant that then i think that you do when you know russia and china are more decisive done. before even to consolidate. we hope that with the support of. the legal let's take a multilateral list countries. we can.

we can successfully. passed through this period this it deserved and we have a patient. and resilient nation and. the sanctions. are also going to create new conditions for production. in those sectors also we can use that as an opportunity. ready to take your questions. you raise you. a myth yourself von sure thank you for your question so we have more time for more questions there it's a star the it is that there but for this the next day to be

ricardo stone new york. thank you very much president rouhani you mentioned the willingness of iran and in your speech to the general assembly yesterday to welcome america back to the nego gating table if it except u.n. security council resolution two two three one which indorse the nuclear deal that resolution included language barring iran from launching ballistic missiles. capable of carrying nuclear weapons excuse me it used police in the me the sure. the question is here are you signaling that iran is

willing if the united states on earth than to clear it all to cut back on iran's but list stick missile program. down was with the cheese even on them which i was just curious concerned there's nothing you know such a thing goes on a sergeant's. we. it's very clear what the issue has been and what has been discussed if somebody wants to. decided not to stand by its promises then that's their decision just keep your eyes clear of twenty to thirty one is illusionist. every lead want to clear one therefore what

exists is that the united states has made a mistake if they want to. return to their original status. is their decision one day they will return sooner or later the united states cannot continue this process. this is not in the interest of american nation. that. neither inventor stuff the nation of iran or. interest of europe or the us or others therefore all of us including you the media and the elite we all have to. do our best to assess the person who has made the mistake so that he returns to the origin of the position.

and the next. the to be a father c.v.s. . i want to ask is there if you can give us an update on the status of the americans who are imprisoned in iran the americans and the british specifically. the father and son. who are. in prison for a couple of years she you have long the princeton university graduate student who's been in prison for a couple of years and is on ins or garri radcliffe of britain what are the prospects for. releasing them and letting them come back to their come back home thank you.

my fic at them if. i thought you were going to be. sympathizing with all prisoners of the world all of us should do our best in from any humanitarian point of view to make sure that we help if we can help anybody who is in prison to assist him or her. government and it stern has done this is doing this in order to facilitate meetings in order to facilitate information sharing and also but the principle of. prosecution and trial is being handled by another body which is the judiciary and this is the case in other countries as well if any rain is in place and in the united states if we ask we are told well it used to us courts.

can then that person and he's or she is in prison so we cannot only facilitate consular affairs affairs and issues. therefore what you are saying in this regard when you referred to me as the head of the executive branch of the country i can do my most from a humanitarian point of view to facilitate this my own minister of foreign affairs can this can do this the government can do this. some of the names you mentioned. very recently some of them could go on there and leave from prison and these are the facilities that we could have provided at the same time in the past. as far as the u.s. government is concerned and we. have. heard that.

people they were referring to who are there have been imprisoned in iran. or. such as those who have been present in prison we have provided assistance and just to go to this and we have never disagreed with their governments discussing a negotiating this in order to come to a solution. the next question pommel of fox c.b.s. news the next be will be. released because the b.b.c. . thank you very much mr president it's pamela far from c.b.s. and. my question is president trump mentioned the new sanctions that will go into place in november against iran. if the e.u. mechanism of blocking mechanism is not acknowledged by u.s.

law which often they are not and trade stops what will iran do and is there a breaking point at which iran walks away from the nuclear deal thank you. you know carol i should clarify this point there is no sanction that is going to be done by you know if this is later they have already done everything what they wanted to do there have been. there have been hyperactive people in the u.s. who have been trying to start sanctions against you don't do the ones that were supposed to be done in november that were this started in september there is no new thing in november this is just a propaganda. issue going on the united states wants to bring pressure.

when it comes to selling of oil and for. banking and trade relations and they're only they don't know what they wanted to do nothing is has been left to be done in in november. they should just. talk off november sanctions this is just a propaganda. issue as far as what we can do with other partners. our decision is that when it comes to other countries that we should work with them . any country that can ignore united states sanctions this is a. good price because the united states sanctions are illegal are against the resolution of the security council. it's the legal duty of all countries to make sure that this illegal action by the mesa states face

is a failure. with our friends including the european union we are. contact with them we are liaising with them in to find channels. so that the same that we do our economic activities. so that there is also support for those companies who are working with iran. and the last point of your question we have decided to remain within just c.p.o. all the. commitments that we have we had made we are going to continue with them and as long as our one is staying in just the pure is going to be in our national interests we will stay within just a pure way and. when we know or when we find out that our interests are not. then there are mechanisms within just a pure way which we will consider. so

maybe mr potter is a. noon thank you very much president rouhani of iran for your for your comments and your presence today my name is least you said i work for b.b.c. world after the arrest of a number dual nationals iranians holding more than one passport the british government urged dual nationals to avoid all but essential travel to iran what can you hear today do to reassure iranians whatever prospered they hold that they face no risks in iran and that includes members of the b.b.c.'s persian service who are expressing concern about what they see as a campaign of harassment and pressure against the journalists who work for the b.b.c. and also their families in iran thank you very much indeed. your

question was i want your own section. this is actually incorrect to say those of us nationals or why do you go there should i war you. should be wanted entering iran because dual nationals being in there i don't nationalize is not a crime it's just we don't accept that. legally speaking if somebody is a dual nationality your show has not committed a crime. so that you know she's arrested nor does no such change. there for you this is just based this propaganda. somebody could have entered the country and could have been arrested due to specific reasons nothing having to do with dual nationality could could be a one in a single nationality or some other nationalities they do not there cannot be reasons for somebody being arrested if somebody has been arrested. but this. has

nothing to do with his or her citizenship or nationality you should look into the case into. what the issue has been what the action in the years don has been. as it's been illegal or a crime or not. will be called why he jumped on i. think. it could be a child of his own. when they actually say. it is just to satisfy you. what are you going to be the next steps that are going to be taken. the question for the last one hundred meeting an issue this statement is

dissatisfying iran. and what's your expectation from europe for the next steps. in new york. the ministers are four plus one. explicit level at the ministers level. there were meetings. these meetings led to a statement. this statement in addition to emphasizing why the country's armed protection and keeping of jessie puree. they also came up with. practical actions which were mentioned in the statement that they should be implemented. including. methods for financial relations between these countries and iran. has been a stipulation in

a statement so this is a want to step one good step forward. visa really corporation between iran and the other for countries to protect just. yes our expectations of course. more than that. these expectations have been grazes within these. with the other five countries there your. way or. position and they have promised to take forward these other steps in order that iran can benefit from from their.

thank you mr president my name is carol. there's been some very strong language here in. me. you know. and then. oh oh. oh oh. oh. oh there's been some very harsh language you have called mr brown said he has not seen tendencies u.s. officials who said we're coming to get you. you know you are and i love regina i want to ask you where do you think this is heading are you running the united states on the path to war.

you are not new things. you should have been surprised for the last forty years where we were witnessing these talks. these retorts the new administration in the u.s. yes there you thought i was being their friend. or rather many of them are newer more and more tomorrow most of them are new in fall attacks as a whole event they were not their politics before so it's natural that it's you those who enter politics freshly they. can be different than those who have some experience. politics. we do not want to have a specific kind of tone in relation to the right he says what we want from the u.s. has to. take. to do what is legal to stop bullying to respect

their relations to stand by promising to continue with. the noise standing by strong voices they need to. stand by the u.n. security council resolution and what we want the u.s. is not to do illegal illegal actions or something does against human rights to pressure nations with. imaginary. claims. there have been of course disagreements in the past with the u.s. and they should be resolved of course. was. very much for us in the matter. falling out of the way well as secretary of state. says the u.s. will hold the been responsible for actions by allied she who is in iraq there are

u.s. personnel the facilities. and john both says they're going to be going after using all tools available to states to go after the soleimani even certain aspects for escalation with this is between the united states and iran and are there ways you can restrain a round restraint actions to prevent the installation of. the second name don't you mention what is familiar. but i guess it's methods from the past nobody. everybody is familiar with the other one who is now a minister he has been in previous positions not diplomatic ones. what he says. is not logical that. if something happens in iraq or

doesn't happen in iraq or in other countries. does it have to do with iran. and yes we have supporters across the world how does it mean that if anybody is supporting us or is interested in knowing are we responsible for they do what they do this is. a. political illegal and. if a country orders a group to do something yes then that country's responsible for it but in our region. surety because our interests in iran in our culture. there are different groups who have political activities. fighting for their freedom and they might be interested in iran what they do we are the responsible for their independent people they have got their own interests where

they are working within the interest of their own country. why is why has america gone to iraq so that's. what this is a question. the foreign minister who say. this why is he in iraq we are very interested to do some. polling as to how many people in iraq are supportive of the presence of the us there. even some himself said that we have nothing in the region and we have a spent billions there he himself has acknowledged that these terrorist groups who are there have been created by the united states government this is what your own president has said. what reason can do you know if you deny his they do whatever they want in iraq and then they are satisfied to the people of iraq and

then they had a whole dust response responsible for that this doesn't have anything to do with us their presence of america and the region should be do you once again. in the persian gulf and see our form on in afghanistan in iraq. in and in other. places the united states wants to have a presence. they should tell their reasons and the people of those countries on the legal governments of those countries should endorse their position their presence there in syria against. international regulations the syrian government has. condemned the u.s. presence there this is illegal. suffered. harm there doesn't have anything to do with our so we do not have any intention to fight the americans in any part of the region we do not want to attack u.s. forces we didn't do not want to increase the tension with the u.s.

. but we do want america to. respect. law and national sovereignty of the countries. so. let's. just. for some fun through. the use of the. first time. what's your vision of the. soul of the. sun shone sun and believe me if you will not. see it you.

suppose but if you feel you should. yes as you mentioned. an hour ago i met with their prime minister of italy. discussions both about. sort of elations you know that it's really. our first. trade partner within the european union. politically our relations are always been good. sure. he saw but talked about jesse period he showed his supporters it's lissa ports. are like other countries

for just. said. we have to tell. talks about the methods for cooperation in the coming months. but part of the. negotiations had to do with the region. and. i didn't see any specific. difference among state positions and the viewpoints sufi european leaders relation to supporting just a almost they all agree in the same way that that would do us with or should be made up for somehow. to. chase me if needs be so long. for us.

thank you mr president for taking my question. you talked in your intro well situation. present from yesterday's speech. we ask all nations to isolate the wrong . my question is do you feel i so we do you feel that you're surrounded on all of your borders by either us. or your military bases and it's one of the reasons why you continue to support militant groups like a little teary. market town on you. alone you know his face is along. america's alone the united nations general assembly today it was alone the security

council as well everybody supported jesica everybody disagreed with america and everybody said it was one of way or another that what america has chosen to do is wrong in our region we are not alone we are part of the region you. aliens have come a long way to our region. were there. a lot of problems in the region. were not come to their president for their security there we don't have any problem where they are we are in our region we have. good relations that are close relations friendly relations with the countries of the region and. the problem is the problem for america. you said the wrong is supporting terrorist groups i don't know what do what you meant. or those groups who are fighting. who is

a terrorist is isis terrorists or those who are fighting isis one of them should get serious not more those are fighting isis. everybody agrees that isis is a terrorist organization al qaida everybody agrees that al-qaeda is also. also everybody agrees or not says also a terrorist group but his baseball is fighting all these terrorist groups has got a law is the group who expelled all these groups from lebanon. and the people of lebanon are thanking gar thankful for the new security that they have been provided with. the special there with syria expelled isis from ninety percent of the territory of syria those who are fighting terrorists have a different position terrorists are clear they all. say that these terrorist groups have been created by the us government and his election campaign he mentioned.

later he said that the previous u.s. administration that created these groups. who should be listened to. the u.s. president should must have had some information about this who are safe there. thank you very much mr president my question is regarding iran's economy and it's geared towards the people of iran i often ask my friends and perhaps on social media those that are in france that what they'd like to know when you visit new york and most of it is usually surrounded around the economy and the first one i it's a two part question my first question is you've met with many of your counterparts from around the world the u.k. france now these are permanent members of the united nations security council and so is the united states we know that they've said that it's unfortunate it's very

bad horrible that the u.s. has violated a security council resolution but how committed are they to continue to do business with iran when they speak to you and we know that there is an end plan to find their ways as iran's foreign minister dr. pointed out after their meeting and we just like to know what you know how long is this going to take is it going to take here is it or are they committed it really and what is your sense and my second question is. what everyone is talking about any wrong apparently and it's the price of the dollar and the question that i keep getting asked although i mention that i have no authority is if they should go out and buy their american dollar and. and how do you plan to restore confidence in and iran's economy for the iranian people they're a little concerned thank you so much. economic

issues are fearful of iran. they are being looked after. criteria that some people have outside iran or inside iran. they. are talking actually about. currencies that are being sold to a specific people that cannot be a criterion for doing an economy. all these. occurrences that that's done illegally in iran. this is only one person one percent of even less than one percent of iranian economy. people that i think do it that one percent and some myspace i think you. need that currency that carries

so much change go up or come down. but. in their face it hurts fundamentally their currency rate is very clear. it's also we have a specific. exchange rate. you refer. to relations between iran and the u. . so when their foreign ministers of the two countries can meet. to do with the behavior of america. our foreign minister. to talk about with the u.s. . in the past. various talk with taylor some. do not have. any problems if

they. return. to its promises to its commitments. then this situation would be different. where then just we were together we were at meetings we had meetings. with experts from both sides where you were meeting each other was themselves a bit dull. as. themselves they were not responsible it was them to play. thank you listen. to. me i was from this response we thank you very much mr president for you today this morning you will be you were the security council

president priest of iran along with syria and russia for the we. were tough on the. sea getting cherries. we see that in course there is a train from here. and you also do war this was not the way the war is watching the scene to see you here in front of the war in front of this mission press since you know what so you can see in the last year the surface of the population in thinking to me it's a precedent that you will do from your point of view from your perspective you do your best to avoid. you know feeling in syria after so many years of sufferings for the last question that i think. that it was. about syria.

does not thank. you so different issue but in syria we are there as a result of the invitation by the syrian government we have military advisors. our goal was to fight terrorism. and i believe we have been successful in this goal . main power of the terrorists and. been done away with and. that's a. particular problem because the terrorists are hidden amongst the people. who are efforts to separate the terrorists from their people. those terrorists dangerous ones. from.

these terrorist groups. should we should if we should fight them on the people where the people should not be harmed. russia and turkey meeting. the leaders meeting in terror on. talked about this their. consultations with each other. continued there are different levels currently we have come to a conclusion to a solution that is being implemented by the three countries. this is to make sure that the terrorists are being separated from the people there should be a distance between the people on the terrorists we hope that. there is remaining parts of syria the rest till under control. putting it lip that we should act in

a way that the innocent people are not harmed. and in the same time the fight against terror also comes to an end. and the question. for the sociology of the last year. salaam aleikum so you know right thank you for this opportunity to give me a chance to ask you about the question of. as you know mr president the from the administration had been launching a war when he made on the palestinians there you can i just tell him as the capital of the state of israel the abolish the issue of the right of return of refugees they're trying to dismantle. they are moving the issue of settlement of the table they are not appear to use the word occupation anymore. so what can

we round do to help the palestinians cheer their call of an independent sovereign state in the occupied palestinian territory can give on also its support of the because now it is being threatened of dismantling thank you very much. more. of palestine is a very complicated issue in the region and our region. as. most of. that exists in our region if we go back and find the root cause the root cause goes back to the occupation of palestine. seventy years ago if this had not happened seventy years ago in the palestinian the palestinian

land not been occupied by design nests. today we would have had a different region with different circumstances. and principle. all the problems in security security is an off the region. parts of them are under occupation part of them have to do with their. correct interventions on a patients by the power of. their current behavior of the us government in relation to muslims and in particular the palestinians is. such that we your reminded of. racist. ideas racist motives when i had my alice's earlier

i said that what their current us administration does reminds us of apartheid and racism when it comes to the sharing of the when it comes to treating others including you know muslims and palestinians. this is a great mistake that. the america has committed was to transfer. embassy to jerusalem. and which harms the emotions of all muslims. because the u.s. governments. in order to get closer to. design a straight. this administration are to do that they harm the emotions of one point five billion muslims. jerusalem is not

only a palestinian issue it's an issue that has to do with almost in just a holy land for all muslims. the stomach to public affair on. found out said as been supporting the cause of the palestinians as supporting a person is an every year we have read about day that was gaining the name off. by the name of jerusalem day and our city hall demonstrated their interested and humanity that. we have assisted callousness morally and materially and we will continue the assistance of the palestinian issue. should be. done and should be done in such a way that all muslims actually work together and do it and right away. the last question is this so.

thank you mr president for those who do the work you will feel rather you roll your ears a. good. deal of the. moderates who are in syria. we were pursing goals and one of which was to fight terror out. we had remarkable progress in this area. our presence in syria that is as long as. the syrian government needs our presence there and as long as they. request us to stay there. comes to. discriminate thing their tensions

our target is there are shows there you don't is there all of us are there and. this and this creating. this is for regions an area we have that this we have the constitution new constitution seen in syria assume sooner rather than later and we have elections there for the future government and i think that if these are stages. are. gone are completed correctly their way will be paid for the return of refugees and other things and it could be done as part of our main goals in syria. but.

it depends on the elections whoever is elected. some people will be candidates from this government from other governments from the opposition anybody who is waterfalls and they will be there because. mr president. be so sure you get this because you. are such a trump asked other countries not to pay attention to twenty thirty one hundred thirty one resolution. has this being any precedence and. diplomatic relations and saturations in the past. it's about one member ask other members not to respect the dissolution. this is one aspect that she you referred to in your question. this is really surprising.

that. somebody who was a. security council rotation may says. not to respect the resolution by the same council. twenty two thirty one is illusion. which was what thirty. four even by the us themselves and other members of all fifteen members as well who. not only america wants this resolution should not respect it i disagree with it but they also say that we are going to punish anybody who is not so who is under anybody who respects just reset the street solution on this uprising so. we should thank united nations because the council twice once for. a very good

position that the united nations security council took relation to the terrorist attack and i was in iran. the council. took a very good position. and we will come to that statement a second. as we have as a gathering today's session that all members of the council is with the exception of america supported just a short. once again his security council being supported iran. your superior and those who respect him. the long saturday session of the secular council was very interesting. and you saw that. most leaders of the countries decisively supported just.

with the exception of america there was nobody who was disagreeing with just. different tones very supportive just appearing. and this. means the second isolation of america once. when they withdrew from just a pure vast majority of the countries of the world didn't come down and they condemned the u.s. and they became isolated on today for the second time the united states became isolated they organized. they held a meeting on the issue of nonproliferation. a was on their mind jessop your way to put pressure on iran but they could not achieve that they were going on this this was counterproductive this was. turned into a session of support saying. these things

are over the past few days that we are in new york very interesting. because i mean the security council normally has. stages but i mean for the last two days two good things happened we hope that this continues by the security council thank you. that is the iranian president hassan rouhani holding a news conference on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly in a wide ranging news conference he did address of course the iranian nuclear issue and what he said was that it is clear during his meeting with world leaders at the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly that trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal has isolated the united states that is what rouhani had to say and he also said about his own country that iran will remain in the nuclear deal so long as it serves its

interests he mentioned the u.s. sanctions that are due to come into effect in november that and he said that they are nothing new in the game to put psychological pressure on iran and he also did say that iran's an iran the u.s. excuse me will eventually rejoin the nuclear deal so that is rouhani viewpoint and let's get the point of view from tehran itself and speak to. joining us from there what stood out for use in. sure i mean i have to tell you president hassan rouhani spoke for about an hour and the entire press conference was carried live on state t.v. people here are very interested in everything that's happening in new york they're interested in how their president hassan rouhani is performing certainly the fallout from the collapse of the twenty fifty nuclear deal has been very bad for

his popularity but people here are really concerned about how he's going to put iran's case to world leaders at this general assembly now there was a couple of things that really stood out in terms of people here in iran aside from the brinksmanship the international policy discussions happening in new york when people here are going to be concerned about are there economic concerns and certainly he knew that as he was addressing not just the world but his domestic audience as well now he tried to sell the nuclear deal as not something that is completely over yet there is still hope and there are two things certainly he was trying to sell to his own people as well he said the two positive things have come out of this something actionable something that can actually be measured in the weeks and months to come which is this bypass that was discussed at the start of the general assembly a few days ago the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal europe russia china all saying that they will develop a mechanism to bypass the international banking system of which the united states

has a strong hold on and that is something that will no doubt be encouraging people about the benefits of the deal that perhaps that can be solved as there's still can be some sort of economic benefit to iran from this deal going forward though many would argue that hasn't happened in the last few years since it was signed how can that change going forward well he pointed to something else saying that the support by world leaders on this the largest international stage for the g. c.p.o. a for the joint comprehensive plan of action for iran is a very positive moral victory but there is a question here of how long moral victories will be enough and as critical as people might be of rouhani the. that aside from returning to international markets one of the most important things that iran's leaders wanted out of the nuclear deal was a return to the international stage as a country of not just clerics in conflict but of a country of diplomats with whom deals can be made and whatever you say about iran whatever you say about leaders continuing to have to be patient with their european

partners in the face of american sanctions but really at this general assembly one thing that has emerged is that iran is a player on the international stage but it is focusing on dialogue and deal making to solve regional issues as well as international ones here's the things they and i mean president rouhani did downplayed the upcoming sanctions on iran by the united states those are expected to take effect in november he said that they are nothing new and they aim to put psychological pressure on iran but you were mentioning the economy just a moment ago surely the prospect of more sanctions that trump is describing will be tougher than ever before are putting pressure on rouhani as well as the iranian population who must be worried. absolutely there's a lot to unpack here so i'll talk to you a little bit about the impact of what many here are calling a psychological war an economic war and then i'll get into sort of

a practical nitty gritty on the ground in terms of the impacts that have already happened and there's some truth to what ron said there's not a lot there's not damage that the united states can do that it isn't already doing that hasn't already been done many lawmakers here talk about how the benefits of the nuclear deal were never really felt entirely because there was always this this economic pressure the psychological pressure from president donald trump when he was just candidate donald trump and really there is some truth to the fact that even during the obama administration's presiding over the nuclear deal with iran really did things to move fast enough on the international stage for iran to enjoy all of the benefits that it hopes to of the nuclear deal terms of the currency impact of. sort of economic psychological campaign against iran you know the day that rouhani landed in new york to buy one dollar you had to pay one hundred fifty thousand iranian reales to study for a moment eighty thousand iranian riaz and that's the same stand by for

a moment because i have to cross back to the general assembly and let's listen in to the u.k. prime minister to resign may address in the hall now. kofi annan was one of the great secretaries general a tireless campaigner for peace and progress and a champion of human rights and human dignity whose influence will continue to be felt around the world for years to come. over the course of his lifetime he witnessed the extraordinary progress that we as a community of nations have made since this organization was founded progress in which we have more than half the number of people living in extreme poverty in this century alone progress in which the number of people killed in conflicts has fallen by three quarters in just over three decades and progress in which millions of our citizens healthier and longer lives and where thanks to advances in human knowledge in medicine inside.