Mr. Alvaro Gurgel de Alencar Netto (Brazil)

I, too, am grateful to Mr. Alvaro de Soto for his briefing.

I convinced him to let me bring in another architect from Portugal Alvaro Siza.

Address by His Excellency Mr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, President of the Republic of Colombia

Mr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, President of the Republic of Colombia, was escorted into the General Assembly Hall.

Mr. Sardenberg (Brazil) I wish to thank Alvaro de Soto for his comprehensive briefing and insightful comments.

Alvaro Siza grew up and lived in Portugal and is probably considered the Portuguese main guy in architecture.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, visited Lebanon in early December.

As Alvaro de Soto rightly said, a successful Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is in everyone's interests.

Mr. Zhang Yishan (China) (spoke in Chinese) The Chinese delegation thanks Mr. Alvaro de Soto for his detailed briefing.

We thank Mr. Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for his excellent briefing to the Council.

The Co Chairperson (Sweden) The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, President of the Republic of Colombia.

Mr. De La Sablière (France) (spoke in French) I, too, would like to thank Alvaro de Soto for his briefing and for his comments.

I should also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Alvaro de Soto on his appointment as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Mr. Baali (Algeria) (spoke in French) I wish to begin by thanking Mr. Alvaro de Soto for his briefing on the most recent events in the Middle East.

Mr. Brencick (United States of America) My delegation thanks Special Coordinator Alvaro de Soto for his informative briefing and wishes him every success in his challenging new mission.

I should also like to congratulate Mr. Alvaro de Soto on the assumption of his important and daunting tasks and to commend him for his clear, comprehensive and professional report.

We give many thanks to Mr. Alvaro de Soto, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for his comprehensive and useful briefing on the latest developments in the Middle East.

First of all, let me thank the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, for his thorough briefing and insightful observations.

The expansion of the mandate came during the 1996 2000 administration of Alvaro Arzú, which signed the final peace agreements with URNG and took the first steps towards implementing the broad package of accords.

The President On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, President of the Republic of Colombia, and to invite him to address the Assembly.

On 6 May 2005, the Secretary General had appointed Mr. Alvaro de Soto as United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and as his Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

In conclusion, I would like to express my appreciation to my Special Representative, Alvaro de Soto, and the men and women of MINURSO, who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions in the discharge of the Mission's mandate.

Our own new United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto, has taken up his post in the region, and I expect that he will brief the Council next month on his first impressions.

The Chairman drew attention to document A 59 102 Add.2, in which the Secretary General informed the General Assembly that he had received notification of the resignation of Mr. Alvaro Gurgel de Alencar Netto (Brazil) from the Committee on Contributions.

The murder of 11 provincial legislators held hostage by Colombia s FARC guerrillas is a reminder of that country s eternal agony. But strange to say, Colombia is in better shape today than it has been for years, thanks largely to President Alvaro Uribe s leadership.

Before anything else, I wish to join other speakers in welcoming the presence of Ambassador Alvaro de Soto in the Council for the first time since his assumption of his new assignment as United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

At the same time, I should like to thank the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, for his excellent presentation today and to congratulate him on the work he has done so far in carrying out his difficult mission.

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 began with a challenge to the dictator Porfirio Díaz that ignited peasant uprisings and worker revolts. The revolution s radical phase seemed to end in 1920 when General Alvaro Obregón seized power he limited land reforms and sought reconciliation with the United States.

Mr. Manongi (United Republic of Tanzania) We join previous speakers in thanking Ambassador Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for his update on the situation in the Middle East, which reminded us of the many obstacles that continue to confront the peace process.

Alvaro Uribe of Colombia was happy just to have a US Chief of State visit Bogotá the last one to do so was Ronald Reagan in 1982. In fact, Bush s was a brave gesture despite Uribe s success in combating drugs, paramilitaries and guerrillas, his capital is not an especially safe place.

I am very pleased to report that the new United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, was able to join the Secretary General and me in Moscow.

In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council's prior consultations, the President, with the consent of the Council, extended an invitation under rule 39 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure to Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary General.

The Greek Cypriot representative may choose to ignore the fact that these parameters, and more, were all included in the Annan Plan, which the overwhelming majority of the Greek Cypriot people, instigated by their leadership, have rejected as your former Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, pointed out to the Security Council.

In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council's prior consultations, the President, with the consent of the Council, extended an invitation under rule 39 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Special Representative of the Secretary General.

On 26 April, during informal consultations, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Western Sahara Alvaro de Soto, presented briefly the report of the Secretary General on the situation concerning Western Sahara and updated the recent activities carried out by the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

In conclusion, I wish to express my appreciation to the Special Coordinator, Alvaro De Soto, and my Personal Representative, Geir Pedersen, and to pay tribute to the Force Commander, Major General Alain Pellegrini, and the men and women of UNIFIL for the manner in which they have carried out their difficult and often dangerous task.

But most observers seem to believe that his support was crucial in bestowing a mantle of legitimacy and democratic disposition on Humala, who in 2007 ran on an unabashedly pro Hugo Chávez platform. And Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Mario s son, has been helping Humala convince financial markets and the international community that he is now a true believer in capitalism.

On 24 November 2004, the independent expert held consultations on the issue of violence against children with Alvaro Gil Robles, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer Buquicchio, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe the Committee of Ministers' Deputies and the Directorates General of the Council of Europe.

In recent weeks, the hyper nationalist Ollanta Humala, a clone of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, was defeated in Peru, the conservative Alvaro Uribe won a landslide victory in Colombia, with 62 of the vote, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador has fallen behind in Mexico s July 2 presidential election. All of these isolated developments seemingly contradict the leftward trend in Latin America.

Nigeria wishes, in this regard, to express appreciation to James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement, for his tenacity and commitment, and to Alvaro de Soto, the new United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Special Representative of the Secretary General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, and his team, for their hard work.

The President In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council's prior consultations, and in the absence of objection, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary General.

Mr. Mercado (Philippines) We welcome Mr. Alvaro de Soto, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and thank him for his first briefing to the Council on the latest developments in the region, particularly the recent outbreak of violence that not only claimed the lives of several people and wounded several dozens more, but also left a tenuous ceasefire in tatters.

I have the honour to inform you that your letter dated 6 May 2005 (S 2005 306) concerning your intention to appoint Mr. Alvaro de Soto as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and your Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority has been brought to the attention of the members of the Security Council.

However hasty these judgments may end up being, it certainly seems that the region s oldest and last political military organization is, at long last, on the brink of defeat. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe s strategy of democratic security appears to have paid off, supported by the United States financed Plan Colombia, as well as by much plain good luck, such as finding thousands of incriminating computer files three months ago in an attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador.