Our hectic modern day lifestyles often breed in us a spirit of impatience.

It is not wild to suggest the end of the window could be a hectic one.

Let me conclude by congratulating the Secretary General and his staff on the work they have undertaken in this historic and hectic year of action, often under difficult circumstances.

With China's economy booming, foreign investors flocking, and the country's role in global markets ever more central, the disappearance of this elderly couple hardly caused a break in China's hectic march. But the disappearance underscores the ongoing imbalance between economic and political reform.

But what about Africa, the forgotten continent that has been conspicuously absent from Obama s hectic agenda? There, both the resilience of the local political culture and strategic imperatives are converging to define the limits of the West s capacity to impose its values.