Prime Minister addresses UN

While the Minister of National Security was talking tough on crime at home, his boss, Prime Minister Said Musa, was doing the same on the international level. In his first speech to the UN General Assembly as Prime Minister, Musa spoke out against drug trafficking and money laundering and pledged his full cooperation with regional and global efforts to curb the drug trade and its corrupting effects on society. Other high points of the speech included the importance of social justice as a cornerstone of democracy and the development of policies to improve the lives of children, women and indigenous people. In terms of specific positions on key international issues the new government did not make any major departures with the past but Musa did single out for mention the need to recognize the right of self determination for the Palestinian people, the right of the Cuban people to be free of terrorist attacks and attempts to isolate the nation economically, and that the time has come for Taiwan to be allowed to participate fully in the UN system. The Prime Minister will return home on Wednesday.