Harri Holkeri

When my first child was born in 1962, I wrote a letter to my grandfather telling him how happy I was but how concerned; concerned because there were so many visions which were not very good.

There are many challenges, there are many obstacles; let us try to change the obstacles to advantages.

If we go back in the history of different nations, violence and the use of force are part of their heritage. These are the traditions of mankind.

Without accepting the other person's thinking, you cannot further your own interest. You need the other's help to get results.

Peace enforcement is a much more difficult kind of operation than peacekeeping.

Without rebuilding the confidence between parties, you will never succeed.

In international or national crises, there are always questions of lack of confidence. You have to change the minds of the people in order to get results.

What we can do as individuals may not be very much on the global scale, but we have to start the change by living as we are teaching.

One of the biggest development issues in the world is the education of girls. In the United States and Europe, it has been accepted, but not in Africa and the developing countries.

I do not want to speak about overpopulation or birth control, but I think education is the way to give new impetus to the poverty question.

I really do hope that the Millennium Summit gives new impetus to the work of the United Nations.

I think we have grave problems. I am very much concerned about environmental questions, even though in Finnish society, we are not facing the most urgent problems.