It is truly an honour and a delight to be here in Tokyo today for this 25th anniversary celebration, and to see so many old friends and colleagues. A very significant part of my life was spent here at the helm of the United Nations University, and I have the fondest memories of those days. Above all, it was a spirited intellectual endeavour - and I will always deeply cherish being a part of it.

I must begin my brief remarks here on a note of gratitude - first to Rector Hans Van Ginkel for his kind invitation - and to congratulate him for the initiative to commemorate this landmark occasion of the life of our University. My deep gratitude also goes to all those members of the UNU family, in Japan and all over the world, who have helped us so much, during my two terms of office, and made my years here so deeply rewarding and satisfying. Since they are far too many for me to mention at this occasion, I deeply thank them collectively. But I would like to cite two, in particular, who sadly are no longer with us - but did so much to make this University a living reality - Drs. Michio Nagai and Saburo Okita. They brought great honour to the Japanese - and the international - academic communities, and they are truly missed.

An anniversary, of course, is a proper occasion for nostalgia and memories - and the accomplishments of this unique academic institution are something we can all cite with pride. The great poet T.S. Eliot has written: "Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future." So let me try to heed the wisdom of the poet, and attempt something a little different. In keeping with our theme of outreach, let me reach ahead, rather far ahead, for my vision of our organization.

I propose to do so in the form of a report to you from April 1, in the year 2025 - when the United Nations University will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Why April 1st? Well, we all know that it is April Fool's Day - so if anything I report seems too utopian or far out... pardon me.

First, let's dispose of the Rectors. We've all heard of the exploits of the first four: Hester, Soedjatmoko, Gurgulino de Souza and Van Ginkel. There are perhaps four more in the half-century line down to 2025, who shall remain nameless. But they too, I am sure, were steadfast to the original vision of the UNU as an international community of scholars.

In this year of 2025, the UNU has already set up its own research and training bases in some 30 nations around the world and now, a majority of them, are located in developing countries. It has not been an easy task, but UNU has become a widening global arc of intellectual influence, and a major organ of the United Nations.

As an innovative instrument of scientific cooperation, UNU's destiny has been linked in the past and continues to be particularly close with that of UNESCO, where so much was done to help bring us into being.

But, already at the end of the 80's, I still vividly recall that having closer relations with the UN and UNESCO were identified as priorities for UNU, in its II MTP (Medium Term Perspectives 1990-1995), approved by its Governing Council as one of my proposals. So UNU moved in that direction and closer links were established and have been strengthened since that time.

The world that UNU is now engaged with, is ever more crowded, competitive and complex - and UN and UNESCO are still making efforts and pleading to our global society, to eliminate poverty for millions of people and promote a culture of peace, around the world. In other words, many of the key problematic issues that the UN Secretary General presented in his 2000 Millenium Report, to the General Assembly are still in the global agenda in this year of 2025. Therefore still a lot of work ahead for UNU to do.

Now, let's look at the resources available to UNU to address these problems and, of course, I will start with the financial resources - always a topic of interest and concern to UNU Rectors. As it looks back on half a century of operation, the University can now take pride in finally having achieved--and surpassed in its fund-raising efforts -- the original endowment goal of US$500 million dollars. This was possible because countries around the world have come to recognize its importance in the global scientific and scholarly community. But it is not yet a big endowment, when compared with some national academic institutions - only a tenth or less of that possessed by Harvard or Yale - but, used efficiently, it has allowed the UNU to have a rather substantial voice on the international scholarly scene. That voice is heard in many ways - in traditional scholarly publications, in teaching seminars, and, above all, on the omnipresent Internet, which now pervades every corner of the globe.

The UNU is grateful, in particular, to the Government and people of Japan for its continued financial support during these last 50 years, which has been substantial. In addition, we have continually benefited from the host country's great wealth of experience and expertise in the human and social sciences as well as in science and technology. From Aoyama Gakuin to Todai, Kyoto, Keio and Waseda, the universities of Japan have been our important collaborators in a number of joint efforts.

This magnificent UNU headquarters building, designed by Kenzo Tange, which opened its doors during my tenure as Rector, has now become a top "tourist spot" in Tokyo, incidentally, both for the people of Japan and those who come from abroad to visit this country and this capital. But also, in this year of 2025, all its Conferences Halls and Seminar rooms are almost daily occupied with important international cultural and scientific events, meetings, lectures and seminars attended not only by senior academics, but by young students, more women, NGO's and Japanese general public.

The UNU is also very grateful for the continuous support provided by all other governments, that have given donations for our endowment and operating funds or are hosts to Research and Training Centers and Programmes (RTC's and P's) that UNU has created, as a key element of its strategy, already at the end of last century. This has allowed the University to move forward in achieving another goal outlined in its Charter, and to increase its outreach and visibility throughout the world.

A Network of Networks

In this year of 2025, networking has become the way to go - and the UNU is held up everywhere as the "network of networks." It is a place that has perfected the art of stimulating links with previously isolated scholars around the globe, bringing them into the international academic community. Now, tens of thousands of scientists and scholars - from every country on earth, from every academic discipline, and from every cultural ideology - have been part of an UNU network at one time or another, collaborating in its research on global problems of human survival, development and welfare.

In a world where the capacity and speed of communications networks have increased massively, the University has become a major player. The importance of the new information technologies to the development process has been emphasized, again and again, in analyses emerging from the UNU's Development Economics Research Center (UNU/WIDER), in Helsinki, Finland (created by Rector Soedjatmoko, back in 1996) and from studies of the Institute for New Technologies (UNU/INTECH), in Maastricht, The Netherlands( created during my Rectorship in 1990). Both had pointed out, already at the end of last century, just how essential it was for developing societies to invest in such technologies.

The UNU has come to occupy another important niche in cyberspace, through the research and training activities of its software center (UNU/IIST), International Institute for Software Technology in Macau, China. Here, UNU scientists have developed now widely used software programs, which speak to the sorts of problems experienced in poorer countries. How to make a railway or an airport run on time, for example, which can be a crucial development task. UNU/IIST, it is not too much to say, have helped the Third World become more " computer literate".

Once its networks' of scholars and institutions were effectively wired together, the University through its UNU/IAS (Institute of Advanced Studies), the last created during my Rectorship, in Tokyo, was particularly well positioned to champion the concept of the "virtual university" on a global scale. Its projects have greatly enriched the concept of network learning via the Internet and computer infrastructure. A number of developing world scholars now proudly bear UNU academic credentials, thanks to their online participation on the University's "cybereducation" projects.

A further broadening of the international learning net was facilitated by another IAS project, begun in the closing years of the 20th century, on what was termed the Universal Networking Language, or "UNL." This project permitted individuals to communicate through computers, using a number of non-English language choices via Internet sites. It has helped to accelerate information exchange and scientific access, particularly in those parts of the world that do not rely on English as the main lingua franca. "UNL Net" has been tremendously helpful to the UN, UNESCO and other international organizations and has become a very popular software item, accessible to all, online and in computer stores in major cities around the world.

Environmental information bank

In an age when information has become a prerequisite to success in many areas, UNU has become an important data source within the UN system. Its Global Environment Information Center, in Tokyo is now recognized as a major node in a widespread international system of information exchange about the state of the world's resources. It is sometimes referred to as the world's "environmental information bank."

Environmental management is yet another area in which UNU can take special pride in its record. Since it first began operations a half-century ago, the UNU has been deeply concerned about ecological mispractice and degradation, and its impact on development. In the first two decades of its existence, it consistently provided decision-makers with information that could be used to help develop more ecologically conscious societies.

UNU's efforts stepped up, and became more tightly focussed, after the 1992 UN Earth Summit, (that I've personally attended in my country Brazil), as development circles everywhere took up the battle cry of "Sustainable Development," and environmental concerns moved towards the center of economic policy-making.

We carefully evaluated the best UNU's responses to Agenda 21, the call for action emerging from the Rio Conference. It was apparent that, if sustainability was to be achieved, dramatic changes in human behavior around the world were called for - new ways of organizing lives, new ways of doing business.

The UNU was able to suggest some important scientific guidelines. It stressed, for example, how industries and businesses should have a strong self-interest in minimizing the ecological damage their activities were causing. UNU studies showed generally how industry could restructure toward more sustainable development.

The feasibility of such action was also stressed by the UNU Zero Emissions Research Initiative (UNU/ZERI), which already in the early nineties, had promoted pilot projects in developing countries as well as in Japan, that showed that this was possible and made economic sense. In this last quarter century we have witnessed the creation of many industrial clusters in various parts of the world - in forestry or paper and pulp, cement and beer industries, for example. They have successfully adopted UNU's developed guidelines. Zero Emissions Projects worldwide, and yearly Forums held by UNU in Japan, have now quickly multiplied in many countries.

The Zero Emissions Concept we've developed at UNU is now very well known in academia, industries and communities worldwide.

UNU has also brought important new understandings in the area of water resources, through UNU/INWEH (International Network on Water, Environment and Health), in Ontario, Canada, that greatly strengthened water management capacity in many developing countries.

Scientific Capacity Building

There are thus clear signs, 50 years on, of a UNU mark on the international scientific research establishment, particularly through its increased capacity building efforts, in less developed countries. In just about every part of the Third World, you can single out a university or a national research center which owes its present reputation and quality to UNU intellectual and/or financial support.

Also throughout the developing world, one today can pick up the influence of UNU Fellows. Although the alumni body of the UNU Fellowships numbers, even after a half-century, only in the thousands, their contribution has cast broad ripples. From the first, the University has sought to achieve just such an effect by focussing on "training the trainers," and that included a careful choice of persons that have later become research leaders and policy decision-makers.

Let me give you a specific instance of the UNU Fellows' impact. The Philippines is a country mentioned in recent years for its development success. It has managed to greatly lower its energy bills through widespread and intelligent use of geothermal energy to generate electricity for homes and industries. UNU Fellows who were trained in geothermal energy in Iceland have long provided expertise on this natural source of energy to the Philippines. They have figured prominently, for example, on the senior staff of that nation's Energy Development Corporation in Manila.

Who would have thought - before the UNU - that a tropical country's development success could be tied to sending its young energy scientists halfway across the world to study for a year on an often frigid Atlantic island? This is the sort of imaginative thinking that has characterized the UNU training approach from the very start. So, today, 50 years on, we have ample demonstration that it has paid off.

I do not have the time and this is not the occasion to review all the work accomplished by other RTC's and P's, that were created or activated when I was the Rector of UNU, between 1987 and 1997.(Of course, others were added by my successors, in this last quarter century, but I cannot yet talk about them). Therefore I will just list them and I am sure that you can find out more detailed information about their important work and achievements in the Web Annual Reports of UNU.

They are: UNU/INTECH (Institute for New Technologies), Maastricht, The Netherlands; UNU/INRA (Institute for Natural Resources in Africa), Accra, Ghana, with a Mineral Resources Unit in Lusaka, Zambia; UNU/IIST (International Institute for Software Technology), Macau, China; UNU/ILA (International Leadership Academy), Amman, Jordan; UNU/FTP (Fisheries Training Programme), Reykjavik, Iceland; UNU Governance Programme, Barcelona, Spain; UNU/BIOLAC (Programme for Biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean), Caracas, Venezuela; UNU/INCORE (Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity), in Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK; UNU/PLEC (Programme on Land and Environmental Change), in different regions of the world, UNU/INWEH (International Network on Water, Environment and Health), in Ontario, Canada and last, but not least, the UNU/IAS (Institute of Advanced Studies), in Tokyo, Japan.

Donations to UNU's Endowment, Operating funds and Specific Programs raised for the Headquarters and for the Centers and Programmes, during my Rectorship, have reached over US$180 million dollars, more than doubling the amounts obtained during the initial 13 years of existence of UNU.

Good seeds were planted for possible future Centers and Programmes of UNU in Korea, Germany, Austria, USA and Australia. And in Japan, first efforts were also made in Fukuoka, Ishikawa and Iwate. But not all of them have yet reached the maturity state but I am confident that some will become reality in a near future. A real challenge for UNU will be to continue establishing more Centers/Programmes in developing countries.

UNU strategy then also included carrying out research and training activities, around the world, in partnership with existing local Universities and Research Institutes, in industrialized and developing countries. This has helped UNU a lot to increase its outreach and presence worldwide.

The willingness to think creatively about complex global problems succeeded in a host of ways. The world of 2025 is still beset with many ancient woes, but it understands their roots far better, thanks to the UNU.

And what we have learned has been made available to the United Nations, where knowledge is vitally important.

UNU's research findings are mostly published by the UNU/Press, that was also created during my Rectorship. By now, in 2025, the UNU/Press has more than 500 titles listed in its Publications Catalogue and all are also available on CD Roms and on the internet. Without our research, many UN development activities and peacekeeping interventions would have been less successful than they were. Situated as it is at, with one-foot in the UN system and one-foot in the international academic community, the UNU has proven a strategic intellectual resource for the world government body.

Allow me, at this point, to express deep gratitude for their confidence when they've appointed me (the first Latin American and a proud Brazilian) as Rector of UNU. I refer of course, to former UN Secretary-Generals Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali and former Director-Generals of UNESCO, Amadhou M. M'Bow and Dr. Federico Mayor Zaragoza. And I also wish to express my appreciation to UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan for his continued support to UNU, during my 10 years of office, since the time when he held earlier posts at the UN Secretariat and later, after he was appointed Secretary-General.

Valuable guidance and support has been given to the Rector by all Members of the Council of the University, between 1987-1997. I wish to acknowledge and thank them collectively, since they are too many for me to mention individually. But allow me to cite and also express my deep appreciation, specially to those who were Chairman (or Chairperson) of the Governing Council of UNU, with whom I had closer interaction during my Rectorship: Professors Justin Thorens (who he is here with us today), Walter Kamba, Mihaly Simai, Ambassador Lucille Mair and Father Lucien Michaud.

My deep gratitude also goes to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (Mombusho) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) of Japan for their continued support to UNU during my Rectorship. And a special appreciation goes to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (during my stay here under the leadership of Governor Shunichi Suzuki) for its generous offer to make the land available for the construction of the UNU Headquarters building. Their support was also vital for the building and equipment of the UNU/IAS and I deeply thank their commitment of providing financial assistance for its maintenance.

Please allow me now to express a special word of thanks to my wife Lilian, and to my family, that missed us a lot in Brasilia during the wonderful but long ten years, that we stayed in Japan, where we made so many good friends. Without her strong encouragement and vital support my task would have been much harder.

Of course I could continue, but I think it is time to return from 2025 to today. I hope I have succeeded in making a point.

In an ever-widening range of ways, the United Nations University has made its impact on the world - or surely will as the years go on. Its scholarly research has helped to light the ways into an uncertain and sometimes fearful future. Its studies into environment and development questions have provided invaluable new perspectives. Its fellowship training programs have greatly bolstered institutional capacities, providing badly needed new scientific inputs to research institutions in the Third World. Its networking undertakings, assisted by computer technology, have given new meaning to the term, "international scientific understandings. "

In short, whether from the perspective of the year 2025, or from right here today, I see a great future for the UNU, as an important instrument of international scholarship, on which the world could come to rely very much. Forgive my rose-colored glasses in some of the predictions I have made about our future impact. There is little doubt in my mind, however, that our world will continue to grow more crowded, more complex, more dangerous.

Flexibility, I am happy to say, seems always to have been an essential component of the UNU planning process - which has enabled this institution to respond effectively to the looming dictates of tomorrow, in the highest traditions of intellect and rationality. In a speech he gave at Harvard University, in the midst of World War II, Winston Churchill observed that "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." That has turned out to be a pretty fair description of our modern age. Clearly, on its record to date, the United Nations University has already staked a proud claim on its role in the future mind of this planet.

As we all know, Universities are worldwide, a thousand years' old institution, and UNU is just completing its first 25th anniversary. So, I would like to conclude recalling the old Japanese proverb that says:
"For every long journey there is always the first step".
Despite some criticism you may hear (it will always be there in every academic enterprise), it is my firm conviction that UNU is giving firm steps, moving forward, to fully achieve the wonderful dreams of its founding fathers.

Thank you very much. Muito Obrigado. Domo arigato.

Permanent address:
Prof. Heitor Gurgulino de Souza
SQS 116 Bloco B Apto. 501
Brasilia, DF Cep 70386-020
BRAZIL

Phone: (55-61) 3461414
Fax: (55-61) 346 0938
E-mail: Hgurgulino@aol.com