Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called on the international community to strengthen the UN, and to adopt comprehensive strategy in fighting terrorism.

Speaking at the high-level plenary meeting of the UN summit, Musharraf said "It is our solemn responsibility to bequeath a legacy of hope and peace to future generations. We cannot afford to fail."

"This special summit offers us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter," he said, pledging to make the UN a more effective and relevant institution for the 21st century.

Musharraf pointed out that international security can be best promoted when states see peace as being in its best interest through mutual cooperation, when the supremacy of equitable principles is established over the realities of unequal power, and when states agree to utilize the UN to harmonize their policies and reconcile their interests.

"The Security Council should work openly, on behalf of the general membership. It should become more representative, not by adding a new elite, but by reflecting more fully, the entire spectrum of the UN's membership," he declared. "This can be achieved only through patient dialogue and general consensus."

Musharraf also stressed his resolution to counter terrorism, saying terrorism "is a primary threat to world order. We must fight terrorism, in all its forms, outlaw it and eliminate it."

"We need a comprehensive strategy for success," he said, adding that it is necessary to redress political and economic injustice so as to ensure success in eliminating terrorism and extremism.

Heads of state and government from more than 150 countries are gathering at the UN headquarters in New York for the three-day summit.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)