“Gold Mercury International has always recognised, since its earliest beginnings, that good governance, peace, democracy and cooperation cannot be achieved without a partnership among governments, international organisations, business, industry and society as a whole. It has always been our policy to be the link between governments and industry in the search for free trade, free markets, and trade as the key engine for recovery and economic strength.

Globalisation is now a reality of life. We believe that Gold Mercury's efforts since the 1960s, to promote trade among nations and dialogue among governments has assisted in the globalisation and democratisation effort of many nations.

Our awards for industry and commerce have rewarded both large corporations and companies in all corners of the world for improving corporate governance and social responsibility, international trade, industrial development and processes, union relations, the safety of workers, the standards of products and services, research and development, and the environment.

Our awards for individual and institutional efforts and initiatives to promote humanitarian efforts and develop better understanding and communication among peoples have included Nobel Prize winners, royalty, and global organisations such as the United Nations and the International Red Cross. In 1979 we presented Enrique de la Mata Gorostizaga, Vice President of the International Red Cross, with the award for humanitarian relief activities in situations of conflict and for upholding humanitarian law around the world.

Our organisation's principle award is for Peace, which commenced in 1970. To award a Peace prize is both a difficult task and a great responsibility. One has to bear in mind the risks and dangers of searching for peace: some of our award winners have lost or risked their lives fighting for what they believed in.

President Anwar Sadat of Egypt lost his in the search for peace in the Middle East. We gave President Sadat the Gold Mercury Award for Peace in 1978 for his efforts in the Middle East peace process and the resulting Camp David Accords. The 1979 Gold Mercury Peace & Cooperation Conference in Cairo, hosted by President Sadat and then Vice President Mubarak, aided collaboration between all of the diverse countries represented at the conference.

In 1984, Zhao Ziyang - then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party - won the Gold Mercury Award for Peace. Ziyang was one of the most reform-minded leaders of the 1980s.

Many of the Gold Mercury Peace Awards have been given to heads of state and commanders-in-chief of the largest armies in the world - statesmen with the heavy responsibility of keeping a stable world during difficult periods, such as during the Cold War.

Gold Mercury during the 1970s and 1980s became a bridge between the two superpowers by fostering relations and cooperation, recognising first President Gerald Ford in 1976, then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1980, and finally President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

President Ford received the award for setting new limitations upon nuclear weapons in conjunction with Brezhnev and for preventing a new war in the Middle East by bringing two adversaries to a table of peace and persuading the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement.

Leonid Brezhnev, whilst greatly expanding the Soviet Union's military-industrial complex, attempted in the 1970s to normalise relations with the West and to promote détente with the U.S., for instance when he and U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the SALT treaty, freezing the build-up of certain U.S. and Soviet weapons systems.

The second U.S. President to be awarded, Ronald Reagan, followed a foreign policy of "peace through strength", but also sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. In this case, the employment of diplomacy and mutual cooperation enabled the superpowers to clearly recognise that in the event of nuclear conflict, neither one could be victorious.

Today more countries are seeking nuclear capabilities. We will continue to hold conferences worldwide to promote communication, commerce, and mutual understanding among nations and people of goodwill.

To our team at Gold Mercury International, it is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on 'Peace and Cooperation', which will stand as our motto also in the new millennium.

The challenges of the new millennium make the goals of Gold Mercury even more important now than in the past. The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place, civil wars abound in many regions of the world, and recent terrorist attacks have shown us that no nation is invulnerable to this threat.

Furthermore, there is now a greater divide between rich and poor nations than at any time in human history.

Gold Mercury International awarded FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund for their work and special mission of combating poverty, hunger and malnutrition throughout the world, a challenge that confronts us all. We awarded the UN for its efforts in the search for peace in numerous regions of the world. We will strive to continue our relationship with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and UN bodies to improve and reduce the great divide between the rich and the poor and make the world a better and safer place. Many of the world's royal houses, heads of state and government, world organisations, corporations, and global personalities alike have supported Gold Mercury in its quest for improving Global Governance and fostering Peace and Cooperation through increased trade and cultural exchange in search of a better world. We hope they will continue support us in the new millennium.

People of different nations must choose to work together in peace and make the necessary cultural and ideological changes in order to improve the world and make it a better place.

"Thank you."

Eduardo De Santis
Chairman and President
Gold Mercury International