It is usual in such circumstances to say that it is a great honour to be called to take over such a responsibility. I tried to think of a better way to express my feelings with other words. Not one, but several came to my mind.
- Humility: Who am I, oh Lord, for you to call on the sinful servitor I am? Humility also when looking at the wonderful human wealth you all represent.

- Joy: joy to be able to serve an organisation which so fully fill and meet my deepest personal and professional values.

- Thankfulness and admiration for those I consider as models and friends: Etienne and Jose Ignacio my two predecessors.

- And finally, yes, an immense honour to which I shall devote the best of myself to rise up to it!
I assure you, Jose Ignacio, that we will not only maintain your legacy but that we will build on it!

- We will further deepen and develop this CSR initiative for which you so much invested yourself. We have seen over those two days how this drive for CSR can serve the world to better respect man’s dignity

- We will keep supporting the consolidation of Uniapac in Africa at the service of our new African friends. I dream of an African Uniapac allowing Africans leaders to stand-up and demonstrate that Africa can develop and find itself the full place it deserves in the world economy by building its development on the values we all share!

- And, as there is no future without a sense of past, we will execute your idea to formalize what Uniapac has done in its history in the different countries where our National Associations have been active for years.
On this very solid basis which you so efficiently built, we will further develop Uniapac reach along 3 additional priorities:

- As approved by our latest Board, we will create a Uniapac Foundation which will gather the necessary financial resources for Uniapac and its National Associations to actively initiate and support all actions pertaining to the promotion of a world economy serving Man and Common Good.

It will be:
- A think tank through publications, conferences and seminars, academic and professional studies. It will support our National Associations, allow all men and women of good will to meet, discuss and share experiences.

- An action tank supporting training on Christian Social Thought and CSR, practical experiences, networking and lobbying in the major international bodies involved with economic issues. With this tool we will really gather the means to be a very active voice in the world!
I also wish to see Uniapac Europe and our European Associations becoming more active and visible and eventually demonstrate the same dynamism as the one of our Latin American associations.

And finally I believe we should open Uniapac actions towards executives which find their energy to put man as an end in other religions and schools of thoughts. In a world losing its references to transcendence and as a consequence losing its sense of human finality, I believe we have to dialog and work with other schools of thoughts.
I particularly believe we should engage in an active dialog with executives of the muslin world and for that to build on the experience launched by our Lebanese friends.

To sum up, my priorities for the next three years will be:
- pursue CSR, Africa and Uniapac heritage launch Uniapac Foundation, Europe rebirth and dialog with the Muslim world

Antes de concluir, quisiera dirigirme a mis queridos amigos latino-americanos y al primero de entre ellos, Jose Ignacio:

Les quiero decir mi admiración y mi profundo afecto por lo que hicieron con la CSR como un único ejemplo de dinamismo y amistad. Vuestro dinamismo, vuestra amistad, serán la mejor fuente de energía para mi acción como Presidente de la Uniapac. Thank you all again and be again assured of my dedication at serving Uniapac and through Uniapac at serving you! Professor Zamagni challenged us to be a prophetic minority in the entropic crisis that our world is going through. We will raise to this challenge! We will be prophetic!!

Pierre Lecocq, President Uniapac International