"Today, Myanmar, located in the heart of the ?Golden Triangle,” is the main opium producer in Southeast Asia. However, despite its reputation as a leading producer, during the last decade, Myanmar has demonstrated a steady and remarkable reduction in opium poppy cultivation. While the number of hectares devoted to opium cultivation was estimated at 160,000 in the mid-1990s, by early 2004, opium poppy cultivation stood at 44,200 hectares - - a reduction of 73% from the peak in 1996. Together with the parallel decline in opium cultivation in Laos, this trend, if sustained, signals a potential end to more than a century of opium production in the Golden Triangle, a fitting close to one of the most tragic chapters in the history of narcotic drugs. However, as history has proved in other countries, often with tragic consequences, Myanmar now faces a critical, two-fold challenge. First, the country needs to support the decline in its opium supply. Second, Myanmar must strive to prevent the humanitarian disaster threatening opium-growing families who at present live on, or below, the poverty line. These two processes must be implemented simultaneously. Supply control will bring more stability to a country that has been plagued by ethnic tensions, tensions that have often been exacerbated by narco-trafficking. At the same time, without provisions designed to ensure that the basic needs of affected families are met, without the necessary human rights guarantees, the current opium reduction programme may prove unsustainable. Democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar, as well as a national commitment to drug control, are goals the United Nations has re-affirmed on several occasions. I would thus encourage the Government of Myanmar to adopt the steps recommended by the Secretary- General in his report on the human rights situation in Myanmar, along with the reduction of opium cultivation. The international donor community also carries a responsibility to support this process by providing alternative sources of income to those families in Myanmar whose livelihoods are affected by the loss of opium-generated revenue. The world has watched as various countries have struggled to eliminate the cultivation of opium. Some states have succeeded ? others have failed. Those who were able to realize a reduction in poppy cultivation brought both stability and progress to their nations and their citizens. Those who failed at curtailing the production of opium also failed at providing the security the citizens of these nations need and deserve, both within and beyond national their national borders. While the United Nations welcomes any significant progress in opium reduction, we are very much aware that, in Myanmar, there remains a very fine line between success and failure. We continue to believe, however, that the proposed compact between the Myanmar government and the international community is a powerful alternative to failure, and that this compact has both the potential and the support to turn the current crop reduction effort in Myanmar into a sustainable and successful process..."