Within UNIDROIT’s dedicated Secretariat I should like to pay particular
tribute to the former Deputy Secretary-General, Martin Stanford, who has
recently retired from UNIDROIT after more than 40 years of devoted service
and who played a crucial role in the development of the Cape Town
Convention from start to finish.
It would not be right to end without paying tribute to the Government of
South Africa. The three-week diplomatic Conference in Cape Town to adopt
the Convention was, to the best of my knowledge, the first diplomatic
Conference ever to have been held in the African continent. Not only was it
superbly organised but the hospitality was overwhelming, generating a
convivial atmosphere that significantly contributed to the success of the
Conference. So, floreat C