Three loud tolls from a large Japanese peace bell rang open the United Nations Millennium Summit last Tuesday.
The three-day conference was the largest gathering of world leaders ever. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and generals met to reflect on an important goal: helping the world’s poor.
"Let us hear the bell ring loud and clear and true to our conscience," said U.N. leader Kofi Annan. "Let it ring out a century of cruelty and destruction, and let it ring in a millennium of hope and peace."
During the conference, each leader had just five minutes to speak. Rene Preval, President of Haiti, the poorest country in the West, used his five minutes to ask, "What’s the point of stepping foot on Mars if there is still hunger in several regions of our planet?"
At the end, the leaders signed a document promising to cut poverty, protect the planet and help the U.N. keep peace.