Whether our challenge is peacemaking, nation-building, democratization or responding to natural or man-made disaster, we have seen that even the strongest amongst us cannot succeed alone.

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.

There are now 11 women heads of state or government, in countries on every continent. And three countries -- Chile, Spain and Sweden -- now have gender parity in government.

The balance must be redressed.

We are going to work with the Congolese people and the government to make sure we make progress and consolidate peace and stability.

We can wait until everything is perfect but how much time will that take? One year, two years, three years? Will the population accept this even though they haven't had a chance to vote for 40 years?