ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL AT PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 14 - 15 FEBRUARY

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan travelled to Princeton University in New Jersey on Tuesday, 14 February.

He chaired a Global Colloquium of University Presidents, an event in which he brought together more than 50 academic experts from 25 universities around the world, both in the developed world and the global south, as part of the Secretary-General's effort to further an exchange of ideas between the United Nations and academia.  This was the second colloquium of university presidents that the Secretary-General has chaired in the past two years.

On Tuesday evening, he addressed a private dinner of the university presidents, and talked to them about United Nations reforms and the challenges the United Nations faces.

On Wednesday, he continued to chair the Colloquium, and delivered closing remarks that afternoon, following a keynote speech by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Kemal Derviş about innovative ways of financing global public goods.  In his closing remarks, the Secretary-General emphasized the importance of exchanges between the United Nations and the outside world, including the academy, the private sector and civil society, and expressed the hope that his successor would continue holding these colloquiums.

The Secretary-General returned to New York in the early evening.