SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS ‘ROTARIANS’ BUILD BETTER LIVES FOR PEOPLE WORLDWIDE,

INCLUDING IN HIS NATIVE KOREA, IN MESSAGE TO ROTARY INTERNATIONAL DAY

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Rotary International Day at the United Nations, as delivered by Kim Won-soo, Deputy Chief de Cabinet and Special Adviser, in New York, Saturday, 3 November:

Let me offer you a warm welcome to the United Nations.  I want you to feel at home, and consider this house your house.

For more than a century, Rotarians have worked to build better lives for people around the world.  In my native Korea, I have seen the remarkable work you have done in supporting my country’s journey for the past 80 years.  And ever since the United Nations was founded, you have been a wonderful partner to our Organization.

You have worked with the United Nations for health, literacy and poverty eradication.  You have promoted peace through your exchange programmes.  You have helped people understand what the United Nations is, what it does, and what it can do.

And you have been our chief ally in the mission to eradicate polio worldwide.  By raising funds, by volunteering your time and effort, you have helped immunize almost 2 billion children against polio throughout the world. 

In all these ways, you have advanced the work to reach the Millennium Development Goals -- adopted by all the world’s leaders as our common vision for a better world in the twenty-first century.

Today, you have a full and varied programme ahead of you.  I know you will be participating in activities on a broad range of subjects, from health and literacy and water and hunger.  I know you will give it all your energy and enthusiasm.

And I know that our partnership will continue to thrive in the years to come.  With a Korean at the helm of both our respective institutions as of next year, you know you can count on us to be hard at work!

I thank every one of you for your commitment, and wish you a most productive day at the United Nations.

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For information media • not an official record