Activities of Secretary-General in United Kingdom, 10-12 July

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Madam Ban Soon-taek, arrived in London from Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday evening, 10 July.

Shortly after arrival he met with Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and recently appointed as Representative of the Middle East Quartet.  (See Press Release SG/2129.)

On Wednesday, the Secretary-General spoke to the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, telling them that, as he grew up in a war-torn and destitute Korea, the United Nations had stood up by his people in their darkest hour.  (See Press Release SG/SM/11094.)

Now, he said, we are faced with a world that poses challenges that no country can resolve in its own, where the United Nations can and must grow and take on new roles.  He pointed to the work that the United Nations system does from Darfur to the Middle East, from the defining challenge of climate change to the need to deal with the global scourge of terrorism.  To deal with all those challenges, the Secretary-General said, we need dialogue and patience, resources and reform.

He also met that day with the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, saying to media afterwards that he and the Prime Minister had held very good discussions on the entire range of the United Nations work, from Darfur to climate change, and from the Middle East to the Millennium Development Goals.

He told reporters:  “I am delighted that we have now taken our partnership to a whole new level,” and added that he feels reassured that he is able to depend on a partner as profoundly committed and knowledgeable as Prime Minister Brown.

Other meetings in London included with David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Douglas Alexander, Minister for International Development; Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Lord Mark Malloch Brown, Minister for State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.

In the evening, he attended a dinner hosted by Foreign Secretary Miliband.

The Secretary-General and his party returned to New York on Thursday, 12 July.