SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS TWO NEW SPECIAL ENVOYS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of two new Special Envoys on Climate Change:  Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana, and Srgjan Kerim, former President of the United Nations General Assembly (sixty-second session) and former Foreign Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Climate change is one of the Secretary-General’s top priorities.  He is determined to stay proactively engaged in this global process and continuously urge the international community to intensify its efforts.

Mr. Mogae, as the third President of Botswana, provided exemplary service to his country.  Serving as Minister of Finance and Development Planning and then as Vice-President during 1989-1998, Mr. Mogae played a critical role in shaping Botswana’s economy and development planning, including its environmental programme.  He has vast experience in development and international finance issues due to his working experience in the banking system of Botswana, as well as within the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

Mr. Kerim brings with him a wealth of experience in the international political and economic affairs and knowledge of the United Nations system, including as former Foreign Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  As President of the sixty-second General Assembly, he chaired three thematic debates and a number of side events on specific aspects of climate change.  As his country’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2001 to 2003, he served as vice-chairman both of the International Conference on Financing for Development ( Monterrey, 2002) and of the World Summit on Sustainable Development ( Johannesburg, 2002). 

The Secretary-General’s new Special Envoys, together with the other two already-appointed Special Envoys -- Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former chair of the World Commissions on Environment and Development, and Ricardo Lagos Escobar, former President of Chile -- will support the Secretary-General in his consultations with Heads of State and Government, as well as other key stakeholders, to facilitate progress in the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Poznan, with a view to reaching an ambitious, comprehensive, inclusive and ratifiable post-2012 agreement in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

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For information media • not an official record