ANNUAL OBSERVANCE MEASURES ORGANIZATION’S GROWTH, EVOLUTION,

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN MESSAGE FOR jUNe DAY

 

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the occasion of jUNe Day, as delivered by Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, in Westport, Connecticut, on 28 June:

For 43 years, the community of Westport and the International Hospitality Committee have welcomed the United Nations community -- delegates, staff and their families -- to celebrate jUNe Day together.  Each year, as we welcome in the early days of a new summer, Westport becomes a familiar place for the world to share as friends.

JUNe Day is now tradition, a moment, a day connected over time, over many years and decades.  In observing this day each year, the people of Westport do something quite remarkable: they honour and celebrate the simple idea that is too easily missed -- that every community is a part of a larger community, that the world is a community every day and we move forward together.

Time has shown how the United Nations has grown and evolved.  And we have much growing to do.  Yet marking a single day each year measures that change -- where have we gone, where do we go from here -- and it expresses a broader commitment at work with Member States, the promise of that commitment spanning forward into the future.  Most importantly, it affirms the value of strong partnerships and good dialogue between the United Nations and all Member States.

I am glad that I can count on your support.  I wish all of you a joyful jUNe Day.

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For information media • not an official record