ON YOUTH, DEVELOPMENT, ‘WORLD HAS MUCH TO LEARN FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE AND EXAMPLE’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT

 

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Ibero-American Summit, being held in San Salvador, 29 to 31 October:

Allow me to congratulate El Salvador on hosting such a successful Summit.  I deeply regret that I cannot join you in person.  Thank you for the honour of addressing you by video.

You meet at a perilous moment for our global community.

A global financial crisis endangers our work.

Prices for food and fuel have escalated, and trade talks are stalled.

We have seen new outbreaks of war and violence, and the impact of climate change is ever more apparent.

Now more than ever, if we are to defend against common threats and advance the well-being of your people, we must work together.  Strong leadership today means recognizing global interdependence, and acting on it.

The United Nations will be your strong partner in addressing the challenges ahead. 

I am pushing hard for United Nations reform so that we are faster, more flexible and more effective.  Your support will be crucial as we build a more modern Organization of service to the world.

Your focus at this Summit -- Youth and Development -- is profoundly relevant to the shared mission of our two institutions.

We are now passing the midpoint in the race to reach the Millennium Development Goals -- our common vision for building a better world in the twenty-first century.

Last month, the United Nations hosted a successful high-level event on the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals].  We brought together a broad coalition for change.  We generated unprecedented commitment in pledges and partnerships to help the world's poor.  The final tally is not in yet, but the total amount pledged may exceed $16 billion.

With almost half the world’s people under 25, we have an obligation to them to step up our efforts to reach the MDGs.

I commend the countries in the region for their many important initiatives to benefit youth, from education to employment to the effects of migration.

And I congratulate you on the entry into force of the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth -- a globally unprecedented instrument.

I hope this Summit, and this Ibero-American Youth Year, will motivate countries that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention.

The world has much to learn from your experience and example.

The United Nations will continue to work with you in sharing your lessons with the rest of the world.

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For information media • not an official record