AT DIFFICULT TIME FOR WORLD ECONOMY, GLOBAL SOLIDARITY MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO STRASBOURG ‘DEVELOPMENT DAYS’ MEETING

 

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the European Development Days in Strasbourg, 15 November:

It is a pleasure to send greetings to the European Commission and the French Presidency of the European Union on the occasion of European Development Days.

Your commemoration this year comes at a difficult time for the world economy.  For the first time since the early 1970s, all major developed countries are facing the prospect of economic recession.  This is likely to have major implications for the world economy, especially for developing countries and efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  Moreover, the food crisis is still very much with us.  Food and fertilizer prices are twice as high as they were a year ago.  Many farmers cannot afford to buy seed and fertilizer, and end up missing the planting season.

We must do everything we can to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.  This is clearly a question of will.  The sums being spent to mitigate the crisis are already vastly more than the amounts allocated for official development assistance.

We also need to address the systemic roots of the crisis.  The current turmoil underscores the shortcomings of the international financial and economic system in providing improved living standards, stable and decent work and food security.  Our institutions need to be reinvented.

The crisis is also an opportunity to address climate change.  At a time of growing economic hardship, green growth can create millions of jobs and set our societies on a more sustainable course.

I welcome the decision to focus this year’s European Development Days on local authorities.  Local authorities interact closely with the public and provide many key services.  They are well placed to translate broad development aspirations into specific, concrete, meaningful action in the daily lives of their constituents.  They can also serve as a bridge between the global and local.

The need for global solidarity is more important than ever.  The time has come to take multilateralism to a new, stronger and more inclusive level.  It is encouraging to know that the United Nations will be able to count on your support in spreading development across the globe.  Please accept my best wishes for a successful commemoration.

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For information media • not an official record