ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN TEXAS, 29 FEBRUARY

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to College Station, Texas, in the afternoon of Friday, 29 February.

In the early evening, he toured the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, named after the forty-first President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush.

He then addressed the William Waldo Cameron Forum on Public Affairs.  (See Press Release SG/SM/11444)

He spoke about the strong United States-United Nations relationship, saying that working together is in the best interest of the United States, the United Nations and the world.  Mr. Ban highlighted key concerns for the United Nations, including the situation in Darfur and climate change.  On the “big problem” of climate change, specifically, the Secretary-General noted that no single nation can tackle it alone.  “It requires a world effort,” he said, “and that’s where the United Nations comes in.  That’s what we do,” he continued, “we pull people together to find common solutions to our common problems.”

The Secretary-General and Madam Ban Soon-taek later attended a dinner hosted by President and Mrs. Barbara Bush.

The Secretary-General returned to New York late that night.