UNITED NATIONS MUST SET WORLD ON COURSE TOWARDS SECURE, SUSTAINABLE FUTURE;

HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE INTEGRAL TO THIS EFFORT, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Hospitality Committee Annual Dinner, delivered by Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet, in New York on 8 May:

I am happy to send greetings to your annual dinner.  The Hospitality Committee has always been a great part of diplomatic life in New York.

In its early years, the United Nations faced many pressures stemming from the cold war.  We managed to carry out important work thanks to intensive efforts, but delegates had to operate within narrow confines.

During that era, the Hospitality Committee played a vital role in the diplomatic community.  By helping delegates and their families to engage in the cultural life of New York and the broader United States, the Hospitality Committee enlarged perspectives.  We should always be grateful for this service, which made an indirect but very meaningful contribution to the larger mission of the United Nations.

Much changed with the fall of the Berlin Wall.  And while the Organization might not have met all of the soaring expectations of the post-cold-war era, the scope of our engagement around the world has grown dramatically.  We have broader mandates.  We have many more partners.  Our operations around the world are more complex than ever.

This is not only a function of the geopolitical landscape.  It stems from a growing awareness that globalization means much more than economic integration.  On the positive side, it involves lightning-fast communications and other technologies that have made our world feel smaller.  But there are also negative aspects.  Terrorism, pandemics and financial crisis are just some of the problems that spread more quickly and widely in this new environment.  Threats to any one country are now effectively threats to all.

These new conditions demand a new multilateralism.  Governments must not only join forces to address multiple challenges; they must address these threats in tandem.  We need closer coordination.  We need bolder action.  Above all, we need the United Nations, the world’s premier multilateral organization, to successfully tackle these problems and set the world on course towards a secure and sustainable future.

You here tonight are integrally involved in this effort.  And the Hospitality Committee is central to your experience in New York.  I wish the Committee great success.  And I count on all of you to help enhance our United Nations community even more in the years ahead.  Please accept my best wishes for a memorable evening.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record