NO SINGLE NATION OR INDIVIDUAL, OR EVEN UNITED NATIONS CAN ADDRESS TODAY’S CRISES

 

ALONE, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL, SEEKING GOODWILL AMBASSADORS’ SUSTAINED SUPPORT

 

(Delayed in transmission.)

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the meeting with Goodwill Ambassadors and other United Nations supporters in Tokyo, Japan, on 1 July:

Distinguished Goodwill Ambassadors, it is a great pleasure to meet you.  Ohayo gozaimasu.  Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.

As the Secretary-General, I have been meeting many celebrities one by one, and I have seen myself the power of those celebrities in mobilizing public will and sending out messages to the international community.  They have been much more effective ‑‑ much more powerful ‑‑ than the Secretary-General of the United Nations or than any prime ministers or any presidents.  This is quite a creative way of communicating, through you, what the United Nations and I, the Secretary-General, really want to convey.  We have many Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers of Peace [on issues such as] peace and security, food, HIV–AIDS, malaria, climate change, microfinancing and even disarmament.  There are many actors and actresses, academics, retired politicians or members of royal families [serving as United Nations advocates].

Each and every one of these Special Envoys or Goodwill Ambassadors has a powerful capacity to work for the United Nations and help pursue its major goals and objectives.  In that regard, I highly commend your role, and I am deeply grateful for your admirable work as Goodwill Ambassadors.

Now we are living in an era of multiple crises.  No single nation, no single individual or even the United Nations as a whole can address these issues alone.  We need your support.  You can mobilize many, many people around the world.  What I really want to ask you again is to continue to work for the common well-being, prosperity and peace and security of the whole world.  I really appreciate and thank you for your role and I count on your continued commitment and leadership.  Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.

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For information media • not an official record