Secretary-General’s Message to World Knowledge Forum

 

This is the text of a message by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, Republic of Korea, 13-15 October, delivered on his behalf by Timothy Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation:

I am pleased to send greetings to the World Knowledge Forum, which brings together leading thinkers, decision-makers and business executives from across the globe to grapple with the major challenges facing humankind.

I also welcome the Forum’s focus on Asia, which has a great stake in international efforts to combat climate change, reduce nuclear arsenals and overcome the crippling poverty that destroys far too many lives on the continent and beyond.

The world urgently needs a global climate agreement that is fair, ambitious and binding.  We need Governments to show the flexibility and leadership that will seal a deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.  But we also need opinion-makers such as you to influence Governments, and businesses to demonstrate that investing in green technologies yields not only environmental gains but also large-scale economic growth.

We also need action at all levels to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  This is a time of both peril and promise.  The world is over-armed; the nuclear threat persists.  But now is also a moment of opportunity, as momentum builds towards next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.  Here, too, your advocacy can make a difference.

I also urge you to do more in our struggle to eradicate poverty.  The United Nations has made great strides in helping countries advance towards the Millennium Development Goals.  However, the global economic downturn threatens to push an additional 100 million people below the poverty line.  Governments everywhere are facing increasing budgetary pressures, but this is no time to renege on past pledges of aid and investment.

In these and other areas, the World Knowledge Forum can serve as a catalyst.  I am counting on your ideas, your partnerships and the synergies among you to help guide us along a safer, more prosperous and sustainable path.  Thank you for your support.

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For information media • not an official record