Press Conference by Under-Secretary-General on Final Day

 

of Sixty-fourth Annual DPI/NGO Conference

 

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

BONN, 5 September — Kiyo Akasaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, addressed a press conference today on the final day of the sixty-fourth annual Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization (DPI/NGO) Conference.

Accompanying Mr. Akasaka were Stefanie Zeidler, Deputy head of the Division for Global Issues at the German Foreign Affairs Ministry, Flavia Pansieri, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers Programme, and Felix Dodds, Chair of the Conference.  They took questions about the three-day Conference and its final Declaration.

Under-Secretary-General Akasaka began by expressing his thanks for the enthusiastic support of Germany, the City of Bonn and conference participants.  The Conference had been an important step in dialogue and cooperation between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, he said, adding that it would make an important contribution to next June’s “Rio+20” United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.  The Declaration to be adopted at the end of the Bonn Conference would be transmitted to the organizers of Rio+20, he said, thanking. the United Nations Volunteers and all other participants who had worked so hard to make the annual Conference a success.     

Executive Coordinator Pansieri said the goal of “connecting the dots” between sustainable communities and public engagement had been realized, and expressed her appreciation for the constant and strong support of the partners who had worked to help organize the Conference.

The Foreign Ministry’s Ms. Zeidler said the German Government hoped the Conference would make a contribution to Rio+20.  It was not only a conference for NGOs, but by NGOs and the amount of cooperation between the NGO committees in New York and Germany had been remarkable.  The United Nations Volunteers Programme, an untiring partner, had provided valuable support and the City of Bonn had also played a major role in making the Conference possible.

Conference Chair Dodds hailed Germany’s major leadership role in the global discussions on environmental matters, pointing out that the Bonn event was the first of three major environmental conferences the country would host in the coming months.  Many United Nations agencies had come together to make the event possible, and many Government officials attending as “respondents” in the dialogue with the NGOs had enriched the informal discussions.  He said the Declaration was rich with knowledge, information and ideas, and organizations could take it home and use it to spark debate.  The Conference provided a very important space for civil society to come together and discuss important questions ahead of Rio+20, he said.

Asked whether he could outline the three most important issues contained in the Declaration, Mr. Dodds identified energy, creating a sustainable development council and challenging the current global economic model as the top three priorities.  He also mentioned the link between the environment and security, saying that everybody should have that discussion, not only the Security Council.  Elaborating, he said that scarcity in the context of food, water, and energy could lead to insecurity, which in turn could lead to more conflict as people fought over scarce resources.

Responding to a question about the possibility of Chancellor Angela Merkel announcing her attendance at Rio+20 and what the German Government would take away from the Bonn Conference, Ms. Zeidler said she could not comment on the Chancellor’s plans, but she could affirm that the Government certainly took Rio+20 seriously and would send a high-level delegation.  As for the DPI/NGO Conference, she said the National Assembly would discuss volunteerism as well as other topics, and the Conference’s messages would be disseminated to the wider public.

To a journalist’s proposal that planners of the next DPI/NGO Conference use more social media to reach a broader audience, Mr. Akasaka said that a number of media tools had in fact been used to publicize the Bonn event, including a live webcast, the United Nations website, Facebook and Twitter.

Mr. Dodds said that if the NGO community did not get things right in Rio, there would be a real danger that democracy as the world knew it would no longer exist as Governments became more xenophobic and populations fought over resources.  In that context, the Rio Conference should foster a social uprising that would lead to more sustainable living.

Mr. Akasaka added that he had faith that the NGOs that had taken part in the Conference would take its messages and spread them even further.

Asked whether the Declaration had changed much from the first draft, Mr. Dodds said there had been “huge” drafting changes and the result was an impressive document with focused goals and an action-oriented approach.  Youth and gender issues were also better represented in the final document, he added.

Responding to a question about attendance, Mr. Akasaka said the Conference had drawn 500 NGOs from 65 countries.

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For information media • not an official record