Activities of Secretary-General in Austria, 2-4 November
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Madam Ban Soon- taek, arrived in Vienna from Copenhagen on Sunday evening, 2 November 2014.
That same evening he attended a charity event in aid of the United Nations Victims Trust Fund, which helps those who fall prey to trafficking in human beings. (See Press Release SG/SM/16305.)
On Monday morning, the Secretary-General was interviewed by Austria’s ORF television and the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
He then attended and delivered the keynote address at the opening of the Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries at the Vienna International Centre, home to the United Nations in Vienna. (See Press Release SG/SM/16307.)
Next, the Secretary-General walked to the nearby offices of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative to officially open the premises. (See Press Release SG/SM/16310.)
On his return to the Vienna International Centre, the Secretary-General met the new European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica.
He then gave a joint news conference on the Landlocked Developing Countries Conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz; the Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication of Zambia, Yamfwa Mukanga; and Under-Secretary-General Gyan Acharya, the United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
The Secretary-General met next with Conchita Wurst, the Austrian winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and attended an event in the main Rotunda entrance of the Centre at which Conchita sang two of her songs before a crowd of United Nations staff and family members, diplomats and representatives of civil society. The Secretary-General and Conchita also spoke at the event. (See Press Release SG/SM/16308.)
After a working lunch with the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Li Yong, the Secretary-General spoke at a High-level Thematic Round Table on achieving structural transformation of LLDC economies. (See Press Release SG/SM/16311).
The Secretary-General later visited the offices of the United Nations Information Service in Vienna.
That evening the Secretary-General met with Foreign Minister Kurz and attended a dinner hosted by President Heinz Fischer of Austria.
On Tuesday morning, 4 November, Mr. Ban attended a working breakfast with the heads of the Vienna-based international organizations, hosted by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, Yury Fedotov.
At the Vienna International Centre, the Secretary-General met with President Giorgi Margvelashvili of Georgia and then spoke at the opening of the Second UNIDO Forum on Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development. (See Press Release SG/SM/16314.)
Next, the Secretary-General went to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where he met with the Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council, Ambassador Thomas Greminger of Switzerland and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier. The Secretary-General addressed the OSCE Permanent Council. (See Press Release SG/SM/16315.)
Later, the Secretary-General attended and spoke at a high-level lunch of the Business Investment Forum at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. The Forum was organized by the United Nations Global Compact and the Office of the United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
The Secretary-General and his wife returned to New York that same afternoon on a flight that took him first to Paris and then on to the United States. He arrived back in New York on Tuesday evening.