Activities of Secretary-General in Chicago, 7-8 December

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, together with Madam Ban Soon-taek, arrived in Chicago on the afternoon of Sunday, 7 December.

His first appointment in the “Windy City” was a meeting with Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Raymond Benjamin, Secretary-General of the ICAO.

The Secretary-General then held talks with Denis Coderre, the Mayor of Montreal, Canada.

He ended his day by attending a dinner, hosted by the UN Foundation, in which participants discussed how to promote action to address climate change.

The following morning, 8 December, the Secretary-General began his day by meeting jointly with Anthony Foxx, United States Secretary of Transportation; Michael Huerta, Federal Aviation Association Administrator; and Bathsheba Crocker, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

He then took part in the opening of the Extraordinary Session of the ICAO Council.  2014 marks the seventieth anniversary of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which established ICAO and was signed in Chicago.

In his remarks, the Secretary-General said that ICAO helps the United Nations address some of its most pressing issues on the global agenda, including in the areas of health, security and the environment.  (See Press Release SG/SM/16405.)

Together with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Secretary-General toured the Rookery Building, which is part of Retrofit Chicago, an effort to promote energy efficiency in the city’s buildings.

Speaking to the press afterwards, the Secretary-General called Retrofit Chicago “an example of the kind of ambitious local action that can advance our global climate efforts”.

The Secretary-General and his wife departed Chicago in the afternoon for Lima to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference.