Secretary-General, in Message, Expresses Hope Prague Student Summit Will Engender Greater Appreciation for Compromises Needed to Achieve Progress

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Michal Broza, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Information Centre in Prague, for the opening ceremony of the Final Conference of the twentieth Prague Student Summit, in Prague today:

It is a pleasure to greet the twentieth Prague Student Summit.  I commend the Association for International Affairs for bringing together such a diverse and dynamic group of participants.

You gather as the world is shaping a new sustainable development agenda, as we strive for a meaningful agreement at the climate conference in Paris in December, and as we wrestle with increasing intolerance and conflict in many parts of the world.

Learning about these and other global events and processes by simulating negotiations at the international level will give you a unique insight into how the United Nations works.  I hope you come away from this experience with a greater appreciation for the compromises and mutual understanding necessary to achieve common progress.

Empowering young people is one of my top priorities.  Young people are the leaders of tomorrow.  But, we need to listen to your ideas and solutions today.

I continue to urge all Governments to provide the freedoms and opportunities that young people need in order to realize their full potential.  It is also essential to enable young people to participate more fully in civic and public life.  We all have a responsibility to do more to implement the World Programme for Youth, which marks its twentieth anniversary this year.

Thank you for your engagement and global citizenship.  The United Nations looks forward to the contributions you will make in our shared efforts to build a more peaceful, prosperous, sustainable and equitable future for all.  Let us make 2015 a time for global action.  I wish you all a highly productive Summit.  Děkuji.  Thank you.