Underlining Power of Partnerships in Delivering Results, Secretary-General Honours World Bank, United Nations Joint Venture to Tackle Global Development Challenges

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at an event honouring the UN-World Bank partnership, in Washington, D.C., today:

Thank you for your warm welcome.  Thank you for your kind words.  Thank you for that extremely moving video.

As you have seen and heard, President [Jim Yong] Kim and I have launched many firsts.  We are the first United Nations Secretary-General and World Bank President to undertake joint visits around the world.  The first UN Secretary-General and World Bank President to appear together on stage at a rock concert!

And, President Kim, I believe you may be the first World Bank President to have ever worn a United Nations baseball cap!  At least without losing a bet!  We have travelled so often that some have suggested we start a reality television show.  Maybe call it, The Odd Couple!  Or Ban and Kim’s Excellent Adventures!

Dear friends, as you know, President Kim and I are friends.  I believe there is a twenty-first century word for it:  bromance!  But, our relationship goes deeper than the dynamics between two people.  It is about sustaining a partnership between two vital global organizations.  We are convinced that stronger collaboration will deliver a better world.  And we believe in leading by example.

So, we have conveyed a shared message to global leaders and our own staff:  Peace and development are two sides of the same coin.  No country and no institution can do it alone.  And we can overcome any challenge if we work together.  With your support, the partnership has gone beyond individuals.  It has been institutionalized.

The United Nations and the World Bank Group have put in place lasting mechanisms to tackle climate change, to put education first, to provide opportunity and hope to refugees and migrants, and to mobilize resources for maternal health and ensure a healthy future for every woman and every child.

I thank you for our lifesaving joint efforts to tackle Ebola.  I commend the World Bank Group for its unprecedented engagement in support of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and innovative ways to finance development.  And, of course, I deeply appreciate your early and strong support for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development].

In recent years, I became the first UN Secretary-General to address the Development Committee.  President Kim has been an engaged and committed participant in meetings of the UN Chief Executives Board.  You have a solid foundation for leading and managing change, under the leadership of President Kim.  Each and every one of you should be very proud of your contributions.

You can count on me to keep doing all I can to strengthen our cooperation in practical ways.  I know that work has never been more vital.  Ensuring human protection, human security, human dignity are shared responsibilities.  The people of the world are looking to us to deliver.

Together, let us keep building an ever stronger bond between the United Nations and the World Bank Group for peace, development and human rights around the world.

Thank you.