Press Conference

While fundamental decisions had to be taken about the 2011 referendum, the security of South Sudan was threatened both by internal conflicts and Lord’s Resistance Army activities, a top official of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The Commission of Experts on Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System had helped to make the United Nations an important player in the financial realm over the past year, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, outgoing President of the General Assembly, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Each year, more people killed themselves than died in war, terrorist activities and homicides, correspondents at Headquarters were told on the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, with the theme: “Suicide Prevention in Different Cultures”.

The real impact of the global financial and economic crisis had yet to be faced, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the General Assembly, said at Headquarters today.

The upcoming United Nations Summit on Climate Change would be crucial in providing much-needed political momentum for negotiations on the issue as the deadline for an international deal loomed, Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, said at Headquarters this afternoon.

The stage is set for upwards of 1,700 non-governmental organization representatives and experts from some 70 countries around the world to take a fresh look at how they can contribute to arms reduction while advancing the cause of peace in the world, reporters were told today at a Headquarters press conference.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in Geneva, 3 September:

For the first time in history, a President of the United States would chair a meeting of the Security Council, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Launching "The World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet" at Headquarters today, a high-level official of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs said that pursuing the two goals of fighting climate change and simultaneously meeting development demands would require a global public policy agenda, as market mechanisms were not the most effective instruments to drive change.

The Central African Republic was at a critical crossroads which could see a reversal of the modest gains made in 2008 or a consolidation of the progress towards national dialogue and agreement with rebel groups, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg said at Headquarters today.