Secretary-General: Press Conference

As the world continued to reel from the financial crisis, and climate change, poverty and resource constraints tested capabilities, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged more than 1,200 top business executives gathered in New York City for the 2010 Global Compact Leaders Summit to usher in a new era of sustainability in which corporations played a central role.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an intensified focus on priorities, political will and partnership to achieve the Millennium Development Goals this morning, as he launched a report that showed a mix of progress and obstacles in reaching the anti-poverty targets. “This report shows that economic uncertainty cannot be an excuse to slow down our development efforts. It is a reason to speed them up,” he said, introducing the major findings of the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 24 May:

A global effort to scale up investment in clean, efficient energy and bring affordable energy services to the 1.6 billion people worldwide currently lacking them would go a long way towards stopping climate change and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Urging reporters in New York to “keep the focus on Haiti”, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today said that “although commendable progress has been made, the situation remains dire” three months after the massive earthquake that killed nearly 250,000 people, left 1 million others homeless and levelled the capital, Port-au-Prince.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a Headquarters press conference today at the conclusion of the one-day International Donors’ Conference for Haiti aimed at securing financial resources for the earthquake-stricken country’s recovery that the friends of Haiti had acted far beyond expectations.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 16 March:

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 14 December 2009:

Stevie Wonder, the popular singer and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, promised to use his creative talents in support of the United Nations mission and persons with disabilities during a press conference at Headquarters today.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a press conference on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held today, 24 November: