Secretary-General

The Secretary-General has selected Mr. Sven Alkalaj, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

The Secretary-General has selected Angela Kane of Germany as High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

The Secretary-General has selected Maged Abdelaziz of Egypt as his Special Adviser on Africa.

While broad progress had been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the statistics hid “massive” disparities within countries and regions, which underlined the urgent need to remove the barriers impeding key interventions, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following are UN Secretary-General’s remarks at the International Women’s Day Event: “Empower Rural Women — End Hunger and Poverty”, today, 7 March, in New York:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Human Rights Council meeting on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, today, 7 March, in Geneva:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and League of Arab States Secretary General Nabil Elaraby have appointed Nasser al-Kidwa as Deputy Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on Syria. He will assist Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan in the exercise of his mandate.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, at “Equality Means Business: Gender Equality for Sustainable Business”, in New York today, 6 March:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a concert hosted by Japan to mark the one-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, in New York, 5 March: