Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the United Nations-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ministerial Meeting, in New York, today, 24 September:

Following are United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the reception held by La Francophonie in New York today, 24 September:

The United Nations was committed to supporting small island developing States, at the international policy level and on the ground, through its agencies and technical cooperation projects, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today.

Unblocking the long fallow Conference on Disarmament was the subject of a ministerial meeting convened today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urged delegations to recall that body’s status as the “undisputed home of international arms control efforts”, which even in the complex political and security context of the cold war had managed to conclude far-reaching and forward-looking treaties.

A shifting power balance and rapid globalization of threats — from economic crisis and drug trafficking to pollution and terrorism — taken together, had ushered in a new world order, challenging the United Nations to update its anachronistic structures and mindsets so it could truly lead in the twenty-first century, world leaders told the General Assembly today as it moved into day two of its annual general debate.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the ministerial meeting on Security Council resolution 1325: A Call to Action, at Headquarters today.

Amid concern that the historic promise made 10 years ago to free millions of people from the injustice of extreme poverty, hunger and disease would ring hollow without a renewed political push for success, world leaders today concluded the United Nations General Assembly meeting to review the Millennium Development Goals with a solemn pledge to take concerted action to unleash transformational change.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, today launched a United Nations-African Union Joint Task Force on Peace and Security, an important new mechanism to enhance strategic cooperation between the two organizations in preventing and resolving conflicts.

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

Concerned about the sustainable development challenges facing small island developing States, and their uneven progress towards realizing the Millennium Development Goals, the General Assembly today urged international financial institutions to give them adequate access to concessionary financing for investment in sustainable development, and development partners to pay due attention to their unique vulnerabilities so they could recover economically.