At a special ceremony today in observance of the 2010 World Food Day on the theme “United against Hunger”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that in a world of plenty, the world’s food systems were failing the most vulnerable. Calling for the world’s food systems to be “fixed” in order to meet that internationally agreed development target, he said achieving that would lift up whole societies and help achieve all of the other Goals.

A media relations campaign aimed at encouraging Kenyans to participate in the country’s 2009 population census has been chosen for the 2010 United Nations Grand Award for outstanding achievement in public relations. The award will be presented by the Director of the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe at a ceremony on Friday, 5 November, at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London, as part of the International Public Relations Association's 2010 Golden World Awards.

Reiterating the urgent need to tackle the interconnected challenges in Afghanistan – from increased extremist violence, to the development of sound institutions and strong democratic processes - the General Assembly today adopted by consensus a broad based resolution appealing to the international community for continued support for a coherent, Afghan-driven strategy that would help the Government keep the war-torn country on the road to recovery.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message on peacebuilding, which was aired during the inaugural meeting of the Peacebuilding Fund high-level stakeholders, in New York on 4 November:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message for the first Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Asian Forum, in Seoul today, 5 November:

The past year has been the worst in two decades for the voluntary repatriation of refugees, and due to the changing nature and intractability of some conflicts, the world was now faced with “quasi-permanent global refugee populations,” the Third Committee was told today by the head of the United Nations refugee agency.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the press conference on the receipt of the final report of his High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, in New York, 5 November:

Plans to reform Guinea-Bissau’s security sector, reintegrate former combatants and end impunity in the country, if properly pursued, would create the conditions for wider international cooperation with the West African country, Joseph Mutaboba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, told the Security Council this morning.

This is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message today, 5 November, to the fourth International Round Table of Chief Executive Officers of Chinese and Foreign Multinational Corporations in Beijing:

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