United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced his intention to appoint Abou Moussa of Chad as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), based in Libreville, Gabon. UNOCA was established on 1 January 2011 and inaugurated on 2 March 2011.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the memorial service for New Zealand earthquake victims, in New York, today, 11 March:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon today announced the appointment of Ms. Lakshmi Puri of India as Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon today announced the appointment of John Hendra of Canada Assistant Secretary-General for Policy and Programme at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) event marking the end of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, in New York today, 11 March:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged the international community today to hammer out a concrete plan during the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries to improve the plight of the world’s most vulnerable people and meet the 2015 deadline for realizing the Millennium Development Goals.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the General Assembly informal thematic debate on “Investment in and financing of productive capacities of least developed countries”, in New York, 11 March:

Weak institutions in fragile and conflict-affected States constrained efforts to reduce poverty and deliver basic services, and efforts to build peaceful, prosperous nations required aligning priorities — both between domestic and global agendas, and among the world’s influential multilateral bodies, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it concluded its annual high-level meeting with marquee international finance and trade institutions.

The following statement was issued on 12 March by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The following statement was issued on 12 March by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: