Press Conference

Reaching agreement at the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference on a new pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be a “daunting” challenge, but not an impossible one, Al Gore told correspondents today during a press conference of the United Nations Leadership Forum on Climate Change.

Following is a transcript of the joint press conference by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Denmark’s Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, held in New York today, 22 September:

The wait-and-see attitude adopted by many countries with regard to action to address climate change was putting the process at risk and making it less and less easy to ensure a fair and just climate treaty offering something to the world, especially the poorest parts, René Grotenhuis, President of the CIDSE Network of Catholic Development Agencies, said today at Headquarters.

The Government of Denmark had embarked on ground-breaking initiatives aimed at opening up debate to citizens of the world in the lead-up to and during the course of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said today at Headquarters.

The sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly appeared to be off to a strong start as the 192-member body had adopted its agenda –- without reservations –- in less than an hour, newly installed Assembly President Ali Abdussalam Treki (Libya) said at Headquarters today.

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Karen Koning AbuZayd, today announced a week-long series of events in New York to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Agency’s creation, which would culminate with an “UNRWA @ 60” ministerial-level event on 24 September.

“The near poor are becoming the new poor” as a result of the global financial crisis, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations said today at Headquarters, as she announced the development of the United Nations Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System, or “GIVAS”.

In advance of high-level meetings at United Nations Headquarters next week, Tibor Tóth, Executive Secretary for the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), noted favourable political momentum, saying he expected at least one more State to ratify the test-ban Treaty before long.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 17 September:

Ongoing peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders were progressing well, and while areas of divergence remained, there was cautious optimism that an agreement could be reached, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, said today.