..Press Release.......UNESCAP News Services

Date 20 October 2006
Press Release No. L/71/2006

United Nations Day Message of
Mr. Kim Hak-Su
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and
Executive Secretary of ESCAP

Today we celebrate the 61st anniversary of the birth of the United Nations. There have been many challenges in our efforts to help build peace and achieve development towards a more secure world, a world in which everyone may share equally in the same basic rights.

We often think of the UN as an organization for peace and security. And that it is. But without development, there could be no peace and security.

The theme of UN Day this year is the promotion of the MDGs or the Millennium Development Goals. And as UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan notes, the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow.

Improving people’s lives forms the cornerstone goal of the UN. It is also the overall thrust of the MDGs, a set of eight people-centred goals to:

· Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
· Achieve universal primary education;
· Promote gender equality and empower women;
· Reduce child mortality;
· Improve maternal health;
· Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;
· Ensure environmental sustainability; and
· Develop a global partnership for development.

Thailand, which provides the regional headquarters site of the UN in Asia and the Pacific, is one of the most advanced countries on MDG efforts. Indeed, Thailand is already moving ahead on its MDG-plus agenda. The UN family in Thailand draws rich lessons from Thailand’s exemplary MDG-plus efforts, lessons that are ready to be shared with those that are struggling to make progress on the MDGs.

Achieving progress on the MDGs requires political will at the highest levels and genuine commitment to the participation of the poor and the marginalized in the development process.

The cost of neglecting the MDGs is a more dangerous and unstable world for all.
Today, as we reflect on the hopes and aspirations that gave birth to this unique Organization, I invite all of us to rededicate ourselves to reducing disparities and strengthening the Asia-Pacific region’s development fundamentals for a peaceful future.
Each one of us could be an MDG agent of change. Let us begin today.

| Thank you.

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