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

Date 6 December 2007
Press Release No. N/68/2007

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit ESCAP on his way to Bali Conference

Dialogue on climate change and development part of day-long programme

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, will visit the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on 10 December and deliver a keynote address on “climate change, green growth and inclusive development”.

Mr. Ban will be on an official visit to Thailand from 9 to 11 December on his way to the Bali Conference on Climate Change. His visit to ESCAP will highlight the development aspects of climate change, and the regional dimension of his Development Agenda.

“The Secretary-General’s visit to ESCAP on his way to Bali is a strong statement that climate change is as much a development issue as it is about the environment”, says Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. “We have the opportunity to create more ecologically efficient economies and clean development as the foundation for economic growth, social progress and sustainability.”

Mr. Ban will begin his day at the UN Conference Centre (UNCC) with a dialogue with staff members of all Bangkok-based UN offices on his development and reform agenda.

After a meeting and luncheon with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Surayud Chulanont, the Secretary-General will return to ESCAP and deliver a keynote address on climate change and development to an audience of UN staff members, Thai government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of civil society, academia and the media. This will be Mr. Ban’s key policy statement on climate change on the eve of his attendance at the Bali Conference.

Following a visit to the Royal Chitralada Development Projects and an audience with His Majesty the King, Mr. Ban will return to UNCC to attend a welcome reception hosted in his honour by Ms. Heyzer.

This is Mr. Ban’s first visit to the region as Secretary-General. After Bali, he will visit Dili, Timor Leste, and Jakarta.

Journalists are invited to cover Mr. Ban’s keynote address on climate change and his opening remarks at the reception. Please fill in the attached registration form and send it back to UN Information Services, ESCAP, by 3pm, Friday, 7 December.

For further information, please contact:

UN Information Services/ESCAP
Tel: 02 288 1861 – 9; Fax: 02 288 1052
Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org