Statement from President Michael D. Higgins on his meeting with UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon
Date: Mon 25th May, 2015 | 16:15
President Michael D. Higgins and UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon had a lengthy discussion over lunch at Áras an Uacharáin today which covered a wide range of issues in international affairs.
President Higgins congratulated the Secretary General on his work to date, mentioning in particular the Secretary-General’s appeal to the international community to respond to the global economic crisis in 2008. The President went on to cite Mr Ban’s significant achievements in the area of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and gender equality.
The Secretary-General thanked the Irish people for Ireland’s unbroken record at the United Nations, in peacekeeping, with Irish soldiers having served over 64,000 tours of duty on various missions since 1958.
The critical importance of 2015 for the UN and for our planet was emphasised with a special importance attached to July’s UN Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa, September’s UN Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda in New York, and the Paris Summit on Climate Change in December.
The President stressed that Ireland had been honoured to be asked, along with Kenya, to facilitate the discussion on the post-2015 sustainable development goals and stated how pleased Ireland is that Mrs Mary Robinson has been appointed as the UN Secretary General’s Representative on Climate Change.
President Higgins and the Secretary General discussed some immediate issues of concern including new types of global conflict, unacceptable capital flows, hunger, nutrition and climate change. The President also raised UN reform, the institutional crisis at international level, the need to strengthen the role of diplomacy and the need for such institutional reform, as would confer on the United Nations a greater capacity to act on major global issues and events.
President Higgins and Mr Ban agreed that 2015 was one of the most critical years for the United Nations since its foundation and that the major meetings scheduled for this year must not be allowed to fail as they will ultimately determine whether the international capacity for a global response to global issues exists. President Higgins stressed his view that these meetings must produce more than ‘bracketed text’ on issues that are left without agreement but rather must deliver firm and detailed agreements on the key issues affecting our planet and its people, that are adequately structured and capable of being monitored.
