The entire UN community in the Republic of Korea gathered in Songdo, Incheon on October 30th, 2012 to meet with the UN Secretary-General and Madame Ban on the occasion of his visit to Korea. Over 110 staff and interns from more than 14 UN offices in Korea participated in the hour-long meeting.
The Secretary-General thanked staff members for their hard work and effort towards achieving the MDGs and shared his vision for developing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that could be supported by all UN member countries. He also talked about the significance of the newly created Green Climate Fund (GCF) which will be located in Songdo, and the challenges as well as the potential that GCF holds as a champion for realizing a sustainable future for all.
The UN community presented the Secretary General with a gift which symbolizes the Secretary General’s tireless devotion to his mission – the figures on top which look like two people participating in a race represent him continuously managing a vigorous schedule. On the bottom, the inscription, using data from the MDG report 2012, reads –
If the world were a village with 100 people…
24 villagers would be living in extreme poverty
16 villagers would be in constant hunger
11 villagers would not have potable water
4 children would die before their 5th birthdays
7 children would not be getting primary education
3 villagers able and ready to work would be looking for jobs
20 villagers would not have access to modern energy services
With your vision and guidance, we shall work hard and contribute to making all 100 villagers happy.
Presented to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
30 October 2012
by the United Nations Offices in the Republic of Korea
The Secretary-General was accompanied by Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Won-soo Kim, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Change Implementation, Yeocheol Yoon, Chief of Protocol, and Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General and others.
- Group photo of UN staff in RoK wit the Secretary-General