SG/T/3050

Activities of Secretary-General in France, 25-26 August

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Paris, France from Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday morning, 25 August.

Later, he met at the Elysée Palace with President François Hollande of France.  They discussed the latest developments in the lead-up to the Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, as well as the next steps to be taken to ensure an ambitious outcome.  They also discussed a number of peace and security issues, including the situation in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Middle East Peace Process and the Central African Republic.  In the aftermath of his visit to Nigeria, the Secretary-General and President Hollande also discussed the threat of Boko Haram across the region and the need to address violent extremism everywhere.

Later, he had a phone call with President Hollande, President Ollanta Humala of Peru and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the upcoming Climate Change Conference.

That night, the Secretary-General had dinner with Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The following day, Wednesday, 26 August, the Secretary-General addressed the annual gathering of French Ambassadors on climate change.  He told them that this year had seen historic efforts to ensure that humanity was going down a new path of development. He said he counted on each French ambassador to pursue their outreach and mobilization work in favour of climate action and to make the Climate Change Conference a success.  (See Press Release SG/SM/17032.)

The Secretary-General then briefly met with Nicolas Hulot, President Hollande’s Special Envoy for the protection of the planet.  He also attended a lunch organized by the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius.

Afterwards, the Secretary-General held a joint press encounter with Foreign Minister Fabius and Peru’s Environment Minister, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal.  The Secretary-General said that 2015 was a year for global action.  He noted that Member States had adopted in July the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on the Financing for Development and that they were set to adopt in September the sustainable development goals, on the margins of the seventieth session of the General Assembly.  He called this a much “broader” and “far-reaching” development agenda.  In this context, he added, a climate change agreement had to be adopted by the end of the year in Paris.  “We don’t have time to waste,” he said.

The Secretary-General left Paris for New York in the evening of 26 August.

For information media. Not an official record.