These Compacts are now entrusted to you and the Management Performance Board for monitoring and follow-up.  I know they are in good hands.

Dear Colleagues,

We meet regularly as senior managers to discuss the issues and concerns of our times.

At this annual gathering, we publically commit ourselves to strengthening the Organization.

These Compacts may be between you and me, but they are also compacts between us and the people we serve.   

Attendance at this year’s ceremony is the best of all six ceremonies we have held.  The involvement of senior management is also at its highest level. 

These are very encouraging signs that show you are taking greater ownership of the Compacts.  I commend you all for your leadership. Now we must deliver this year’s performance targets.  This is critical to our credibility and accountability.

The ambitious goals you have set will be even more critical this year, as the United Nations grapples with so many crises and so many interlinked challenges.

From Syria to South Sudan, from climate change to sustainable development, we confront problems that no senior manager or single department can possibly solve alone. 

The Compacts show the progress we are making toward becoming a more performance-driven Organization that sets clear goals, establishes specific time-frames and then reports the results openly.

I encourage you to continue sharing your Compacts with your staff.

Talk with them about how you plan to reach your goals and what their role should be.

Make the Compacts as meaningful and real as you can.

I also urge you never to forget that you are not working alone, and to reach out to one another, to me, to the Deputy Secretary-General and to the Chef de Cabinet.

To address the world’s biggest challenges, we must work together as a team.

Dear colleagues,

I am confident that the Compacts we have signed today will help further to improve our performance. I count on each of you to do your best.

Thank you.