Activities of Secretary-General in Peru, 8-10 October
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew on Thursday, 8 October, from New York to Lima to participate in the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund’s Annual Meetings.
On Friday, 9 October, he met with the United Nations country team working in Peru, as well as with the Finance Ministers of Brazil, China and India.
The Secretary-General then attended a Climate Finance Ministerial Lunch, during which he stressed that finance is central to realizing a low-carbon, climate-resilient future that benefits all and key for building the trust between developing and developed countries needed for success in Paris. (See Press Release SG/SM/17204.)
He also met with Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom, as well as with the Presidents of the twentieth and twenty-first Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Environment Minister of Peru, Manuel Gerardo Pedro Pulgar-Vidal, and the Foreign Minister of France, Laurent Fabius.
In the late afternoon, the Secretary-General participated in an interactive panel discussion “From Today to 2030” with Ollanta Humala Tasso, President of Peru, Justine Greening, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, and Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
Following that event, the Secretary-General met with Peru’s President at the Presidential Palace. In his remarks to the press after the meeting, he commended Peru for its progress under the Millennium Development Goals and thanked the President for the country’s leadership on climate change.
On Saturday, 10 October, the Secretary-General had a bilateral meeting with the President of the World Bank Group. The two leaders agreed to work closely on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and exchanged views on a wide range of issues including small States, gender equality and water and sanitation.
Following that meeting, the Secretary-General attended a small States forum, during which he stressed that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development presented new opportunities to mobilize focused support for vulnerable countries. (See Press Release SG/SM/17205.)
He then participated in a round-table meeting for the Middle East and North Africa region. He said that to address the scale and the nature of the conflicts in the region, we need new approaches based on an understanding of the fiscal and economic dimensions of violent conflict. (See Press Release SG/SM/17207.)
At a Development Committee ministerial lunch on “investing in evidence”, the Secretary-General stressed that sustainable development demands a data revolution, “as only by counting the uncounted can we reach the unreached”. (See Press Release SG/SM/17208.)
He then addressed a Development Committee meeting on the World Bank Group support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, saying that many of the priority areas of the World Bank mirror Sustainable Development Goal priorities. Clearly, more than ever, the World Bank, the United Nations and the world’s international and regional institutions must work hand in hand, he added. (See Press Release SG/SM/17209.)
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General left Lima for Cochabamba, Bolivia, to participate in the Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and the Defence of Life.