Secretary-General's press encounter following his appointment for a second term by the General Assembly

You have seen my remarks to the General Assembly therefore I will be very brief. Let me reiterate three main points which I would like to tell you [about] at this time. Then I will be happy to answer your questions.

First: mutual trust is the bedrock of the UN's work, and I am humbled and deeply honoured to be asked to serve once again as Secretary-General.

In my remarks to the Member States, I emphasized the power of partnership.

By working together, I told them that nothing is “impossible” as we look to the challenges of the future.

Second: we can be proud of what we have achieved and we should be proud of the progress so far, but clearly we have far to go.

Too many people lack basic human rights. Too many people are hungry. Too many children die needlessly, every day.

That is why the world is turning more and more to the United Nations. Seldom has the United Nations been more relevant; never has it been more necessary.

A broad constellation of NGOs, business leaders and others has been a big part of this. Again, I want to thank our immensely talented UN staff for their dedication and hard work.

Third: in the weeks and months ahead I will be reaching out to the Member States for their views and ideas on the way ahead. Drawing on those conclusions and discussions, I will deliver a broad long-term vision to the General Assembly in September. By January, we will have a detailed action plan for realizing those goals ? not just for 2012, but far beyond.

For now, let me say that I will continue to act as a bridge-builder and catalyst for global action. As we look to the future, let me say also that I do so in full recognition of its responsibilities and its realities.

This morning, as you know, we launched a major initiative to improve sanitation in the world's least developed countries. There we were, talking about the dangers of “open defecation.”

Not everyone likes talking about this kind of subject. The job isn't always glamorous. But it is always meaningful and humbling.

Saving children from diarrhoea, talking about AIDS, having challenging calls with national leaders about human rights abuses ? it isn't always easy, but straight talk about the tough issues can make a real difference.

That's why we are here. Again, I am honoured to have the opportunity to carry on.

A final word: when I first took office four-and-a-half years ago, I said to you that I wanted an open and dynamic relationship with the UN press corps.

It certainly has been dynamic. Thank you very much for your support. I have tried to be as accessible as possible to all of you, and I will continue to do so. As I have often said, you are the world's window on the UN and why it matters.

Thank you very much for your support and good advice. Thank you very much.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, now it's for real and on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association, congratulations for your election today. I have a double question. I saw that the Ambassador of Syria had a very long congratulation with you. Did he invite you to Damascus? Are you willing to call President [Assad] again or soon, as your first phone call with the new mandate that starts today practically? And the second question is, even though you say that you will present it in September, what will be your first priority of the second mandate?

SG: Ambassador [Bashar] Ja'afari of Syria congratulated me and he expressed his full support for my mandate, as well as for my performance as Secretary-General, and I thanked him. He briefly explained the current situation in Syria. I told him that I noted the announcement of the general amnesty by President Assad, but it is also important that these measures, which have been taken by President Assad, should lead to a genuine and very constructive dialogue with the people. We agreed to continue to discuss this matter. I will try to speak with President Assad continuously [to see] how we can help these reform measures and the current situation. It is important that the Syrian Government allows the Human Rights Council mandated fact-finding mission and also my proposal to send humanitarian assessment teams there.

Second question. This second question will be of interest to all of you. When we started together four and a half years ago, we had taken many initiatives –bringing climate change to the top of the global agenda, and now we are working very hard to make Rio +20 a success. This is part of our commitment and ongoing efforts to make sustainable development a success. Starting with climate change as the first entry point, we have to address water scarcity issues, food crisis, energy shortages, and global health issues. Those are all interconnected and therefore these should be addressed from a broader perspective in a more comprehensive way. This is what we want to achieve in Rio de Janeiro next year. I had in-depth discussions with President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and her Environment Minister [Izabella] Teixeira. The United Nations will continue to press world leaders to use all available resources and wisdom.

Q: Congratulations Mr. Secretary-General. You mentioned a lot of priorities and didn't specifically talk about the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Do you foresee North Korea being an issue come September and in the next session?

SG: My acceptance speech today was rather broader and general. As I said to the Member States, I will reach out to Member States for their views [on] what should be the priorities of the United Nations. And I will [give] a more detailed vision of the priorities in September to the Member States. Of course, realizing a world free of nuclear weapons is one of my continuing priorities. I will do my best to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and I will continue to discuss this matter with the six-party Member States and other key members. I am going to convene this high-level meeting on September 22 on nuclear safety and nuclear security. And I hope that, during that meeting, world leaders will be able to have a good discussion on how we can strengthen nuclear safety standards and, at the same time, pave a good foundation for the nuclear security summit meeting which will be held in Seoul next year –March next year.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, congratulations. I have two questions. First, you said that nothing is impossible, we need results. Do you expect any achievements on the issue of climate change? That's the first question. The second one is about the Arab world, especially Morocco. The king of Morocco took lately major reforms, what is your appreciation?

SG: Climate change will continue to be our priority. We have to make a success of this Durban meeting. In December last year in Cancun, [inaudible] world leaders have put good foundations again. There was good foundation [for] climate financing, adaptation, technology transfer, capacity building and deforestation. We have to build on all these matters. As you know, I have established this High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. They have made this recommendation in which they say that mobilizing $100 billion for developing countries annually by 2020 is challenging, but doable. They have proposed certain options. This is in the hands of Members States of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. I have already been discussing this matter with the South African President and Vice-President and Ministers and I hope that we will [have] good success of this matter.

I appreciate the King of Morocco taking reform measures. It is not only in Morocco -- in all the Arab world, the leaders should listen carefully, more attentively to what their people are really asking their governments: to promote their well-being, to promote this genuine freedom, greater and participatory democracy. That's the responsibility of the leaders. They should also initiate this inclusive dialogue as soon as possible.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, congratulations, may you achieve as much as you can. My question is, in the last 6 years or so, the Middle East question has defied resolution, especially this Israeli-Palestinian question. Today you also had a conversation with the Israeli Defence Minister. I want to know how important it is for you to make sure that, in your tenure, somehow the Middle East peace process moves forward and there is some resolution found to this problem which has defied resolution, and all the Secretaries-General have been totally hamstrung by it.

SG: Realizing peace in the Middle East - establishing stability and security - that has been a long held aspiration of the international community. I am also deeply concerned that there has not been much progress in the Middle East peace process during the last six decades. For Palestinians having an independent sovereign State has been a long aspiration and I support it. When I met President Abbas a couple of weeks ago, I told him that, while I support this, your aspirations and your goals, it is equally important to realize this two-State vision where Palestinians and Israelis can live side-by-side in peace and security. That's a long-held vision supported by the Quartet, supported by all Arab countries and the United Nations. Therefore, returning to dialogue would be very important. And I had already spoken with Defence Minister Barak of Israel yesterday. Recently, I have been speaking with the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Arab leaders, very often, even though all these conversations have not been released. So you have my full commitment, as a member of the Quartet, as Secretary-General, this will be a continuing priority. But this needs support and flexibility for a greater vision for the well-being and peace for all the people in the Arab world, in the Middle East. And they should show some political leadership and show a sense of flexibility. Otherwise this peace process may not make any progress. I will continue. I am committed to [this].

Q: In your conversation with the Israeli Defence Minister, did he give you any assurances that there will be no attack on the flotilla which is coming on June 27th/28th?

SG: Of course we discussed the possible flotilla and I strongly urged him to allow this UN Gaza Project to be carried on. We also discussed the Middle East peace process.

Q: Thank you Mr. Secretary-General. Last night, the American drone was shot down in Libya which was the first confirmation that US forces are using aerial drones in Libya. Do you have a reaction specifically to that, to the use of drones? And, more broadly, to what appears to be an escalating NATO war effort that, at least unofficially, seems to be targeting people in Tripoli?

SG: I have made it quite clear - also as Security Council resolution 1973 made it clear –that protecting the civilian population will be very important. I do not have any information about what you said about drones being shot down [in] Libya. Maybe I will get back to you, if you really want to have any specific response for that question.

Q: Hi Secretary-General, it is nice to see you again. How do you feel on this historic day and what is the message you have to the young people of the world?

SG: I am deeply honored by this unanimous support by the United Nations Member States. At the same time, I am humbled by what I have been dealing with -- how can I more effectively deliver results to the many people who need our support, to people whose human rights are abused, to [the] many refugees, internally displaced people, to [the] many people who are sick and to those young people who would not have hope or a brighter future. Whenever I saw so many young children --boys and girls-- who have not been able to be admitted into schools, who have not been taken care of properly in terms of health, in terms of all of human rights, I have been really humbled and trying to think [about] how I can help those people. Just thinking about my old days as a young child in Korea, after the Korean war, I was like one of them. So I told them: please do not despair, do not lose your hope, there is the United Nations, we are trying to help you. You have a Secretary-General of the United Nations who has experienced that kind of hardship. Now, the situation is much better than before: you have the whole international community trying to help those people. So I will really try to help those young people. We have to provide them [with] good educational opportunities, job opportunities. For young people who are really committed to work for the international community [and] I also see many young people work for public service?for the United Nations, international organizations or governments -- where they can work more and better to help all those people. And working together with the United Nations to address all these issues. Thank you very much.