Mrs. Susana Villaran, Mayor of Lima, Ambassador Mr. Gonzalo Gutierrez, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations, Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be here in the City of Kings.

Mayor Villaran, please accept my congratulations on your recent election.

I commend your work on child nutrition and women's rights.

Empowering women is a priority for the UN, and for me personally.

I am honoured by this ceremony.

Lima is one of Latin America's major cities.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, steeped in history.

Yet is also a vibrant modern capital, ready to embrace the future.

We live in changing world. Globalization and new communications technology have changed how we relate.

Increasingly, people all over the world can speak freely and exchange ideas and opinions ? they can see how much we share ? how we all have the same hopes, dreams and fears.

We have an opportunity – as never before – to build harmony.

But, we will find this much harder to achieve if we do not protect our planet – our natural assets that underwrite all our development ambitions.

Climate change is accelerating. Here in Peru you are witnessing the effects.

The recent climate conference in Cancun produced significant advances.

But each nation, each city, needs to do more, and not wait for the negotiators to finish their task.

All around the world, mayors are looking at how they can build sustainable cities.

More than half the world's population is now urban.

Cities contribute significantly to climate change – through transport, industry, waste disposal and the generation of electricity.

They are therefore central to the solution.

As we look to the future, I count on the mayors of the world to be leaders in addressing our climate change and sustainable development challenges.

Please know that you can count on the United Nations to help build sustainable, harmonious, inclusive cities -- here in Peru and throughout the world.

Thank you for honouring me today.