Thank you, Deputy Secretary-General. These Compacts, now entrusted to you and the Management Performance Board for monitoring and follow-up, are in good hands.

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for the hard work you have done to develop these Compacts. Thank you for your commitment and for shouldering such important responsibilities as senior leaders of our United Nations.

My top priority is to deliver concrete results for the millions of people around the world who look to the United Nations for help –who need us to keep the peace, to fight for their rights, to promote their dignity amid grinding poverty. I depend on each of you to make that happen.

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

That is why I attach such great importance to this exercise.

The more comprehensively we do this, the better.

As you know, these Compacts commit us to both individual and shared goals.

We are constantly reminded of the need for teamwork, most recently during the crisis in Haiti. There, as in so many situations, we confront challenges that no senior manager or single department can solve alone.

I also wish to make this process as public as possible. Your signed Compacts, and the end-of-year results, are being put online, for all staff to see. In April, iSeek will publish last year's results.

This kind of transparency is critical for accountability, and accountability is critical to our credibility.

I want the world to see that the United Nations is becoming a more performance-driven Organization that sets clear goals within specific timeframes, communicates them widely, and reports the results openly.

The next step is to look closely at what works, and to fix what doesn't. The Management Performance Board will be charting progress, and will continue to address systemic issues that could hinder your performance.

Colleagues,

We have all put a lot of thought and energy into these Compacts. They are now there to guide us in addressing the enormous challenges we face. I know I can count on each of you to bring these Compacts to life with real results in the year ahead.

Thank you again for your dedication and hard work.