Your Excellency Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Distinguished government officials and parliamentarians, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to send greetings to the launch event for next year's World Summit of Legislators.

Parliamentarians have a profound influence. You enact legislation. You approve budgets. You are at the heart of democratic governance.

And in today's increasingly interconnected world, you are also a link between the global and local -- bringing local concerns into the global arena, and translating global standards into national action.

I very much welcome your engagement in the process leading up to next year's crucially important UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20..

Rio+20 is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Stabilizing the global economy, safeguarding the environment, and ensuring social equity are parts of a single agenda. We cannot make progress in one without progress in the others.

The current economic crisis is no excuse for inaction.

Science tells us that we are approaching, and increasingly over-stepping, certain planetary boundaries.

At Rio the world should forge a response that revitalizes the cause of sustainable development.

I thank the legislators who were in Durban earlier this month for the latest negotiations on climate change.

Durban showed that multilateral negotiations can deliver.

Our challenge now is to build on the Durban Platform and advance our new Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

Most of all, we need to make Rio+20 a great advance for human well-being.

I wish you a successful launch, and I will count on your leadership and engagement as Rio+20 draws near.

Thank you.