Dr. Change Dae Whan, Founder of the World Knowledge Forum and Chairman of the Maekyung Media Group, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to greet the 14th World Knowledge Forum.

We live in an era of tremendous opportunity.  Ours is the first generation with the knowledge and technology that can wipe extreme poverty from the face of the earth.

At the same time, pressures on the human family are rising.  We face a warming climate, youth without jobs, unresolved conflicts and the spread of deadly weapons.

As we address the crisis in Syria and other emergencies, the United Nations is also focusing on longer-term challenges.  None is more critical than sustainable development.

We face a threefold challenge: to accelerate our work for the Millennium Development Goals as the 2015 deadline draws near; to adopt a post-2015 development agenda; and to complete a global legal agreement on climate change.

With our fates ever more entwined, our future must be one of ever deeper cooperation.

I thank the World Knowledge Forum for its efforts to reduce inequality by harnessing knowledge for development.

Asia is well placed to contribute, and I will count on leadership from across the region.

Thank you for supporting our work to build a better world for all. I wish you a productive forum.