Dear colleagues, both in New York and in duty stations, it is a great pleasure to meet you in this format.

This is the ninth year for me and some of you have been working together from the beginning, even though there might have been some changes in positions. I really appreciate your leadership and strong commitment to work together with us for implementing the ideals and objectives of the United Nations.

As the Chef de Cabinet has just said in her earlier remarks, and I have been repeatedly saying that this is a year for global action. We have to achieve three most important priorities, which we have either set or we are going to agree.

That is that by the end of this year we will continue to realize the Millennium Development Goals.

By September we expect Member-States will adopt very ambitious and visionary post-2015 Development Agenda.

And then by December this year, in Paris, we must have a universal and a very meaningful Climate Change Agreement. Those are not only our responsibilities, this is what the whole world’s people expect the United Nations [to do]

We are going to have special summit meeting in September. I expect that World Leaders will be united this time, overcoming their national interests. We often say that good Global Solutions really is good for National Solutions. I hope they will always keep this kind of vision.

Last year pushed the United Nations to the limit. It seems that we are now being tested up to the limit. We addressed grinding poverty, protracted conflicts and other longstanding problems. And we dealt with the Ebola outbreak, the rise of violent extremism and terrorism and other emerging threats.

Already this year, 2015, there are more appalling atrocities and new threats.

To rise to the challenges we face, address their root causes, and set the world on course to a better future. We need administrative excellence.

We must make ourselves ready and make ourselves more efficient and effective and agile to rapidly changing situations.

Of course we are always in difficult positions because of lack of resources, but I don’t think there is any time that we can say that we have enough resources; that we have to admit and live with this kind of situation.

This compact is between you and me, but it is between you and the World between you and Member-States.

Journalists covering your commitment, this is already public and this will be posted on the website so there will be full transparency and accountability.

They are the heart of our drive for accountability and transparency. They set the tone for performance at the top.

Last week, at the Government Summit in Dubai in the UAE, I said the dawn of a new era calls for a new governance model – one that is ready for the future: accountable, transparent, inclusive and participatory.

I said that those leaders and those governments who are communicating with the people and who are listening to the voices of the people, they are the stronger governments, they are the stronger countries and they are the stronger world.

To better serve the world’s people, we need to continuously reflect on our work, learn from the past and find ways to improve in the future.

In this 70th anniversary of the United Nations, I count on your unwavering commitment and leadership in helping to deliver a United Nations that is truly fit for purpose.

Dear Colleagues,

I thank you for helping me to modernize the United Nations.

I count on you to carry out our transformative management agenda on all fronts, as the Chef de Cabinet just said.

I am confident that the Compacts we have signed today will further improve our performance and accountability.

Please know that you are not working alone.  Feel free to reach the Chef-de Cabinet, the Deputy Secretary-General and myself. I am always available for dialogue with you, whenever you have concerns or good ideas and visions. 

Dear Colleagues, let us rise to the moment and make this 70th anniversary of the United Nations a turning point for generations to come. 

Thank you very much.