United Arab Emirates

30 June 2019, Abu Dhabi

Secretary-General's remarks to Climate Summit Preparatory Meeting

Your Highness, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
 
I am very pleased to join you today.
 
I want to thank the leadership and people of the United Arab Emirates for hosting this important meeting, with the wonderful hospitality, and at the same time, I want to urge all participants to seize this opportunity to take bold climate action.
 
We are here because the world is facing a grave climate emergency.
 
Climate disruption is happening now, and it is happening to all of us.
 

10 February 2019, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Deputy Secretary-General's address to the World Government Summit [as prepared for delivery]

HRH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE,
H.E. Imran Khan, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the United Nations General Assembly,
 
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants, 
Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
I am honoured to be with you at this annual gathering dedicated to shaping the future of governments worldwide. 
 

09 February 2019, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Deputy Secretary-General's keynote remarks on SDGs in Action @WGS19 Leadership for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals [as prepared for delivery]

Your Excellencies, 
Distinguished delegates and colleagues,
 
I am delighted to be with you at this SDGs in Action event.  The SDGs continue to be our blue print for a sustainable future. 
 
We are here because we are committed to bringing the 2030 Agenda to life and ensuring that we live up to the shared ambitions and promises set out in September 2015.
 
If anything, our world has become even more complex since then and our challenges an opportunity to work better together.
 

29 October 2018, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Secretary-General's video message to the 20th Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

I am pleased to greet this important gathering.
 
Your meeting will set the International Telecommunication Union’s path for the next four years as we strive together to build a more sustainable and inclusive digital economy for generations to come.
 
We face a crucial challenge: harnessing the benefits of new technologies for all, while safeguarding against the risks from their misuse.
 
Digital technologies have a crucial role to play in accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
 

22 October 2018, Dubai

Deputy Secretary-General's remarks at Data Talks [as prepared for delivery]

 
The full ambition of the 2030 Agenda cannot be realized without quality, timely, relevant, open and disaggregated data. 
 
Data is fundament to both the design and implementation of action and long-term policies that are needed for the achievement of the SDGs. 
 
New solutions are being developed that leverage the power of new data sources and technologies, through partnerships between national statistical authorities and the private sector, civil society and the academia. 
 

22 October 2018, Dubai

Deputy Secretary-General's remarks at meeting of the United Arab Emirates National Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals [as prepared for delivery]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to join you.  

I congratulate the United Arab Emirates on the launch of its Private Sector Advisory Council on the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The Sustainable Development Goals remains our best roadmap to the future we want and aspire to where no one is left behind. 

The 2030 Agenda is the world’s ambitious and transformative plan of action to promote peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet. 

22 October 2018, Dubai

Deputy Secretary-General's remarks to United Nations World Data Forum [as delivered]

I am pleased to be with you today. 

We live during a time of unprecedented challenge – but, equally, unprecedented and massive opportunity. 

Our blueprint for addressing these challenges and seizing the opportunities is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

But to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, we need more and better data. 

With accurate, representative, inclusive and disaggregated data, we can understand the challenges we face -- and identify the most appropriate solutions for sustainable development. 

20 January 2018, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Secretary-General's video message to the World Food Programme's Global Management Meeting, 20-22 January

Dear colleagues from the World Food Programme,
I send you my warmest greetings.
Thanks to your rapid response by sea, air and road, life-saving assistance reached millions of the most vulnerable last year.
You helped avert famine that threatened some twenty million people.  
The women and men of the World Food Programme do not hesitate to step up to the challenge – even in the toughest conditions.
We are working towards building a 21st century UN focused more on people and less on process, more on delivery and less on bureaucracy.

13 February 2017, Dubai

Opening remarks at the World Government Summit

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s an enormous pleasure and an enormous honor to be here. I am very grateful to your Highness [Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum] for your very kind invitation.

If one looks at today’s governance problems at the country level, between countries or at multilateral governance in the world, we face a terrible lack of trust. Lack of trust between peoples, between governments and political establishment. Lack of trust between countries and lack of trust in relation to governance in global multilateral institutions.