Kan souri, soshite nihon no minasama,

[“Prime Minister Kan and people of Japan,”]

Konotabi, higashi nihon dai shinsai ni yori hisai sareta chiiki no minasama ni, kokoroyori omimai moushi agemasu.

[“First of all, my deep sympathy to those who have been affected by the huge disaster in Eastern Japan.”]

Ikkokumo hayai kaifuku to fukkou wo oinorishiteorimasu.

[“I would like to extend my very best wishes for early rehabilitation and restoration.”]

I am here to express my solidarity of myself and of the United Nations to all the people of Japan and particularly the affected people.

I am here to bring kizuna. Kizuna, both in the Korean and Japanese languages, even though it is just one word, it is composed of two words: one is string, one is partnership. We can unite this partnership with string.

While I was struck and saddened by the level of destruction by these triple crises, I was also encouraged by what I have seen. I have seen such strong will and unbreakable spirit and determination and resilience of the Japanese people, and I am sure that Japan will be able to overcome this very soon.

I am very encouraged by the assurance of Prime Minister Kan Naoto that the Japanese Government will share [its] invaluable experience and lessons learned from this tragedy with the international community, particularly in the area of disaster risk reduction and preparedness and also strengthening nuclear safety standards.

I expect the Japanese Government will contribute positively, constructively to the success [of the] high-level conference at the United Nations on 22 September on nuclear safety and nuclear security.

I am also grateful to the Japanese Government [for its] positive consideration on working together with the United Nations on how to help those affected people in the Horn of Africa.

The Japanese Government has shown such great generosity to provide the necessary financial support to those people. I am encouraged by Prime Minister Kan again considering some additional support for those people. The number of affected people has reached 12 million now.

I am also encouraged by Prime Minister Kan's consideration of how we can help South Sudan, the newest nation in the world, by dispatching peacekeepers, particularly engineering teams.

All these are the demonstration of the [contributions by the] Japanese Government to world peace and security, development and human rights. I am very grateful, particularly for the Japanese Government's strong support for my re-election as Secretary-General. I am looking forward to working very closely with the Japanese Government in the coming five years as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

[“Thank you very much.”]