Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and Maestro [Daniel] Barenboim.

It is a pleasure for me to welcome today United Nations Messenger of Peace, Maestro Daniel Barenboim and members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

For the past nine years, Maestro Barenboim has used his extraordinary talent and commitment to promote peace and tolerance, the core values of our Organization, as a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Well before that, he was uniting young musicians from Israel and Arab countries to foster dialogue and people-to-people diplomacy, in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that he founded with the late Edward Said.

Two musicians from the orchestra are with us today: Tyme Khleifi from Ramallah and Guy Braunstein from Israel, welcome. Personal contacts are all the more important at a time of polarization.

I am sorry there is no opportunity to listen to the Orchestra today, because that is the best way to appreciate their contribution and to spread their message. Every performance is a testimony to the power of music to break down barriers, to promote cultural understanding and to build bridges between communities.

I have heard the Orchestra perform several times at the United Nations General Assembly halls, most recently a Concert for the Understanding of Civilizations and Human Rights here at the Palais des Nations last October.

Each time, I have been moved and inspired by their example.

It is therefore my great honour today to appoint the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding.

The Orchestra will work closely with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to build mutual respect among peoples of different cultural and religious identities, highlighting the will of all people around the world to reject extremism and embrace diversity and tolerance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted that the Orchestra has committed to help us in our work towards creating a more peaceful, inclusive and united world.

Thank you.