Europe

I am very pleased and very honoured to be with all of you today. 

I thank the government of Austria and the R20 for promoting the low-carbon infrastructure we need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to implement the Paris Agreement and with enhanced ambition as the targets that were fixed in Paris, we all know, will not be enough. We need to have an increased ambition in that implementation.

This is a matter of the utmost priority. 

I want to express my deep gratitude to the Swedish Government for having organized this event.
 
I believe it is highly symbolic that the Security Council meets in Dag Hammarskjöld’s house. He said, I believe in 1956 or 1957, that more than ever, the world is one world.
 
And when we look at what is happening today, when we see so many divides, old divides coming back, new divides multiplying, conflicts that are causing enormous suffering all over the world, Syria the most tragic example of them all: it is the moment to remember those words of Dag Hammarskjöld.

Thank you very much Prime Minister.  

I want to express my deep gratitude to the Swedish Government for the wonderful hospitality the Security Council enjoyed and for the wonderful hospitality I myself enjoyed in Uppsala and here in Stockholm.  

Ladies and gentlemen from the media, thank you very much for your presence.  It is my pleasure to announce that this Pledging Conference represents a remarkable success of international solidarity to the people of Yemen.  The pledges announced represent more than $ 2 billion and if you compare with last year’s Pledging Conference, we reached $ 1.1 billion.  So practically, we have doubled the international commitment to Yemen from 2017 to 2018. 

Thank you for coming together in support of the people and institutions of Lebanon.
 
Allow me to begin by recalling my close ties with Lebanon and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of this International Support Group.
 
The need for such a partnership emerged during my years as High Commissioner for Refugees.
 
As the dramatic impacts of the Syrian conflict spread well beyond its borders, I saw first-hand the outstanding hospitality the Lebanese people extended to Syrians fleeing violence and destruction.
 

I want to express, first of all, my very deep gratitude to the governments of Egypt, Sweden and Jordan for the extraordinary leadership that they’ve shown in mobilizing the whole of the international community in support of UNRWA’s actions, in support of Palestinian refugees. 

I do not recall many conferences in my long career where such unanimous support was given to one institution that provides remarkable services to Palestine refugees - services that need to be maintained at all costs. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I thank Egypt, Jordan and Sweden for co-chairing this gathering.
 
I also welcome the high-level presence of the League of Arab States, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the European Union.
 
I would like to start by recalling a memorable encounter I had last year with students at an UNRWA school in Gaza.
 

Madame President, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour to be here. I thank you for your work and particularly for the serious efforts you have made, including this year, to find ways to break the long-standing stalemate in this Conference. 

I welcome the decision you took ten days ago to take forward your substantive work. The most difficult part now lies ahead, as you work to translate [this] into the resumption of negotiations.