Europe

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I commend the G7 for focusing on Africa at an opportune moment for the continent – and for putting the spotlight on inclusive, innovation-driven growth and development.
 

 
Thank you very much first of all, to the Government of the United Kingdom, to Boris Johnson, for having had the initiative of this conference, and to the President of Somalia for having created the political conditions that allowed it to happen.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Just over two months ago, I travelled to Mogadishu and Baidoa to spotlight the humanitarian crisis in Somalia.
 
I chose this for my first visit as Secretary-General to the field because I remember too well the tragic situation in 2011. I could never forget the devastation, displacement, drought, famine and desperation.
 

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
We are here to support Somalia at a moment which is both tragic and hopeful. And I do believe that Somalia can be in the near future the kind of good news that we badly need in the international community and in our troubled world.
 
I thank the United Kingdom, as well as President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo of Somalia, for co-hosting.
 
I deeply appreciate the leadership of the African Union and the vital work of AMISOM. I thank Chairperson Faki for joining us today.
 

On behalf of the broad humanitarian community and, I believe also, on behalf of the people of Yemen, I want to express our deep gratitude to all those who today have contributed with their generosity and their solidarity to make this first-ever humanitarian pledging conference for Yemen a remarkable success. 

It is time for us to conclude our work.  

I would like to express my deep gratitude to our two co-chairs, to Margot Wallström and Didier Burkhalter, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Sweden and Switzerland.  

And I would like also to thank all those who made possible this pledging conference, working hard to create all the conditions necessary for it to take place in the excellent set-up in which we were able to operate.  

It is my pleasure to co-chair this conference and to welcome you all today to Geneva.  And if you allow me, I will begin with my own brief opening statements. 
 
I thank my co-chairs for hosting this pledging conference, and thank all of you for your solidarity with Yemen’s children, women and men. 
 

I thank the High Representative, Ms. Federica Mogherini for hosting us in Brussels today, and our fellow co-chairs from Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, and the UK for organising this important conference in support of Syria and the region.

This is the fifth conference of its kind, and I thank Kuwait and the UK for successfully hosting its predecessors.

I am pleased to see so many Member States, international organisations and non-governmental organisations are sending a message of solidarity to the people of Syria, and to all those impacted by the conflict:

Distinguished President of the Human Rights Council, 
President of the General Assembly,
High Commissioner,
Excellencies, 
Distinguished Delegates, 
Colleagues, 
Friends,

It is a profound honour to address the Human Rights Council. 

For 10 years, you may have known me as the “other” High Commissioner, just down the road. 

And so it is a great privilege to be with you for the first time in my capacity as Secretary-General.

I am here in a spirit of gratitude. And I am here at a time of urgency.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed a great pleasure for me to be back in Munich now in this new capacity.