UNITED NATIONS APPOINTS REPUBLIC OF KOREA’S BAN KI-MOON AS NEXT SECRETARY-GENERAL;

BAN, DEEPLY TOUCHED AND INSPIRED, VOWS TO ‘BUILD BRIDGES, BRIDGE DIVIDES’

Secretary-General Praises Ban as ‘Exceptionally Attuned’ to All Countries, Peoples

The General Assembly today appointed Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea as the next United Nations Secretary-General, giving him a two-and-one-half-month transition before taking over the helm of the world body from Kofi Annan on 1 January.

Acting on the Security Council’s recommendation, the Assembly adopted a resolution formally appointing Mr. Ban to a five-year term. Diplomats and United Nations staff in the packed chamber cheered the decision. Mr. Ban becomes the eighth Secretary-General in the United Nations’ 60-year history, and will oversee an Organization with nearly 100,000 peacekeepers in 18 countries around the world, and a $5 billion annual budget.

Mr. Ban will succeed 2001 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan, of Ghana, who will retire at the end of December, after leading the 192-member world body for a decade. Earlier in his 40-year diplomatic career, Mr. Ban, 62, served in his country’s Mission to the United Nations and, in 2001, was Chef de Cabinet to then-Assembly President Han Seung-soo, of the Republic of Korea. Mr. Ban will be the first Asian to lead the Organization since U Thant, who held the post from 1961 to 1971.

“I stand before you deeply touched and inspired,” Mr. Ban told the Assembly. As Secretary-General, he vowed to work “diligently to materialize our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of humanity, and for the peaceful resolution of threats to international security”. He added that: “The true measure of the success of the UN is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most… We need not shout [the Organization’s] praises or preach its virtues. We simply need to live them every day: step by step, programme by programme, mandate by mandate,” he said.

Pledging to carry out reforms, building on Mr. Annan’s legacy, the Secretary-General-designate said: “My tenure will be marked by ceaseless efforts to build bridges and close divides.” He declared that his leadership would be one of harmony, foreswearing division.

“Let us remember that reform is not to please others, but because we value what this Organization stands for,” he said, laying out his vision of a truly reformed United Nations that could effectively meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. “We need reform because we believe in the future. To revitalize our common endeavour is to renew our faith not only in the UN’s programmes and purposes but also in each other. We should demand more of ourselves, as well as of our organization,” he said.

Mr. Annan praised Ban as “a future Secretary-General who is exceptionally attuned to the sensitivities of countries and constituencies in every continent -- a man with a truly global mind at the helm of the world’s only universal organization”.

He recalled that, more than 50 years ago, the first Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, had used the following words in greeting his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld: “You are about to take over the most impossible job on Earth.” Mr. Annan said that, while that might be true, he would have to add: “This is also the best possible job on Earth.”

Welcoming Mr. Ban, General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa of Bahrain said his appointment came at a time when the United Nations was deeply engaged in a wide-ranging reform process. “We are grateful to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has played a major role in shaping a clear and comprehensive vision to address the many global challenges confronting us,” she declared. She was confident that the Organization would build upon its past achievements and move ahead to become an even more effective body under Mr. Ban’s leadership.

Kenzo Oshima of Japan, whose delegation holds the Security Council’s rotating Presidency for the month, presented the work undertaken by that 15-nation body leading to Mr. Ban’s appointment by the Assembly. The chairpersons of the United Nations five regional groups, and representatives of the European Union and the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, as well as of the host country, each took the podium, praising the Secretary-General-designate for his diplomatic skills and personal qualities. They said the world body would be in able hands, as it faced the challenges to come. The speakers also paid tribute to Mr. Annan for his work in steering the United Nations through 10 difficult years.

The General Assembly will meet on Monday, 16 October, at 10 a.m., to elect five non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

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