General Assembly urged by UN chief to bring hope to people
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the opening meeting of the General Assembly's sixty-seventh session
The goodwill at the start of this year's session of the General Assembly should not be just a "fleeting moment" but should result in progress for the world's people.
That's what United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as the General Assembly opened its 67th session in New York on Tuesday.
He said the Organization is living through a period of unease with rising unemployment, inequality, temperatures and intolerance.
Mr. Ban urged the United Nations rise to the occasion as it is being asked to do more than ever before, with people wanting as he put it "real results in real time, not years, or never".
"The opening of each year's session of the General Assembly coincides with the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere. But to me there is also a feeling of spring. There are new people on the scene, new issues to be addressed, new ways of conducting our business. Our challenge is to make that initial sense of hope more than a fleeting moment – to turn today's good will into a lasting record of progress for the world's people." (Duration: 29")
He urged diplomats gathered in the General Assembly Hall to all work together to make that hope come true.
