United Nations Radio

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday warned world leaders that the global financial crisis endangers all our work - financing for development, social spending in rich nations and poor and the Millennium Development Goals.

In his address to the UN General Assembly ahead of the start of the general debate, the Secretary-General said "if ever there was a call to collective action ....for global leadership - it is now."

"We need to restore order to the international financial markets. We need a new understanding on business ethics and governance, with more compassion and less uncritical faith in the "magic" of markets. And we must think about how the world economic system should evolve to more fully reflect the changing realities of our time."

Secretary-General Ban says there's a great opportunity before us, noting that "the challenges before us are our creation therefore we can solve them, together."

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

(duration: 58")