Opening Speech by Mr. Richard Young at UN Day Reception Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, 23 October 2008. It is my great pleasure and privilege to welcome you all here to celebrate the sixty-third anniversary of the United Nations – the only international organization that consists of 192 independent countries working together for peace, development and human rights. All of these countries -- large and small, developed and developing, with differing political and social systems -- have a voice and a vote in the UN General Assembly. UN Day is celebrated globally, all over the world, to mark the founding of the United Nations Organization in 1945. It has become a good tradition to celebrate the UN Day in Turkmenistan as well, and we are very proud that this tradition has sustained itself over the years since Turkmenistan became independent. In this regard, I would like to thank the President and Government of Turkmenistan and all of our national partners for the fruitful cooperation that we enjoyed ever since the opening of the UN Office in Turkmenistan in the early 1990s. And without going into detail here, I would like to acknowledge that the UN system has now become an active partner of Turkmenistan in the implementation of the wide-ranging reforms taking place in the country to strengthen social and economic development and realize the human rights of all of its people. The theme of this year’s UN Day is “UN4U – the United Nations works for you”. As you arrived here this evening, you should all have received a small sticker on UN4U listing the 14 core activities of the UN globally. And in fact a large majority of these activities are undertaken by the UN agencies in Turkmenistan in close cooperation with our national partners, as well as the other international agencies operating in the country. In this regard, I am very pleased to see here this evening our partners from the international community, representatives of embassies of different countries, international organizations, public and private sector whose valuable support and assistance have made the UN’s development efforts in Turkmenistan even more effective. I would like to especially thank all the Embassies which traditionally support this UN Day Reception by providing a chance for all of us to taste their national cuisines, thus making us closer and more affiliated with their cultures and with their peoples. Finally, UN Day also provides me with the opportunity to thank all the staff of the UN system in Turkmenistan for their everyday work and for their commitment and dedication to the service at the United Nations. Some of us are more visible than others but I can assure you that, without the dedicated support of so many staff who work behind the scenes, the UN’s work could not be effective. I hope you have a very enjoyable evening and thank you once again for joining us. |
