Nairobi, Kenya
Cities have become the driving force of global trade. They are the engines of economic productivity and cultural creativity. They serve as the nexus of global financial markets, and the service centres of our information society.
Nairobi
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome you all to the Gigiri complex for what promises to be a very fruitful time of reflection and discussion on a subject matter that is at the core of our activities as international organizations. I do recognize that we all have different roles to play, but whether you are a trainer or a user of the services rendered by our language specialists, the training of these specialists, particularly in the most sought after language combinations, should be a matter of great interest to us all.
Nairobi
Today, as cities around the world celebrate the achievements of women on International Women’s Day, UN-HABITAT gives full support to this year’s United Nations theme: “Women and men united to end violence against women and girls.”
I am delighted to open this Strategic Meeting of the Habitat Professionals Forum gathering such a distinguished group of planners, architects, surveyors and landscape architects. I know that many of you have travelled from far away to be here today. After 10 years of existence, this 14th session of the Forum could not be more timely on the even our 22nd Governing Council.
It is a privilege to address you today on the eve of our 22nd Governing Council. I am delighted that you are standing by us at this important occasion. I am delighted also see Jan Peterson, Chair, Huairou Commission, and Ms. Sylvia Kinigi, the former Prime Minister of Burundi, in this distinguished audience.
Gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment are pivotal components of sustainable urbanisation in the face of the current economic, financial, and food crises, not to forget the increasingly frightening ravages of climate change.
Welcome to the 22nd session of the Governing Council. We are deeply honoured to greet you today Honourable Kalonzo Musyoka, Vice-President of the Republic of Kenya. Honourable Ministers, Heads of Delegations, Excellencies, it is also a great honour that so many of you here today have come from so many countries to be here with us for these important deliberations.
I am happy to begin our substantive deliberations with agenda item 2. Once again allow me to extend my warm greetings to all of you and especially to those of you who have travelled from afar and hope that your stay will prove to be fruitful and enjoyable.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, and Distinguished Delegates, I now have the honour of introducing the Proposed Work Programme and Budget of the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation for the 2010-2011 biennium, document HSP/GC/22/5 which is before you. For your information, you also have before you, documents HSP/GC/22/5/Add.1 which is the “Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)”, and HSP/GC/22/5/Add.2 which is the “Gender Equality Action Plan for 2008-2013”.
Nairobi
It is with a profound word of thank you, on my behalf, and that of UN-HABITAT that we are all gathered here tonight as guests of the Government of Kenya. For years Kenya has stood by us as our host country and the home to the only UN Headquarters in Africa.
Today is a milestone, when the United Nations Programme for Human Settlement (UN-HABITAT) and the Swedish National Police Board (SNPB) join forces to enhance the governance of safety at municipal level through democratic policing and improve the role of Police in Urban Development. With the valuable support of the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency, the two agencies will promote democratic policing in urban areas, as well as foster a better involvement of the police in urban governance, planning and management, and advance a culture of community crime prevention in urban settings.
It is indeed a privilege to be share this moment with you as a guest of the Government of Indonesia. We have enjoyed a long and fruitful history with your country that goes back many years.
I would like to start by thanking the Government of Mali, for inviting UN-Habitat to participate as a co-organizer of this Third African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development.
It is a privilege to address you today on the eve of our 22nd Governing Council. I am delighted that you are standing by us at this important occasion. I am delighted also see Jan Peterson, Chair, Huairou Commission, and Ms. Sylvia Kinigi, the former Prime Minister of Burundi, in this distinguished audience.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 22nd session of the Governing Council for UN-Habitat.
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat for helping us gather here today the distinguished Members of your Board of Directors.
Many of you have travelled from afar and I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation. Your presence and support is vital to us in our joint quest for sustainable and harmonious cities.
Welcome to Nairobi. Karibuni!
Seoul, Republic of Korea
It is an honour and a pleasure for me to address this third meeting of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit. Given Seoul’s fascinating approach to urban environmental issues, I am delighted that this conference is being held in this dynamic city. Although the Conference will address issues of interest to cities around the world, holding this meeting in Korea – and for the first time in Asia - should provide an excellent opportunity to pay attention to some of the specific issues facing the rapidly growing cities in the region.: Korea provides an interesting case study as it is one of the most highly urbanized countries in the world, 82 out of every 100 Koreans live in a city whilst in 1975 only 50 percent of the Korean population was urban.
This exhibition showcases how far applied science has come. The technologies presented here will go a long way in reducing our Climate Footprint. Innovations that result in new levels of energy efficiency and new technologies and processes that lead to a fossil-fuel free future must also be at the forefront of a Green New Deal to revive our economies.
It is my great pleasure to be with you all today to discuss the critical issue of responding to the food crisis through sustainable development.
Some of you may be wondering what the Head of the United Nations agency for cities has to say on the issue of food security. I will show you that cities are fundamental to the food security issue and that without putting them into the equation we will not solve the food security problem.
As I am sure has already been said, this conference is very timely. I must thank the organisers of this conference at Wilton Park for their foresight in putting such a complex set of issues onto their agenda.
It is my pleasure to join you in this conference as you celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a key member of the ACUHIAM. Allow me to congratulate you Mr Vice Chancellor on this occasion for the success of your university over the past 25 years and also for your presidency at ACUHIAM.
Nairobi
It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be invited to deliver the 10th Gandhi Memorial Lecture, here at the University of Nairobi. I would like too start my lecture by briefly reflecting on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, a real inspirational political and spiritual leader.
LAND IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION by Dr. Joan Clos