18 March 2010: In an address at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Moscow, Russian Federation, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for Russia’s leadership to address the challenges of the modern world, and highlighted: the Millennium Development Goals and climate change, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, global peace and security.
On climate change, he welcomed Russia’s support for a comprehensive and inclusive climate change agreement, underlining that climate change threatens progress on all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He recalled that Russia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2004 brought that instrument into force. Concluding on this issue, Ban stated that “as we advance toward the coming climate change negotiations in Cancun, we once again count on Russia’s leadership, leadership on one of the great and pressing causes of our time.” [The Statement]