22 June 2012: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser have circulated to UN Member States a summary of the High-level Thematic Debate on the “State of the world economy and finance in 2012,” held on 17-18 May 2012, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The debate was co-facilitated by Ambassador Daniele Bodini of San Marino and Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan of Turkey.

In a letter dated 22 June 2012, Ban and Al-Nasser highlight five messages that emerged from the debate, namely: the precarious state of the global economy; the global nature of both the crisis and the needed remedies; the need to stimulate economic growth while ensuring sustainable development – including by ensuring that growth benefits both current and future generations; the need for long-term policies and reform of the international financial system; and a call for world leaders to use the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) to look beyond their national concerns and define steps which would be more respectful to the planet. [Letter from UNGA President and UN Secretary-General, Summary of Debate]