The Secretary-General of the united nations,

 Ban Ki-moon, with

 important off-the-cuff remarks at a Sierra Leone press conference.

Q: What is the UN’s concern on climate change and how is 
Sierra Leone expected to participate in this process? Secondly, are
 you concerned that Russian troops will go beyond the Crimean 
region of Ukraine?

SG: For your first question on climate change, I had an in-depth
 discussion with President Koroma in my bilateral meeting and with the
 cabinet members, including the Vice-President. This is one of the
 most serious, important issues which world leaders must tackle
 without wasting any further time. 

Time is of essence. You have seen so many such cases of extreme 
weather patterns which have been striking all around the world. 
It is not only in the developing world; it happened even in the 
middle of New York, Manhattan. So it is happening. 

Climate change is happening much, much faster than one would 
expect. The science has made it simply clear that climate change 
is happening because of human behaviour. And if it is happening
because of us then it is us, we, human beings, who must address
this one, who must correct [it]. We have only one earth, 

one planet earth. Some people who are wasting, who do not support
this, may think that we have “planet B”.
No, we only have one planet earth. There is no plan B. 

We have only plan, one plan A. That is why I really am emphasizing 
the importance of this issue, particularly we need a political
 leadership role. That is why I am convening on 23 September 
this year at the United Nations a world leaders climate change

summit meeting. This time I am inviting not only political leaders but
business leaders and civil society leaders because this is one that 
everyone must be doing.There [are] no national, geographic
 boundaries. Climate change might have happened 

because of some part of industrialized countries but the impact does
not respect any natural borders. It impacts the whole world, 
all of us. We must have a universal, global, legal climate agreement
 by 2015, next year. That is a must. 

That is why the United Nations has taken three priorities now:
one priority, the Millennium Development Goals. 
The second priority: define post-2015 […] 

that is sustainable development goals. Then climate change. 

So I have invited President Koroma and he gladly accepted that 
he would come,and I asked President Koroma, African leaders, 
that they raise their voices. If not African leaders who have 
to raise voices, who will do it? We need to do it.

On your second question, in fact I am not here to address all these
 questions but while I stay here, I am also addressing this issue. 
This is very, very serious issue. Even this morning in Freetown,
I had a long talk with Secretary of United States John Kerry on how
 to address this issue. During the last few days, 

I have been engaging with many world leaders, starting from 
President Putin of the Russian Federation and I met the 
Foreign Minister of Russia two days ago in Geneva. 
I have been engaging with the leaders of France, Great Britain,
Germany, the European Union, the OSCE and many world leaders 
with whom I have discussed this matter very seriously. 

As Secretary-General of the United Nations, what is most important
 and urgent is that the principle of unity, sovereignty and territorial 
integrity of Ukraine must be protected. Preservation, protection of
 this is very important. This is a fundamental principle of the
United Nations Charter.
It is clear. At the same time, I have been urging both parties and
 other concerned parties to lower down their temperature, 

lower their unnecessarily provocative rhetoric. I have been urging 
Russian and Ukrainian authorities to sit down together and engage
 in constructive and direct dialogue to resolve this issue.
 I have dispatched my Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson,
 to Kiev. He is now in Kiev.
I also dispatched my Special Envoy Robert Serry

to Kiev. He visited Crimea yesterday and he is still in Crimea to 
apprise the situation there and how the United Nations can help 
this one. Most importantly, this should be resolved between the
parties concerned. But because peace and security in Ukraine has
very serious regional and in a sense global implications, we must
address this issue on an urgent basis. And I am urging from 
Freetown again those leaders of Russia and the Ukrainian 
authorities to sit down together and directly resolve this issue. 

And the UN is ready to provide whatever assistance and role to play 
in first of all defusing these tensions and also help maintain all 
United Nations Charter principles of unity, sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
Thank you.

Q: What message of hope do you have for the people of Sierra Leone 
that as we journey into the Agenda for Prosperity the UN will continue
to stand by us until we attain sustainable national development?

SG: Thank you. Before I answer your question, let me add one [thing]
which I had forgotten to mention about the situation in Ukraine. 
I have decided to dispatch the Assistant Secretary-General 
for Human Rights, Mr. Ivan Simonovic, to Ukraine to visit

Kiev and the eastern part of Ukraine, including Crimea, to see and
monitor the human rights situation there. 
his is what I wanted to add to the AP correspondent.

On the question raised by you - what kind of message we can 
learn from the people of Sierra Leone-, my first answer would 
be that the people of Sierra Leone should be very proud of 
what they have achieved. Out of this civil war, out of war, 
you have successfully established peace and stability not only
for your own country but also for the region. From a recipient 
country of United Nations peacekeeping operations,

you have transformed yourself as a donor country in peacekeeping 
operations. 

As I just mentioned, you are at least participating in six or seven 
peacekeeping operations.

It is not only on the African continent, […] in Lebanon, UNIFIL. 
That means you are contributing to global peace and security. 
You should be proud of that. Now you are making remarkable 
economic progress -- 13 to 14 per cent annual economic growth.
That is remarkable. It is very difficult to see that kind of economic

growth at this time particularly. I know that many African countries
are making good economic progress, around 6 to 8 or 9, 
even 10 per cent. This 13-14 percent is remarkable. 
I hope this will continue under the leadership of President
Koroma. 
The United Nations will spare no effort in working together with
 concerned, related ministries and ministers and business 
communities to work for that progress so that President Koroma 
and his successors will be able to meet this vision of 
President Koroma, Agenda for Prosperity, even five years before,
 as he mentioned -- by 2030, in line with the United Nations
 sustainable development blueprint. Now, that I said should 
not be a source of complacency. There are many areas 
[in which] you have to grow. I have emphasized the importance
 of a firm foundation of rule of law, good governance, quality 
education. Those are two pillars on which you can build further. 

When you have good governance on the basis of a good
 rule of law system, you can build further your economic 
and social and political stability. When you have educated,
trained human resources through quality education that is 
promising a future much, much better and brighter future
of your country. 

This is what I can tell you based on the experience of my own
country, Korea: good education, good governance and 

foundation of the rule of law. I hope this will give some further
motivation to Sierra Leoneans to move ahead for a brighter, 
better future for all.
Thank you very much.

---

Off-the-Cuff on 5 March 2014

• Freetown, Sierra Leone - Transcript of the Secretary-General's remarks at a 
• Joint Press Conference with President of Sierra Leone

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