Ban: Milan Expo unique opportunity for UN

7 May 2014. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that the 2015 Milan World Expo will provide the UN with a unique opportunity to build momentum on food related issues.

The Secretary-General today took part in the official presentation of the World Expo Milan 2015 to the UN system’s leadership, hosted in Rome by the Italian Foreign Minister, Ms. Federica Mogherini. The Heads of all UN agencies are assembled in Rome to attend their annual meeting.

Ban remarked that the Milan World Expo takes place in 2015 -- a crucial year for the United Nations. “It is not only the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, it will also mark the launch of a new global development agenda”, the Secretary-General said. Pleading for urgently redressing the dramatic imbalance in the global distribution of food and a hunger-free world, Ban Ki-moon explained that the theme adopted by the UN for its participation in the Expo, “Zero Hunger Challenge. United for a Sustainable World”, coherently followed up on the campaign he had launched on the occasion of the 2012 Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.

On this occasion the Secretary General presented the logo that will identify the UN participation in the World Expo 2015: a green zero crossed by a blue spoon. Eighteen of such giant-size blue spoons will track the visitors’ Zero Hunger Itinerary, featuring UN contents throughout the Expo site, in what will be, for the first time in the history of World Expos, a UN system’s horizontal presence with no dedicated pavilion.

“The Expo 2015 provides a unique opportunity for the UN to build momentum around food-related issues. Its theme, Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, reflects key priorities for the UN Rome-based food-related agencies”, pointed out the President of IFAD, speaking on behalf of FAO, IFAD and WFP, the coordinators of the UN in the Expo 2015.

Introducing a video clip on the UN system in the Expo, the UN Commissioner General for the Expo 2015, Mr. Eduardo Rojas-Briales, expanded on the innovative model of a presence not confined in a pavilion, a horizontal participation bound to bring about a greater impact than ever before reach far beyond the six months of the Expo’s duration. “We will capture the visitors’ attention and convince them that ending hunger is not a dream but something we can achieve together in this lifetime. We all have a role to play, including through our commitment to changing simple actions and daily practices”, he concluded.