Pressemøde den 11. oktober 2011
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Hør pressemødet i klippet herover.
Statsministeren: "Welcome to all of you here, and a special welcome, of course, to the Secretary General of the UN. I am delighted and honoured that you came to Denmark today, and I appreciate this opportunity that we have had today to discuss a number of issues. There is no doubt, and it has been seen in the Danish history, that we have always appreciated the UN as a cornerstone of international cooperation. And there is no doubt that we need a strong UN to ensure peace and security, human rights, sustainable development and gender equality. And what we have been discussing today, I will just say a few words about that, but we have also made clear that this is still how we see the UN, and the UN can count on us in supporting this whole agenda. We just had lunch, and we discussed a number of issues. Actually, quite a lot of issues and that is why it took a bit longer than we expected. Of course, we discussed promoting green growth and sustainable development. And also, the importance of - that there are different ways of doing this; private, public partnerships. I thank the Secretary General a lot for attending today’s conference. It is very important that we are here and we also agreed to work closely on our next task within this area, which is the Rio+20 summit in the summer, and we look forward to our cooperation in that area. We must – we agreed – that we must push forward in terms of global climate change, and also, I expressed how this, the new government, which has been in office for eight days now, has a new, very ambitious green agenda. It is our ambition that Denmark’s entire electricity and heat supply must come from sustainable energy in 2035. That is a very high goal, and we plan to achieve it. I also briefed the Secretary General on the upcoming presidency, which Denmark is in charge of in the EU, and of course green growth will be a key priority in that context as well. And of course, we touched on other things as well. One of the things we touched on was the Arab spring, the different countries where the Arab spring has occurred, and also, the situation in Afghanistan now and after 2014. It has been a very fruitful meeting, and again I want to say how much I appreciate it, and that I am honoured that you are here today. May I pass the word then to the Secretary General.
Generalsekretæren: Thank you madam Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt and ladies and gentlemen of the media. God eftermiddag. It is a great honour and pleasure for me to visit Denmark again after three years and it is all the more a pleasure for me to have a bilateral meeting with your Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt so soon after her inauguration as the leader of this great country. Denmark is one of the exemplary model countries in the UN in upholding and contributing to peace and security and development and the human rights. You are the champions of all the important pillars of the UN charter. I count on your leadership and commitment under your administration. I am very pleased to be in Denmark. As your Prime Minister has just outlined; the topics which we have discussed ... we discussed a wide range of discussions of common interest, starting from – in a broader context of Arab spring – how we can work together to help those people to realize their genuine aspiration for greater freedom and participatory democracy and human rights. Under this topic, we have discussed the situation in Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, and on a broader peace and security issues, we discussed Sudan and Afghanistan and other development and global issues. Our discussions were focussed on how we can work again together to realize this sustainable development including sustainable development in energy and MDGs and green growth economy, which Madam Prime Minister has initiated this morning in the form of 3G Forum – Global Green Growth Forum. It was quite important and meaningful as we are now trying to realize sustainable development which will be at the very important UN conference in June next year in Rio de Janeiro. I have asked your Prime Minister to consider participating herself to lead a delegation to the Rio+20 summit meeting in Rio next year. I hope you will consider positively... – you might have many important tasks. We also discussed on how we can work together to promote gender empowerment and also help these women’s and children’s health issues. I thanked the prime minister for Denmark’s extraordinary contribution to work of the United Nations. Copenhagen is a global city. You are host to important international conferences. Not only today’s 3G Forum, but other meetings have made your mark in the past. Including UN’s climate change conference which was held in December 2009 and also the world summit for social development. I am also grateful to Copenhagen and the Danish government for hosting our UN city, which is helping deliver better results for the people of the world. I am going there shortly after this press conference. The UN has a big presence in Denmark, and Denmark has a big presence at the UN. I rely on many Danish officials and staff which serve the UN around the world from Afghanistan to Kosovo, from Liberia to Iraq. Denmark is literally building UN by helping us renovate our headquarters in New York. Denmark is one of just a handful of countries that meet the targets of development aid, and Denmark is one of the frontrunners of our work for human rights, peace and development. And today, you have once again demonstrated your deep commitment to sustainable development and green growth. I thank Denmark for their generous contribution to my newly launched sustainable energy for all initiatives. But you always provide much more than funds. You show leadership and share ideas. The ambitious goals that you have set for your government regarding renewable energy and cuts in carbon emissions are very important and an inspiring example for all governments to follow. I am working hard to change the UN. We are modernising our operations and we are getting the most of every kroner. Our goal is to better respond to the needs of the world’s people. I know I can count on Denmark’s new government under your leadership to help us meet these goals. Our partnership will become even more crucial in the first half of next year, when Denmark becomes president of the EU, and I really count on your strong and visionary leadership to lead this EU. With your support and your spirit of solidarity, I am confident that we can advance to a better future. I thank you. Tusind tak!
Statsministeren: Thank you again. I think we will take a few questions. As you heard, the Secretary General is rushing down to the UN city. I hope you will not be disappointed. It is a marvellous place in town. We will take a few questions.
Journalist 1: Mette Printe from Reuters. I would like to ask you, since you are here; Yemeni president Saleh said on Saturday that he would step down in the coming days. Do you believe he will?
Generalsekretæren: To me? The situation in Yemen has been a source of great and deep concerns to the international community. I have been working very hard – directly I myself – talking to president Saleh and by deploying my special envoy, Mr. Ben Omar, who has visited there five times, and he has just come back. We have proposed and tried to – some proposals – and tried to facilitate the negotiations, and tried to help bridge the gaps. What is important at this time, while I am not in a position to judge what will happen whether he will keep his words – that we will have to watch. What is important at this time, the president Saleh should take immediately the decisive political reforms so that the people can live in a better world without the fear of oppression, and there must be a full protection of human rights. And the UN will very closely coordinate with the Yemenite government as well as with regional organisations such as the Gulf cooperation council.
Statsministeren: Thank you very much.
Journalist 2: Thank you; I am Jan Olsson with the Associated Press. You lashed out at the United States recently a head of the Durban conference. What are your expectations at that conference?
Generalsekretæren: The member states have been working very closely and very hard. Most recently there was a meeting in Panama last week. They are working on the draft texts which will be the basis of the discussions in Durban. What is important at this time is that the member states should build upon what has been agreed in Cancun last year. The Cancun was able again to reform what had been discussed in Copenhagen. Copenhagen conference, Copenhagen code and that was reaffirmed by the member states in Cancun. We have made reasonable good progress in several areas like adaptation, capacity building, climate change, financing, deforestation and technology transfer. But all this needs necessary funding. In Copenhagen the world leaders have committed themselves to provide 30 billion dollars annually to the developing countries by the end of next year. And on a more long term basis, they have agreed to provide 100 billion dollars annually by 2020. That is now in the hands of the member states. I have established a high level advisory group on climate change financing which was co-chaired by Prime Minister Stoltenberg of Norway and Prime Minister Zenawi of Ethiopia who is now in Denmark today. They have proposed certain options for long-term financing. I am told that they had quick discussions in Panama about the ways and approaches, what to do. I hope the member states will have serious discussions in Durban. And in Durban there must be discussions on the clarity of the future of October protocol. That is again a very important meeting. I am going to have a meeting with Ms. Christiana Figueres, who is Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, who is now in Denmark. I will get a briefing and we will discuss how the UN can really help so that the member states can move ahead. And I count on the leadership of president Zuma as a host of this important meeting.
Statsministeren: Ja.
Journalist 3: Christian Pedersen, Danish New Agency, Ritzaus. It is a question for the Secretary General. Denmark holds the presidency of the EU during the UN conference in Rio next year, what do you expect our Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt to deliver during that conference next year?
Generalsekretæren: We discussed about her role as Prime Minister as well as President of the EU. Personally, it will be a great opportunity for you madam Prime Minister to really exercise your global leadership role. As a new Prime Minister of Denmark and you are going to soon be the President of the EU. We discussed what we expect from the presidency and the EU as a whole. Cyprus is one of the important issues. I am going to convene another trilateral meeting on 30th October in New York between the two leaders of Cyprus, and there are many other issues where we can work together. The peace and security in Africa and how we can help those people in transition. What we are now terming as the Arab spring in North Africa, in Libya. And how we can work together on sustainable development, sustainable energy, and how we can meet the target MDGs by 2015. There are many global issues, global challenges and visionary issues and development issues where we count on the EU’s leadership.
Statsministeren: If I just can add; I assure the Secretary General that we as the president of the EU will play a part in this and we are prepared to set ambitious goals in this area. There is nothing new about Europe setting ambitions goals, but we want to walk the walk in these coming days, which is one of the reasons that we have this conference today here in Copenhagen, but also I feel that we can do this better with the new government, because we have a more ambitious goal. Perhaps one of the most ambitious goals in Europe and the world as such, and I think this is a good platform for us to take the leadership in Europe and of course in this area, as in so many other areas, we will work together. The Danish presidency and the UN, and we discussed several areas where we will have common ground and it was a very fruitful discussion.
I think we will take one last question.
Journalist 4: Jørgen ... from the Danish TV. Now you were at the 3G Forum this morning and definitely among friends. But one friend was missing, the United States, what are you going to do to ensure that the United States will finally embark on the same journey towards sustainable development that the rest of the world is embarking on?
Generalsekretæren: I believe that the United States is very much committed to realizing green growth. Global green growth is a path to our whole international community, the whole world, rich or poor, big or small, all should work together. And I highly recommend the initiative of the Prime Minister to launch on this 3G Forum where the Republic of Korea and Mexico and Denmark are playing a core role. I have taking sustainable development as the number one priority of the UN for the coming five years during my second term. But this should be the priority of all. I am encouraging that all world leaders have supported this priority and addressing climate change issues and energy issues, food and nutrition issues, water scarcity, gender empowerment and global health issues. These are all global challenges. No country can do alone. We have to work together. We need to pool our wisdom and resources together. That is the main reason why we are meeting together in Copenhagen. I really count on your leadership, and I will urge all the member states to participate on this path toward coming prosperity to make this world better for all. Thank you very much.
Statsministeren: Thank you for coming".