Ban Ki Moon has been re-elected as the Secretary General of the United Nations. The head of the organization has been in office since January 2007. The UN General Assembly re-appointed Mr Ban by acclamation on 21st June 2011. His second term will run from 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2016.
Upon his re-appointed, The UN Secretary General said:
“We live in an era of integration and inter-connection, a new era when no country can solve all challenges on its own and where every country should be part of the solution. That is the reality of the modern world. We can struggle with it, or we can lead.”
The NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed his congratulations to the head of the UN in a statement released the very next day:
“On behalf of the NATO Alliance I warmly welcome the re-election of Ban Ki-moon as United Nations Secretary General for a second five year term. Through his first term in office, I have come to respect Secretary Ban’s leadership through the many challenges faced by the global community. NATO is, and will remain, a close partner to the United Nations in Afghanistan, in the Balkans, in the fight against piracy and, more recently, as citizens across the Middle East forge a new future for themselves and their children. The United Nations has a critical role to play in these historic events, and I am glad that Ban ki-Moon will be at the helm for another five years.”
Ban Ki Moon was born in the Republic of Korea on 13 June 1944. He has served as a Minister in the South Korean government, including at the Ministry for Foreign Affaris and Trade. He speaks French, English and Korean.