On 27 November, Ban Ki-moon, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, delivered his remarks at the opening ceremony of Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

Read the speech below.

Hello everyone,

Although I'm meeting you today through this video, I'm very glad to see all the young leaders representing Asia. And meanwhile, congratulations on holding the 2021 Asia Youth Leaders Forum.

I would like to thank President Wu Hailong of the China Public Diplomacy Association for inviting me to participate in this meaningful forum. The theme of this forum is "Open and Innovate—Cultivating Asia’s Future through the Strength of Our Youth". For this, we should promote exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Asian youths. I think this is a very novel theme in light of the global challenges that Asia and the world are facing today.

Dear leaders, 

Asia and the world are now facing many problems such as poverty, education, and security. In order to overcome these problems, the UN set 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and all UN member states unanimously reached an agreement on that. President Xi Jinping also personally participated in the conference. According to the resolution, these 17 goals are expected to be achieved by 2030. In order to achieve these goals, we need active participation and contribution of Asia youth leaders, as well as their mutual exchanges and cooperation. After 2015, in order to achieve these Sustainable Development Goals, the Chinese government has played a great role and made many contributions. So, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Chinese government.

Humanity now faces the challenge of overcoming a serious global crisis in addition to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which is the climate change crisis. I have been experiencing these problems with all of you. The climate change crisis is a serious challenge that threatens human survival and the planet on which we live. In order to tackle the climate change crisis, we are calling for a bold change in the common sense that we have taken for granted. The most important thing is to decisively abandon the use of fossil fuels. The COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, UK from November 11th to 13th ended up disappointing. However, China and the United States decided to cooperate closely to cope with the climate change crisis. This is of great significance. The topics to be discussed in today's forum are technology, investment and financial transformation, which are topics necessary to be discussed for overcoming the climate change crisis.

Dear young leaders, 

The Industrial Revolution and the development of science and technology that began in the middle of the 19th century brought about rapid economic growth of humanity. In this process, we have always regarded nature as an object that can be used without limit, but natural resources can be depleted. Human society should respect the laws of nature, and human beings and nature need to coexist. This is also the basic strategy of Asia. In Asia, humans and nature are inseparable. We have long believed that humans and nature should coexist in harmony and prosperity together. Now, we must strive to make these Asian values and Asian ways the basis for creating a new civilization.

In addition, young leaders should improve the global citizenship center, where people can understand the differences between different cultures, races, and economies; care for and coexist with each other. In this way, Asian leaders can communicate and cooperate with each other to overcome these problems we are facing together. I hope everyone in today's forum can actively discuss these issues and achieve great success. Thanks again to China Public Diplomacy Association, China Foundation for Peace and Development, People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality, and Asia Youth Leaders Association for holding this forum. I look forward to the great success of this forum. Thank you.