Saudi Interfaith Dialogue/UN "Culture of Peace" Conference
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Q&A

New York, 11 November 2008 - Secretary-General's press conference

Excerpt

Q: Thank you. Can you tell us about your meeting with King Abdullah yesterday and what you discussed?

SG: Yes, I had about an hour-long meeting with Saudi King Abdullah. First of all I commended his initiative to bring this inter-faith dialogue to the General Assembly. He exerted a great deal of time and energy to converge the differences of opinions into one. It has been very much a commendable initiative. And we also discussed on many other issues in the region, particularly including the situation in the Middle East, including the recent Quartet meeting, the situation in Somalia, in Lebanon, the situation in Iraq. We will continue, I'm sure that I will have another opportunity of meeting him this evening and tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to his speech tomorrow morning at the General Assembly. As you know, I'm going to have a number of bilateral meetings with the leaders participating in this high-level meeting. The number of bilaterals will increase. In fact, as I have postponed this morning my visit to Los Angeles, so I'll be here during that entire period of time. 

Q: What is the outcome that you hope for from such a meeting on a high level that you are convening here at the United Nations? Are we just having speeches after speech or are there concrete plans and aims that you hope to materialize?

SG: We need to be very realistic and practical. In fact, the world has suffered a lot because of the lack of appreciation, the lack of understanding, and mutual respect and the differences of opinions in religions and faith and culture. This is a good start. As you may know, a number of initiatives have been made by a number of countries in the United Nations. And all these initiatives should have some complementary effect. Among them, the Saudi King's initiative will also be very important. We also have an Alliance of Civilizations. And the high-level representation of Member States at this time also demonstrates the willingness of the Member States to have some better understanding and more appreciation of different cultures and different faiths and religions. I sincerely hope that this will be a very good start. At the end of the meeting, we will have a statement which [will] have been agreed by Member States participating in this high-level meeting.

Q: Not a resolution?

SG: It's not going to be a resolution.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, in a way you have changed your mind just in the last 24 hours about going to Los Angeles. Did you do that immediately after you met the King? What took you so long to change your mind and stay here to receive this big number of the heads of states? And did you discuss with the King of Saudi Arabia the Arab Peace Initiative, that of course relates to peace between Israel and Arabs. Kindly shed some light on your bilateral discussion on these different issues that you discussed with him, but what made you change your mind? Were you pressured by anybody?

SG: I have been considering, because of the conflict of schedule, this has been in my mind [for] quite a long time. The inter-faith dialogue schedule was decided after I had already made the firm commitment in Los Angeles. So I have been considering how to have some harmonious resolution of this. Then yesterday I made the decision that it would be better for me even though it would be very much embarrassing and an inconvenience to many people and organizers in Los Angeles. That's why yesterday I spoke to Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger and the Mayor of Los Angeles and I spoke with the Professor at UCLA because Chancellor [Gene] Block is now travelling abroad, and I'm now taking some necessary corrective measures and arrangements because of my sudden change of schedule. I discussed the issue of the Arab Peace Initiative with the King yesterday. I said that what we discussed during our Quartet, we reaffirmed that the Arab Peace Initiative is the cornerstone of the Middle East peace process, and I commended his initiative and I counted on his leadership on bringing peace in the Middle East, through and based on this Arab Peace Initiative. 

Q: When did you make up your mind? When did you actually make up your mind to postpone your trip to Los Angeles?

SG: Yesterday.

Q: After your meeting with the King?

SG: It was even before. There is not a clear timing. But this has been on my mind since a long time. 

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, Saudi Arabia is probably one of the least tolerant countries on earth when it comes to other religions. They have an entire police force that is used to make sure that only one sect of Islam is practiced in public. They regularly arrest people for trying to engage in Christian worship. Why is the United Nations being used as a platform for a conference or a discussion on religious tolerance, sponsored by a country that has none?

SG: I hope that through our meetings of this kind of high-level dialogue the whole world will be able to live in a society where more tolerance and a more harmonious and more peaceful atmosphere exist. 

Source: UN News Centre

BAN KI-MOON 
Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, brings to his post 37 years of service both in Government and on the global stage.

Biography Ban Ki-Moon