Director-General's remarks at the Chinese Lunar New Year 2024
Chinese Lunar New Year 2024
Friday, 2 February 2024, at 12.30 p.m.
Mezzanine, 2nd floor, E Building, Palais des Nations
Ambassador Chen Xu,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,
Allow me to start by wishing you all Chun Jie Kuai Le! Happy Lunar New Year!
It is my great pleasure to be with you to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Wood Dragon.
I would like to thank the Permanent Mission of China in Geneva for organizing this important event. This year holds a special significance as the Lunar New Year is celebrated as a UN floating holiday for the first time.
The Spring Festival is a long-standing tradition with many time-honoured customs. It is traditionally a time to reunite with family and loved ones and an occasion to bid farewell to the past and welcome the future with hope and optimism.
We will have the opportunity to get acquainted with Chinese culture more closely with several workshops for dumpling making, paper cutting, and calligraphy.
The Lunisolar Calendar marks the end of a year of significant milestones and global challenges. The world witnessed remarkable events and faced daunting obstacles, from climate crises and artificial intelligence advancements to geopolitical challenges.
The mid-point review of the 2030 Agenda revealed setbacks in addressing fundamental priorities like poverty and hunger. The SDG financing gap is widening, and developing countries face high borrowing costs.
Today, we need to recommit to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, the objectives highlighted in ‘Our Common Agenda’ and the principles of multilateral cooperation.
The UN family is very grateful for China’s strong commitment to promoting multilateralism, eradicating poverty and hunger in all forms and dimensions, one of the world’s leading challenges, as well as playing a pivotal role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The year of the Wood Dragon that we will start on 10 February signifies growth, progress, and abundance. I am hopeful that these virtues will be reflected in our efforts to tackle the unprecedented challenges we face in different parts of the world. As we look ahead, with hope and optimism, we are more determined than ever to meet the test of this pivotal year for our planet.
May 2024 bring you and your families success, health and happiness in the Year of the Dragon.
Xie Xie! Thank You!
This speech is part of a curated selection from various official events and is posted as prepared.