Opening Ceremony - “La Salle des Emirats”, Conference Room XVII

Deputy-Secretary-General;
Your Excellency Dr. Maitha Al Shamsi, Minister of
State of the United Arab Emirates;
Your Excellency Mr. Mohammed Al Muaini, Director of the
Construction and Engineering Department, UAE Ministry of
Presidential Affairs;
Ambassador Al Zaabi;
Excellencies;
Ladies and gentlemen:

I warmly welcome you, not only to the Palais des Nations, the heart of International Geneva, but to this room. The Palais des Nations has always been a unique building: its heritage, its architectural beauty and its ability to bring together people from different corners of the world are exceptional. Thanks to the extremely generous donation from the United Arab Emirates of this wonderful Room, we are taking this building to a new level. Room XVII, the Salle des Emirats, or Emirates Room, combines functionality, cutting-edge technology and a design that merges innovation and cultural heritage, very much in line with the spectacular architectural trends that have emerged in the United Arab Emirates, themselves, over the past years.

While we like to describe the Palais des Nations as “historic” the fact is that it is also “old”. Renovation is urgently needed to bring the building back in line with safety requirements, to enable access for people with disabilities, and to make it more environmentally sustainable. This Room, which is among the biggest in the Palais des Nations, is a good example, that committed and careful renovation can achieve all these requirements without comprising on the functionality, aesthetic and architectural beauty.

Now, Room XVII does not only shine in a new design, but also has technical features that will facilitate the work of our conference staff and interpreters, and thus ultimately help delegates focus on finding solutions – under the blue Emirates sky – to the world’s problems that are being addressed here in Geneva. It incorporates what I understand to be the biggest screen in any UN building – the one that you see above our heads here – 2 by 7 meters, which opens new opportunities for video connections and visual support to meetings. In fact, one of my staff told me that the surface of this screen is bigger than that of his first student accommodation!

The Palais des Nations will be undergoing substantive renovations starting next year. In the context of the planned works – called the Strategic Heritage Plan – the UN Office at Geneva has been asked to explore alternative sources of funding that will help alleviate the agreed contributions by all our Member States. The option for individual States to take on specific projects such as this one, on top of their assessed contributions, is one of the avenues that I have pursued, and I am extremely grateful to the United Arab Emirates for having set this impressive example of how this can be done.

This project does not only illustrate the UAE’s commitment to the United Nations and its generosity, but has also shown that in Geneva, we can deliver major renovations within complex and tight timelines. Similar to the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilization Room generously donated by Spain in 2008, it is a great example of collaboration between the United Nations, a Member State and private companies. And I would like to express our deepest appreciation to the Permanent Mission of the UAE for your constant support in meeting our requirements, standards and sometimes almost unrealistic demands to reduce the level of noise whilst trying to meet the deadlines imposed for the completion of the work in line with our busy meeting schedules. And I would like to personally particularly thank Ambassador Al Zaabi for his vision, energy and hands-on leadership of this important project.

Here at the United Nations Office at Geneva, we host and support more than 12,700 meetings per year. The decisions taken in these meetings, and the work by the multitude of organizations in International Geneva directly affect everyone around the world. This work ranges from road safety, to the use of mobile phones, to peace mediation, to the protection of human rights and many other areas. And with the new frameworks that our leaders agreed on last year, in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, we are embarking on a new, more interconnected way of working together. This Room has all the tools needed, to make this new way of doing business a reality. It will help us to serve the people of the world in a more efficient and sustainable manner.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The Palais des Nations is a home away from home for people from all corners of the globe. The cultural heritage preserved in the design of different rooms is critical in creating this atmosphere, and the generous donation by the United Arab Emirates has added a new facet to this multi-cultural ecosystem. And in this spirit, I am delighted to say to our friends from the United Arab Emirates: welcome home, and thank you very much for the exemplary cooperation in creating this beautiful new Room.

I thank you.