This year marks 71 years since the United Nations Organization was established. Following the one-year ’70-60 Campaign’ under the tagline ‘Our UN. Apey UN. Engal UN.’, the 2017 UN Day was held at the UN Compound to celebrate all international and national staff of the UN Agencies in Sri Lanka under the ‘One UN’ theme.
While celebrating staff, this UN Day also featured the launch of the 70-60 campaign website – www.lk.one.un.org/7060 - which covers activities carried out jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Noting this partnership, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera stated, “We in Government value the work of the United Nations in Sri Lanka… The support that all of you provide us at this important time in our country’s history, is invaluable.
I thank all of you in the UN Country Team in Sri Lanka for the dedication and commitment with which you work to support us in every conceivable field of importance to us, in our quest of pursuing the goals of strengthening our democracy, forging reconciliation, ensuring equitable and inclusive economic development, and sustaining peace”.
As 2016 marks the first year of implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this year’s UN Day celebrations in Sri Lanka was also marked with the unveiling of the localized SDG branding by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the UN compound.
Speaking to the UN staff at this event, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Una McCauley stated, “Times are changing in Sri Lanka, and so is the UN. We are committed to doing things differently. We are investing in innovation, with a vision to become a forward-looking UN. During the Secretary-General’s recent visit, he stated that our staff ‘is the backbone of the great work we do in Sri Lanka’ and I could not agree more”.
The event was attended by a few partners from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff of the United Nations in Sri Lanka.