UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

The second International Defense Dialogue Jakarta 2012 (IDD 2012) opened in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday. This year’s forum focuses on strengthening security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region as well as globally, in the context of rapid and complicated developments in world geo-politics. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Indonesia’s initiative and efforts in organizing this forum, saying it is a good opportunity for countries to exchange views on common challenges and find ways to deal with them. He said that instabilities in the Middle East and North Africa, especially the current situation in Syria, nuclear issues in Iran and North Korea show that the UN needs to give higher priority to protecting human rights and maintaining peace, security and stability in the world. He called on UN Security Council members to find a common voice on the issue of Syria and strengthen their support for the UN peacekeeping mission.
The UN leader emphasized the importance of the Nuclear Security Summit scheduled to take place in Seoul next Monday.