During a mission trip to Vienna, Austria, Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Chancellor Nehammer and Minister Karoline Edtstadler and discussed the war on Ukraine, soaring energy prices, efforts towards climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Vienna, 7 September 2022 – “Austria is more visible in its work for the Sustainable Development Goals than ever. In times of increased stresses worldwide including the climate crisis, the ongoing pandemic, the war in the Ukraine and the energy and food crisis, the commitment to multilateralism and to international collaboration for the Global Goals is more important than ever” said H.E Ban Ki-moon, Former Secretary-General and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens (BKMC), who is currently in Vienna for bilateral meetings with high-level representatives of the Austrian government.

Ban Ki-moon met with Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer to discuss recent global affairs including climate change, the current inflation and energy crises around the world, the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic, and the Russian aggression on Ukraine. Mentioning his recent trip to Kyiv, Ukraine in August, Ban Ki-moon said “I visited Kyiv to emphasize that support for Ukraine comes from all over the world. I offered my support to President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine and reaffirm the centrality of Ukrainian sovereignty, territorial integrity, and its right to self-defense.” Also having visited Ukraine in April this year, Chancellor Nehammer called for the end of all combat action, aiming for a cease-fire – and voiced his concerns over the looming food security and energy issues. The Chancellor mentioned that energy independency is Austria’s priority. Ban Ki-moon commended the leadership of Austria stating, “Strong multilateral response and international cooperation and partnership are required to deal with these crises. I thank the Secretary-General for his commitment as Chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens for the excellent cooperation with the Federal Chancellery. Together we have implemented numerous projects to promote the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The BKMC certainly takes a leading role in this area. I am pleased that Austria has risen to 5th place worldwide in the SDG implementation ranking this year. This positive development is an incentive for us to continue working closely together to further advance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

During the bilateral meeting with Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Karoline Edtstadler Ban Ki-moon referred to the long-standing cooperation between the Chancellery and the BKMC emphasizing that, “It is highly encouraging to see Austria taking a leading role for the SDGs and supporting dialogue between civil society, academia, and decision-makers with its annual SDG Dialogforum.” Over the course of the last three years the Austrian Chancellery and the BKMC have worked very closely on advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Austria, and through various activities have elevated to Austria in the ranks from 9^th to 5^th on the SDG implementation ranking score of Bertelsmann Stiftung.  Especially in the light of major global challenges such as the Ukraine crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, Ban Ki-moon mentioned that the comprehensive and interlinked goals of the 2030 Agenda are becoming increasingly important. He said, “I look forward to the concrete suggestions deriving from the second SDG Dialogue Forum on 7^th October involving four Austrian Ministers and many representatives from Civil Society, as well as youth. Austria´s work on the SDGs is hopefully inspiring for other nations around the world”.