UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivers lecture in Oxford

2 February 2011

His Excellency Mr Ban Ki-moon, current Secretary-General of the United Nations, is delivering the Cyril Foster lecture 2011 at the Examination Schools at Oxford University at 6pm on 2 February. The lecture is entitled ‘Human Protection and the 21st Century United Nations’.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in the UK from Addis Ababa, where he attended the African Union Summit at a crucial time for the continent. Today the Secretary-General is meeting the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague, (Conservative), as well as Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party.

At the time of his election as Secretary-General in 2006, Mr Ban was his country's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His long tenure with the Ministry included postings in New Delhi, Washington DC and Vienna, and responsibility for a variety of portfolios, including Foreign Policy Adviser to the President, Chief National Security Adviser to the President, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director-General of American Affairs.

The Cyril Foster lecture was founded in 1960 `for the promotion of international peace and the prevention of future wars'. Previous Cyril Foster speakers have included former Secretaries-General of the United Nations: HE Mr Pérez de Cuéllar, HE Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and HE Mr Kofi Annan.

Cyril Foster lived and died in the Slough area. The cause of international peace was so important to him that he left almost all his money to the University of Oxford. He had no known previous connection with the University, but left the money on condition that it be used to promote the cause of international peace.

A photograph of the Secretary-General is available. A text of the lecture will be made available to those attending, and to be checked against delivery. If you are not attending, the checked transcript will be made available the following day. Mr Ban will not be giving any media interviews.

For more information, please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on +44 (0)1865 280534 or email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

Photographs of Mr Ban Ki-moon delivering the lecture will be available on the United Nations website at http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/