UN Secretary-General Ban’s Opening Remarks at Year-end Press Conference, December 16, 2013

New York—(ENEWSPF)–16 December 2013

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to see you in this press conference. Welcome to our traditional end-of-year press conference.

I would like first of all to touch on some leading challenges for the coming year.  Ladies and Gentlemen, let me begin with a look back on the crises and vital work of the past 12 months.

2013 was the year in which the Syrian conflict deteriorated beyond all…