潘基文是联合国秘书长，韩国外交官、政治家。2006年10月9日联合国安全理事会投票通过潘接替科菲安南，成为第八位联合国秘书长，他是第二位来自于亚洲的联合国秘书长，于2007年1月1日出任联合国秘书长一职，任期直至2011年12月31日。2011年6月6日潘基文在纽约联合国总部正式宣布谋求连任联合国秘书长一职。联合国大会6月21日通过决议，任命潘基文连任联合国秘书长，第二个任期自2012年1月1日起，至2016年12月31日止，中国对此表示祝贺。Acceptance SpeechbyH.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moonon Appointment as the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations3 October 2006New YorkMadam President, Mr. Secretary-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,I stand before you, deeply touched and inspired by your generous words of congratulations and encouragement. With boundless gratitude for the confidence placed in me by the Member States, and with an unswerving resolve to honor that trust, I humbly accept the appointment as the 8th Secretary-General of this great Organization, our United Nations. I wish to extend my deepest respect and appreciation to all the leaders and peoples of the Member States for their strong support.Thank you, Madam President, for graciously preparing and guiding the meeting today. I greatly look forward to supporting you and working with you, as you wisely steer the Assembly toward a very successful session.Madam President,I follow in a line of remarkable leaders. They had also faced this moment, each at a critical juncture in the Organizations history. Like myself today, they must have pondered what the years ahead would hold at the helm of this dynamic institution. Each made important and lasting contributions to our common enterprise in upholding humanitys deepest values and highest aspirations.In particular, you, Mr. Secretary-General, have astutely guided our Organization into the 21st century. You have defined an ambitious agenda that has made the UN truly indispensible to peace, prosperity and human dignity around the world. Our debt to your courage and vision is immeasurable. I resolve to build upon your legacy.Distinguished delegates,By completing the appointment of the next Secretary-General with such alacrity, you have opened an unprecedented opportunity. Never before has an incoming Secretary-General been given sufficient time to prepare. You have given me more than two months. I will use these weeks to consult widely on how best to proceed with our common agenda of reform and revitalization. I will listen attentively to your concerns, expectations and admonitions.Distinguished delegates,I am deeply honored to become the second Asian to lead the Organization, following Mr. U Thant who ably served the world four decades ago. It is quite fitting that you have now turned to Asia again for the next Secretary-General to guide the UN system through its 7th decade. Asia is dynamic and diverse, and Asia aspires to take on greater responsibilities for the world. Having come so far and rising still, the region is living and shaping the full range of achievements and challenges of our current times.Asia is also a region where modesty is a virtue. But the modesty is about demeanor, not about vision and goals. It does not mean the lack of commitment or leadership. Rather, it is quiet determination in action to get things done without so much fanfare. This may be the key to Asias success, and to the UNs future. Indeed, our Organization is modest in its means, but not in its values. We should be more modest in our words, but not in our performance. The true measure of success for the UN is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most. Given the enduring purposes and inspiring principles of our Organization, we need not shout its praises or preach its virtues. We simply need to live them every day: step by step, program by program, mandate by mandate.Madam President,The surge in demand for UN services attests not only to the UNs abiding relevance but also to its central place in advancing human dignity. The UN is needed now more than ever before. The UNs core mission in the previous century was to keep countries from fighting each other. In the new century, the defining mandate is to strengthen the inter-state system so that humanity may be better served amidst new challenges. From the Balkans to Africa, from Asia to the Middle East, we have witnessed the weakening or absence of effective governance leading to the ravaging of human rights and the abandonment of longstanding humanitarian principles. We need competent and responsible states to meet the needs of we the peoples for whom the UN was created. And the worlds peoples will not be fully served unless peace, development and human rights, the three pillars of the UN, are advanced together with equal vigor.The road that we must pave toward a world of peace, prosperity and dignity for all has many pitfalls. As Secretary-General, I will make the most of the authority invested in my office by the Charter and the mandate you give me. I will work diligently to materialize our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of humanity and for the peaceful resolution of threats to inter