Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, upon receiving an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, California, today:
Thank you so much for your warm welcome. It is a pleasure to be here at Loyola Marymount University. I would like to express my great appreciation for this honorary degree. I know you are recognizing not just me, but also the United Nations. Thank you for this vote of support for our efforts to advance peace, development and human rights across the world.
I thank my good friend, professor Tom Plate, for his kind introduction. My connection with LMU starts with him. Our friendship goes back decades. He was a long-time journalist, specializing in East Asia. I was a senior official in the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and eventually became Foreign Minister. Professor Plate and I came to know each other and talked often about Asian affairs. When I became Secretary-General, our talks turned to global issues.
It was early in my tenure that he told me about Loyola Marymount University — a wonderful community, he said, that is strongly committed to the ideals of the United Nations. “You must visit,” he said. Since there is nothing I like as much as spending time with young people, here I am.
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