UNICEF Executive Director visits South Korea and Japan on first official trip
TOKYO (May 12, 2010) — UNICEF's new Executive Director, Anthony Lake, is in Japan on his first mission on behalf of the UN children's agency.
During his two-day visit he will discuss children's rights and needs with His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, His Excellencies Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, as well as senior government officials, parliamentarians and other Japanese dignitaries.
"The Japanese Government and the Japanese people are firm supporters of UNICEF's mission to help improve the lives of children in need. Japan's leadership on the Millennium Development Goals has also been, and will continue to be, very significant," said Lake, UNICEF’s sixth Executive Director. "Protecting children's rights is a global responsibility that can only be met by strong partnerships like that which exists between UNICEF and Japan."
Japan is among UNICEF's top ten government donors, and private donations by Japanese people, made through that country's National Committee, total more than the organization receives from the citizens of any other country. Executive Director Lake will pay a special visit to Japan’s National Committee.
At a special event at U Thant International Conference Hall, Lake, along with UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and Agnes Chan, will meet a range of UNICEF's partners, supporters and volunteers to thank them for their engagement. A children’s chorus will perform the special UNICEF lullaby written in 2009 by Canadian composer Steve Barakatt.
Executive Director Lake will also meet with Sadako Ogata, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees and a former President of UNICEF’s Executive Board. Ms. Ogata is currently the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and their discussions will focus on UNICEF-JICA collaboration and joint efforts to promote greater international cooperation around children’s issues.
Prior to his visit in Japan, Mr. Lake was in Seoul, South Korea to meet senior government officials, including the Republic of Korea’s President, H.E. Lee Myung-bak and other Korean dignitaries. On May 10, he joined South Korea’s Prime Minister, Un-Chan Chung, the heads of UNICEF National Committees and other dignitaries to formally open the 55th Annual Meeting of National Committees for UNICEF. He called upon those gathered to work together to advance the best interests of every child and to accelerate progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals by the target year of 2015.
"My goal today is to start a dialogue with all of you about how we can best meet our mission and deliver on UNICEF's historic commitment to protect the rights of all children, especially those most often left behind," he said.
