Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed efforts by Asian countries meeting at a United Nations-backed regional forum to address transportation as part of the effort to fight climate change and achieve sustainable development.

The United Nations, governments and development agencies at a summit in Thailand today issued a call for global action to ensure countries have the necessary support to register birth, deaths and other important events in people’s lives, stressing that this is essential to develop better health services.

United Nations and international health experts will travel to China later this week at Beijing’s invitation for a week-long joint assessment of the deadly H7N9 bird influenza outbreak that has so far infected 63 people, 14 of them fatally.

The fight against hunger and climate change will hinge on the success of sustainable development of oceans and fisheries, a top United Nations official stressed today, adding that there can be “no truly ‘green economy’ without a ‘blue economy.’”