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Marking Lions Day at UN, Ban Ki-moon praises club’s international work

Marking Lions Day at UN, Ban Ki-moon praises club’s international work

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised the international work of the Lions Club for the benefit of vulnerable groups and the environment, as the fraternal organization celebrated its 30th annual meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

“As you know, the relationship between our two organizations dates back more than 60 years,” Mr. Ban said in a statement delivered by Kiyotaka Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

“Over the course of these many decades, the Lions Club has worked side by side with the United Nations in pursuit of our shared goals,” he added.

Mr. Ban expressed gratitude, in particular, for the club’s work with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent and reverse blindness through a programme called SightFirst.

“This programme does more than just help individuals to retain their eyesight; it constitutes a vision for a world where we stop diseases before they strike,” he said.

He added that the Lions Clubs’ observation of World Environment Day in communities around the world is “precisely the kind of self-motivated engagement that gives real meaning to United Nations commemorations.”