Peacekeeping and disarmament focus of Ban’s talks with Austrian officials

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with senior Austrian officials today in Vienna and discussed a range of issues, including peacekeeping and disarmament.

Mr. Ban, who served as the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to the European nation some ten years ago, also discussed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the situation in the Balkans in his meetings with Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger and others.

Tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet President Heinz Fischer before traveling to Alpbach to address the European Forum and a Security Council retreat.

While in the Austrian town, he will also take part in an annual retreat with senior United Nations officials, during which they will discuss how the world body can “better cope with all the challenges and how we can better meet the expectations of the international community,” Mr. Ban told reporters in Vienna.

In Vienna, he helped to inaugurate an anti-corruption academy co-sponsored by the UN with the aim of filling the rising global need for training, research and contemporary measures and techniques in the fight against corruption.

The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), based in Laxenburg, will educate public and private sector anti-corruption practitioners in more effectively implementing the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

The convention, which entered into force in December 2005, is the world’s first legally binding international anti-corruption instrument. It requires signatories to implement a wide range of measures in areas such as law enforcement, asset recovery and international cooperation.

Mr. Ban told today’s inauguration that the academy’s founding represents a “milestone” in global efforts to battle corruption.

“Too often in the past, corruption was perceived as a fact of life,” he said. “Too often, many people simply resigned themselves to it. Rarely did corruption cases come to trial. Today, attitudes are changing. Across the world, intolerance of corruption is growing.”