Press Release

Ban Ki-moon Opens U.N. City in Copenhagen – the Home of the new GGGI Copenhagen Office

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon officially open the new U.N. City in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN – July 04, 2013 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon together with Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Minister for Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal and Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach officially opened the UN City today in Copenhagen.The new UN City will host some 1,250 UN staff employed in eight UN organizations, affiliated agencies and international organizations in Denmark.

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) also relocated its Copenhagen branch office to the UN City, and is the newest international organizations in the new location.

GGGI Director-General Howard Bamsey said: “We are delighted that GGGI will be part of the impressive UN City in Copenhagen. Joining other organizations in this new location will help GGGI ensure that we achieve synergies with the UN.”

He added:  “Sustainability as an integrated part of the impressive new construction. The UN City is recognized as a true ‘state of the art’ building in terms of sustainability, resource efficiency and energy efficiency and therefore a perfect home for the Copenhagen office of GGGI.”

All staff from the eight organizations participated in the event arranged by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and took part in the celebrations. The program included speeches, a ceremonial marking of the inauguration and a brief concert. All UN personnel were invited to attend a Town Hall Meeting with the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

The Director of the GGGI Copenhagen Office Hans Jakob Eriksen said:

“I am proud to participate in this historic day with my staff. The UN City is a perfect location for developing strong partnerships between the public and private sector in the field of Green Growth. I truly see GGGI’s location in the UN City, together with among others CTCN and the SE4All Hub on Energy Efficiency, as having crucial importance for GGGI’s day-to-day cooperation on sustainability issues with the UN organizations. It is my vision to lead the work on making the GGGI Copenhagen Office a public-private partnerships hub, and this regard, I would like to stress the importance of the newly entered 3GF-GGGI Partnership Agreement.

Read more background about the inauguration and the UN City here

Watch a short movie presentation with Ban Ki-moon and the Danish Minister of Development Cooperation, Mr. Christian Friis Bach here

For further information, please contact: GGGI Copenhagen Office: +45 45 33 53 40