Bonn,
24 October 2011 - The CMS Secretariat joined 18
UN Bonn-based agencies and several other international organizations
in celebrating the annual UN Day in Bonn this weekend.

UN Day is celebrated globally to highlight the aims and
achievements of the United Nations. The day marks the anniversary
of the signing of the UN Charter on 24 October 1945 and
has been observed annually in Bonn in 1996 when several
United Nations organizations moved to the city, joining
the CMS Secretariat which has been there since being set
up in 1984.

With this year’s theme “8:0
for development – If not me who else?” the UN
Day focused on the personal engagement of all of us to make
this a better world and to achieve the UN Millennium Development
Goals, which include stopping extreme poverty and hunger
and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Thousands of people attended this year’s
festivities in the city centre of Bonn, which took place
on Bonn's Market Square. Accompanied by a colourful variety
of entertainment, including music and dance performances
from around the world, visitors had the chance to find out
more about the different activities and goals of the various
UN Bonn organizations and take away posters, stickers and
other information material. Among the more prominent visitors
to the CMS stand at this year’s UN Day were Ms. Flavia
Pansieri, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers
and current Head of the UN Agencies in Germany and also
the Lord Mayor of Bonn, Mr. Jürgen Nimptsch.

The CMS Secretariat shared an exhibition
tent with the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement
(AEWA), EUROBATS, ASCOBANS and several other UN Bonn organizations,
programmes and offices, for instance, with the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or and the
United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV).