Csaba?K?r?si,?President of the 77th?session of the General Assembly
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Kiswahili Language Day Observance
(As delivered by Chef de Cabinet L¨¢szl¨® Sz?ke)
It gives me great pleasure to give this message from the President of the General Assembly, Csaba K?r?si, who cannot be here today due to his official travels.
Excellencies,
I am grateful to the Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the Â鶹APP and to UNESCO, as well as Member States of the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community for organizing today¡¯s event.
Asante sana. ?
At the Â鶹APP, we have prioritized multilingualism.
It is a logical decision, given that this is the house of 193 Member States.
We use ¨C and we respect the use ¨C of as many languages as possible.
We all know that speaking in someone else¡¯s language at the UN can be very helpful.??????
Sometimes it may seem just a friendly gesture, or it can lead to a breakthrough in rebuilding trust.
With that in mind, let me thank the interpreters for their important work today.
I also commend UN News Kiswahili and the other Kiswahili sections of the Department of Global Communications for their efforts.
Dear Friends,
Much more should done to reach the eight billion people.
We must let them know what we are doing and hear from them on what more we should be doing here.
For that we need interaction with them in the languages they understand well are the best vehicles of that.
Many of the 8 billion speak Kiswahili ¨C either natively or as a second-language.
In other languages, Kiswahili can be one of the main access roads to them.
A road through which we can exchange information on needs, plans and priorities.
It may be even hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
In our era of the internet, the role of digital languages can be critical.
Much depends how effectively we can use our new information and communication methods.
But it is not only about the machinery. How successfully we can utilize the technology for virtual communication also depends on the language we choose.?
And here again I see a great potential for Kiswahili, a real lingua franca. One of the very few in the world.
Let us be clear, when it comes to sustainable development, we are in a race against time.
Our only chance to win this race is to turbocharge progress towards every single one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
For that, we must find the best means for engaging in this endeavor with as many people as possible.
In that field, Kiswahili can make a great impact, especially in addressing the young.
I hope that this event will lead to some concrete next steps to further Kiswahili¡¯s reach on sustainable issues.
Because we all should understand the depth of the old saying in this rich and beautiful language:
Akili ni mali.?Knowledge is wealth.
Thank you.