UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that a series of global crises were threatening the world at a time when the leadership to address the turmoil was lacking. In a stark address before the General Assembly, he said: "We all recognize the perils of our current passage. We face a global financial crisis. A global energy crisis. A global food crisis."
But "we also face a crisis of a different sort ... a challenge of global leadership," Ban said, according to dpa.
Ban said there was a danger that countries were beginning to turn "inward" at a time when the world's challenges more than ever required multilateral solutions.
International action was needed on everything from solving climate change to reducing poverty and fighting terrorism. Ban warned that the financial crisis that has derailed growth in advanced economies was threatening development aid.
"If ever there were a call to collective action, a call for global leadership, it is now," Ban said.