“I am very proud of all that we have accomplished together,”  Ban told a special event marking the commemoration of the establishment of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) at UN Headquarters in New York this afternoon.

“I thank all the Committee for helping me transform and modernize the United Nations,” he added.

Recounting the ACABQ's accomplishments since it was established in 1946, the UN chief thanked the Committee's 16 members for their service and lauded the body's “effective” and “impressive” use of funds in an Organization with numerous field offices and 16 peacekeeping operations.

“One ACABQ plus one Secretary-General equals stronger collaboration than ever before,”  Ban said. “That is critical in our world because we the Peoples of the United Nations are more than 7 billion – and counting,” he said.

As a comparison,  Ban noted that in 1946, the Committee held 18 meetings and produced seven reports, whereas this year, it held more than 251 meetings and published 116 reports.