The UN happiness conference begins
The global conference on happiness initiated by the UN and coordinated by Bhutanese government has begun in New York half an hour before.
Addressing the inaugural session of the conference, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, failure of the GDP to address the social progress and other fundamental aspects of human development gave rise to the concept of happiness and sustainable development.
UNSG, who has been emphasising sustainable development in his second term, said material prosperity is not the only index to measure the progress and prosperity of the human society. And he commended Bhutan for bringing in the concept of happiness, which he called it ‘Gross Global Happiness’.
Addressing the same function, Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley said irresponsible, unethical and immoral activities of the human being is destroying the ecology and environment of the earth, leaving nothing to the coming generation. He said, happiness and sustainable development strategies, arguably coined by King Jigme Singye, would help meet those objects of saving ecology for the future.
He accepted though that Bhutan has not been able to implement the concept of happiness in real sense as the country is still fighting for fundamental needs of the people.
He claimed, the ideology might succeed Millennium Development Goals (MDG) when they terminate in 2015 and called on all 200+ participants to remain behind for next two days to synthesize the idea deliberated in this conference.
The conference will continue for next two days.