Madrid 4 November 2015—Hundreds of people gathered at the the Conde Duque cultural centre in central Madrid on the 24th of October to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter at The event was kicked off early in the day with an exposition and fair, where all the 14 UN-agencies funds and programs represented in Spain demonstrated their work.

The “UN-Village”, consisting of photography expositions, debates, children’s workshops and games, among other things, let people have a closer look at the work and goals of the different part of the UN-Family, as well as getting to know the people who represent the UN in Spain. The peak of the event took place in the afternoon and was the release of thousands of wishes for a better future, written by participant throughout the whole day that where later tied to hundreds of balloons and finally collectively let afloat at the stroke of six.

“Gathering the people of Spain and the work of the United Nations and letting everyone take part in the action carried out by the different agencies, programs and funds is one of the goals of the this 70th anniversary celebration”, commented the rapporteur and ambassador of UNICEF’s Spanish Committee – Teresa Viejo, just before the grand release of the balloons.

The day was rounded off with a debate between the UN-agencies, programs and funds and Spanish civil organizations, along with a video message form the General Secretary of the United Nations; Ban Ki-Moon, wishing everyone a happy 70th Anniversary. The UN-Family in Spain also had the pleasure of a visit from the General Secretary himself, the following week, in occasion of the big day, on the 29th of October, where all the agencies were gathered together at the headquarters of the United Nations World Tourist Organisation.