Brazil has made a remarkable effort for sustainable development and is an example of multilateralism to the world; so said Rio+20’s secretary general, the Chinese diplomat Sha Zukang, during the official opening of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, at Riocentro (Rio de Janeiro).

Zukang, who has already been ambassador in Geneva, questioned the political will of governments to implement change for sustainable development.

"Will governments turn promises into concrete actions?" he asked. He reminded that we must seize the opportunity of this conference, one of the largest ever undertaken by the UN, attended by some 100 heads of States and Governments. They will be meeting, this Wednesday (20) until Friday (22) in round tables that will analyze the final document that will be officially released at the close of the Summit.

The official opening of Rio+20 started with the speech of President Rousseff, which was followed by speeches by the current Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the 66th UN General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser.

Dilma invited participants to face the challenges of sustainability to grow, include and protect and said that time is the scarcest resource in this task.

She said that Brazil has sought to do their part, moving with determination and preserving democracy. "We are growing with inclusion and social justice," she said, noting that in the last decade more than 40 million people rose to the middle class in the country and 18 million formal jobs were created, with a consequently expansion of workers' income.

Read the full story on the site of the Brazilian Government (portuguese).