UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 4 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said here Wednesday that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and it will be "an important moment for serious reflections" so that the world body can better meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The secretary-general, in a meeting with a small group of UN- based journalists, said that "The 70th anniversary of the United Nations will be an important moment for serious reflections on our achievements and setbacks."

The United Nations officially came into existence on Oct. 24, 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories.

"UN member states are poised to take dramatic steps this year," he said. "I think this year is one of the most important years in the history of the United Nations."

"The panel on peace operations, as well as review on peacebuilding and our work women empowerment offer rich food for thought and guidance for the future," he said.

Ban said that the 193 UN member states are taking utmost efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by the end of 2015, to adopt the post-2015 development agenda in September and to reach a

final agreement on climate change at a conference in December in Paris, France.

Most of the world leaders are expected to be at UN Headquarters in New York in September to discuss, adopt and declare the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the post-2015 development agenda to replace the MDGs, which expires by the end of this year, he said.

"We are going to have a special summit session for three days from Sept. 25 to 27," he said, referring to the event to adopt SDGs.

MDGs and its eight goals are mostly covering the aspects of the developing countries, with poverty eradication as a major goal, Ban said. "This time, the Sustainable Development Goals are covering the whole spectrum of our world -- human and nature, our planet Earth."

"In that regard, I believe this is more important, member states should be more ambitions and more visionary," he said.

UN member states have agreed to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs, which will build upon the MDGs and converge with the post-2015 development agenda. It was decided to establish an " inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the (UN) General Assembly."