UN chief celebrates 70th birthday with Bolivian folk dance
School children sang "happy birthday" as Ban was presented with the birthday cake.
SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon blew out 70 candles on a cake made from coca flour as he celebrated his birthday Friday in a Bolivian indigenous community, on the eve of a G77 leaders summit.
Wearing a straw hat, a necklace of flowers and a big grin, Ban joined in a folk dance with men and women from the Santa Rita community in Bolivia's eastern Concepcion region.
School children sang "happy birthday" as Ban was presented with the birthday cake, decorated in coca leaves, at the ceremony in an arena in the village of El Torno.
Coca plants are used by indigenous Bolivians for medicinal and ritual reasons as well as in food and liquors, but the plant can also be processed to make cocaine.
"Thank you for my birthday celebration. Thank you for your gifts, I will take them to New York to remember you forever," Ban said after receiving an overcoat with indigenous motifs and other gifts.
The UN secretary-general arrived earlier in the department of Santa Cruz on Bolivian President Evo Morales's airplane. The two were among a number of world leaders who attended the World Cup opening ceremonies in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The upcoming summit will mark the 50th anniversary of the G77, a group created by 77 countries in Geneva in 1964 that now counts 133 member states.
Its main goal is to promote economic development, in particular through South-South cooperation.
