President of the UN General Assembly to visit Senegal, Ethiopia and Egypt
24 March 2017
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 24 March 2017 – The President of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Peter Thomson, will travel to Senegal, Ethiopia and Egypt from 25 March to 2 April 2017, to participate in high-level meetings and official engagements with the purpose of advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promoting the broader agenda of the General Assembly, encouraging Africa’s high-level participation and voluntary commitments for the upcoming Ocean Conference (New York, 5 to 9 June) and informing on upcoming High-Level SDG Action Events.
In Senegal, the President of General Assembly will address the opening session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Developments, co-organized by the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union commission. He will also participate in other regional meetings on “Innovations for Infrastructure Development and Sustainable Industrialization” and on the implementation of steps African governments can take to jump-start the process of addressing illicit financial flows. The President will also have bilateral meetings with high-level officials from the host country and African Ministers in charge of finance and economic development. Finally, he will attend a meeting with the U.N. country team to discuss opportunities and challenges to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs in the region.
In Ethiopia, the Headquarters of the African Union (AU), the President of General Assembly will meet AU high officials and speak to the Permanent Representatives Committee on the current and future work of the General Assembly. While in Addis Ababa, he will meet with the President of Ethiopia, H.E. Mulatu Theshome, to discuss issues of mutual interest and the state of cooperation between Ethiopia and the U.N. The President of General Assembly will also meet with AU leadership and with the Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union and Special Representative to the African Union, Mr. Haile Menkerios, to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals, AU-U.N. cooperation and peace and security challenges in the continent. Finally, he will attend a meeting with the U.N. country team to discuss opportunities and challenges to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs in the continent.
In Egypt, the President of the General Assembly will meet with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Sameh Shoukry. He will also address a meeting on “Building Sustainable Peace for all: Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace” -the theme of the high-level dialogue hosted in New York on 24 January 2017-, which will be co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and the Cairo Regional Center for Training on Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa. Subsequently, President Thomson will meet with the U.N. country team to discuss opportunities and challenges to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.
During his trip, President Thomson will be accompanied by the Office of the President of the General Assembly’s Special Political Adviser Ioannis Vrailas, Senior Advisers Mateus Luemba and Abdelghani Merabet and Special Assistant Signe Poulsen. Travel and accommodation expenses for the President and accompanying officers will be covered by the Office of the President of the General Assembly’s Trust Fund.