HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MIROSLAV LAJČÁK

United Nations Headquarters, New York

15 February 2018

 

PRESIDENT HEADS TO GERMANY FOR SECURITY CONFERENCE

  • The President will leave New York tonight for Munich, Germany. There he will participate in the Munich Security Conference.
  • He is expected to hold a number of bilaterals, including with the First Vice President of South Sudan; the Foreign Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Russian Federation; and top officials from the European Commission; the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • He will be back in the office on Monday.

 

ROHINGYA COMMUNITIES NEED PROTECTION & SUPPORT

  • The President met this morning with the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Shahidul Haque.
  • On the Rohingya issue, the President praised Bangladesh for its generosity as a host country. The President and Foreign Secretary agreed that the Rohingya people need the international community’s protection and strong support and that much more action is needed to address this human tragedy. They discussed the need to guarantee that any returns of the Rohingya to Myanmar are safe and secure.
  • They also spoke about the President’s priorities for the 72nd session, including migration and sustaining peace.

 

PRESIDENT DISCUSSES THREATS TO MULTILATERALISM WITH U.N. AMBASSADORS

  • This morning, the President held the fifth instalment in his series of Morning Dialogues. The topic was “Multilateralism under fire?”. Fifteen Permanent Representatives participated.
  • The Morning Dialogues are an initiative by the President to bring United Nations ambassadors together in an informal setting where they can speak candidly and share ideas.

 

MEMBER STATES TO START NEGOTIATIONS ON MIGRATION DRAFT

  • Asked to elaborate on the zero draft of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the Spokesperson said the draft was publicly available. Member States would soon start their negotiations on it.
  • The goal was to finalize the first ever global compact on migration by July and then formally adopt it in December.