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

United Nations Headquarters, New York

19 April 2018

 

PRESIDENT’S MEETING ON SUSTAINING PEACE TO WELCOME LARGEST NUMBER OF WORLD LEADERS TO U.N. SINCE GENERAL DEBATE LAST SEPTEMBER

  • The President will be holding his High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace next week. The two-day gathering starts on Tuesday 24 April.
  • This is the President’s key legacy event for the year. And it will be the largest gathering of high-level guests — including Heads of State and Government – that United Nations Headquarters has seen since the General Debate last September.
  • Because of the magnitude of this event, the Spokesperson said that he would be joined at the noon briefing tomorrow by Amena Yassine, one of the President’s senior advisers. They would brief together on what to expect from this event, why it was important and how the media could cover it.
  • Asked which Heads of State and Government would be attending the High-Level Meeting, the Spokesperson said he would be able to provide those kinds of details at tomorrow’s briefing. As of now, there were 7 Heads of State and Government planning to attend the High-Level Meeting. That was in addition to the significant number of Ministers and other high-level guests who would also be there.

 

CLIMATE CHANGE GOALS CAN’T BE MET WITHOUT INVOLVING YOUTH

  • This afternoon, the President will speak at a UNICEF event, called, “Youth Power the Planet”.
  • He is expected to say that we cannot achieve our goals to fight climate change without youth – since they make up almost half the world’s population.
  • He will remind young attendees that they do not have to wait for their Governments to engage in climate action. And he will share examples of how youth around the world are already stepping up.

 

ELECTION OF NEXT ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT TO HAPPEN ON 5 JUNE

  • Asked for updates regarding the election of the next President of the General Assembly, the Spokesperson said there were no changes to announce.
  • There were still two candidates, the informal interactive dialogues were still scheduled for 4 May and the election would still be held on 5 June.

 

NAME CHANGES NOT A MATTER FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  • Asked what the procedure was for a country to change its name at the United Nations, the Spokesperson said that was a matter for United Nations Protocol, which fell under the United Nations Secretariat.