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

United Nations Headquarters, New York

22 March 2018

The General Assembly will hold an informal meeting this afternoon to hear a briefing from the Secretary-General on his management reform proposals.
This meeting is being held following a request from the Secretary-General.
And it is in line with the President’s commitment to inclusivity, his belief that all Member States should feel ownership of the reforms, and his readiness to facilitate interaction between Member States and the Secretariat.
The President is expected to say that the best way to foster multilateralism is to show that the United Nations works — in the most effective, efficient and accountable manner possible.
The meeting will take place at 3:00 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.
As of now, the Fifth Committee is tentatively scheduled to consider the Secretary-General’s management reform proposals on 30 May.

The General Assembly plenary met this morning under the agenda item: “Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union”.
According to a resolution that was introduced by Mexico and adopted by consensus, the Assembly decided that 30 June will now be the International Day of Parliamentarism.
That was the date when the Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded – back in 1889.

The President just met moments ago with the Santa Marta Group, an alliance of international police chiefs and bishops from around the world, working to eradicate human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
They spoke about how partnerships between the United Nations, faith communities and law enforcement agencies, can help better people’s lives.

The General Assembly, according to resolution 72/139 of 12 December 2017, decided to hold a high-level meeting in 2019 on universal health coverage.
In this regard, the President today appointed the Permanent Representatives of Hungary and Thailand to co-facilitate that process.
In keeping with his previously stated commitments, this new team is gender balanced.

The President — in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime — will convene a high-level debate to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
The debate will start at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.
Asked whether tomorrow’s debate would focus on “narco-democracies”, the Spokesperson said the focus would be on the Convention’s anniversary and implementation, as well as emerging trends. For additional details, he urged the reporter to look at the programme.

Asked about reports that United Nations Secretariat jobs would be transferred to Kenya as part of the Secretary-General’s Global Service Delivery Model (GSDM) report, the Spokesperson said that the report was tentatively scheduled to be considered by the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee on 30 May.
The Fifth Committee would consider the report because it was the Main Committee of the General Assembly responsible for administrative and budgetary matters.