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

United Nations Headquarters, New York

31 May 2018

 

ASSEMBLY ADOPTS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM RESOLUTION

  • The General Assembly plenary today adopted a resolution on the repositioning of the United Nations development system.
  • In his remarks, the President thanked Member States for working to find common ground. He said that this shows that compromise can be achieved.
  • Asked how today’s resolution could be adopted without considering the programme budget implication (PBI), the Spokesperson later added that the PBI associated with this resolution would be considered by the 73rd session as a revised estimate. All information on this was contained in an oral statement by the Secretariat.

 

LATEST DRAFT OF MIGRATION COMPACT NOW AVAILABLE

  • The latest draft of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has been shared with Member States.
  • The fifth round of negotiations will be held next week – from 4 to 8 June.
  • Today the President met with the co-facilitators of this process, who are the Permanent Representatives of Mexico and Switzerland.

 

YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE THE STAGE AT PRESIDENT’S YOUTH DIALOGUE

  • Yesterday the President hosted a Youth Dialogue.
  • Young people came from all parts of the globe to share their ideas about education, employment and the prevention of radicalization leading to violent extremism. They also talked about such topics as the links between entrepreneurship and development, sports and peace, and hip hop and politics.
  • In his opening remarks, the President clarified that this was not to be an event where we talked about or to young people – but rather where we took a step back, and listened to young people, talking to each other.
  • The President’s Office is now preparing a toolkit of ideas for further action – based on the ideas that were shared during the Dialogue.

 

SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM TALKS STILL ONGOING

  • Asked whether talks on Security Council reform were at a “standstill”, the Spokesperson said that this was not the case. The intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) had not stopped; they were continuing.
  • The Spokesperson noted that, whenever the Co-Chairs sent letters on this topic to Member States, those were posted on the President’s web site. In that regard, it could be seen what specific topics were being discussed.