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

PRESIDENT LEAVES FINLAND, ARRIVES IN ROMANIA

• The President just arrived in Romania after a visit to Finland.
• In Finland over the weekend, he addressed the Kultaranta Talks, a foreign and security policy debate hosted by the Finnish President. The topic was: “Power and strength or a shared order?”
• President Lajčák said there has been a move away from multilateral values and systems, and more voices speaking out against the United Nations.
• He added that it was possible to reject the idea of compromise for common goals but asked what the alternative would be. Speaking of the biggest challenges facing us today, he said no one can go up against them alone.
• While in Finland yesterday, President Lajčák met with Finnish officials, including the President, with whom he discussed global politics and multilateralism; the Interior Minister, with whom he discussed migration and counter-terrorism; and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, with whom he discussed financing for the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Today in Finland, he met with the country’s Foreign Minister. They spoke about Finland’s leadership in the fields of mediation and conflict prevention, as well as other issues on the United Nations agenda, including migration.
• Climate change was another topic that came up during his meeting with Finland’s Speaker of Parliament and the Chairperson of the Parliament Group for Global Issues.
• He also visited a reception center in Helsinki for asylum seekers, where he heard personal stories from people who had left their countries.

DOCUMENT ON SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM SHARED WITH MEMBER STATES

• On Security Council reform, the President has circulated to Member States a final version of the document entitled “Revised Elements of Commonality and Issues for Further Consideration”.
• In terms of next steps, the President will soon circulate to Member States a draft roll-over decision.

NO DATE YET FOR 5^TH COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF G.S.D.M. REPORT

• The Spokesperson was asked for updates related to the General Assembly’s consideration of the Secretary-General’s Global Service Delivery Model (GSDM) report.
• The Spokesperson later said that an advance copy of the relevant report by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) had been released last week.
• As of now, no date had been announced for this agenda item to be introduced in the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee.