Making the United Nations Relevant to all PeoplePRESS BRIEFING BY MONICA GRAYLEY, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MARÍA FERNANDA ESPINOSA
Good afternoon, everyone!
Nice to see you again…
HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON COMBATING ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS
The General Assembly is holding a High-Level meeting on International Cooperation today to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Assets Return.
President María Fernanda Espinosa opened the meeting, which is part of the “Prosperity Week”, a series of events organized by the GA on inclusive development and socio-economic inequality.
The meeting is being attended by State Ministers, UN agencies, and specialists from civil society which are participating in interactive panels on ways of effectively tackling the issue.
Ms. Espinosa explained that these contributions will be shared with other high-level meetings this year such as the High-Level Political Forum and the High-Level Debate on Financing for Development among others.
A report from 2017 estimates of global losses due to corporate profit-shifting and tax avoidance range from US$ 150-500 billon annually.
The PGA stressed that illicit financial flows negatively impact the lives of millions of people around the world. Financial resources are taken from investments in health, education, housing, infrastructure and in the well-being of peoples which leads to inequality and poverty.
Ms. Espinosa also mentioned that illicit and illegal activities such as tax evasion, corruption and other crimes affect economic stability.
The PGA said that political will is needed to tackle corruption where it exists and on all levels it does, and that more must be done to tackle illicit financial flows, to recover assets and to pay them back to where they belong.
More on our website www.un.org/pga/73
MS. ESPINOSA TO RING NASDAQ STOCK MARKET CLOSING BELL
This afternoon, the President of the General Assembly will ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Market, in Times Square, New York.
Ms. Espinosa will be accompanied by several members of her team.
The PGA welcomes the cooperation with NASDAQ to promote the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. She is also taking the opportunity to speak about her global campaign “Play it Out” on plastic pollution and single-use plastics. The closing bell ceremony is a live event which will be webcast on the NASDAQ website. The ceremony starts at 3.45 pm.
PGA’S AGENDA
President Espinosa is chairing the High-Level Meeting on International Cooperation to combat Illicit Financial Flows. This afternoon, she will hold a bilateral meeting with the President of ECOSOC, Ms. Inga Rhonda King, and preside over the closing segment of the High-Level Meeting at the GA.
This is all from us but before I take your questions, I would like to say hello to Gary Raynaldo from Diplomatic Times who just joined our UNCA family. Welcome Gary!
Do you have any questions?
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