United Nations Headquarters, New York, 01 May 2020 – Due to the expected continued limitations on holding large in-person meetings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of June 2020, the President of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has decided to:

  • Postpone the  High-level dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought scheduled on 9 June 2020.  The President will soon submit a draft decision recommending that this event is postponed to the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly, to a date to be decided at the seventy-fifth session;
  • Postpone the plenary meeting for the consideration of agenda item 32 entitled “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development” scheduled on 16 June 2020;
  • Postpone the plenary meeting for the consideration of agenda item 118 entitled “United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy” scheduled on 29 June 2020.  A separate letter on this topic will follow.

The President of the General Assembly recommends that the commemoration of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, scheduled on 26 June 2020, be held via a virtual platform.

As for the elections scheduled in June, the President of the General Assembly hosted a virtual meeting of the Chairs of the Regional Groups that featured a presentation by Mr. Movses Abelian, Under Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM), on the options for elections by the General Assembly without plenary meetings. The President will be hosting a townhall for all Member States on this matter.

With the limitations on holding large in-person, the President will shortly submit a draft decision extending General Assembly decision 74/544 of 27 March 2020 entitled “Procedure for taking decisions of the General Assembly during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic” beyond the end of May.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Reem Abaza, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly

abaza@un.org