PRESS BRIEFING BY MONICA VILLELA GRAYLEY, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID

Good afternoon, everyone! Nice to see you again.

 PGA to launch Gender Advisory Group on Gender Equality on 28 October

The President of the General Assembly, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, will launch on 28 October the Gender Advisory Group on Gender Equality.

At the outset of his Presidency, the PGA expressed his deep commitment to advance gender equality throughout the UNGA session and his desire to reconstitute the Advisory Board.  

The composition of the Board has been expanded to build synergies and collaboration and chart a transformative path that delivers for equality. The members and observers have been selected based on their experience and expertise on issues related to Gender Equality, and empowerment of women and girls.

Mr. Shahid highlights that as the pandemic persists, women and girls must be included in decision-making roles for emergency responses and economic and social recovery efforts, in the equitable distribution of vaccines, and in strengthening of our social protection systems. The PGA says that we must continue to defend the progress made towards gender equality over the past decades.

The Board will serve as an informal mechanism to facilitate critical thought and advice on gender issues and to help mainstream a gender perspective across the PGA’s priorities, initiatives as well as mandates for this session.

List of Speakers for the PGA’s OCT-26 Climate Action event to be released today

A note on the PGA’s October 26 High-Level event: Mr. Abdulla Shahid is very encouraged by the support he has received from a great number of Heads of State and Government, who are inscribed to deliver remarks at the High-Level meeting Delivering Climate Action for People, Planet and Prosperity.

The List of Speakers will be issued later today by the PGA’s Office. Mr. Shahid is equally pleased with the support of stakeholders.

The October 26 High-Level Meeting on Delivering Climate Action is aimed at showcasing solutions to overcome the gap in financing, technological and technical capacities to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The PGA hopes that the meeting will add to more ambitious commitments ahead of COP-26 in Glasgow, moving the world closer to the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

Mr. Shahid speaks to Second Committee and the Economic and Social Council

This morning, the PGA delivered remarks at the Second Committee Meeting and the ECOSOC. He said that the overarching role of the Second Committee in the General Assembly touches the very fundamentals of sustainable socio-economic growth and development – it serves as a linchpin towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. He commends the choice of theme for the Second Committee this session, “Crisis, Resilience and Recovery – Accelerating Progress Towards the 2030 Agenda,”.

The COVID-19 crisis was the first major stress test for the reformed UN development system. It is pertinent for the Second Committee to review the revamped UN development system, to assess if these system reforms have effectively helped countries respond to the unprecedented emergency posed by the pandemic. 

PGA’s Agenda

Mr. Shahid started the day at the GA Hall presiding over the plenary meeting on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. He later addressed the Second Committee. The PGA is also attending a luncheon organized by the Permanent Representative of Qatar, H.E Ms. Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani. This afternoon, the PGA will grant an interview to the TASS news agency and hold a meeting with the Group of Friends for Gender Parity

 Question from Le Monde & RFI

Finally, Carrie Nooton from Le Monde and RFI, asked me about the meeting that the PGA held on Monday with the CEO of the Gates Foundation, Mr. Mark Suzman. In a tweet, Mr. Shahid said that he “had an excellent discussion with Mr. Suzman” on priorities of the PresidencyOfHope and gender, COVID-19 vaccination, climate action, youth, the Generation Equality Forum and other areas of cooperation.

Hashtags: #UNPGA, #PresidencyOfHope #UNGA76 #Deliver4Equality

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