NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
United Nations Headquarters, New York

 

NEW URBAN AGENDA

Today was the inaugural meeting of the Group of Friends of UN-Habitat, Sustainable Urbanization and the New Urban Agenda.

The formation of this group was announced at the General Assembly high-level meeting on assessing progress on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, that the President of the General Assembly convened on 28 April 2022.

The Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends are Botswana and Slovakia.

The Group of Friends was created to take forward the work on the New Urban Agenda.

And also boost coordination between New York, Nairobi, and Geneva, so that we are all rowing in the same direction, as President Shahid said.

 

ECOSOC HUMANITARIAN SEGMENT

Also today, the Economic and Social Council Humanitarian Affairs Segment is underway.

President Shahid commended humanitarian actors and workers that have stepped up and continue to step up in times of conflicts and disasters.

He also noted their work in the COVID context, saying some people are treating COVID as it if was yesterday’s news. It is not. The virus is not done with us yet.

The President pointed to the Global Humanitarian Overview launched in 2021. It calls for some 40 billion dollars to reach more than 300 million vulnerable people.

President Shahid strongly urged the support of Member States and the international community.

His full remarks will be online (technical issues).

 

PARLIAMENTARY UNION

This afternoon in the General Assembly Hall… There will be a plenary meeting on the interaction between the United Nations, national Parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The discussion will be about the Secretary-General’s latest report on this topic and action on a draft resolution.

The President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, will have remarks.

And a note that the International Day of Parliamentarism is 30 June.

 

YOGA DAY

Today is the International Day of Yoga.  This year’s theme is “Yoga for Humanity”.

President Shahid noted in his remarks last night on the front lawn that yoga has helped people’s mental and physical health during the COVID pandemic.  Remarks: https://www.un.org/pga/76/2022/06/20/international-day-of-yoga/

Starting today, there is a digital exhibit of yoga at the UN Delegates’ entrance.

 

HOPE FELLOW

And turning to our HOPE Fellows. They are meeting today with the UNDP Accelerator Labs network.

In the meantime, let me introduce Diedra, who will tell you about the Fellow’s latest UNITAR training session.

And then I will take any questions.

—–

My name is Diedra Sealey. I am from Grenada. I am one of the PGA HOPE Fellows.

Our last UNITAR training was about the work of UN Resident Coordinators.

Some of the topics we discussed were:

How the resident coordinator system was created

How in-country development plans are designed

And some of the challenges faced in-country, for example how to more effectively work with Governments and how to support the people in that country.

Facilitators were Ms. Allegra Baiocchi and Ms. Helena Fraser.

Ms. Fraser is the Director of Policy and Programme at the UN Development Coordination Office, and Ms. Baiocchi is currently the UN Resident Coordinator for Costa Rica.

We also heard about the UN Development System reform from Ms Silvia Bonacito, who is in the Communications and Results Reporting Branch of DCO.

The final panel discussion was led by Mr. Arun Jacob and Ms. Poorti Sapatnekar, of the Development Coordination Office.

 

QUESTIONS

There were no questions for the Spokesperson (or for Diedra).