Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly

4 August 2022

 

Excellencies,

 

I welcome all of you to this briefing of the Secretary General regarding the progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the “Our Common Agenda” report.

 

As I have said in the past, this report lays out a clear outline of the multifaceted challenges facing our world – from the climate crisis to the pandemic, to continuing conflict and poverty.

 

If anything, incidents of the last several months have confirmed how urgent and important it is, for us to find comprehensive solutions.

 

The OCA Report touches upon different concerns of member states, while providing a comprehensive roadmap for how we, the United Nations, can address them together, while leaving no one behind.

 

I once again congratulate the Secretary General, His Excellency, Antonio Guterres for this achievement and for his leadership.  

 

We meet today after having successfully concluded the five thematic consultations on the implementation of the OCA.

 

Each one of those consultations which saw intensive Member State and multi-stakeholder participation spurred robust discussions on the OCA’s proposals and on the best means of achieving them.

 

From my part, in line with the summaries of the consultations, I have appointed co-facilitators for three intergovernmental processes:

 

  • The establishment of the UN Youth Office will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representatives of Egypt, His Excellency Osama Mahmoud Abdel Khalek Mahmoud, and by the Permanent Representative of Guyana, Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
  • The modalities of the Summit of the Future will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Her Excellency Carolyn Swalger and the Permanent Representative of Oman, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Al Hassan;
  • the Declaration on Future Generations will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representatives of the Netherlands, Her Excellency Yoka Brandt, and by the Permanent Representative of Fiji, His Excellency Satyendra Prasad.

 

I commend them on taking up these important responsibilities, especially within such a tight time-frame.

 

We look forward to hearing from each of the pairs of co-facilitators later today. 

 

I also take this opportunity to note that I am also closely working with the SG’s Youth Envoy Office to convene a focused discussion on how we can increase youth engagement in the General Assembly, before the end of my presidency.

 

A date for the discussion and the concept note will soon be shared with Member States.

 

Dear friends,

 

I look forward to the Secretary General’s briefing on the progress on the implementation of the recommendations which fall within his purview.

 

Going forward, I hope that these briefings will be a regular occurrence.

 

Our discussions will be enriched by the robust and keen engagement of all parties in the follow up process of the OCA report.

 

That is how we will best take stock of our successes and identify areas for further cooperation.

 

Towards those ends, I encourage a lively discussion by member states today, including during the interactive panel, that will be held in the afternoon.

 

Thank you, and I wish you all a very production discussion.