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

PEACEBUILDING

The President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, today convened the High-level Meeting on Peacebuilding Financing.

Speaking at the opening, he noted that the goal of investing US$500 million per year towards the Peacebuilding Fund is not yet being met. This, the President said, is fiscally shortsighted, because investing in peacebuilding could end up resulting in net savings of up to 70 billion dollars.

President Shahid encouraged Member States to advance possible solutions and make commitments to address the financing gap for prevention and peacebuilding.

The high-level meeting is being convened in accordance with the third review process of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture, and its twin resolutions A/RES/75/201 and S/RES/2558 (2020) on peacebuilding and sustaining peace. The resolutions note that peacebuilding financing remains a critical challenge, and therefore call for the high-level meeting to advance, explore and consider options for ensuring adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding.

The President spoke alongside Under-Secretary-General for Policy, in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Mr. Volker Türk, representing the Secretary-General.

President Shahid will speak again at the closing of the high-level meeting.

In terms of an outcome from the meeting, there will be a Chair’s summary, which will be circulated to Member States.

 

LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS

President Shahid today addressed the opening of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments. This is a group of local and regional leaders from around the world.

This meeting comes ahead of tomorrow’s high-level meeting on assessing progress on implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

President Shahid told the World Assembly that the international community needs the support of local and regional governments in helping to respond to the needs of the planet, and to helping protect future generations from the consequences of climate change. He said cities and mayors are ‘first responders’ who can salvage the Sustainable Development Goals in the face of multiple ongoing crises. He added that the international community must always remember that it has the financial and technological capacity to succeed. But that it requires political will.

 

BILATERALS

President Shahid met this morning with Ms. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica. The Foreign Minister is in town for the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum.

President Shahid will meet with Mr. Péter Szijjártó, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.

President Shahid is also expected to have a bilateral with Ms. Veronika Remišová, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic. The bilateral is expected to touch on the New Urban Agenda. The high-level meeting to assess implementation of New Urban Agenda is tomorrow, as I have mentioned.

Among the other bilaterals for today…

President Shahid will meet with James Macharia EGH. He is the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing Urban Development and Public Works of the Republic of Kenya.

President Shahid will also meet with Mr. Jean Todt, the Special Envoy for Road Safety. The high‑level meeting on improving global road safety will be held in July.

QUESTIONS

The Spokesperson was asked if President Shahid was aware of reported threats against diplomats and/or their children ahead of the Emergency Special Session. If not, will he investigate. The Spokesperson responded by email that the President is not aware of such events taking place. Probing such reports is not part of the President’s mandate.

The Spokesperson was asked when the General Assembly would meet to vote on the vacancy in the Human Rights Council. The Spokesperson said she did not have a date to announce.