NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS

Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York

Monday, 30 January 2023

PAKISTAN

Let me start with Pakistan…

President Csaba Kőrösi strongly condemns the suicide attack in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Targeting people who are praying is a truly horrid and cowardly attack.

 

INDIA

Turning to the President’s visit to India…

The President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi today met Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi.

They discussed the importance of conserving and optimizing global water resources.

The President said that he appreciated the Prime Minister’s focused views on identifying simple, scalable and sustainable solutions that can transform societies.

President Korosi also met today with the External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar.

They discussed topics of mutual concern, including the water in Ukraine, water management, and the G20.

The President did speak today with the G20 Sherpa, Mr. Amitabh Kant and his team.

They had met before, in New York, so was this a continuation of overlapping topics with the work of the General Assembly.

 

INDIAN COUNCIL OF WORLD AFFIARS

Among other activities today, the President gave a public lecture at the Indian Council of World Affairs, the leading think tank.

He spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals, urging the audience to actively engage to help get the SDGs back on track.

The UN Water Conference will take place in March, as you know. This will be the first water conference since 1977.

The President said he hoped it would bring a new “Paris moment” for water action.

The President also spoke about the war in Ukraine, the need to reform global financial institutions and the impacts of COVID19.

Underpinning all these efforts is the need to reform the multilateral system.

“Let us face facts: it is no longer 1945,” the President said.

There is a process in place at the UN to achieve this, but its outcomes leave much to be desired.

The President unscored that he has been telling Member States to move from a position of “no and later” to one of “yes and now”.

You have the full remarks in your inboxes, and they are online.

 

RAJGHAT

Staying in India…

Today is an anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

President Kőrösi laid a wreath at Rajghat.

Calling him “one of history’s most transformative figures,” the President said that throughout his more than 40-years as a diplomat, Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to peace, the eradication of poverty and harmony with nature, has inspired him.

He recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s spirit and the legacy of peace and kindness towards ourselves, each other and our planet.

 

PROCESSES

Turning to UN Headquarters, I wanted to let you know that Member States are holding informal consultations today on the Global Digital Compact… and one the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

These are among the 16 mandated processes that you’ve heard me talk about which are each led by Ambassadors.

 

UNITAR

And this is the second week of training for the PGA Fellows, by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

They will join our teams next week.

 

QUESTIONS

There were no question for the Spokesperson.