Transcript of the Press Briefing by the Spokesperson of the President of the UN General Assembly
(18 March 2025)
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing
Good afternoon, everyone
I hope everyone is doing well
One of the President of the General Assembly’s Signature events
As we have said before, combating the illicit use of small arms and light weapons is one of the priorities of the President of the General Assembly Philemon Yang. Yesterday, a joint informal meeting of President Yang and the President of ECOSOC Bob Rae, in collaboration with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, focused on the impact of the illicit flow and misuse of small arms and light weapons on sustainable development. The President stated that we must ensure that small arms and light weapons control is integrated into development, violence prevention, and human rights protection. He added that an inclusive approach is fundamental.
Also, this week, on Friday 21 March, there will be a commemorative meeting at 10 am in the General Assembly Hall to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The theme is the sixtieth anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racism.
Events taking place next week,
There will be an informal briefing on the priorities of South Africa’s Presidency of the Group of 20 on 24 March at 10 am in the Trusteeship Council.
Intergovernmental consultations on the high-level meeting to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth is also on 24 March.
Informal consultations on the High-Level meeting to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women takes place on 25 March
There will a commemorative meeting on the International Day of Remembrance of the victims of slavery and transatlantic slave trade on 25 March. The theme is ‘Acknowledge the past, repair the present. Build a future of dignity and justice’.
President Yang is organizing a series of informal interactive dialogues to support the implementation of the Pact for the Future. These dialogues are an opportunity for Member States to exchange views, share best practices and ideas as they further implementation efforts and lay the groundwork for the review of the Pact for the Future in 2028. The first informal interactive dialogue takes place on 26 March and will focus on means of implementation.
Some additional updates
There is a request to postpone the Pledging Conference on Development Activities to 2026. The original date was 23 May 2025. The General Assembly will now consider this request on Friday 21 March.
There will be an informal meeting of the General Assembly on 2 April to hear a briefing by Volker Turk, High Commissioner for Human Rights on behalf of the Secretary-General on the subject of Missing Persons.
The President will convene a one-day high-level meeting on Harmony with Nature and Living well during the commemoration of International Mother Earth Day on 22 April. This meeting is intended to reinforce multilateralism through the promotion of sustainable lifestyles and holistic approaches in harmony with nature that contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Two final notes:
The resolution on Scope, modalities, format and organization of the 4th high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being has been adopted. There will be an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing on Friday 2 May as part of the preparatory process for the high-level meeting. [Register here]
The draft resolution on the modalities for the overall review by the General Assembly of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society will be considered for action on 25 March at the General Assembly.
Questions
Question: There are reports that German authorities want to propose the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock in the position of the next President of the General Assembly. Have German authorities contacted you? Are you aware of that?
Response: There has been, in terms of the next President of the General Assembly, there is a candidate that is already in place from Germany. Is that what you are asking?
Yes, her name is Helga Schmid. And we can share the link after in our transcript in terms of where you can get more information on her background.
Update: We have now seen media reports about the nomination of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany. However, we have not received official communication from the German Government.
Media Contacts
Sharon Birch, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, Tel: +1 212 963 0564, M: +1 646 342 5873, Email: birchs@un.org
Dr. Mariam Shaikh, Adviser/ Social and Digital Media/Media Relations, M: +1 917 3614990, Email: mariam.shaikh@un.org
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