Transcript of the Press Briefing by the Spokesperson of the President of the UN General Assembly
(Tuesday 3 June 2025)
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing.
Good afternoon, everyone
Elections at the General Assembly
As you are aware, there is now a President-Elect for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock. Her acceptance speech is on the UN General Assembly’s website.
The President of the UN General Assembly for this session, H.E. Mr. Philemon Yang, in his remarks, stated that the challenges of our time are enormous and her pledge to serve as an honest broker – to listen, to build trust and to foster dialogue across different divides is precisely what this Assembly needs.
There were also elections for the 21 Vice Presidents as well as the officers of the Main Committees. And the first seat at the General Assembly for the 80th session goes to Niger.
Elections at the UN Security Council
With regard to the UN Security Council, the election of the 5 non-permanent members of the Security Council took place this morning earlier. The new members are Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Latvia and Liberia. The five new members elected this year will take up their seats on 1 January 2026 and will serve until 31 December 2027. They replace Algeria, Guyana, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia. The President conveys his congratulations to all those who have been elected.
Election of members of ECOSOC
Tomorrow, there will be the election of new members of the UN Economic and Social Council.
Meetings this week
This afternoon there will be a debate on protracted conflicts in the GUAM area (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) and their implications for international peace, security and development
Informal consultations on the 2025 World Social Summit take place on 4 and 5 June. There were also consultations yesterday.
Informal consultations on the high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being take place on 5 June.
And there will be a debate on the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS on 5 June as well.
Meetings next week
An Informal meeting of the plenary to hear a briefing by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ms. Julie Bishop, takes place on 10 June.
There will also be an informal meeting to hear a briefing by Ms. Karla Quintana, the head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic on 12 June
And then President Yang will hold a High-level debate of the Assembly on “A second chance: addressing the global prison challenge” on 13 June to mark the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules].
Announcements
Travel of the President
The President will be traveling to the UN Ocean Conference which takes place from 9 to 13 June in Nice, France. We will share more details later this week on his engagements there.
Week in History ahead of UN Charter Day
Now lastly, as you know, the signing of the UN Charter 80 years ago was a pivotal moment – a bold commitment to dialogue, diplomacy, and cooperation. As we head towards UN Charter Day on 26 June, we look forward to sharing – a week in History – to spotlight transformative action taken by Member States. This week, the First UN Environment Conference took place on 5-16 June 1972 in Sweden following a resolution adopted by Member States of the General Assembly in 1969. This called for a conference on the relationship between environmental, social and economic issues. This conference was the Stockholm Conference called the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. Following Stockholm, global awareness of environmental issues increased dramatically.
Questions and Answers
Question: Couple of questions. First, yesterday, the election of the 80th PGA, there’s a voting process. As I understand, there should be… like just clap for consensus and to adopt, to elect, the new PGA-elect. So, who requires this vote?
Response: In terms of… a member state can require a vote by secret ballot and that voting process did take place yesterday. We did share the voting results with everyone.
Question: Yes, but is there anyone who asked for that secret ballot?
Response: I don’t have official confirmation. I just know that a vote was requested.
Question: But who initiated this?
Response: That one I would have to follow up on because I just know that a vote was requested.
Question: Okay, couple of other questions. Today, the latest resolution adopted in the GA, World Horse Day. Any response from the PGA about this important world day?
Response: In terms of the adoption of the resolution, you know, obviously in terms of World Horse Day, he always welcomes these resolutions that, you know, just reflect the consensus of the international community. And we all know the contributions that horses make in terms of environment and activities.
Question: Then during all this consensus, there’s one country voted against it, which is USA. What’s the response from the PGA about that?
Response: Member States have a right to vote as they wish on any resolution. It’s, you know, the General Assembly. It’s a member-state driven process.
Question: Spain is circulating a draft resolution regarding the situation in Gaza. Can you tell us when it’s expected to come to a vote in the GA?
Response: That one, I can’t but I can get more information, more details, on that for you.
Question: And the second question, would the President of the GA be meeting with the press before his term is over?
Response: We hope that would happen. I would have again to look at his schedule and what is happening, you know, before the end of his session. I can get back to you on that. So, thanks for that question
