HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

THURSDAY, 9 JUNE 2022

SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS  
The Secretary-General is in Los Angeles, where he will attend the Leaders’ Plenary and Leaders’ Dinner at the Summit of the Americas.  He expects to meet with some of the senior officials attending the summit. 
He will be back here in New York tomorrow. 
 
DSG TRAVELS  
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, started a visit to Kazakhstan, and she met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The meeting covered a range of issues, including the Government’s approach to make all state institutions people-centred, Kazakhstan’s Voluntary National Review for 2022 and plans to operationalize a commitment to decarbonisation by 2060. 
The Deputy Secretary-General also met with Deputy Foreign Minister Akan Rakhmetullin, and then later met with several civil society organisations under the Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme.  
The Deputy Secretary-General visited Uzbekistan yesterday where in the capital, Tashkent, she was received by the President.  
They discussed a wide range of issues, including implementation and financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, regional stability, climate change and adaptation, mitigation of the consequences of the ongoing Aral Sea crisis, as well as human rights and gender equality.   
During her one-day visit, the Deputy Secretary-General also had meetings with women leaders, the Chairperson of the Senate, young leaders and our UN colleagues. 

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT 
The Secretary-General is appointing Rabab Fatima of Bangladesh as the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. She succeeds Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica who is now the Chef de Cabinet for the Secretary-General.  
The Secretary-General wishes to extend his appreciation and gratitude also to Heidi Schroderus-Fox of Finland, who is the Deputy High Representative and Director of the office, for her dedication and commitment during the interim period when she was Acting High Representative. 
Ms. Fatima brings to the position more than 30 years of experience in national and international Civil Service. She is currently the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations.

MYANMAR 
In Myanmar, the acting Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, said today that the UN team on the ground is deeply saddened by the death of Myo Min Htut, who had been working for the World Health Organization as a driver for nearly five years.   
The UN sends heartfelt condolences to his family.  
In a statement, the acting Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator appealed to all parties and stakeholders to respect the neutrality of the UN and Humanitarians.  He said we expect an impartial investigation into the incident and for the perpetrators to be held accountable.  
Mr. Balakrishnan said during these difficult times, the UN team continues to stay and deliver essential humanitarian and development support for the people of Myanmar. 

SOUTH SUDAN 
In South Sudan, the UN peacekeeping Mission facilitated a Women’s Leadership Forum that took place this week in Western Bahr El Ghazal. Fifty-seven women parliamentarians took part in the forum to promote the role of women in peace and political processes in South Sudan. Several of them highlighted the impact of women’s efforts in achieving stability across the state and underscored the need for opportunities at the national level for women to lend their voices to the peace process. 
Elsewhere in the country, in Malakal, which is in Upper Nile State, the UN Mission provided training on child protection to 30 officers from the South Sudanese defense forces, as well as security forces. The training focused on ending and preventing grave violations against boys and girls, as well as conflict-related sexual violence.   
Ending these grave offences is one of the key aspects of the 2018 Revitalized peace agreement for South Sudan.  

FOOD OUTLOOK REPORT 
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization today released its latest Food Outlook report. It shows that the global food import bill is on course to hit a new record of $1.8 trillion this year, but higher prices and transportation costs rather than volumes account for the bulk of the expected increase. According to the FAO, the global food import bill is projected to rise by $51 billion from 2021, of which $49 billion reflects higher prices.  
The report notes that the Least Developed Countries are anticipated to undergo a five per cent contraction in their food import bills this year. FAO has proposed a Food Import Financing Facility to provide balance-of-payment support for the low-income countries most reliant on food imports as a strategy to safeguard their food security.  

WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2022 
The World Investment Report 2022 was released today by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.  It shows that flows of foreign direct investment recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, hitting $1.58 trillion – a 64 per cent increase compared with 2020. But the report warns that the prospects for this year are grimmer. 
UNCTAD notes that this year, business and investment climates have changed dramatically as the war in Ukraine has resulted in a triple crisis of high food, high fuel prices and tighter financing. Other factors clouding the foreign direct investment horizon include renewed pandemic impacts, the likelihood of more interest rate [rises] in major economies, negative sentiment in financial markets and a potential recession. 
The report stresses that to cope with an environment of uncertainty and risk aversion, developing countries must get significant help from the international community. 

BRIEFING TOMORROW 
Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., there will be a hybrid briefing here by the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN, Ambassador Mathu Joyini, on preparations for the 6th Annual Peacekeeping Partnership Symposium scheduled for 21 -25 June, in Pretoria, in the Republic of South Africa.  

GUEST TODAY
Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, the Resident Coordinator for the UN system in Sri Lanka, briefed reporters about a new humanitarian plan launched today, which calls for nearly $50 million to help more than 1.7 million men, women and children impacted by the country’s worst economic crisis since independence.