{"id":122472,"date":"2017-09-26T16:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T20:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?p=122472\/"},"modified":"2017-09-28T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T15:19:03","slug":"luncheon-of-the-eastern-european-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/09\/26\/luncheon-of-the-eastern-european-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Luncheon of the Eastern European Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Luncheon of the Eastern European Group<\/h1>\n
\n

26 September 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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– As delivered –<\/em><\/h4>\n

Statement by H.E. Mr. Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k, President of the 72nd<\/sup> Session of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly, at the Luncheon of the Eastern European Group<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,<\/p>\n

The last time we saw each other, like this, was at the beginning of May. At that meeting, hosted by Poland, I presented my vision as the Eastern European Group (EEG)-endorsed candidate for the President of the General Assembly (PGA) position. I am grateful for the support shown by EEG Member States for my election, and during the period I spent as the President-elect. It is an honor to stand before you, now, as the President of the General Assembly. I greatly appreciate the continued support of the EEG since assuming this position, and I look forward to our cooperation in the year ahead.<\/p>\n

The General Debate is now over. But the hard \u2013 and substantive work \u2013 is still ahead of us. I want to briefly touch upon the experience of the past week. \u00a0 In summary, for the first time since the 61st session that we had all Member States and all Observers taking the floor (196 statements). We had 77 Heads of State, 37 Heads of Government, we had 60 Ministers, and the rest were Vice-Presidents, Deputy Prime Ministers and so on. I was personally chairing some 20 hours of the General Debate. For the rest, I had members of my team in the room who were reporting immediately and directly to me. So I basically was familiar with all the statements.<\/p>\n

Apart from that, I had close to 60 bilateral meetings and I had almost 30 speaking opportunities at different side events. The topics that were mentioned most frequently by the leaders from the podium: sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, nuclear weapons and here the reference was made to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in particular. The issue of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ reform was mentioned by many speakers and then also the issue of migration. These were probably the most frequent topics, most commonly mentioned by the speakers.<\/p>\n

As expected, pressing global political and security developments acted in the General Debate. Almost all world leaders recognized the dangers related to the escalation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Similar concerns were raised during my bilateral discussions. I met with DPRK on Saturday, after receiving his request earlier that morning. And I considered it my duty to convey these concerns directly to him.<\/p>\n

I also met the President of the host country, with whom I had a fruitful discussion. President Trump spoke in favor of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ reform and a strong United Nations. I have also highlighted the importance of United Nations and its relevance when it comes to addressing global problems and global challenges. I have mentioned migration as an example of both a global challenge and a task ahead of us.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.0.69″ author=”MIROSLAV LAJ\u010c\u00c1K” portrait_url=”http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/51\/2017\/08\/PGA72-small.jpg” url_new_window=”off” quote_icon=”on” use_background_color=”on” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid” job_title=”President of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly” quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

The General Debate is now over. But the hard \u2013 and substantive work \u2013 is still ahead of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In my closing statement yesterday, I recalled the response of the wider membership to my priorities. Although I don\u2019t want to repeat myself, let me reiterate the overwhelming support to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u2019s role in:<\/p>\n