{"id":142989,"date":"2018-03-14T19:02:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T23:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?p=142989"},"modified":"2018-06-18T18:54:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T22:54:34","slug":"highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-14-march-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/14\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-14-march-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 14 March 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243;][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.87&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h1><strong>HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>SPOKESPERSON FOR <\/strong><strong>GENERAL ASSEMBLY <\/strong><strong>PRESIDENT <\/strong><strong>MIROSLAV LAJ\u010c\u00c1K <\/strong><\/h1>\n<div class=\"post-meta vcard\">\n<p><strong>United Nations Headquarters, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span class=\"updated\">14 March 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.87&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT APPOINTS CO-FACILITATORS FOR PEACEBULIDING RESOLUTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The President has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/51\/2018\/03\/HLM-Sustaining-Peace-13-March.pdf\">appointed<\/a> the Permanent Representatives of Bangladesh and Lithuania as co-facilitators to lead consultations on a draft resolution to be adopted during the High-level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace. The President will convene that meeting on 24 and 25 April.<\/li>\n<li>In keeping with his commitment to gender balance, the President appointed one woman and one man. He met with them both of them this morning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PREPARATIONS Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDERWAY FOR NON-COMMÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵICABLE DISEASES MEETING<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Today Member States are holding their second round of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/51\/2018\/03\/NCD-12-March.pdf\">consultations<\/a> on the comprehensive review of progress achieved in preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.<\/li>\n<li>This is in advance of an envisioned meeting on this topic that would be held in September in New York.<\/li>\n<li>The preparatory discussions that will be held today will focus on such topics as dates, participation and themes for discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT TO HEAD TO SOUTH AMERICA TOMORROW<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Spokesperson reminded journalists that the President would be heading to Colombia and Brazil tomorrow morning and return to the office on Tuesday 20 March.<\/li>\n<li>More information on that trip was <a href=\"\/pga\/72?p=142893\">available online<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>VENEZUELA: ANY ASSEMBLY ACTION ON ELECTORAL OBSERVATION WOULD REQUIRE INITIATIVE FROM MEMBER STATES<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In response to questions, the Spokesperson said that, regarding the matter of an electoral observation mission in Venezuela, there had been a verbal request from the Venezuelan Government to the President during a meeting. The President\u2019s office had looked into that request.<\/li>\n<li>Yesterday the President\u2019s office had informed the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations that it had determined that the requested electoral observation mission was currently a matter for the Secretariat \u2013 as demonstrated by yesterday\u2019s meeting between Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and a Venezuelan delegation.<\/li>\n<li>Any further action by the General Assembly would require an initiative from Member States.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS ARE IMPORTANT EXPRESSIONS OF POLITICAL WILL<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Asked about the nature and value of General Assembly resolutions, the Spokesperson stressed that they were significant and \u201cimportant expressions of political will by the Member States\u201d. As the head of the organ, the President stood behind such resolutions.<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson added, \u201cWhenever you have the chief deliberative body of the United Nations, which now involves 193 Member States, speaking on a matter, that is something very important that the world should pay attention to, and it is up to Member States to take on these recommendations.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In response to a further question, the Spokesperson affirmed that the President respected the sovereignty of Member States.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT APPOINTED ACTING OFFICIAL TO MANAGE SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTRY<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Asked about a media story that said the President had \u201csent state secretary Igor Kor\u010dok\u201d to replace him in a Slovak Government Cabinet meeting, the Spokesperson explained that the President still held the position of Foreign Minister of Slovakia.<\/li>\n<li>However, because the General Assembly was his primary focus, he had appointed Mr. Kor\u010dok as his Acting Foreign Minister in Bratislava.<\/li>\n<li>Kor\u010dok\u2019s role was to manage the day-to-day business of the Slovak Foreign Ministry. In that regard, Mr. Kor\u010dok had attended the Cabinet meeting in question as per normal practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;BrightCove Video ShortCode&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.6&#8243;]\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe width=\"&quot;100%&quot;\" height=\"&quot;180&quot;\" src scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n&lt;!&#8211; [et_pb_line_break_holder] &#8211;&gt;[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson Brenden Varma \u2013 14 March 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spokespersons-briefings","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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