NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR?GENERAL ASSEMBLY?PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
G77 Handover
President Abdulla Shahid today spoke to the G77 handover ceremony.
He commended Guinea for its “able leadership” of the Group, and extended his congratulations and full support to Pakistan, as the incoming Chair.
He said that G77 and China is “the largest and most diverse group at the United Nations” and noted that it has a keen role to offer solutions to pressing global challenges.
He noted the key role that G77 could play in leading debate and discourse on those includes on access to vaccines, unlocking climate finance, mitigating debt burdens by debt restructuring, and financing a resilient recovery.
That last area includes at-risk sectors such as tourism. The year 2020 saw a loss of 2.4 Trillion dollars in international tourism and related sectors, because of the steep drop in international tourist arrivals. That’s according to the World Tourism Organization.
President Shahid noted that this is catastrophic for countries that are heavily reliant on tourism, including small islands.
The President delivered the remarks by pre-recorded video message.
Schedule
And looking to next week, a reminder of the upcoming events.
On Wednesday, President Shahid will brief Member States in an informal plenary on his priorities for the resumed part of the 76th session.
On Thursday morning, the General Assembly will holds it 55th plenary meeting. There are two items on the agenda – culture of peace, and before that, sport for development and peace. This item includes the President’s solemn appeal.
On Thursday afternoon, there will be a joint briefing in the General Assembly by President Shahid and the President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Collen Vixen Kelapile.
Friday morning, the Secretary-General will brief on his priorities for the 2022 year. President Shahid will preside over the meeting.
Questions
There were no questions on-camera for the Spokesperson.