Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
United Nations Headquarters, New York

OUR COMMON AGENDA

I would like to start today with the report of the Secretary-General entitle Our Common Agenda.

In line with resolution 76/6 of 15 November 2021, the President of the General Assembly would convene five ¡°open, inclusive, informal thematic consultations¡± on Our Common Agenda.

The first of these will be held next week, on 10 and 11 February.

The theme is on accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, leaving no-one behind.

The first day will be a full day for Member States and observers. Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres will also participate.

The second day will feature two moderated panel discussions ¨C one with senior officials from the United Nations system in the morning¡­ and the second, in the afternoon, with relevant partners, including the private sector, youth, academia and civil society representatives.

Both panel discussions will take place in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

The first consultation will be chaired by the Permanent Representative of the State of Kuwait, in his capacity as Vice-President of the General Assembly.

The Vice-President will prepare a summary as an outcome of the consultations. ?

As I said, this will be the first of five consultations in coming weeks. Each will have a final summary report.

I will update you regularly on this issue.

OLYMPICS

Tuning to the Olympic Games¡­ President Abdulla Shahid arrived today in Beijing.

He was greeted at the airport by the Deputy Foreign Minister of China.

The President flew on the same flight from Seoul, as Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres and WHO¡¯s Dr. Tedros. Before you ask, I don¡¯t know what was discussed.

It¡¯s after midnight now in Beijing. President Shahid¡¯s program will start tomorrow morning local time, when he will travel to the Olympic Forest Park for the torch relay.

The President is in Beijing at the invitation of the International Olympic Committee.

SINGAPORE

?And following his visit to the Olympic Games, President Shahid will continue to Singapore, at the invitation of the Government.

A focus of the visit will be on sustainable urban development.

The President will meet with senior Government officials, as well as young women leaders who are taking part in sustainability initiatives.

He will also visiy the Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development, which is a joint initiative by the Government of Singapore and the United Nations Development Programme (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP)

The President will be in Singapore on 6^th and 7^th February. He will then return to New York. And you have a media advisory with more details.

QUESTIONS

The Spokesperson was asked for a comment ahead of the 60^th anniversary of the US embargo against Cuba.