NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
United Nations Headquarters, New York
OUR COMMON AGENDA
Today is the second day of the second thematic consultation on Our Common Agenda.
The theme is sustainable financing and building trust.
The morning session is moderated by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Mahmoud Mohieldin.
The panelists include
- Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
- Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Cristina Duarte, Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Africa to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General
- Haoliang Xu, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Assistant Secretary-General, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support
This afternoon session will focus on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ partners. It will be moderated by Elizabeth Cousens, the President and CEO of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Foundation.
Volker Turk, the Under-Secretary-General for Policy, will give today¡¯s closing remarks.
I will include the full schedule with today¡¯s briefing note.
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TENDAI MTAWARIRA
Happening shortly, President Shahid will meet with Tendai Mtawarira. If that name doesn¡¯t ring any bells than perhaps his nickname will ¨C ¡°The Beast.¡± He is a Zimbabwean-born South African professional rugby union player, who played for the Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby, and previously for the South African national team and the Sharks in Super Rugby.
For the past decade, Tendai has been involved in community work, and he is working on projects with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF.
While he is in New York, he will be visiting Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF House.
In addition, today, he is meeting with President Shahid. The meeting is an informal meet and greet to discuss the pandemic and COVID recovery.
Tendai is giving support to the President¡¯s vaccines-event, which will be held on 25 February, and has spoken about the need for equitable vaccine access.
They are also expected to discuss youth initiatives and sports. The Beast Foundation is active in education and sports projects. This overlaps with President Shahid¡¯s priorities ¨C which includes empowering young people and creating opportunities for them to excel.
We expect to have images from the meeting on social media.
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PEACEKEEPING
President Abdulla Shahid spoke yesterday to the annual debate of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations or the C34.
The President praised Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Peacekeeping operations as ¡°one of the global community¡¯s most effective tools in the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security.¡±
In his statement, he welcomed the significant progress that has been made to reduce the number of fatalities amongst Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ peacekeepers; to establish robust systems to manage the risks of misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse; and to improve the environmental risk management and performance of Peacekeeping operations.
He welcomed what he described as a ¡°conceptual shift¡± to peacebuilding, noting that it is ¡°one of the most significant outcomes of recent Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ reforms¡±
The President also spoke about gender, which is one of his priorities for the 76th Session of the General Assembly.
President Shahid said he is a strong supporter of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, and of the pledge for gender parity amongst the staff deployed to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ peacekeeping missions.
In March, he will host a Holhuashi Dialogue on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, on the topic of how to enhance women¡¯s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace processes and political solutions.
GA HALL CONSTRUCTION
And a note about construction related to the outside of GA Hall.
Starting tomorrow, construction work will start for the East-side Emergency Ramp of the GA Hall.?That¡¯s the long one that runs parallel to the Rose Garden.
We¡¯re expecting preparation-type work this month. Demolition will start the first week in March.
The noisy work will be scheduled in the off hours, before 8AM and after 6PM.
The project is expected to be completed in early September, before the GA high-level session starts.
QUESTIONS
There were no questions for the Spokesperson.