Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
4 August 2022
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Excellencies,
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I welcome all of you to this briefing of the Secretary General regarding the progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the ¡°Our Common Agenda¡± report.
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As I have said in the past, this report lays out a clear outline of the multifaceted challenges facing our world ¨C from the climate crisis to the pandemic, to continuing conflict and poverty.
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If anything, incidents of the last several months have confirmed how urgent and important it is, for us to find comprehensive solutions.
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The OCA Report touches upon different concerns of member states, while providing a comprehensive roadmap for how we, the United Nations, can address them together, while leaving no one behind.
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I once again congratulate the Secretary General, His Excellency, Antonio Guterres for this achievement and for his leadership.??
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We meet today after having successfully concluded the five thematic consultations on the implementation of the OCA.
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Each one of those consultations which saw intensive Member State and multi-stakeholder participation spurred robust discussions on the OCA¡¯s proposals and on the best means of achieving them.
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From my part, in line with the summaries of the consultations, I have appointed co-facilitators for three intergovernmental processes:
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- The establishment of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Youth Office will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representatives of Egypt, His Excellency Osama Mahmoud Abdel Khalek Mahmoud, and by the Permanent Representative of Guyana, Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
- The modalities of the Summit of the Future will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Her Excellency Carolyn Swalger and the Permanent Representative of Oman, His Excellency Dr.?Mohamed Al Hassan;
- the Declaration on Future Generations will be co-facilitated by the Permanent Representatives of the Netherlands, Her Excellency Yoka Brandt, and by the Permanent Representative of Fiji, His Excellency Satyendra Prasad.
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I commend them on taking up these important responsibilities, especially within such a tight time-frame.
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We look forward to hearing from each of the pairs of co-facilitators later today.?
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I also take this opportunity to note that I am also closely working with the SG¡¯s Youth Envoy Office to convene a focused discussion on how we can increase youth engagement in the General Assembly, before the end of my presidency.
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A date for the discussion and the concept note will soon be shared with Member States.
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Dear friends,
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I look forward to the Secretary General¡¯s briefing on the progress on the implementation of the recommendations which fall within his purview.
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Going forward, I hope that these briefings will be a regular occurrence.
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Our discussions will be enriched by the robust and keen engagement of all parties in the follow up process of the OCA report.
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That is how we will best take stock of our successes and identify areas for further cooperation.
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Towards those ends, I encourage a lively discussion by member states today, including during the interactive panel, that will be held in the afternoon.
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Thank you, and I wish you all a very production discussion.