PRESS BRIEFING
BY MONICA GRAYLEY,?
SPOKESPERSON FOR?GENERAL ASSEMBLY?
PRESIDENT DENNIS FRANCIS
United Nations Headquarters, New York
26 September 2023
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Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are well and recovering from all the hard work during the High-Level Week¡ We still have some speakers to go before President Dennis Francis taps the gavel.
PRESIDENT FRANCIS TO DELIVER CLOSING REMARKS AT GENERAL DEBATE
The President of the General Assembly, Mr. Dennis Francis, will deliver closing remarks today to conclude the General Debate at the GA Hall. On the list there are 15 speakers. The meeting was opened by India and the last speaker inscribed is the representative of Morocco, who will precede PGA Francis.
So far, and these are preliminary numbers, the 78th?session had 88 Heads of State and 6 Vice-Presidents. There were at least 42 Heads of Government and 4 Deputy Prime Ministers. The numbers to be confirmed are the ones related to Ministers: 41, Vice-Ministers: 3 and Heads of Delegations: 6.
The number of Heads of State for the current General Debate of 88 is higher than the figures for the 77th?Debate, which received 76 Heads of State.
In this General Debate there were a total of 20 women speakers.
We will make the final figures available to you as soon as we get them. We will also publish them on the PGA¡¯s X social media account, formerly Twitter.
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RISK OF NUCLEAR ANNIHILIATION IS HÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵTING REALITY, PGA SAYS
The General Assembly is holding today the High-Level Meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. According to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, the world has today?more than 12,500 nuclear weapons. In his opening remarks, Mr. Dennis Francis said that:¡°The risk of nuclear annihilation is not a chapter from our past; it is a haunting reality of our present. (¡) There is only one path to avoid nuclear Armageddon: the complete and absolute elimination of nuclear weapons. (¡) PGA Francis firmly believes that ¡°Attaining a world devoid of nuclear weapons stands as the final stride toward the correct political decision ¨C a choice for peace, dialogue, and the well-being of humanity.¡± More on his remarks you can find on the PGA¡¯s website:?
PGA TO PRESIDE OVER INFORMAL GA MEETING ON PAKISTAN TOMORROW
Tomorrow,?27 September, the General Assembly will hold an informal meeting on solidarity with Pakistan following devastating floods, last year, with the participation of Secretary-General,?Ant¨®nio Guterres; Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP); Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children¡¯s Fund (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF); and Ms. Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.?
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The meeting will take place on Wednesday at?3.00 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber as established in GA resolution 77/1 entitled ¡°Solidarity with and support for the Government and people of Pakistan and strengthening of emergency relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and prevention in the wake of the recent devastating floods. Delegations wishing to speak will be requested to press the microphone button and proceed with their respective statements.
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PGA WILL HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AT 11 AM ON 28 SEPTEMBER
President Dennis Francis will speak to you in this Media Briefing Room on Thursday at 11 AM. He will answer your questions on the conclusion of the High-Level Week and on his priorities for the 78th?Session. The PGA will speak for 5 minutes at the opening and hand over to you for your questions.
This is all for today. Do you have anything else?
END
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