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Transcript\u00a0of the Press Briefing by the Spokesperson of the President of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly<\/strong><\/p>\n \n (4 March 2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n \n The following is a near-verbatim\u00a0transcript\u00a0of today\u2019s briefing\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Good afternoon, everyone,\u00a0<\/p>\n Ceasefire agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n The President of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly Philemon Yang is monitoring what is happening in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He calls on all parties to fully respect and implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement. This includes the unhindered entry of humanitarian assistance to and throughout the Gaza Strip and its delivery to all Palestinian civilians who need it. He also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Liquidity crisis\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The President also shared with Member States last week a letter on the restrictive measures to be taken because of the liquidity crisis at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ. The President has stated that these measures will deeply impact the work of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and calls on Member States to fulfill their financial obligations in full and on time, including the payment of arrears.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Advisory Board on Gender Equality\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Yesterday there was the first meeting of the Advisory Board on Gender Equality under the theme \u201cAccelerating the achievement of women’s economic rights and empowerment: recommendations and promising practices to address the barriers\u201d.\u00a0 President Yang, in his opening remarks, said that he intends to rally political support for multilateral cooperation and action, bringing governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and others \u2013 to call for more resources, to scale up best practices and to reach more women.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment is one of the priorities of the President\u00a0<\/p>\n Early this year he re-established the Advisory Board on Gender Equality as an informal mechanism to help mainstream a gender perspective across his priorities and the work of the General Assembly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Address of the President of Poland to the General Assembly<\/strong><\/p>\n There is an informal plenary meeting taking place now in the General Assembly Hall to hear an address by Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland. We do not have details on what his address will focus on.\u00a0 You can follow online on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ WebTV<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Informal briefing on\u00a0COP30\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Tomorrow, 5 March, there will be an informal briefing on the priorities and the preparations for the 2025 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Climate Change Conference (COP30) by the President-designate of COP30 Ambassador Andre Aranha Correa do Lago.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Plenary meeting \u201cUse of Veto\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me also say in addition to the meetings I had shared previously for this week, the President has now convened a plenary meeting of the General Assembly \u201cUse of the veto\u201d on Thursday 6 March at 10 am.\u00a0 This follows the use of the veto at the Security Council meeting held on 24 February under the agenda item \u201cMaintenance of peace and security of Ukraine\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0In terms of meetings next week\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Meeting on small arms and light weapons<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, to flag that a joint meeting of the General Assembly and ECOSOC \u2013 in cooperation with the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Office for Disarmament Affairs \u2013 takes place on Monday 17 March on small arms and light weapons control for preventing violence and advancing sustainable development. This is one of the President\u2019s signature events and we will provide more details shortly.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n Question:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you, Sharon, my question is about Security Council reform. Does this President, has he seen any sign of progress in the latest round which concluded yesterday and if not, does he plan to do anything different?<\/p>\n Response<\/strong>: So thanks for your question. As you know, the co-facilitators have been arranging these meetings on Security Council reform. The last one last week was on working methods. At this point, there’s not much to say, because there will be other meetings coming up. But what we can say – \u00a0again – is that the President is encouraged by the discussions that are taking place. Of course, you know it is a Member-State driven process. So we will keep you updated on what is happening with regard to these discussions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Question<\/strong>:\u00a0Has the President commented on the closure of aid routes into Gaza?<\/p>\n Response<\/strong>: Yes, as I stated at the beginning of the briefing, he has called for all parties to respect the terms of the ceasefire agreement and this includes, as well, unhindered access in terms of humanitarian aid to all those who are in need. So he has made that call. He has reiterated his call again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Media Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n Sharon Birch, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, Tel: +1 212 963 0564, M: +1 646 342 5873, Email: birchs@un.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Mariam Shaikh, Adviser\/ Social and Digital Media\/Media Relations, M: +1 917 3614990, Email: mariam.shaikh@un.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n More Information and Updates\u00a0: Website<\/a><\/strong>: \u00a0YouTube: <\/a><\/strong>\u00a0X (Twitter):<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>: \u00a0LinkedIn: <\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Photo Repository<\/a><\/strong>: Bluesky<\/a><\/strong>; Weekly Highlights<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n