NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS
Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Monday, 13 February 2023
IPU
The President of the General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi today opened the 2023 Annual Parliamentary Hearing.
The focus of this year’s discussion is on water, in connection with the UN Water Conference in March.
The President asked the Parliamentarians to support the work being done on water and sustainability, and the game changers – such as a global water information system – to take it back to your constituents.
Back in December, the General Assembly had passed a resolution recognizing the role of Parliamentarians in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Quote “You are the ones that can fully reach our goals at the level that matters: the level that will impact real people.”
You have the full remarks in your inboxes and online: https://www.un.org/pga/77/2023/02/13/pga-remarks-to-2023-annual-parliamentary-hearing/
At the start of the briefing, participants held a moment of silence for the victims – including the Parliamentarians killed in Türkiye and Syria, as well as for Mursal Nabizada a former female member of Afghanistan’s Parliament, who had taken part in last year’s event, and who was killed in Kabul last month.
In connection with today’s event, the President met with IPU President Duarte Pacheco and he will be meeting with some of the representatives of Parliaments this afternoon, including Madame Puan Maharani, the Speaker of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, which will be in the context World Water Forum that will be held in 2024, and a delegation from Hungary – among others.
OCA BRIEFING
This afternoon, at 3PM in the GA Hall… The President will open a briefing by the Secretary-General on Our Common Agenda.
The President will point to some upcoming events and how they tie in with the Our Common Agenda.
He is expected to reiterate his call for Member States to take transformative actions.
Those remarks will be given in Arabic, English, French and Russian.
BILATERALS
Turning to bilaterals.
The President will today meet with Vice-President of Uruguay, Mrs. Beatriz Argimón.
He also will see the USG for the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Ms. Rabab Fatima.
The President has a bilateral today with Danilo Türk, the President of Club de Madrid.
As well as with Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Sweden, who will brief on behalf of the High-level Advisory board on Effective Multilateralism.
EMERGENCY SPECIAL SESSION
To read into record what I shared by email on Friday…
The 11th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly will resume on Wednesday, 22 February, at 3PM ET. The resumption of the ESS comes after a request was made on 10 February, from the Permanent Representatives of Albania, Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Japan, the Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Korea, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the Head of the EU Delegation on behalf of 27 members.
SECURITY COUNCIL
And tomorrow, at 10AM there will be a Security Council High Level Open Debate on “Sea-Level Rise: Implications for international peace and security”.
President Kőrösi will brief at that debate.
I will share his remarks under embargo today.
QUESTIONS
The Spokesperson was asked for any details on the resolution reported in the media, which will be taken up for action next week. The Spokesperson said that she had no details. Drafts are submitted to the Secretariat.
The Spokesperson was asked when the draft would be taken up for action. The Spokesperson said that this is up to Member States. The Emergency Special Session will start on Wednesday, and there is a Security Council planned for Friday – so any action could be taken within that timeframe.
The Spokesperson was asked about who would participate and a List of Speakers. The Spokesperson responded that a List of Speakers would be available on Wednesday.
