Informal meeting on UN80 Initiative & other topics - PGA Spokesperson Briefing

Good afternoon everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. First, on Pakistan and India, the President of the UN General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang, is deeply concerned by the escalation of violence between India and Pakistan. He extends his sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and stresses that the targeting of civilians is unacceptable and cannot be justified under any circumstances. He calls on both parties to exercise maximum restraint and to resolve this dispute through diplomatic means.

Now on the 2025 ECOSOC forum on Finance and for Development, which took place yesterday. The opening took place yesterday. At the opening of the forum, the President said that this year's forum plays a pivotal role in Preparing for the 4th International Conference on Finance and for Development. He stressed that adoption of the Pact for the Future last September was a recognition of the structural impediments to fixing financing. This transformative step boosted calls to reform the global financial system, expand international trade and reduce inequalities, particularly in developing countries.

The responsibility, he says, is now on us to deliver on these reforms. Meetings happening at the General assembly this Week Today, a plenary meeting of the General assembly to pay tribute to the memory of His Holiness Pope Francis will be held at 3pm in the general Assembly Hall. There is also an address by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Paraguay, His Excellency Santiago Pena, taking place right now in the General Assembly Hall. Other Meetings this week Ahead of the high level meeting in September 2025 on the prevention and control of non communicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well being, there will be an interactive multi stakeholder hearing on 2 May in the Trusteeship Council starting at 10am to note yesterday, informal consultations took place. There will also be intergovernmental consultations on the independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intellig and the Global Dialogue on Artificial Governance.

On the same vein, with regard to meetings next week, a special solemn meeting in commemoration of all victims of the Second World War takes place on 7 May in the General Assembly hall at 10am A joint informal interactive dialogue of the General assembly and the Security Council with the Peace Building Commission on the 2025 Review of the Peace Building Architecture takes place on the 8th of May at 10:00am in Conference Room 2. Now, in terms of there's an interesting fact. By the late 2000s the global population age 65 years or older is projected to reach 2.2 billion, surpassing the number of children under age 18. There will be a high level meeting on 8 May to exchange views and share experiences and the recommendations included in decision 141 of the Open ended Working Group on Aging. This decision addresses the identification of gaps in the protection of the human rights of older persons and proposes measures to address them.

This meeting will take place in Conference Room 4 at 3pm the presentation at first informal at ambassadorial level of the zero draft of the political Declaration to be adopted at the World Social Summits or officially called the Second World Summit for Social Development will take place on 9 May at 10am the co facilitators of the political Declaration are the Permanent representative of Morocco, His Excellency Mr. Omar Hilali and the Permanent Representative of Belgium, Her Excellency Ms. Sophie de Smet. With regard now to UN80 initiative, there will be an informal meeting of the General assembly to hear briefing from the Secretary General on the UN 80 initiative on 12 May in the Trusteeship Council starting at 11am with regard to a bilateral meeting, the President met with Her Excellency Ms. Annalena Baerbock, Germany's candidate for President of the General assembly at its 80th session on 24 May sorry of April during which they discussed the important role of the General assembly, the Pact for the future and its implementation, as well as the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. An announcement on co facilitators the President has appointed His Excellency Ekitela, Local Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the UN and Her Excellency Miswela Janino, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Albania to the UN as co facilitators to lead an intergovernmental process resulting in an intergovernmentally agreed outcome document for adoption at a high level meeting of the General assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society. The President extends his appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Locale and His Excellency Mr. Ritas Paula Lauskas, Permanent Representative Lithuania to the UN for their efforts in organizing the intergovernmental consultations that led to the consensual adoption of the Modalities Resolution. And that is it from my side.

Are there any questions on the floor? Hi, good afternoon.

Abdul Hamid Sayyam from the Arabic daily Al Khutzel. Arabic did the new President of the GAAT go through the same procedure like the last few years where there were more than one candidate and they sit for question and answer and then the General assembly decides who will be the new President?

So this is the only candidate we have from this regional group, the Western European group. And what is happening is that there will be an informal dialogue on 15 May, where she will present her vision statement and there will be questions posed to her that she will answer then. But there is no other candidate.

There is no other candidate for the President or General assembly at the 80th session. Thank you. No problem. Are there any other questions on the floor or online?

Okay, everyone. I wish everyone a great afternoon. Thank you.