Liberia chairs UN’s 72nd General Assembly

Ahead of the 72nd General Assembly of the United Nations Substantive Session of Committee, Liberia has been named the Chair of that Conference.According to a Foreign Ministry release issued Wednesday, 6 September, the Conference which got off to a successful start on Tuesday, 5 September at the UN Headquarters in New York is being led by Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Lewis Garseedah Brown, II.

Issues expected to be discussed during the conference include, the adoption of the biennial calendar of conferences and meetings of the United Nations for 2018 and 2019. Proposals for unofficial UN holidays and monitoring the implementation of all General Assembly resolutions on the organization and servicing of conferences and meetings are also on the agenda.

The release also says why at the Conference, Committee members will consider practical issues that will ensure that the conference services including documentation, translation and interpretation, work smooth during the 72nd General Assembly and other UN meetings and conferences.

The opening of the conference was addressed by the UN Under Secretary for General Assembly and Conference Management, Catherine Pollard, who presented the Secretary General’s Report on the patterns of Conferences.

The report highlighted the services provided by the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, noting that the Department serviced 35,000 meetings and translated 246 million words in 2016.

Madam Pollard said despite budgetary constraints, the Department is implementing a strategy that strengthens advanced planning and leverages technology to improve
productivity and efficiency at all United Nations duty stations.

The Committee on conferences was established by a General Assembly resolution in 1974 to advise the General Assembly on all matters pertaining to the organization of UN conferences and acts on behalf of the General Assembly in dealing with departures from the approved
calendar of conferences that have administrative and financial implications.

The 21-member committee includes representatives from France, Kenya, Iran, Jamaica, Hungary, and the United States.–Press release