Ms Maria Espinosa, the President
of the 73rd UN General Assembly, on Monday handed over to Nigeria’s
Muhammad-Bande, who will lead the 74th session of the assembly in the next one
year.
The ceremony, held inside the
General Assembly Hall of the UN headquarters in New York, marked the end of the
73rd session .
The 74th session will formally
begin on Tuesday with the inauguration of Muhammad-Bande, who is the Permanent
Representative of Nigeria to the UN.
The handover ceremony was
witnessed by top officials of the UN led by the Secretary-General, Antonio
Guterres.
Nigerian officials, including a
presidential team, comprising the Director-General, National Intelligence
Agency (NIA), Mr Ahmed Abubakar, and presidential spokesman, Mr Garba Shehu,
also witnessed the ceremony, NAN reports
In a short address, Guterres
lauded Espinosa for her strong leadership, describing her as a “champion for
multilateralism”, who made the UN “relevant to all”.
“I commend her ambitious
priorities for this session, which addressed crucial matters of international
impact and concern.
“These include gender equality,
migration and refugees, decent work for all, environmental protection, the
rights of people with disabilities, promoting the voices of young people to
advance peace and security, and revitalising the work of the United Nations.
“The commitment of Espinosa to
the environment especially ending plastic pollution also stands out,” he said.
The UN chief said he looked
forward to working with Muhammad-Bande to advance the organisation’s mission of
building more peaceful and prosperous world.
Earlier in a valedictory press
conference, Espinosa said she was satisfied with her achievements within her
one-year tenure.
She said her practice of formally
reporting back to member states every three months, was very useful, especially
for the smaller missions that could cover all the agenda items.
Espinosa said during the 73rd
Session, no fewer than 341 resolutions were adopted, making it the highest
number in several years.
She reiterated her call on member
states to “read the resolutions we have adopted again and let´s deliver and
implement them using this norm-setting power of the General Assembly”, she
said.
Espinosa is the fourth woman to
hold the office of the President of the General Assembly.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com