About visit of Deputy Foreign Minsiter A.Dapkiunas to the United Nations Headquarters
29.01.2018At the United Nations Headquarters the 56th session of the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) started its work on January 29, 2018. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Dapkiunas headed the Belarusian delegation at the current CSocD session.
UN Commission for Social Development deals with the issues of poverty and social inequality reduction, as well as promotion of international policy in social justice for the most vulnerable people (low-income population, women. Children, people with disabilities, youth and aging people). Belarus is elected to CSocD for the term 2016-2020. The 56th session of CSocD will continue its work until February 7, 2018.
During his visit to New York, Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus
Andrei Dapkiunas held a meeting with Amina J. Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
The meeting took place in the run-up of the visit of A. Mohammed to Belarus to participate in the Regional Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Coordination Forum, to be held in Minsk on February
21-22, 2018.
The interlocutors agreed that the forthcoming forum will allow participants from the Europe and CIS to better understand common problems in the implementation of SDGs and will make an important contribution to global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The UN Deputy Secretary-General commended the activities of Belarus in achieving the SDGs, noting particularly the involvement of all stakeholders in this work. A. Mohammed assured that the UN would actively support this process.
The sides also touched upon the issue of middle-income countries in the context of importance of these countries for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Dapkunas also had a meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov.
The Sides exchanged views on the current situation and new challenges in the fight against terrorism.
The Belarusian diplomat informed V. Voronkov on Belarusian initiatives in combating terrorism within the framework of international organisations. He invited him to take part in an OSCE event on combating cyberterrorism slated for October 2018 in Belarus.
The head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office reported on the process of establishment of the OCT, as well as on the near-term plans, including the holding of the first in the history of the UN summit of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of the UN Member States in June 2018.
The new Counter-Terrorism Office was established as part of the UN Secretariat in 2017, in what became one of the elements of the reform of the UN Secretariat initiated by UN Secretary-General A. Guterres. Under-Secretary-General V. Voronkov leads the OCT, and also serves as the Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force and the Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Center.
V.Voronkov highly appreciated the efforts of Belarus in the field of combating terrorism and also expressed readiness for further cooperation, including convening joint events to combat terrorism in cyberspace.
