D. Mironchik participates in the 39th session of the UN Committee on Information
28.04.2017The thirty-ninth session of the UN Committee on Information is held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The delegation of Belarus at the session was headed by Dmitry Mironchik, Director of the Information Directorate, Spokesman of the Belarusian Ministry Foreign Affairs.
The Committee on Information is the UN body that deals with public information issues and oversees the work of the UN Department of Public Information, and formulates policies, defines programs and activities for its leadership.
In his statement (text — in Russian, video), the Belarusian diplomat highly appreciated the cooperation of Belarus with the UN in the information field, as well as the practice of publishing by the UN of a number of its materials in the Belarusian language. This aspect, in the context of Belarus' efforts to preserve and develop multilingualism in the UN system, will expand the audience, strengthen the UN image and make the organization closer and more understandable for the citizens of Belarus.
D. Mironchik also made a number of proposals to improve the work of the Department of Public Information in terms of greater linkage to the region and language, as well as ensuring adequate representation of UN information in social networks in all official languages of the organization.
On the margins of the session of the Committee, D. Mironchik held a bilateral meeting with M. Nasser, who acts as the UN Under-Secretary General for Public Information. The sides discussed the cooperation between Belarus and the UN in the field of information and agreed to hold new joint information campaigns and exchange of experience in the field of digital diplomacy.
D. Mironchik also held meetings in the information services of the United Nations and UNDP, during which the participants exchanged experience of working in the social media, and also discussed coverage of events relevant for Belarus at the UN sites.
The head of the Belarusian press service gave an interview (first part, second part, in Russian) to the UN Radio, where on the eve of the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and the first in the history of the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Disaster answered questions about cooperation in overcoming the consequences of this tragedy. In the interview, D. Mironchik also spoke about the priorities of Belarus in information activities in cooperation with the UN, as well as on the implementation of a project in Belarus for the construction of a nuclear power plant.
During a meeting with the head of the New York Foreign Press Center of the US State Department, a number of practical issues of interaction with the media were discussed, including during the period of election campaigns and taking into account the relevant OSCE recommendations.
