South-South Cooperation Conference & Other Topics - Daily Briefing (14 March 2019)

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Daily Briefing Highlights:
- Secretary-General's Travel
- Secretary-General Trip
- Deputy Secretary-General
- Appointment
- Syria
- Lebanon
- Mozambique and Malawi
- Nigeria, Brazil
- Honour Roll
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Secretary-General will travel to Buenos Aires, in Argentina, to attend the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation and that will take place on 20 March.
The Secretary-General will deliver remarks at the Conference, which will focus on the theme of ‘Role of South-South cooperation and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: challenges and opportunities.’
The Conference will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1978 United Nations Conference on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries, which was also held in Buenos Aires.
The Secretary-General strongly believes in the importance of South-South Cooperation to generate both new ideas and concrete projects and also as a means to enable voices from the Global South to drive innovation and promote development.
While in the Argentine capital, the Secretary-General is also expected to meet with the country’s President, Mauricio Macri. The Secretary-General is expected to be back in New York on 22nd March.

SG TRIP
The Secretary-General is continuing his meetings with US officials in Washington D.C., this time focusing on Capitol Hill.
He had an early meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he will also meet with other legislators from both parties throughout the day before heading back to New York later tonight.
With all his interlocutors he discussed a wide range of issues.
Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Among other things they discussed the need for strong cooperation between the United States and the United Nations and addressed several issues of concern, such as Yemen and Venezuela. The Secretary General also provided the status update on the ongoing UN reform efforts and encouraged continuing United States engagement with the United Nations.

DSG
The Deputy Secretary-General is in Nairobi and she spoke this morning at the UN Environment Assembly. She first expressed her condolences to the relatives of those who lost their lives in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. She noted that many of the UN staff who were on the flight were heading for the Assembly to pursue their life’s work: to ensure we can live in a safe and sustainable planet. She went on to say that we can and must honor their lives by taking their work forward and bring it to light.
Ms. Mohammed said it’s time to turn the tide toward ambitious policies that enable strong economies and protect our health and our planet. She also commended the innovative solutions that were being showcased to tackle climate change, stop biodiversity loss and make our consumption patterns more sustainable.
“Inspiring actions by civil society, governments at all levels and corporations show us that we can in fact achieve greater economic benefits from innovative approaches to how we eat, purchase, travel, and discard waste,” she said. She warned that we need greater ambition and speed. Ms. Mohammed also spoke at the One Planet Summit.
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