World Environment Day & other topics - Daily Briefing (4 June 2019)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Daily Press Briefing:
- Secretary-General's Remarks,
- Secretary-General's Travels,
- Deputy Secretary-General's Travels,
- Madagascar,
- Libya,
- World Environment Day
SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REMARKS
This morning, at the General Assembly, the Secretary-General congratulated Professor Tijjani Mohammad Bande of Nigeria on his election as President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly of these United Nations.
The Secretary-General said that, as a Nigerian and an African, the President-elect has invaluable insights into the continent’s challenges and more broadly into the challenges our world faces across the three pillars of our work: peace, sustainable development and human rights.
He also thanked the current General Assembly President, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, for her outstanding work and her support of United Nations reform.
This afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., the Secretary-General will speak a meeting of the Fifth Committee to introduce his report containing measures to resolve the financial crisis facing the United Nations.

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
As a reminder, the Secretary-General will travel to St. Petersburg in the Russian Federation tomorrow, and he will participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday. The theme of this year’s forum is “Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda”. The Secretary-General will be meeting with President Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officials, as well as some other leaders attending the meeting, and he will be traveling back to New York on 8 June.
As a reminder, we will be closed tomorrow in observance of Eid.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in London, where she spoke at Chatham House on a session concerning the legacy of the late former Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. She said that one of the planks in his legacy, the Millennium Development Goals, spawned tremendous progress. She said the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day was reduced from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015 – the largest decline of its kind in human history.
Yet much remains to be done to ensure a life of dignity for all, she said, adding that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals have become a new rallying point.
She also spoke at a panel on “tackling inequality to unlock the power and potential of women and girls.” She said that with the right set of policies and institutions, inequality in all its forms, including gender inequality, can be curbed. She added that we need well-designed and targeted policies that enhance the opportunities of women to participate in economic activities and in political and public life.
Full Highlights: