Asia Pacific

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Placencia Ambition Forum, held in Belize today:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

A new International Labour Organization report finds that COVID-19 is expected to wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.  The report highlights the worst affected sectors and regions, and outlines policies to mitigate the crisis.

Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is vital to maintaining international peace and security and combating global menaces such as climate change and the spread of terrorism, the heads of the two organizations told the Security Council today, as some delegates described the regional bloc’s consensus-building approach, known as the ASEAN Way, as an example to follow.

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council briefing on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-United Nations cooperation, in New York today:

Ghassan Salamé, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Libya,  expressed deep concern to the Security Council today that the truce agreed earlier this month holds only in name.  Fighting and military reinforcements on both sides raise the spectre of a full conflict engulfing the wider region.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Kanni Wignaraja of Sri Lanka as the next Assistant Secretary‑General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks at the Tenth ASEAN‑United Nations Summit in Bangkok, Thailand today:

From 21 to 25 October 2019, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004), in cooperation with the Government of China, convened a training course for 1540 national points of contact in the Asia-Pacific region in Xiamen, China.  The course was supported by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs with the financial support of the European Union.

Vulnerable migrants are still being taken to the Tajoura detention centre despite persistent calls for its closure due to its proximity [to] a military location, and just three months after an air strike killed 53 people and injured more than 130, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said today.