The Secretary-General this morning held meetings in Oslo with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Norway, in which he discussed multilateralism and Norway’s role in the international community.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General arrived in Vienna, Austria, today and gave a keynote speech at a ceremony organized by the Austrian Government to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna, known as the Vienna International Centre.
“I mark with sadness the passing of US Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, who stood so firmly for so many of the principles of the United Nations," the Secretary-General said in a statement issued today.
The Secretary-General will travel this Thursday to Austria. He will then go to Norway and Switzerland.
The Secretary-General congratulated the Afghan people on the holding of the presidential and Provincial Council elections, in a statement issued yesterday.
Today is the UN’s first observance of World Humanitarian Day. The General Assembly established the Day last December to highlight humanitarian work worldwide, including the dangers that aid workers face while carrying out their missions in conflict zones.
On Sunday, that’s last night, at around midnight, the UN-World Food Programme (WFP) compound in Wajid, southern Somalia, was attacked by armed militia. This is the fourth UN compound deliberately targeted in Somalia within two months. The United Nations strongly condemns the attack.
In Bonn today, the climate change talks -– the United Nations negotiating session towards a new global response to climate change -– concluded in Germany.
On the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions, the Secretary-General reaffirms their enduring significance and relevance for the protection of human life and dignity in situations of armed conflict.
10 August 2009
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| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**Guest at Noon Today