Press Conference

The financial health of the United Nations depended on Member States meeting their financial obligations in full and on time, said Yukio Takasu, the Organization’s Under-Secretary-General for Management, at a Headquarters press conference today.

Following is a transcript of UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s press conference held in New York, 9 May:

The Security Council would focus on African issues in May, including a debate on the fight against terrorism in the continent, Kodjo Menan, Permanent Representative of Togo to the United Nations, said today, as he assumed the Council presidency for this month.

It had been 40 days since Syria had requested an independent investigation into possible chemical weapons use by opposition forces in the northern city of Khan al-Assal on 19 March, noted its Ambassador today, adding that his Government “might consider” broadening the investigation if France and the United Kingdom provided evidence for their claims and only after a credible and transparent probe was conducted in line with Syria’s request.

Marking World Malaria Day at a Headquarters press conference, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria and for the Financing of the Health-related Millennium Development Goals called for vigorous efforts to replenish the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Critical sexual and reproductive rights — as enshrined at the 1994 landmark International Conference on Population and Development (also known as the Cairo Programme of Action) — must be bolstered as a priority issue in the post-2015 development agenda, stressed high-profile speakers at a Headquarters press conference.

Crises of governance, corruption and nepotism were at the root cause of unrest in Mali, said Comfort Ero, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Africa Programme, at a Headquarters press conference today as she introduced the Group’s report, “Mali: Security, Dialogue, and Meaningful Reform”.

Research, information and balanced discussions would not only illuminate migration’s economical and social benefits to development, but inform policies that addressed its complex challenges, said migration experts at a Headquarters press conference today.

Amid widening income inequalities and depleting natural resources, the Asia-Pacific region was facing subdued growth in 2013, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference, held in New York today, 17 April: